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Created page with "{{Short description|Israeli children's book editor and author}} {{Infobox writer | name = Shlomo Abas | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|2|8}} | birth_place = Nesher, Israel | occupation = Author, editor | genre = Children's literature, folk tales, fables, riddles, jokes | notable_works = ''Saving the Starfish'' | image = שלמה אבס 2012.jpg | children = Michael Abas, Elisha Abas | website..."

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{{Short description|Israeli children's book editor and author}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Shlomo Abas
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1948|2|8}}
| birth_place = [[Nesher]], Israel
| occupation = Author, editor
| genre = Children's literature, folk tales, fables, riddles, jokes
| notable_works = ''Saving the Starfish''
| image = שלמה אבס 2012.jpg
| children = Michael Abas, [[Elisha Abas]]
| website = www.abas.co.il
| caption = Abas, 2012
}}

'''Shlomo Abas''' (born 8 February 1948) is a popular Israeli children's author, editor and adapter of [[folk tales]]. His work includes original children's stories, as well as collections and adaptations of [[fable]]s, [[legend]]s, [[riddle]]s and [[joke]]s. He has published 170 books.<ref name=":0">{{cite news |date=10 June 2021 |title=Israeli children's author Shlomo Abas receives lifetime achievement award |url=https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/sages-of-chelm-author-shlomo-abas-receives-lifetime-achievement-award-670644 |work=The Jerusalem Post}}</ref>

== Life and career ==
Abas studied at the [[Hebrew University of Jerusalem]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=שלמה אבס, סופר ילדים |url=https://www.abas.co.il/page.asp?id=2 |access-date=2026-08-20 |website=www.abas.co.il}}</ref> He began writing children's stories at the age of 29. His first stories were originally told to his children, before being published in ''Davar LaYeladim,'' a children magazine in Hebrew, in 1978. Abas also worked as an editor at the Agur publishing house, where he began in 1986 as editor of its children's books department.<ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=שלמה אבס |url=https://benyehuda.org/lexicon/01328.php |website=Lexicon of New Hebrew Literature |language=he}}</ref>

=== Works and themes ===
Abas has published collections of [[folk tales]], [[fable]]s, [[legend]]s, [[riddle]]s and [[joke]]s, alongside original children's stories.<ref name=":1">{{cite news |last=עברי- דראל |first=יעל |date=18 November 2008 |title=הכל ירוק גם בספרות הילדים |url=https://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3586982,00.html |work=Ynet |language=he}}</ref> His first books,''There Is a Monster in the Lake'' (1980), ''Naama and the Pacifier'' (1981), ''Tusa-Tusa-Matatosa'' (1983), and ''The White Bird'' (1984), were published by [[Sifriat Poalim]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":2" />
[[File:שלמה אבס בספרייה עירונית נשר.jpg|alt=Abas meeting with children from Nesher at the municipal library, early 2000s|thumb|300x300px|Abas meeting with children from Nesher at the municipal library, early 2000s]]
In ''Saving the Starfish'' (2008) ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]]: להציל את כוכב הים), Abas adapted seven short stories from different cultures, including African, Indian and Jewish tales. The book explores [[environmental sustainability]] and the relationship between people and nature, emphasising the shared responsibility of children and adults to protect the environment.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Gont |first=Dor'am |date=24 August 2008 |title=אם אין צפרדעים, יבואו יתושים |url=https://fliphtml5.com/rpdsv/uzej/002-HARETZ-2008-08-24-0001/54/ |work=Haaretz |page=3 |language=he}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=להציל את כוכב הים |url=https://www.steimatzky.co.il/011411334 |access-date=2026-08-20 |website=www.steimatzky.co.il |language=he}}</ref>

One of Abas's works to appear in English was ''The Sages of Chelm and the Moon'', published by Green Bean Books in 2019 and illustrated by Omer Hoffmann. The book is a retelling of a traditional Chelm folktale about the inhabitants of the legendary town attempting to solve the problem of the disappearing moon.<ref name=":4">{{cite web |date=23 September 2019 |title=The Sages of Chelm and the Moon |url=https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/the-sages-of-chelm-and-the-moon |access-date=20 August 2026 |website=Jewish Book Council}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=February–March 2020 |title=AJL News and Reviews |url=https://jewishlibraries.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/ajlnewsreviews_febmarch2020.pdf |journal=Association of Jewish Libraries NEWS and REVIEWS |publisher=Association of Jewish Libraries |volume=5 |issue=3 |page=54 |access-date=2026-08-20}}</ref> The original Hebrew version of the book ''(סיפורם הבלתי נשכח של חכמי חלם)'' published in 2016 by Agur Publishing and Modan Publishing, is considered one of the foundational works of children's storytelling in Israel.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=יוסף |first=עידן |date=2021-06-04 |title=פרס מפעל חיים יוענק לסופר שלמה אבס |url=https://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-441404-00.html |access-date=2026-08-20 |website=www.news1.co.il |language=he}}</ref>

Abas also adapted a traditional [[Yiddish]] tale in ''Tailor, Coat and Story'', using the story of a worn coat passed from person to person to introduce children to the idea of reuse and [[recycling]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Blair |first=Osnat |date=3 December 2008 |title=קוראים בירוק: ספרים השומרים על הסביבה |url=https://www.makorrishon.co.il/nrg/online/1/ART1/819/989.html |work=Makorrishon |language=he}}</ref>

Abas has worked to establish fairy tales and folk tales as a central part of Israeli children's literature and has long researched traditional stories and legends. He frequently collects stories from elderly people throughout Israel, who tell him tales they heard during their childhood. He also collects stories at international conferences attended by anthropologists and other enthusiasts of folk tales.<ref name=":5" />

In 2015, ''[[Israel Hayom]]'' described Abas as one of the leading children's writers in Israel. In an interview with the newspaper, Abas discussed his preference for traditional fairy tales and his view that children should encounter difficult themes rather than only simplified or protective versions of stories.<ref name=":6">{{cite news |last=Marmelstein |first=Tal |date=18 May 2015 |title=מעשה באב ובנו |url=https://www.israelhayom.co.il/culture/books/article/13577616 |work=Israel Hayom |language=he}}</ref>

He has published 170 books,<ref name=":0" /> of which 32 are original children's books and 138 are collections of [[fairy tale]]s, [[folk tales]], [[fable]]s, [[riddle]]s, and [[joke]]s that he collected, edited, and adapted.<ref name=":5" />

=== Collaboration with Ami Rubinger ===
Abas collaborated extensively with Israeli illustrator [[Ami Rubinger]]. Their books ''The Sages of Chelm and the Moon, The Big Book of Fairy Tales,'' and several books in the ''Badihon'' series.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Big Animal Joke Book |url=https://www.nli.org.il/he/books/NNL_ALEPH990036201950205171/NLI |access-date=20 August 2026 |website=National Library of Israel}}</ref>

== Recognition and reception ==
In 2021, Abas received a lifetime-achievement award from the Israel Center for Education Innovation for his contribution to Hebrew children's literature. Dan Futerman, director-general of the Israel Center for Innovation in Education, called Abas an excellent writer who had made a lasting mark on children's and young adult literature in Israel over decades of work. According to Futerman, "Abas combines original writing and creativity in an exceptional way with a remarkable ability to retell stories, legends and jokes in his unique and entertaining style. There is hardly a child in Israel who has not read one of Shlomo Abas's excellent works. In our classroom libraries, which contain hundreds of books in each class, many books written by him can be found, and they are among the most popular and widely read books."<ref name=":5" />

The [[Jewish Book Council]] described Abas's Hebrew short-story collections as popular with elementary-school readers.<ref name=":4" />

Literary criticism of his work examined his treatment of traditional tales and the ways in which he modifies their traditional motifs.<ref>{{cite journal |date=2009 |title=חייטים עניים, מעילים וגלגולים |url=https://benyehuda.org/lexicon/99995-files/99995062/99995062-130.pdf |journal=ספרות ילדים ונוער |language=he}}</ref> His work has also been discussed in the Hebrew children's-literature journal ''ספרות ילדים ונוער'', including reviews and critical discussions of his adaptations of traditional stories and collections of [[folk tales]].<ref>{{cite journal |date=1990 |title=מסע הקסם אל ממלכת הגמדים והענקים |url=https://library.osu.edu/projects/hebrew-lexicon/99995-files/99995062/99995062-065/99995062-065.pdf |journal=ספרות ילדים ונוער}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Abas was born in [[Nesher]], near [[Haifa]], into a working-class family. He has four children, three sons and a daughter including children's author Michael Abas and pianist [[Elisha Abas]].<ref name=":6" /> Abas is a grandfather of eight<ref name=":2" /> and lives in [[Timrat]] in northern Israel.<ref name=":3" />

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==

* [https://www.abas.co.il Shlomo Abas and Michael Abas' official website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abas, Shlomo}}
[[Category:Israeli children's writers]]
[[Category:Hebrew-language writers]]
[[Category:Israeli folklorists]]
[[Category:Israeli male writers]]
[[Category:Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni]]
[[Category:People from Nesher]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli writers]]
[[Category:21st-century Israeli writers]]
[[Category:1948 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]

Shlomo Abas - Revision history