Eisig Silberschlag
Hebrew poet, translator and literary critic
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Eisig Silberschlag (Hebrew: יצחק זילברשלג; January 8, 1903 – September 30, 1988) was a Galician-born American Hebrew poet, translator, and literary critic. He received the Tchernichovsky Prize in 1951 for his translations of Aristophanes and Menander into Hebrew.[1]
Eisig Silberschlag | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 8, 1903 |
| Died | September 30, 1988 (aged 85) Austin, Texas, United States |
Resting place | Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery |
| Education | University of Vienna |
| Spouse |
Milkah Antler (died 1971) |
| Writing career | |
| Language | Hebrew |
| Notable awards |
|
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Judaic studies |
| Institutions | |
Biography
Eisig (Yitzhak) Silberschlag was born in Stry, eastern Galicia, to Ḥasidic parents Bertha (née Pomerantz) and David Silberschlag.[2] He studied Greek and Latin in the local gymnasium, and was active in the Hashomer Hatzair movement.[3] Silberschlag immigrated with his family to New York City in 1920,[4] publishing his first poem in the weekly Hadar in 1925.[3] That same year he returned to Europe, where he completed a doctorate at the University of Vienna with a dissertation on Anglo-Russian relations during the reign of Catherine the Great.[5]
He died at the age of 85 at St. David's Hospital in Austin,[6] and was buried at the Mount of Olives Cemetery in Jerusalem.[7]
Academic and literary career
In the early 1930s, Silberschlag taught at the Jewish Institute of Religion and at the Teachers Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary.[1] He published his first volume of poetry, Bi-shevilim bodedim, in 1931.[4] He also edited, along with Aaron Zeitlin, several volumes of the Hebrew quarterly Ha-Tekufah.[8]
Silberschlag joined the faculty of Hebrew College in 1944, rising to become dean, in which role he oversaw the college's accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges,[9] and then president.[10] Silberschlag was a candidate to succeed Joseph Klausner as chair of modern Hebrew literature at the Hebrew University upon the latter's retirement,[11] but remained in the United States when Simon Halkin was hired in this position.[5]
After his retirement and the death of his wife Milkah,[5] Silberschlag moved from Boston to Austin, Texas, where he was appointed professor of Hebrew literature at the University of Texas at Austin.[12] During this period he also served as president of the National Association of Professors of Hebrew.[3]
Published works
In Hebrew
- Bi-shevilim bodedim: shirim [On Solitary Paths] (in Hebrew). New York: Ogen. 1931.
- Yehudah Halevi: poʼemah [Judah Halevi] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Gilyonot. 1935.
- Tehiyah u-teḥiyah ba-shirah: masot [Astonishment and Renewal in Poetry] (in Hebrew). Warsaw: Avraham Yosef Shtibel. 1938.
- Mi-pi kushim [From the Mouths of Blacks] (in Hebrew). New York: Ḥamol. 1938.
- Sefer Turov [Book of Touroff] (in Hebrew). Boston: Hotsaʼat Bet ha-midrash le-morim. 1938. Editor, with Yoḥanan Twersky.
- Sheva panim le-Ḥavvah [Seven Faces of Eve] (in Hebrew). 1939.
- Bi-yemei Isabella [In the Days of Isabella] (in Hebrew). 1941.
- Aleh, olam, be-shir [Ascend, Oh World, in Song] (in Hebrew). New York: Ogen. 1947.
- Kimron yamai: shirim [The Arc of My Days] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Kiryat-sefer. 1959.
- Igrotai el dorot aḥerim: shirim [Letters to Other Generations] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Kiryat-sefer. 1971.
- Yesh reshit le-khol aḥarit: shirim [Each End Has a Beginning] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Kiryat-sefer. 1976.
- Ben alimut u-ven adishut [Between Violence and Indifference] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: R. Mass. 1981.
In English
- Hebrew Literature: An Evaluation. Herzl Institute pamphletno. 12. New York: Herzl Institute. 1959.
- Saul Tschernichowsky: Poet of Revolt. Translated by Kahn, Sholom Jacob. London: East and West Library. 1968.
- From Renaissance to Renaissance: Hebrew Literature from 1492–1970. Vol. I. New York: Ktav Publishing House. 1973.
- From Renaissance to Renaissance: Hebrew Literature in the Land of Israel, 1870–1970. Vol. II. New York: Ktav Publishing House. 1977.
- Thirty Years of Hebrew Literature Under Independence, 1948–1978. Manchester: John Rylands University Library of Manchester. 1981.
- Naphtali Herz Imber (1856-1909), Judaism: A Quarterly Journal of Jewish Life and Thought, vol. 5, no. 2, Spring 1956
Translations
- Paul the Silentiary (1945). Shire ahavah [Love Poems] (in Hebrew). New York: Histadrut ha-ʻIvrit be-Amerikah.
- de Haas, Carl (1945). Birinikah: tragediʼah be-ḥamesh maʻarakhot [Berenice: Tragedy in Five Acts] (in Hebrew). New York: Avraham Yosef Shtibel.
- Aristophanes (1950). Tsiporim: ha-ḳomedyah [The Birds] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Devir.
- Aristophanes (1951). Plutos [Plutus] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Devir.
- Aristophanes (1951). Komedyot [Comedies] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Devir.
- Aristophanes (1959). ʻAnanim [The Clouds] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Masadah.
- Aristophanes (1959). Tsefardeʻim: ḳomedyah [The Frogs] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Masadah.
- Aristophanes (1967). Aḥat esreh komedyot [Eleven Comedies] (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Masadah.
- Menander (1985). Ḥamishah maḥazot [Five Plays] (in Hebrew). Jerusalem: Mosad Bialik.