KHAYIM RABINZON

KHAYIM RABINZON (April 1, 1914-1989)[1]

            He was born in Radukanen (Răducăneni), near Jassy (Iași), Romania.  His father was a rabbi in Iași.  He studied in religious elementary schools and yeshivas.  From 1935 he was a Hebrew teacher in Bucharest.  During WWII he was confined in Nazi concentration camps.  In 1944 he came to the land of Israel.  He graduated from Hebrew University in 1957, and from that point in time he devoted himself to teaching.  He debuted in print in 1928 with a poem in Haolem (The world) and in 1930 with poetry in Tshernovitser bleter (Pages from Czernowitz) and Unzer tsayt (Our time) in Kishinev.  He published literary essays and translations in: Di vokh (The week) and Shoybn (Window panes) in Bucharest; Leyb Druker’s Yidishe verter (Yiddish words) in Iași (two issues); Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), Tsukunft (Future), and Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), among others.  His work appeared as well in: Naye yidishe dikhtung (Modern Yiddish poetry) (Iași, 1947); and Oyfshtayg (Ascent) (Bucharest, 1972).  Rabinzon wrote in both Hebrew and Yiddish and translated from both languages.  From Yiddish he translated into Hebrew: Uri Tsvi Grinberg’s Yiddish poetry and D. Knaani’s Lenoga ets rakav (To the glory of a decaying tree) (Merḥavya, 1950); Avrom Sutzkever’s poems and Yisrael Ḥayim Biletski’s Hashir vehameshorer, a. sutskever (The poem and the poet, A. Sutzkever) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1962); Berish Vaynshteyn’s Malkes balade—Habalada shel Malka (Malka’s ballad), parallel Hebrew-Yiddish translation (Tel Aviv, 1968); Avrom Goldfaden’s Yiddish poetry in Shirim vemaḥazot (Poetry and spectacles) (Jerusalem, 1970); Perl Halter’s Shirim (Poetry) (Ramat-Gan, 1971); and Roze Gutman (Yasni), Mivḥar shirim (Selection of poems) (Tel Aviv, 1972), parallel text; among others.  In Hebrew he wrote: Berakhot livnot leketanim uketanot (Blessings upon young boys and girls) (Bucharest, 1943/1944); Yeme haadama, shirim (Days of the earth, poetry) (Ramat-Gan, 1966).

Sources: Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Merḥavya, 1967); Shloyme Bikl, Rumenye (Romania) (Buenos Aires, 1961), pp. 361-64; Y. Ts. Shargel, Fun onheyb on (From the beginning) (Tel Aviv, 1977), pp. 277-80; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Ruvn Goldberg

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[1] Meylekh Ravitsh mistakenly gives a birth year of 1910; on his website, Yossi Galron (https://library.osu.edu/projects/hebrew-lexicon/01665.php) gives 1906; Kressel gives the date as April 13, 1914.