Photo by Sujimol Binu
Freddy Ben-Arroyo (born Abraham Freddy Ben-Arroyo (Bulgarian Cyrillic: Авраам Фреди Бен-Аройо; Hebrew: אברהם פרדי בן-ארויו), March 21, 1924, Sofia, Bulgaria; died July 6, 2025, Haifa, Israel), professor of structural engineering at the Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, and a practicing structural engineer erected buildings in Israel and in New York City. Triggered by a study of Zen, he took up composition of Japanese-style verse in the 1990s, and his haiku, senryu, haibun, and haiga in English were published internationally and translated into Hebrew, Russian, Bulgarian, Japanese, and Chinese. His book, Jazz Trio, was published in 2014. He last resided in Haifa, Israel.
Background
Freddy Ben-Arroyo was born in Sofia, Kingdom of Bulgaria, in 1924 and completed twelve years of primary and secondary education there, including a five-year technical high school. At age 20, two months after the September 9, 1944, coup d’état that overthrew the monarchy and paved the way for the communist takeover of Bulgaria, Ben-Arroyo left his homeland and traveled via Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon to Haifa in the British Mandate of Palestine.
He enrolled in the structural engineering program at the Technion (now called Technion–Israel Institute of Technology) in Haifa. After completing his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees, he took a position at the Technion and remained a professor of engineering there until age 93. Alongside his academic career, he also pursued a career as a working structural engineer, contributing to the design of distinctive buildings in Israel and in New York City. In Israel Freddy built the first hanging roof building in the country, among other challenging structures. In NYC he worked on several skyscrapers, including the 60 storey GM Building.
Ben-Arroyo loved music of all kinds and was a devoted traveler. He loved being in nature, examining architectural masterpieces, and people-watching. He was highly regarded by his students and colleagues for his modesty, creativity, and sense of humor. He was a devoted father, and had a special communication with children, much loved by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Freddy Ben-Arroyo passed away in July 2025 aged 101 at his home in Haifa, leaving a wife, daughter Irith Hartman, three grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren. His elder child, a son, was killed in 1973 during the Yom Kippur War.
Freddy Ben-Arroyo and Haikai
Ben-Arroyo’s mother tongue was Bulgarian and he completed all his schooling in Sofia. When he arrived in Haifa he neither read nor spoke Hebrew, and during his first years at the university he found himself taking notes in Hebrew but written in Cyrillic characters. He wrote, “Learning a new language, I was left without any language.” Later he said that he spoke and thought in Hebrew and, although he read the Tel Aviv–based newspaper Haaretz in Hebrew, generally he preferred reading in English.1
He also preferred writing at least his haiku in English:
Why do I write haiku in English? 3 reasons:
1) I read and have read tons of haiku translated from Japanese in English
2) The English (words and syntax) are to my taste and understanding [and] closer to [conveying] the rhythms and atmosphere of what I think is haiku (I’ve visited Japan 3 times, have Japanese friends, don’t know Japanese, but still I listened to … how they speak English (the taxi driver: “RUSHU HOURU!” CHRISTASIMASU and so on.…)
3) The language connecting me to haiku writers from all over the world (New Zealand to Alaska) is English.
Maybe I should add my 15-year training as a Zen student under a Japanese Zen Master here in Israel (including sesshin, the one-week-long intensive Zazen discipline in a Zen monastery near Jerusalem).2
Selected Haiku and Senryu
In the 1990s, following his study of Zen, he took up composition of Japanese-style verse, and his haiku, senryu, haibun, and haiga in English were soon published internationally and translated into Bulgarian, Hebrew, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese.
| Approaching the war memorial. My son’s name on it | Modern Haiku 21:2 (Summer 1990) |
| on cold stone and red poppies bleeding soldier | Bones 1 (December 2012) |
| Sabbatical just one key in my pocket | Ardea 3 (2013) |
| swallows and minarets shooting through the sky in Sarajevo | Notes from the Gean 3:3 (December 2011) |
| the first one and one more over there— city lights | Mainichi Haiku in English Annual Selection, 2015 |
| jazz trio floating pizzicato notes— scotch on the rocks | Mainichi Haiku in English, January 4, 2014 |
| Tears and blood sacred stones in Jerusalem | Iliyana Stoyanova, ed., Temple: The British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology 2021 |
| Dostoevsky and I strolling in St Petersburg then white nights | Mainichi Haiku in English, September 19, 2012 |
| a winding path up Mt. Carmel spring leaves | Blithe Spirit 31:3 (August 2021) |
| London East End Sunday flower market ‘Two for a fiver’ | Diana Webb, ed., City: The British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology. 2020 (2019) |
| Stella Maris lighthouse under your beam we kissed — is it still beaming? מגדלור סטלה מאריס —מתחת לקרן האור התנשקנו ? האם זה עדיין קורן | Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, Coordinator, Sharpening the Green Pencil 2014: The Book of the Contest (2014) English and Hebrew translation by the author |
| sipping cognac with my dead friends— winter solstice oтпивам коняк с мъртвите ми другари— зимнослънцестоене | Frogpond 37:3 (Autumn 2014); Jim Kacian et al., eds., Big Data (Red Moon Anthology 2014) Ben-Arroyo, Jazz Trio (2014) Bulgarian translation by the author; Диви Люляци (Wild Lilacs) blog, March 23, 2015; Shoshin Haiku Circle, December 2017 |
| buying a jeans belt the salesgirl measures me— I hold my stomach in пока подбирает продавщица ремень на джинсы втягиваю живот | Ёршик (Ërshik) 5 (April 2014) Russian translation by the Ērshik staff |
| green pines— even her off-key singing sounds beautiful | Blōō Outlier Journal 1, (Winter 2020) |
| time stands still empty church | Ed Bremson, ed., The Best of Mijikai Haiku 2013 |
| returning home after living abroad— the smell of thyme | The Heron’s Nest 17:2 (June 2015) |
| memorial wall my son’s name carved on sirens | THF Per Diem Archive, March 2018 |
Sources / Further Reading
Books and chapbooks
- Freddy Ben-Arroyo. Jazz Trio: Haiku, Senryu. Hsinchu City, Taiwan: Writers & Lovers Studio, 2014.
In anthologies, annuals & calendars
- Ed Bremson, ed. The Best of Mijikai Haiku 2012. Kindle Edition, 2012. 4 haiku.
- Ed Bremson, ed. The Best of Mijikai Haiku 2013. Kindle Edition, 2013. 4 haiku.
- Corneliu Traian Atanasiu, Coordinator. Sharpening the Green Pencil 2014: The Book of the Contest. Romanian Kukai Group, 2014. 1 haiku,
- Jim Kacian and the Red Moon editorial staff, eds. Big Data: The Red Moon Anthology of English-Language Haiku 2014. Winchester, Va.: Red Moon Press, 2015. 1 haiku.
- Bruce Ross, Kōko Katō, Dietmar Tauchner, and Patricia Prime, eds. A Vast Sky: An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku. Bangor, Maine: Tancho Press, 2015. 1 haiku.
- Kala Ramesh, Sanjuktaa Asopa, and Shloka Shankar, eds.. Naad Anunaad: An Anthology of Contemporary World Haiku. Pune, India: Vishwakarma Publications, 2016. 4 haiku.
- Diana Webb, ed., City: The British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology. 2020. British Haiku Society, 2019. 1 haiku.
- Iliyana Stoyanova, ed. Temple: The British Haiku Society Members’ Anthology. British Haiku Society, 2021. 1 haiku.
- The Living Haiku Anthology, posted ca. 2025. 21 haiku.
- Lyudmila Hristova, Zornitza Harizanova, Elisaveta Shapkareva, Violeta Penushlieva, and Radost-Liliya Racheva, comps. and eds. Морето: антология на български поети / The Sea: Anthology of Bulgarian Poets. Sofia: Farago, 2021. In Bulgarian and English. 2 haiku.
- Under the Bashō, 2014–2015. 5 haiku.
- The Haiku Foundation Per Diem Archive, 2018. 1 haiku.
In print periodicals
- Modern Haiku, 1990. 1 haiku.
- Blithe Spirit, 2020–2021. 2 haiku.
- Frogpond, 2014. 1 haiku.
On the Internet
- Mainichi Haiku in English, 2011–2014. 15 haiku.
- Bones, 2012–2016. 23 haiku in 3 sequences.
- Kernels (2013). 2 haiku.
- Prune Juice, 2013. 4 haiku.
- Notes from the Gean, 2013. 2 haiku.
- Ardea, 2013–2014. 3 haiku.
- Asahi Haikuist Network, 2013–2015. 10 haiku.
- Ёршик (Ërshik), 2013–2015. 13 haiku & 1 tanka.
- A Hundred Gourds, 2013–2016. 7 haiku.
- The Mustard Grain, 2014.
- Диви Люляци (Wild Lilacs) blog, 2015. 1 haiku.
- Sonic Boom, 2015. 5 haiku.
- The Heron’s Nest, 2015. 1 haiku.
- Moongarlic E-zine, 2016. 2 haiku.
- Blo͞o Outlier Journal, 2020. 1 haiku.
- Antenne Air, 2024.
- The Other Bunny.
- Tamarind: A Literary Magazine.
Also
We are deeply grateful to Irith Hartman, Freddy Ben-Arroyo’s daughter, for her generous assistance in providing biographical and publication information.
Activities
- Participated in Mijikai Haiku Facebook group 2012–2013.
- Participated in Multiverses Facebook group, 2012–2013.
- Participated in the European Quarterly Kukai, 2013–2017.
- Participated in Poets and Writers Café Facebook group, 2013–2014.
- Participated in the Indian Kukai, 2013–2016.
- Participated in Shoshin Haiku Circle Facebook group, 2017–2020.
Awards
- Listed on Krzysztof Kokot’s European Top 100 Haiku Authors for 2016.