Letter, handwritten and signed by Elisheva Bikhovski. Moscow, October 2, 1924. Hebrew.
In this letter, Elisheva discusses the difficulties she is experiencing in trying to write after giving birth to her daughter ("My daughter is just a frail little girl, and I am an entirely inexperienced mother"); her eagerness to leave Russia and immigrate to Palestine ("Unfortunately for me, I have no choice but to stay here, as if [stranded] in the desert"); and the publication of stories and poems in Hebrew. An intriguing addendum appears at the end of the letter: "Just now I noticed that in the poem 'Zemer, ' published in ‘Hapoel Hatzair, ' an entire verse is missing… It should read: 'Indeed I had wings / Though I never felt their presence / Still now, evening after evening / My heart weeps over them.'"
The letter's addressee ("Dear Friend!") was, in all likelihood, the journalist Moshe Newiasky, a friend of Elisheva's.

Elizaveta Ivanovna Zhirkova-Bikhovski (known as Elisheva, 1888-1949) was a Russian-born Hebrew poet, one of the founding mothers of Hebrew women's poetry. Though born to a Christian family, Elisheva was drawn to Jewish culture already in her early teens, and by the early 1920s she relinquished Russian entirely in favor of Hebrew as her language of writing. Her decision to tie her fate to the Jewish people and adopt their language (without ever actually renouncing her own Christian faith) earned her the epithet "Ruth on the Banks of the Volga." In 1925, she immigrated to Palestine with her husband, the publisher, and literary critic Simeon (Shimon) Bikhovski, and became one of the most influential poets during those years of Jewish settlement in Palestine. Her book "Simta'ot" ("Alleyways") is thought to be the very first Hebrew novel to have been written by a woman in Palestine.

Following the death of her husband in 1932, Elisheva experienced great difficulty earning a living, and found herself mired in poverty. She passed away in Tiberias in 1949. Since she had never converted to Judaism, efforts to grant her a Jewish burial encountered religious opposition. Nevertheless, Avraham Broides, Chief Secretary of the Hebrew Writers Association, interceded on her behalf; as a result, she was buried in the famous cemetery of Kibbutz (or Kevutzat) Kinneret on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, next to the renowned poet Rachel Bluwstein Sela.

[1] f., folded in half (four written pages), 13 cm. Good condition. Stains.
• Enclosed: A two-page autograph letter signed by Elisheva's husband, the publisher, and literary critic Simeon (Shimon) Bikhovski, dealing with the publication of her poetry. Addressed (in Hebrew) to "M. Neuazski" [Moshe Newiasky]. Moscow, 1924.