Zvi Yair ( he, צבי יאיר) is the

pen-name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and Chassidic scholar, Rabbi Zvi Meir Steinmetz ( he, צבי מאיר שטיינמץ; 1915–2005). Zvi Yair was a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

who wrote in

Biography

His father Shlomo Dov Steinmetz lived in the village of Brister in the Carpathian Mountains, on the border of Galicia, but Zvi Yair was born in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

(1915), where the family was living temporarily because of the upheavals caused by the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1940 he married Devorah Isenberg and was hiding in Budapest during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

thanks to a family friend, Eleonóra Sipos, which he later awarded a tree in the

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

museum. After the war he lived in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, till 1952 when he immigrated to New York. He began as a teacher in a Yeshiva University affiliated high school and then entered the real estate business as a mortgage broker and small investor.

Works

He published his first book, "Gesharim"

ridges A ridge or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

( Herskovitz Miklós,

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and ...

, Hungary) under the name ''Ben Shlomo'' he son of Shlomoin 1942 during World War II, and in 1951 he published in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

"Netiv"

ath Ath (; nl, Aat, ; pcd, Ât; wa, Ate) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Arbre, Ath, Bouvignies, Ghislenghien, Gibecq, Houtaing, ...

He moved to New York and published a booklet in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

in 1968 "Al Hachof" n the Beach In 1973 he published "Merosh Zurim" (Eked, Tel Aviv), in 1981 "Miknaf Haaretz" (Eked, Tel Aviv) and in 1997 "Bechevion Hanefesh" (Heichal Menachem, Jerusalem).

External links

Official websiteEnglish Translations on Chabad.org
20th-century Hungarian rabbis Hungarian Hasidic rabbis American Hasidic rabbis Chabad-Lubavitch rabbis Jewish poets Hebrew-language poets American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Writers from Budapest 1915 births 2005 deaths Pseudonymous writers {{Hungary-poet-stub