AVROM-BER
TABATSHNIK (TABACHNICK) (August 16, 1901-June 13, 1970)
He was born in the village of Nizhny
Altshedaev, raised there and in the village of Konotkovits, Mohilev-Podolsk
district, Ukraine. He studied in
religious elementary school and with private tutors in Shargorod (Sharhorod)
and Luchinets, graduating from a Russian middle school in Mohilev-Podolsk. He moved to the United States in 1921,
settled in Waterbury, and in 1922 graduated from high school there. Over the years 1925-1936, he worked as a
teacher in Workmen’s Circle schools in Erie, Pennsylvania and the Dorchester
neighborhood in Boston. He spent 1936-1938
employed on United States Work Projects (W.P.A.) and with the Universal Jewish
Encyclopedia which was published by the Projects. He served as a member of the editorial board
of Di idishe velt (The Jewish world),
1928-1940, in Philadelphia. From 1941 he
was an internal contributor to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (ITA) in America. He first began writing lyrical poetry in
Russian, later switching to Yiddish. He
debuted in print in Der proletarisher
gedank (The proletarian idea) in New York in 1923, and from that point he
wrote poems, critical essays, literary treatments, and journalistic and current
events articles for: Oyfgang (Arise),
Tsukunft (Future), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of
labor), Idisher kemfer (Jewish
fighter), Der veker (The alarm), Der tog (The day), Bodn (Terrain), Studyo
(Studio), Signal (Signal), Masn (Masses), Fayln (Arrows), and Zamlbikher
(Collections—no. 6), among others—all in New York; Literarishe zamlungen (Literary anthologies), Shikago (Chicago), and Brikn
(Bridges)—in Chicago; Di idishe velt
in Philadelphia; Tint un feder (Ink
and pen) in Toronto; and Di goldene keyt
(The golden chain) in Tel Aviv; among others.
He compiled the anthology, Di
shtim fun yidishn poet (The voice of a Yiddish poet), in which he
immortalized over twenty Yiddish poets in America—on a recorded electronic
tape—in the form of questions and answers, which afforded it a character both
from the poets’ own creations and the actual poetic issues of Yiddish work in
general (several of the “questions and answers” were published in Tsukunft and Idisher kemfer in New York).
He also participated in the compilation of two volumes of Mani Leyb’s Lider un baladn (Poems and ballads) (New
York, 1955). In book form, poetry: In sheyd (In the sheath) (New York,
1936), 63 pp.; and Dikhter un dikhtung
(Poets and poetry) (New York, 1949), 71 pp.; critical monographic essays: Der man fun lid, vegn zishe landoy (The
man of the poem, on Zishe Landau), with three poetic dedications to Zishe
Landau (New York, 1941), 60 pp.; Abe
shtoltsenberg (Aba Shtoltsenberg), including the poem “Baym keyver fun abe
shtoltsenberg” (By the grave of Aba Shtoltsenberg) and several biographical
notices (New York, 1951), 64 pp.; Der
mentsh in kholem, di dikhtung fun meyer shtiker (Man in dream, the poetry
of Meyer Shtiker) (New York, 1962), 46 pp.; Dikhter
un dikhtung, essays (New York, 1965), 511 pp.[1] He also published and edited (with
Shtoltsenberg, M. Shtiker, and Kh. N. Fisherman) three anthologies of Fayln (New York, 1928-1931), and (with
Meyer Shtiker) the quarterly journal Vogshol
(Scales) 1 and 2 (1959). He published in
various magazines and collections critical essays on L. Shapiro, Yehoash, Y.
Rolnik, Moyshe Nadir, B. Vaynshteyn, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, and many others. Tabatshnik’s poetry was translated into
Polish by Dvore Fogel and published in Chwila
(Moment) in Lemberg (1936)
Critics have considered him among
the most important representatives of Neo-Impressionism in Yiddish
literature. “His essay is a specimen of
classical criticism,” wrote Shmuel Niger about Tabatshnik’s book Der man fun lid, “exalted and to the
point. It is full of internal exaggerations—and
yet precise. Hymns without any exalted
words.” Concerning his book Opsheyd lider,[2] Niger wrote: “The poet
Tabatshnik is stingy with words and poems, though he is rich in his love for
them…. The poet of the quiet, courteous,
sincere—and on another occasion inspired by literature and authentic poetic
difference.” “Tabatshnik’s essay is
truly a classic,” wrote Melekh Ravitsh about his book Abe shtoltenberg; “written with calmness, it has the form to include
the maximum. It has the tact and the
style, written to be a book and not to be published in fragments in
newspapers. It is chiseled as one piece,
shot through with love and understanding.”
He also wrote under the pen names: A. M. Shafir, Tess, and others. He died in New York.
Sources:
Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (New
York) (November 20, 1935; March 26, 1941); Z. Vaynper, in Oyfkum (New York) (February 1936); M. Kats, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (March 22, 1936; January 14, 1940); M.
Saktsyer, in Shoybn (Bucharest) (May
1936); M. Birnboym, in Signal (New
York) (May 1936); D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (July 31, 1936); Shmuel Niger, in Der tog (New York) (August 23, 1936;
November 8, 1941; October 10, 1943; October 24, 1943; October 31, 1943; April
16, 1950); Niger, Kritik un kritiker
(Criticism and critics) (Buenos Aires, 1959), pp. 156-62; Elye Shulman, in Proletarisher gedank (New York) (November
15, 1936); Y. Glants, in Der veg
(Mexico City) (July 10, 1937); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (July 12, 1938); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Der tog (February 15, 1941); N. Y.
Gotlib, in Keneder odler (Montreal)
(March 31, 1941); N. B. Minkov, in Idisher
kemfer (New York) (August 29, 1941); Alef Kats, in Havaner lebn (Havana, Cuba) (April 1, 1942); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York) (1949), pp. 211-12;
M. Ravitsh, in Tsukunft (Future)
(February-March 1953); Ravitsh, in Keneder
odler (July 1, 1957); Der Lebediker, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (July 1, 1956); E. Fershleyser, Af
shrayberishe shlyakhn, kritishe eseyen (On writerly paths, critical essay)
(New York, 1958), pp. 164-70; Mina Bordo-Rivkin, Lider un iberblikn (Poems and overviews) (Buenos Aires, 1958), pp.
63-66; Sh. D. Zinger, Dikhter un
prozaiker (Poet and prose writer) (New York, 1959), pp. 113-21; B. Rivkin, Yidishe dikhter in amerike (Yiddish
poets in America) (Buenos Aires, 1959), pp. 268-78; Yankev Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence), vol. 2
(Buenos Aires, 1960), pp. 253-58; Universal
Jewish Encyclopedia (New York, 1943), p. 152.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 274.]
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