YB"A ZIV (YESHAYAHU BEN ABBA ZIV)

Y. B. A. ZIV (YESHAYAHU BEN ABBA ZIV)

            He was born in Shaty (Shat), near Kovno, Lithuania.  He lived in the latter half of the nineteenth century.  He was a friend of Ben-Zion Bank, the son of the Hebrew poet Yehoshua Bank, with whom he studied in the Kovno and Telz Yeshivas.  He published (under the pseudonym “Z. Z.”) Hebrew poems in: Hatsofe lehamagid (The spectator to the preacher) in Lik; Haboker or (Good morning) in Warsaw; and other serials.  A number of his poems were included in the pamphlets: Asefat shirim, al moade hashana (Collection of poems, according to the seasons of the year) (Vilna, 1878), 32 pp.; and Asefat shirim, al inyanim shonim (Collection of poems, on varying matters) (Warsaw, 1880), 24 pp.  He was the author of the Yiddish booklets: Doktor yoysef alfasi, roman (Doctor Yoysef Alfasi, a novel), “an honest and terribly moving novel” (Warsaw, 1883), 32 pp.; Der yeshive bokher, oder di libe fun a fayndshaft (The yeshiva lad, or the love of hatred) (Vilna, 1898), 29 pp.  He also translated and adapted from German: Di ungliklikhe, oder di gliklikhe ester (The unhappy one, or the happy Esther) (Vilna, 1894), 32 pp.—the author submits on the frontispiece: “YB"A Ziv from Shat.”

Sources: Hatsofe lehamagid (Lik) 3 (1879); Zalmen Reyzen, in Vakhshteyn-bukh (Volume for Vakhshteyn) (Vilna, 1939).

Khayim Leyb Fuks