MOZNAYIM

MOZNAYIM (Heb. מֹאזְנַיִם), literary organ of the Hebrew Writers Association in Israel. Moznayim was founded in 1929, under the editorship of Y.D. *Berkowitz and F. Lachower, when the association ceased to endorse its previous organ, Ketuvim, edited by A. Steinman and A. *Shlonsky. Published first as a weekly in Tel Aviv, Moznayim became a monthly in 1933. It appeared regularly until the spring of 1947, when it ceased publication until the autumn of that year. Moznayim reappeared as a fortnightly only until the State of Israel was about to be established. Moznayim, in a new series, was published as a monthly from 1955.

The first volumes bear the stamp of *Bialik, a frequent contributor, and his contemporaries. Eventually, younger writers also left their influence upon this publication. All literary genres were encouraged: poetry, the story, the essay, criticism, the review, the scholarly study in the form of a popular lecture, publication of literary documents (e.g., letters), and translations from world literature. Hebrew writers from different generations and different parts of the world have participated. Until the Holocaust, the majority of East European Hebrew writers contributed and, later, Hebrew writers in the United States and other countries were published.

In honor of the U.S. Hebrew writer, Reuben *Wallenrod, Moznayim annually presents an award for the most distinguished poem, story, or essay published in the periodical. An index to the first hundred issues was issued in 1944.

[Getzel Kressel]