LEYZER
GRINBERG (ELIEZER GREENBERG) (December 13, 1896-June 2, 1977)
He was born in Lipkon (Lipcani),
Bessarabia, to well-off parents. He
studied in religious primary school and with the well-known follower of the
Jewish Enlightenment and teacher Itsik Shkolnik. He also studied secular subjects. Among those teachers who also influenced his
poetic writings were his fellow townsmen and writers: Eliezer Shteynbarg,
Yankev Shternberg, and Moyshe Altman. In
1913 he emigrated to the United States, initially living in Boston and later in
Brockton. He was employed in a leather
workshop. In 1921 he studied at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He
was also a teacher in the Jewish schools.
In 1927 he settled in New York.
His first publication appeared in Kundes
(Prankster), edited by Y. Marinov, in 1919, and in the organ of the socialist
federation, Di naye velt (The new
world), edited by Salutski, Tsviun, and, Olgin.
From that time forward, he published songs, poems, and essays in: Studyo (Studio), Signal (Signal), Frayhayt
(Freedom), Hamer (Hammer), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of
labor), Oyfkum (Arise), Dos vort (The word), Hemshekh (Continuation), Tsukunft (Future), Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s magazine), Shoybn (Panes of glass), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), and Inzikh
(Introspective)—all in New York; Eygns un
fremds (One’s own and others’), edited by Yoysef Cheskis in Boston; Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in
Warsaw; Di vokh (The week) and Getseltn (Tents), 1945-1948, of which he
(together with Elyahu Shulman) was editor.
He contributed a number of poems to Hemshekh-antologye
(Hemshekh anthology), edited by M. Shtarkman (New York, 1945). Among his books: Gasn un evenyus (Streets and avenues), poetry (New York, 1928), 93 pp.;
Fun umetum (From somewhere) (New
York, 1934), 92 pp.; Fisher-dorf
(Fishing village), poem (New York, 1938), 32 pp.; Moyshe leyb halpern in rom fun zayn dor (Moyshe Leyb Halpern in the
frame of his generation), essay (New York, 1942), 135 pp.; Di lange nakht (The long night) (New York, 1946), 127 pp.; and Baynakhtiker dialog (Nighttime dialogue)
(New York, 1953), 80 pp.;
He translated a number of poems by
American poets. He was the vice-president
of the Yiddish PEN Club (1951-1954). In
1953 he was the representative of the Yiddish PEN Club to the conference of the
International PEN Club in Dublin, Ireland, at which he presented a report on
Yiddish literature. In that same year he
received the poetry prize from the National Jewish Book Council in America for
his collection of poems Baynakhtiker
dialog. Together with the American
literary critic, Irving Howe, he edited an anthology of fifty-two Yiddish
stories (translated into English by Jewish American writers), entitled A Treasury of Yiddish Stories (New York,
1954). He was living in New York.
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1;
Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York)
(1934); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (February 20, 1935); Sh. Tenenboym, in Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz) (1936); Tenenboym, in Oyfkum (New York) (April 1936);
Tenenboym, in Di shtime (Mexico)
(July 18, 1953); N. B. Minkov, in Tsukunft
(New York) (November 1939); M. Shtarkman, ed., Hemshekh-antologye (Hemshekh anthology) (New York, 1945); Shloyme Bikl, in Tsukunft (July-August 1953); Shmuel
Niger, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New
York) (December 7, 1952; August 2, 1953); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (December 18,
1953); Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen
(In essence) (New York, 1956), pp. 323-28; A. Leyeles, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (July 27, 1953); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (New York) (May 17, 1953); Dr.
Sh. Margoshes, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(September 27, 1953), English column; Y. Y. Sigal, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (July 6, 1953); E. Shulman, in Unzer shtime (Paris) (August 1, 1953); Y.
Glants, in Der veg (Mexico) (June 13,
1953); Y. Freylikh, in Undzer veg
(Toronto) (June 1953); M. Ravitsh, in Keneder
odler (April 12, 1954; September 16, 1957); Ravitsh, in Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Buenos
Aires) 11-12 (November-December 1954); N. Shtaynberg, in Oyfsnay (New York) (Autumn 1954); Sh. Slutski, Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen’s bibliography) (New York,
1956), nos. 4664, 4800, 4924, 4965; Kh. L. Fuks, in Fun noentn over 3 (New York, 1957), p. 233; B. Daymondshteyn, Eseyen (Essays) (Tohongo, 1958), pp.
19-22; Dr. Y. Shatski, in Jewish Bookland
(1953); Who’s Who in World Jewry (New
York, 1955).
Zaynvl Diamant
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 178.]
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