The once dominant role played by the art of aphorism in the various genres of European literature is a thing of the past. The present study sets out to show why traditional contemporary aphoristic writing is frequently derivative and how the poet Elazar Benyoeeuml;tz breaks with the conventions prevailing in it. Of significance here, as in the much broader currents of contemporary philosophy, is the way in which the individual ‘other’ attains a new status over and against the ‘self’ in Benyoetz’ work. Whereas in traditional aphoristic writing the ‘other’ is largely addressed via the unmasking of collective clicheeacute;s, Benyoetz draws upon the individualising elements of aphoristic discourse to achieve an individualisation of the ‘other’.