Tagore's stories now in Hebrew

Tel Aviv: Stree, a collection of stories by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, will now be available in Hebrew language.

Translated into Hebrew and published by local Sa'ar Publishing House, the book was released on Tuesday in presence of hundreds of India enthusiasts, including India's Ambassador to Tel Aviv Arun Kumar Singh.

The Hebrew edition, titled She, carries all the stories in the original Bengali version. "I think Rabindranath Tagore is the best Indian author of the last century. He won the Nobel and I see him as a great philosopher," Sa'ar Ganoch, the Director of the publishing house said.

"The stories in the book are a sensitive depiction of the real life in India and especially women. The topic is dear to my heart and so we chose this as the first Tagore work for publication," Ganoch said explaining the choice of the book.

Calling himself an ‘India lover', he said his publication house is working on two more India-related books which again will have connection to Tagore. A book titled Mystic Moods, which is a translation of Tagore's works and a coffee table book with photographic collection of "beautiful divergent face of India" will soon be published Ganoch added.

The books with photos will be accompanied by some of the famous sayings of Mahatma Gandhi and Tagore, he said.

Pointing towards the legendary poet's connection to Israel, Singh said Tagore were among the first to send a greeting to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on its establishment.

"I hope this university will be a unifying agency for the different cultures of the world. I hope it will be the means of welding together the East and the West," Singh quoted Tagore to have said then.

A street in the northern part of Tel Aviv is named after the Indian poet. The book was launched on Tuesday which was accompanied by a short cultural programme. Yossi al-Kabir, an Israeli who was trained in India on Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarship, performed on the sitar.

Punjabi pop singer Daler Mehendi also performed for the occassion, his songs set the audience foot tapping towards the end of the ceremony.