BERL SHNABL

BERL SHNABL (1909-1972)

            He was a poet, born in Siget (Sighetu Marmației), Romania.  He attended religious elementary school and yeshiva.  His parents were very religious.  In 1930 he settled in Bucharest.  After the death of his only son at Auschwitz, he lapsed into a severe illness.  In 1961 he departed for Israel.  He composed proletarian poetry and articles.  He contributed to: Oyfgang (Arise) in Sighetu Marmației (1933-1938, with interruptions), Ikuf-zhurnal (IKUF journal) in Bucharest, and Bukareshter zamlbikher (Bucharest anthologies) (1947, co-editor).  He edited Der shtern (The star) in Sighetu Marmației (1933, 4 issues) and co-edited Unzer lebn (Our life) in Sighetu Marmației (1947).  His work also appeared in: Yitskhok Paner and Leyzer Frenkel, Naye yidishe dikhtung (Modern Yiddish poetry) (Iași: Jewish cultural circle in Romania, 1947).  His works include: Milner-gas, lider (Millers’ street, poems) (Bucharest: Sholem-aleykhem 1936), 61 pp.; Yeshive-lider (Yeshiva poems) (Bucharest: Yidishe biblyotek, 1942), 108 pp. He died in Nahariya, Israel.

            “Shnabl radical break with his religious home,” wrote Shloyme Bikl, “impeded both the fictional and the stylistic harmony of both of Berl Shabl’s books of poetry.”

Sources: Yitskhok Paner, in Tsukunft (New York) (September 1966); Shloyme Bikl, Rumenye (Romania) (Buenos Aires, 1961), pp. 364-68; Natan Mark, Sifrut yidish berumenya (Yiddish literature in Romania) (Tel Aviv, 1973), see index; Julian Shvarts, Literarishe dermonungen (Literary reminiscences) (Bucharest: Kriteryon, 1975), pp. 208-11; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Y. Kara