GALAI, BINYAMIN

GALAI, BINYAMIN (1921– ), Hebrew writer and poet. Born in Vladivostok, Siberia, his family went to Palestine in 1926. He lived in Tel Aviv for many years, then moved to Haifa where he served as press adviser to the municipality. Among his volumes of poetry are Im ha-Ru'aḥ (1946); Armonim (1949); Shivah Shelishit (1953); his collected poems, Al Ḥof ha-Raḥamim (1958) and Massa Ẓafonah (1968); Mi-Yam le-Yam (1985); and Shirim Aḥaronim (1995). He also published volumes of plays, Sedom Siti ("Sodom City," 1952) and Shotim u-Melakhim ("Fools and Kings," 1971); a selection of sketches, Al Kafeh Hafukh ("Over White Coffee," 1960); radio plays, Mayim Genuvim (1964); and two volumes of children's stories. Galai wrote Sippur ha-Aḥ ha-Niddaḥ, o Via Dolorozah (1983) and a historical novel, Ha-Mavet ha-Shaḥor o Divrei Yemei Gemini (1976). A list of his works translated into English appears in Goell, Bibliography, 23f. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Zmora, Sifrut al Parashat Derakhim, 2 (1949), 288–93; M. Shamir, Be-Kulmos Mahir (1960), 117–26; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1967), 480. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Y. Zemora, in: Moznayim 43 (1976), 418–24; N.H. Toker, in: Moznayim 46 (1978), 141–43; M. Shamir, in: Apiryon 10–11 (1988), 22–25; G. Sagiv, in: Moznayim 74 (2000), 56–59. (Getzel Kressel)