The prominent writer Ephraim Bauch has passed away in Israel at the age of 85.

Today we bid farewell to a friend. Ephraim Bauch, a writer, long-time chairman of the Federation of Writers' Unions of Israel and the Israeli PEN Club, has passed away at the age of 85. He was an authority on the history of Tel Aviv and Zionism, Israeli literary life, and contemporary Russian literature—a man of profound openness and kindness.

Ephraim Bauch drew inspiration from the intersection of Russian and Jewish literary traditions. He served as the editor of the journals *Sion*, *Kinor*, and *Slovo Pisatelya* (the official publication of the Union of Russian-Speaking Writers of Israel). In 2002, he was elected chairman of the Association of Jewish Emigrants from Moldova in Israel.

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