MOHR (Mohar), MEIR

MOHR (Mohar), MEIR (1888–1967), Hebrew writer. Born in Rozwadow, Galicia, Mohr left for the U.S. in 1908, where be worked as a tailor and a part-time teacher. After returning to Galicia he taught in Jaslo. Recruited for the Austrian army during World War i, in which he served until 1918, Mohr afterward taught in Tarnow and in various German cities, including Berlin (from 1923). From 1939, when he left Berlin for Palestine, he taught Hebrew to children and to adults.

Mohr's publication, under the pen name R. Simla'i, of light, humorous verse in G. Rosenzweig's Ha-Devorah (1912) was followed by poems, articles, and essays in the majority of Hebrew newspapers and literary periodicals of this period. In his later years, he regularly published articles and poems in Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir. His books are Ayin be-Ayin (1950), a selection of his poetry, and Ḥeret Enosh (1959), a selection of his essays on poetry and prose. Mohr translated exclusively into Hebrew.

His son, jehiel mar (mohar; 1921–1969), also a Hebrew poet, was born in Tarnow, and went to Ereẓ Israel in 1937. He was a founding member of kibbutz Dovrat. Mar published five volumes of poetry, of which the first, Mi-Lev va-Nof, appeared in 1951. His verse aimed at a simple conversational idiom often achieved by irony. One of Israel's most skillful writers of lyrics for popular songs, he published these lyrics under the name Mohar.

bibliography:

Y. Keshet, Maskiyyot (1954), 221–8; Kol Kitvei G. Schoffmann, 4 (1960), 250–1; 5 (1960), 166; A. Cohen, Soferim Ivriyyim Benei Zemannenu (1964), 247–9.

[Getzel Kressel]