URI-TSVI
GRINBERG (URI-ZVI GREENBERG) (September 22, 1896-May 8, 1981)
He
was born in Bilyi
Kamin, near Zlotshev (Zolochiv), eastern Galicia. His father was a rabbi who later moved the
family to Lemberg. He received a
staunchly religious education which would later exert an influence on many of
his poems. He began writing, in both
Yiddish and Hebrew, at an early age. In
1912 he published his first poems in the Labor Zionist weekly Der yudisher arbayter (The Jewish
laborer) in Lemberg, and in Hebrew in Hashiloaḥ
(The shiloah) in Odessa. From mid-1914
until mid-1915, he suffered horrifically with the Russian invasion of Lemberg,
and out of this experience came his collection of war poems, Ergets oyf felder (Somewhere in the
fields) (Lemberg, 1915), which at the time because of the war remained
unnoticed by the wider reading public.
He was drafted at that time and sent to the front in Yugoslavia. He took part in many battles, stayed with his
regiment for a time in Sarajevo, published poetry in Sh. Y. Imber’s collection Inter Arma (Vienna, 1918), and later
near the end of the war left the army and experienced the pogrom of November
1918 in Lemberg, in which the entire Jewish quarter of the city was pillaged. In 1920 he moved to Warsaw where he
contributed to the radical literary publications of young Jewish poets—the
anthologies Ringen (Links), Khalyastre (Gang), and others—and he
published Hebrew poems in Hatekufa
(The epoch), issues 5, 8, and 10, and later he brought out his own serial
entitled Albatros (Albatross),
“journal for new poetic and artistic expression” (issue 1, Warsaw, 1922, 19
pp.; issue 2 was confiscated by the authorities due to blasphemous poems;
issues 3 and 4, Berlin, 1923). In this periodical,
Grinberg challenged the established version of realism in art. In his “Manifest tsu di kegner fun der nayer
dikhtung” (Manifesto to the opponents of the new poetry), he strove to
substantiate “the cruelty of the poem, the chaotic in the image, the scream of
blood,” and he called for “introspective conception, greater depth,…for the
free and naked human expression,” in the name of “an expressionism wrought in
blood and marrow.” In this periodical,
he published his poem “In malkhes fun tseylem” (In the kingdom of the cross)
and various articles. At the time
Grinberg’s journal caused a major sensation in Jewish literature. In 1924 he left for Israel, where he
published his Hebrew pamphlets Sadan
(Tree trunk) and Sadana deara (Human
nature) (Jerusalem, 1925), 32 pp., in which he came out publicly against modern
Hebrew literature, against Diaspora nationalism, and against official
Zionism. He plunged in with his
bellicose Hebraism and withdrew from Yiddish literary writing. He spent the years 1931-1935 back in Poland
and then returned to Israel, becoming one of the leaders of the Revisionist
Party. In 1949 he was elected as a
representative of the Ḥerut (Freedom) party to the Knesset.
Aside from his aforementioned first
poetry collection, Ergets oyf felder,
his books include: In tsaytns roysh
(In the tumult of the times), verse and prose, experiences and impressions from the war years
(Lemberg: Betsalel, 1919), 64 pp.; Farnakhtngold (Twilight’s shimmer), poetry (Warsaw: Di
Tsayt, 1921), 208 pp. In both of these
books, Grinberg remained more than anything “the quiet poet of religious
sanctity,” wrote Zalmen Reyzen, “of love poetry of which the better ones ring
like prayers.” His decadent pessimism
following WWI found expression in his most popular Yiddish work, among the most
strident in Yiddish literature, in his poem Mefisto
(Mephisto) (Lemberg: Dos Bukh, 1921), 63 pp., second edition (fine printing,
Warsaw: Farlag “Literatur-fond” baym fareyn fun yidishe literatn un zhurnalistn,
1922), 85 pp. Grinberg assumed a
prominent place in modern Yiddish poetry, especially in the tumultuous and
chaotic era after WWI. In both his
poetry and his journalism, he demonstrated considerable vitality and
temperament. He thus assumed one of the
most visible positions in modern Hebrew poetry.
His Hebrew poems were full of biting satire. His principle motifs were revenge for the
destruction of European Jewry and pathos and love for the new state of
Israel. He began once again in 1956-1957
to publish poems in Yiddish, an event giving rise to much repercussion in the
Yiddish world press. Among his later
works: Undzere oysyes glien, bay di
toyern fun trern shteyt a yid in gedenkshaft (Our letters glow, by the
gates of tears stands a Jew in remembrance) (Tel Aviv, 1978), 63 pp.; Gezamlte verk (Collected works)
(Jerusalem: Hebrew University, 1979), 2 vols.
Among his most important works in Hebrew: Reḥovot hanahar, sefer haelayut vehakoaḥ (The streets of the river, a work of strength and
power) (Jerusalem, 1951); Ema gedola veyareaḥ (Great terror and moon) (Tel Aviv, 1925);
and Kelev-bayit (Doghouse) (Tel Aviv,
1929), among others. He was living in
Ramat Gan, earlier in Jerusalem.
Grinberg won the Bialik Prize on two occasions. He died in Ramat-Gan and is buried in Jerusalem.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; P. Markish, in Shtern (Minsk) (March 1923); M. Gros, in
Tsukunft (New York) (September 1923);
G. Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934), p. 69; M.
Ribalov, Sefer hamasot (Book of
essays) (New York, 1928); M. Yafe, Antologye
fun der hebreisher dikhtung (Anthology of Hebrew poetry), vol. 1 (New York,
1948), pp. 343-558; M. Ravitsh, in Keneder
odler (Montreal) (November 20, 1950); Ravitsh, “Khalyastre” (Gang), in Idisher kemfer (New York) (Rosh Hashana
issue, 1957); Dov Sadan, Kaarat egozim o
elef bediha ubediha, asufat humor beyisrael (A bowl of nuts or one thousand and one jokes, an anthology
of humor in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1953); Ḥaim Toren and
Marcus Rabinson, Sifrutenu hayafa
(Our beautiful literature) (Jerusalem, 1953), pp. 9-22; Shmuel Niger, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 2,
1954); G. Katsnelson, in Haarets (Tel
Aviv) (July 2, 1954); A. Lifshits, in Afrikaner
yidishe tsaytung (Johannesburg) (September 23, 1955); Y. Blekher, in Der yidisher zhurnal (Toronto) (October
7, 1955); Lifshts, in Keneder odler
(August 22, 1955); Lifshits, in Der
yidisher zhurnal (October 18, 1955); Y. Beler, in Di shtime (Mexico) (November 10, 1955); Beler, Der yidisher zhurnal (October 7, 1955); David Lazar, Roshim beyisrael (Leaders of Israel),
vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1955), earlier published in Maariv (Tel Aviv) (March 16, 1954); M. Yafe, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 21 (June
1957); P. Azai, in Haarets (May 10,
1957); A. Leyeles, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (June 22, 1957); Y. Avishug, in Letste
nayes (Tel Aviv) (August 8, 1957); M. Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (September 30, 1957); Y. H. Yevin, Uri tsvi grinberg, meshorer meḥokek
(Uri Zvi Grinberg, poet legislator) (Tel Aviv, 1937), p. 96; A. A. Roback, The Story of Yiddish Literature (New
York, 1940); Who’s Who in Israel (Tel
Aviv, 1952); Mark M. Krug, in Judaism
(New York) (July 1953);
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 178.]
Uri iTzvi did not die in Jerusalem. He was, however, buried in the city, on Mount of Olives.
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