Leon Feinberg (February 6, 1897 – January 22, 1969) was a Ukrainian-born Jewish-American Yiddish poet, writer, and journalist.

Life

Feinberg was born on February 6, 1897, in

Kodyma Kodyma (, ; ) is a city in Odesa Oblast (region) of central Ukraine, located in the historic region of Podolia, south-eastern Podilia. It hosts the administration of Kodyma urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. Population: Descriptio ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Feinberg attended religious primary school until he was seven. He later moved to Odessa with his parents and attended a high school there. He graduated from Iglitski-Rapoport high school in 1912 at the age of fifteen. His father moved to America, and Feinberg briefly lived with his father there before returning to Russia. He entered the

University of Moscow Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

in 1915, graduating from there in 1919. He was one of the large number of Jewish students who took an officer training course for the army following the outbreak of the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

, and after the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

he joined the

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

and fought against the

Whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

. At one point, he was adjutant for Soviet Commissar Yan Gamarnik (brother-in-law of

Hayim Nahman Bialik Hayim Nahman Bialik (; January 9, 1873 – July 4, 1934) was a Jewish poet who wrote primarily in Hebrew language, Hebrew and Yiddish. Bialik is considered a pioneer of modern Hebrew poetry, part of the vanguard of Jewish thinkers who gave voice ...

). In the autumn of 1919, he was captured by Anton Denikin's men, who threatened to shoot him, only to be saved by Bialik's intervention on his behalf. In November 1919, Bialik helped him leave Russia on the '' Ruslan'' and travelled to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

. He stayed there for a year and was a founder of the kibbutz

Kiryat Anavim Kiryat Anavim () is a kibbutz in the Judean Hills of Israel. It was the first kibbutz established in the Judean Hills. It is located west of Jerusalem, and falls under the jurisdiction of the Mateh Yehuda Regional Council. In it had a population ...

near

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. He then spent a year traveling the world as a sailor, and in 1921 he came to America and reunited with his father. Feinberg's first volume of Russian poetry was published in 1914 and was influenced by

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: *Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea Arts *Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea ** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...

. He wrote other volumes of Russian poems in 1919, 1923, and 1947. He wrote his poems under the pen name Leonid Grebniov. He began writing primarily in Yiddish after he immigrated to America, although he continued to write in Russian as well. In the 1920s, his poems combined Russian mystic revolutionary strains, American

Imagism Imagism was a movement in early-20th-century poetry that favored precision of imagery and clear, sharp language. It is considered to be the first organized modernist literary movement in the English language. Imagism has been termed "a successi ...

, and the Yiddish In-Zikh movement, and alternated between warm reminiscences of his pious past and a desire to help the forward march of the future. In the 1930s, he wrote

proletarian poetry The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist philos ...

and remained supportive of the Soviet Union in his poems until the Hitler–Stalin Pact in 1939. He then became disillusioned with Communism and his writings became focused on his affection for the Jewish people. His volumes included ''Groisshtut'' (Metropolis) in 1928, ''Likht Un Broit'' (Light and Bread) in 1931, ''Khaver Leben'' (Comrade Life) in 1938, and ''Die Yorshim Fun Der Erd'' (The Inheritors of the Earth) in 1941. Feinberg was a member of the editorial board of the Yiddish daily '' Freihet'' and the monthly ''Hamer''. He often contributed to ''

Der Tog ''Der Tog'' () was a Yiddish-language daily newspaper published in New York City from 1914 until 1971. The offices of ''Der Tog'' were located on the Lower East Side, at 185 and 187 East Broadway. History The newspaper's first issue was on Nov ...

'', and from 1945 to 1955 he served as its city editor. He continued to write a column on political affairs for the paper afterwards. He wrote 15 novels, including the verse novels ''Der Farmishpeter Dor'' (The Condemned Generation) in 1954 and ''Der Gebentshter Dor'' (The Blessed Generation) in 1962 which explored the lives of two generations of Jews who were caught up in the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

but immigrated to America and Palestine, and ''Der Khorever Dor'' (The Ruined Generation) in 1967 which explored the lives of those who stayed in the Soviet Union. English translations of his poems were published in Joseph Leftwich's ''The Golden Peacock'' in 1940 and in J. B. Cooperman's ''America in Yiddish Poetry'' in 1967. Feinberg was awarded the Leib Hoffer Premium from

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

in 1918 and the Willie and Lisa Shore literary stipend from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in 1968. He was vice-president and president of the Yiddish

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internati ...

, a national committeeman of the National Committee for Jewish Culture, and president and secretary of the Yiddish Writers Union. He was married to Florence Weingarten. Their children were Norman, Professor

Gerald Feinberg Gerald Feinberg (27 May 1933 – 21 April 1992) was a Columbia University physicist, futurist and popular science author. He spent a year as a Member of the Institute for Advanced Study, and two years at the Brookhaven Laboratories. Feinberg went ...

, Mrs. Babette Inglehart, Mrs. Rita Josephson, and Mrs. Harriet Bonfeld. Feinberg died in Lebanon Hospital in the Bronx on January 22, 1969.

References

External links

Leon Feinberg Website

Papers of Leon Feinberg
at the ''

Center for Jewish History The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City, namely the American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva Univ ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Feinberg, Leon 1897 births 1969 deaths People from Koderma district Odesa Jews American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jewish writers from the Russian Empire Imperial Moscow University alumni Male poets from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian poets Russian male poets Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American poets in Yiddish 20th-century American Jews Jewish American poets Jewish American journalists 20th-century American poets American male poets Poets from New York (state) American male journalists Journalists from New York City Editors of New York City newspapers 20th-century American newspaper editors