Eliyahu Koren
Eliyahu Koren אליהו קורן, originally Elias Korngold (born July 23, 1907 in Nuremberg ; died February 17, 2001 in Jerusalem ) was an Israeli publisher and type designer .
life and work
After his immigration to Palestine (1933), Koren, a graduate of the Nuremberg Art School, was entrusted with the management of his graphic department by the Jewish National Fund and held this position for 21 years. Many well-known motifs of the State of Israel go back to his designs, e.g. B. the first Israeli postage stamp and the city arms of Jerusalem .
In the early 1940s, Judah Magnes , president of the Hebrew University , asked Koren if he could develop a new font for a planned edition of the Hebrew Bible . Umberto Cassuto was busy finding the best version of the text for this Bible. But both Magnes and Cassuto died, and the Hebrew University printer eventually reprinted a 19th-century edition with corrections. Eliyahu Koren, however, continued to pursue the project independently. In his small Jerusalem publishing house (Koren Publishers Jerusalem Ltd.) he developed a Hebrew font that was based on medieval Sephardic letter forms and modernized them.
When Koren's Hebrew Bible finally appeared in print in 1962, it was a public event. Since the time of the incunabula , the Koren Tanach was the first Bible edition printed by Jews. The Presidents of the State of Israel are sworn in on this Bible; it is considered to be the most important contribution of Zionism to the history of the Bible. There are bilingual Hebrew-English editions with the official name The Jerusalem Bible , known as The Koren Bible .
For the Koren Siddur , a prayer book with a Zionist orientation (prayers for the state and the army), Eliyahu Koren designed a new, own font.
Web links
- Information Center for Israeli Art: Eliyahu Koren .
- Joshua J. Friedman: Prayer Type. How Eliyahu Koren used typography to encourage a new way to pray . In: Tablet, June 30, 2009.
Individual evidence
- ^ Who's who in Israel and Jewish Personalities from All Over the World . Bronfman, Tel Aviv 1985, p. 186.
- ^ David Stern: The Jewish Bible: A Material History , Seattle / London 2017, p. 196.
- ↑ Jeremy Stolow: Orthodox by Design: Judaism, Print Politics, and the ArtScroll Revolution , Berkeley et al. 2010, p. 214 f.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Koren, Eliyahu |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Korngold, Elias; Korén, Eliyahu |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Israeli publisher and type designer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 23, 1907 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nuremberg |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 17, 2001 |
| Place of death | Jerusalem |