Rudin Leonid (12 January 1947, Simferopol — 3 December 2005, Jerusalem) — poet, journalist, and essayist. He spent his childhood and early youth in Krustpils. In 1979 he graduated from the Department of Journalism of the Latvian State University.

He worked in Riga in various editorial offices of Latvian Radio, as well as in republican and city newspapers. His poems were published in local literary and youth magazines. From 1975 he participated in underground Zionist activity. In the late 1970s he began to experience difficulties with the KGB, and during this period he was unable to work in his profession. He worked as a watchman, stoker, and in similar jobs.

In May 1980, shortly before the Olympic Games, he received permission to leave for Israel and on 25 May of the same year emigrated with his family. For the first two years he lived in Ra’anana, and from 1982 until his death in Jerusalem. He collaborated with the Russian-language service of Kol Israel (“Voice of Israel”).

In the early 1990s he worked in the Russian department of the Jewish Agency “Sokhnut.” In 1989 he served as a Sokhnut representative in Ladispoli (Italy) during a short assignment, and for several years undertook brief educational visits to Ukraine and Russia. He was active in political life.

Rudin was the author of poems and numerous journalistic and literary publications in periodicals both in Israel and abroad. He was a member of the editorial board and contributor to the poetic almanac “Jerusalem Voices” (Jerusalem, 2003), the international poetic almanac “Planet of Poets” (Riga, 2004), and the “Jerusalem Almanac” (Jerusalem, 2006). He served on the literary council and was Middle East coordinator of the International Association of Writers and Publicists (IAPP), and was a member of the board of the Jerusalem branch of the Russian section of the Federation of Israeli Writers’ Unions.

Many of his poems were set to music; particularly popular was the song “People–Stars.” A large cycle of songs based on his lyrics was written by the composer Grigory Zilber. Rudin also translated into Hebrew several songs by Bulat Okudzhava, including “The Soldier’s Wife,” “The Song of the Paper Soldier,” and “Do You Hear the Boots Thundering…” Jewish themes occupied an important place in his poetry.

Works:

Windows at Sunset (Окна на закат). Jerusalem, 1994.