Bialik Hebrew Day School gets its name from Chaim Nachman Bialik, Israel’s national poet. Born in the village of Radi in the Ukrainian part of the Russian Empire in 1873, Bialik is known for writing about Jewish life and early Zionism.

Bialik lived in Eastern Europe for most of his life and was a teacher, translator, journalist and poet. He inspired a generation with his epic poem In the City of Slaughter. Written as a response to Kishinev pogroms, the poem is a strong statement of anguish at the situation of the Jews in Europe. In the poem, he strongly condemned the passivity of the Jews against antisemitism. This influenced the formation of Jewish self-defense groups in the Russian Empire and the Haganah in Palestine.

Bialik is famous for both his Yiddish and Hebrew writing. His Yiddish poems are considered to be among the best in the history of modern Yiddish literature.

In 1919, he established the Dvir publishing house in Odessa. The house published a wide range of books in Hebrew, including the first Hebrew language scientific journal. The house is still in existence in Israel today.

The founders of Bialik Hebrew Day School saw that Bialik embodied everything that they wanted their school to be. Bialik was a devout Zionist who was well versed in Talmud and Torah as well as an expert in western literature. He is an inspiration for students at Bialik Hebrew Day School today.