Lev Hakak

Lev Hakak was born in 1944 in Israel.[1][2][3] His parents were Iraqi Jews who experienced pro-Nazi antisemitic sentiments in Iraq in the 1940s and emigrated to Israel in 1951-1952.[1][2]

Hakak graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he received a bachelor of arts degree in Hebrew Literature and Political Science in 1967. He attended graduate school at Tel Aviv University in 1968-1970, and he earned a PhD in Modern Hebrew Literature from UCLA in 1974. His thesis was entitled Modes of Organization in Modern Hebrew Free Verse.[4]

Hakak began his career as a poet in the early 1960s, when he published two poetry collections.[5] In 1977, he published his first novel, The Ingathered.[5] His work challenges the canon of Hebrew literature.[3] He has published articles in The Huffington Post.[6]

Hakak has been a Professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at UCLA since 1974.[1][7] He is the author of several scholarly books on Hebrew Literature. His first scholarly volume, published in 1977, focused on poets Avraham Ben-Yitzhak, Amir Gilboa, Natan Zakh and Shlomo Zamir.[5] In 1981, he was one of the first scholars to analyze Mizrahi Jews in Hebrew Literature.[5] His 2009 book, The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Literature in Babylon from 1735-1950, is about Jewish poetry in Iraq.[8]

Hakak is also a member of the Israel Bar Association and the State Bar of California.[7]

Hakak resides in Beverly Hills, California. In 2016, he was one of 24 Beverly Hills residents who submitted an application for an appointment to fill a vacancy on the Beverly Hills City Council after councilmember William W. Brien resigned. However, Hakak withdrew his application prior to the interview.[9][10]

 1. Tugend, Tom (March 24, 2003). "Iraqi Jews in L.A.: War is necessary evil". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved 
    May 28, 2016.
 2. Tugend, Tom (March 27, 2003). "Anxiety and Hope". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
 3. Abramson, Glenda (2004). Encyclopedia of Modern Jewish Culture. New York: Routledge. ISBN 9780415298131. OCLC 57470923.
 4. "Modes of organization in modern Hebrew free verse". WorldCat. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
 5. Alcalay, Ammiel (1996). Keys to the Garden: New Israeli Writing. San Francisco, California: City Lights Books. 
    p. 286. ISBN 9780872863088. OCLC 32859679.
  6. "Lev Hakak". The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  7. "Lev Hakak". Purdue University Press. Retrieved May 28, 2016.
  8. Sabar, Yona (Fall 2012). "Reviewed Work: The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Creativity in Babylon, 1735–1950 by 
     Lev Hakak". Shofar. 31 (1): 147. JSTOR 10.5703/shofar.31.1.147. (Registration required (help)).
  9. Minutes of the May 31, 2016 special meeting of the Beverly Hills city council
  10. "Councilmember William W. Brien Stepping Down May 2016". Canyon News. April 13, 2016.
  11.  Alex Raskin, 'Stranger Among Brothers', Los Angeles Times, April 12, 1988.
  12.  Howard, Kaplan. 'Strangers',  A Novel of Dual Identities. Jewish Journal, April 28, 1988.
  13.  Arieh Winwman, 'Im Eshkahekh". Hebrew STudies, 23 (1982), pp. 265–266.
  14.  Esther Fuchs, “Equivocal Dreams: Studies in Modern Hebrew Literature”, Shofar, Purdue University Press, 
       Volume 15, Number 3, Spring 1997, pp. 111–114.
  15.  Shmuel Moreh. Lev Hakak - a Baghdad Born Scholar, Poet and Writer. In Yahadut Bavel: A Periodical for The 
       Research of the History and Culture of Babylonian Jews, No. 2, Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, Hebrew pp. 
       1117–140; English pp. 41–46. 
  16.  Shmuel Moreh, The Literature of Babylonian Jews in the Work of Lev Hakak. Pe'amim No. 130, Yad Ben Zvi, 
       2012, pp. 233–244.
  17.  Yair Mazor, “The Budding of Modern Hebrew Creativity in Babylon: The Collected Essays of Rabbi Shelomo 
       Bekhor Hutsin”, by Lev Hakak". Shofar, An Intredisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies,  Vol. 25, No. 3, 
       2007, pp. 207–208.
  18.  Yona Sabar, “Rewriting Literary History”. The Jerusalem Post, June 3, 2005.
  19.  Yair Mazor, “The Collected Essays of Rabbi Shelomo Bekhor Hutsin, by Lev Hakak”. Shofar, An 
       Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies,  Vol. 25, No. 3, 2007, pp. 207–208.
  20.  Rachel Simon, “Hakak, Lev: The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Creativity in Babylon, 1735-1950.” Association of 
       Jewish Librarian (AJL), February/March 2010, p. 35.
  21.  Sabar, Yona. The Emergence of Modern Hebrew Creativity in Babylon, 1735-1950. Shofar, Fall 2012, Vol. 31, 
       No.1, P. 147.
  22.  Rina Donchin, Modern Hebrew Literature Made into Films by Lev Hakak. National Association of Professors of 
       Hebrew, Vol. 13 (2010), pp. 169–170
  23.  Professor Lev Hakak on The Filming of Israeli Literature". The Jewish Post, New York State 31 Monthly Jewish 
       Newspaper, September 2003
  24.  Itamar Drori. Two Books by Lev Hakak: Reading Modern Hebrew Poetry and Prose, 336 pp;  Song of the 
       Whitewasher, 88 pp. Hebrew Higher Education, N0. 20, 2018, pp. 1–7.
  25.  Kritz, Ori. Hakak, Lev. In the Encyclopedia of Jews in the Islamic World. Brill

• UCLA webpage