Yitzhaq Shami

His work was unique for his period, since in contrast with the vast majority of Hebrew writers of the period he crafted his art based on characters who were either Arabs or Sephardic Jews, residing in the Ottoman Palestine, and his literary influences were predominantly Arab and Middle Eastern.

[3] Growing up, Shami spoke Arabic with his father, and Ladino with his mother, and the family conducted its life in customary Middle Eastern style of the period.

[6] Influenced by secular literature, he rebelled against religious education and was asked to leave the yeshiva over his "heretical attitudes.

He is also thought to have attracted the attention of future Israeli founding Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion as an expert on Arab society.

He initially taught in the Zionist agricultural settlements of Gedera and Mazkeret Batya before moving to Damascus to work as a Hebrew teacher.

Instead, he moved to Bulgaria where he continued to work as a Hebrew teacher, hoping to save up enough money to enroll in law school.

His poor financial situation, which would plague him throughout his life, as well as Pnina's heart disease, and his emphysema in later years would significantly hamper his literary output.

[8] Shami was deeply disturbed by the incident, and signed a petition condemning Arab propaganda efforts and urging a British investigation together with the chief rabbis of Hebron and other figures.

The Jerusalem Municipal Archives also include correspondence in Arabic with a number of his colleagues, including his fellow Sephardic writer Yehuda Burla, but apparently none of his Arabic writings are available in print[10] The total volume of Shami's works was limited, mostly short stories.

"[12] Merle Rubin, in the Los Angeles Times Book Review described it as "Luminous tales from a bygone middle east".