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{{Short description|Jewish American educator and writer}}
{{Unreferenced|date=April 2007}}
[[File:Aaron Zeitlin Photo.jpg|thumb|Aaron Zeitlin in 1962]]
'''Aaron Zeitlin''' (1898 in [[Uvarovichi]] – 1973 in [[New York]]), the son of the famous [[Jewish]] writer [[Hillel Zeitlin]] and Esther Kunin, authored several books on [[Yiddish literature]], [[Poetry]] and [[Parapsychology]].
'''Aaron Zeitlin''' (3 June 1898 – 28 September 1973) was a Jewish American educator and writer. He authored several books on [[Yiddish literature]], [[poetry]] and [[parapsychology]].


==Biography==
==Biography==
Zeitlin spent his formative years in [[Gomel]] and [[Vilna]]. In 1920, he and his brother Elchanan traveled to [[Palestine]], and in 1921 they returned to [[Warsaw]].
Zeitlin was born in [[Gomel Region|Uvarovichi]], Russia (now Belarus) to [[Hillel Zeitlin]] and Esther Kunin. He spent his formative years in [[Gomel]] and [[Vilna]]. In 1920, he and his brother Elchanan traveled to [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and in 1921 they returned to Eastern Europe, settling in [[Warsaw]].


His literary abilities were apparent already in his youth when he contributed some articles to the Odessa-based children's journal ''Perachim'' and ''Hashachar''.
Zeitlin's literary abilities were apparent already in his youth when he contributed some articles to the Odessa-based children's journal ''Perachim'' and ''[[Ha-Shaḥar|Hashachar]]''.


His first piece of literature ''Matatron'' appeared in ''[[Di yidishe velt]]'' (די ייִדישע װעלט "The Jewish World") in 1914, followed by many more articles published in many of the leading Jewish journals of that time.
His first publication was a fictional piece that appeared in the journal ''[[Di yidishe velt]]'' (די ייִדישע װעלט "The Jewish World"), in 1914. His first published books of [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] poetry were ''Matatron'' (1922) and ''Shotns oyfn shney'' (Shadows on Snow; 1923).<ref name="Encycl-Judaica">"Zeitlin, Aaron." ''Encyclopaedia Judaica''. 2nd ed. Edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. Vol. 21, p. 496. Retrieved via ''Gale eBooks'' database, May 22, 2020.</ref>


In the 1920s to 1930s, he published short stories, as well as many philosophical and journalistic essays, and pieces of literary and cultural criticism.<ref name="YIVO">Krutikov, Mikhail, and Pinsker, Shachar (June 27, 2011). "[https://yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Zeitlin_Family Zeitlin Family]." ''YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe''. Retrieved May 22, 2020.</ref>
In March 1939, he was invited to come to New York by [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] Playwright [[Maurice Schwartz]] and settled there until his death.


In 1939, Zeitlin accepted an invitation from [[Maurice Schwartz]], the director of the [[Yiddish Art Theatre]], to come to New York to work on the company's production of his play ''Esterke'';<ref name="YIVO"/> prevented from returning home by the beginning of the [[World War II|Second World War]], Zeitlin settled in New York permanently.<ref name="Encycl-Judaica"/>
⚫
His play ''Chelmer Chachomim'' had already opened to critical acclaim at the Yiddish Theatre in New York prior to his arrival, and he slowly became a fixture of the Yiddish scene.

⚫
His play ''Chelmer Chachomim'' (the title refers to the [[Wise Men of Chelm]]) had already opened to critical acclaim at the Yiddish Theatre in New York prior to his arrival, and he slowly became a fixture of the Yiddish scene.


For a time, he was also Professor of [[Hebrew literature]] at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], in New York.
For a time, he was also Professor of [[Hebrew literature]] at the [[Jewish Theological Seminary of America]], in New York.


He wrote the famous Yiddish song "[[Donna Donna]]", whose music was composed by [[Sholom Secunda]].
He was close with other Yiddish literary giants of his day, including [[Isaac Bashevis Singer]] who wrote of the former "his greatest vice was literature, religious literature and anything and everything of intellectual value, he was a man possessing vast knowledge, a veritable spiritual giant".

In 1969 Zeitlin and [[Abraham Sutzkever]] were the first recipients of the [[Itzik Manger Prize]] for Yiddish letters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Weisgal |first=Meyer |authorlink=Meyer Weisgal |title=Meyer Weisgal ... so far; an autobiography |page=320 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=27wLAQAAIAAJ |publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson |date=1971 |isbn=9780394475943}}</ref>

After WWII, Zeitlin married Rachel Wolfowski, a widow who hailed from Vilna. Her son from her previous marriage was Jewish philanthropist [[Zev Wolfson]].


Zeitlin died in Queens, New York, at the age of 75.<ref>{{cite web |title=Aaron L. Zeitlin, a Jewish Writer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/09/30/archives/aaron-l-zeitlin-a-jewish-writer.html |website=[[The New York Times]] |accessdate=7 August 2020 |date=30 September 1973}}</ref>
Together with [[Sholom Secunda]] he wrote the famous Yiddish song [[Donna Donna]].


==Published works==
==Published works==
''Ha-meziut ha-aheret'' (The other Dimension), Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1967.
''Ha-meziut ha-aheret'' (The other Dimension), Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1967.
''Parapsychologia murchevet'' (Expanded Parapsychology), Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1973.
''Parapsychologia murchevet'' (Expanded Parapsychology), Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1973.
''Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith'' [ed./trans. Morris Faierstein] (iUniverse), 1-217 (122, emended), 2007


==Sources==
==Sources==
Line 27: Line 35:
*Faierstein, Morris M. trans. and Ed., "Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith" By Aaron Zeitlin. iuniverse: New York, 2007.
*Faierstein, Morris M. trans. and Ed., "Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith" By Aaron Zeitlin. iuniverse: New York, 2007.


==External Links==
==Further reading==
*Astro, Alan, "Aaron Zeitlin's Cuban Exile," ''Judaica Latinoamericana'' 4 (2001), 451–64.
*Masor, Alyssa, "Ghost Cities: Aaron Zeitlin's Post-Holocaust Poetry," ''Zutot'' 12 (2015), 53–78.
*Schwarz, Jan, "A Poetics of Retrieval and Loss: Aaron Zeitlin and Yankev Glatshteyn," chap. 6 of ''Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture After the Holocaust'' (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2015).
*Szeintuch, Yechiel, "Aaron Zeitlin's Novels" (in Hebrew), ''Proceedings of the World Conference of Jewish Studies'' 10 (1989), 323–30.
*Tolle, Yeshua G. B., "[https://www.asymptotejournal.com/special-feature/world-literature-at-the-end-of-the-world-the-case-of-aaron-zeitlin-yeshua-g-b-tolle/ World Literature at the End of the World: The Case of Aaron Zeitlin]," ''Asymptote'' (January 2022)
*Trinh, Miriam, "Anticipation of the Shoah in the Poetic Works of Aaron Zeitlin" (in Hebrew), ''Khulyot'' 6 (2000), 141–85.
*Wolski, Nathan, "The Secret of Yiddish: Zoharic Composition in the Poetry of Aaron Zeitlin," ''Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts'' 20 (2009), 147–80.


==External links==
* [http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/audio/aaron-zeitlin-reads-from-his-work-and-interviewed-by-abraham-tabachnick-part-1 Interview with Aaron Zeitlin in Yiddish] from the [http://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/ Yiddish Book Center's] Frances Brandt online library
*[http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/Z/zeitlin-aaron.htm "Aaron (Eliezer) Zeitlin" Museum of Family History: Lives in the Yiddish Theater]
*[https://jewishphilosophyplace.com/2020/04/30/modern-jewish-esotericism-holocaust-parapsychology-aaron-zeitlin/ Jewish Philosophy Place: (Modern Jewish Esotericism) Holocaust Parapsychology (Aaron Zeitlin)]
*[https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/zeitlin-aaron "Aaron Zeitlin" Encyclopedia.com]


==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Persondata <!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]]. -->
| NAME = Zeitlin, Aaron
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
| SHORT DESCRIPTION = Jewish writer
| DATE OF BIRTH = 1898
| PLACE OF BIRTH =
| DATE OF DEATH = 1973
| PLACE OF DEATH =
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeitlin, Aaron}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zeitlin, Aaron}}
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:1973 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Buda-Kashalyowa Raion]]
[[Category:People from Buda-Kashalyova District]]
[[Category:People from Mogilev Governorate]]
[[Category:People from Gomelsky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Belarusian Jews]]
[[Category:Belarusian Jews]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Polish emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:American male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:American male journalists]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male poets]]
[[Category:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American people of Belarusian-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Jewish American writers]]
[[Category:Jewish American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Yiddish-language playwrights]]
[[Category:Jewish American journalists]]
[[Category:Jewish American novelists]]
[[Category:Jewish American poets]]
[[Category:Yiddish-language dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Yiddish-language journalists]]
[[Category:Yiddish-language journalists]]
[[Category:Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives]]
[[Category:Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives]]
[[Category:Yiddish-language poets]]
[[Category:Yiddish-language novelists]]
[[Category:American poets in Yiddish]]
[[Category:20th-century American poets]]
[[Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Itzik Manger Prize recipients]]

Revision as of 06:16, 7 August 2024

Aaron Zeitlin in 1962

Aaron Zeitlin (3 June 1898 – 28 September 1973) was a Jewish American educator and writer. He authored several books on Yiddish literature, poetry and parapsychology.

Biography

Zeitlin was born in Uvarovichi, Russia (now Belarus) to Hillel Zeitlin and Esther Kunin. He spent his formative years in Gomel and Vilna. In 1920, he and his brother Elchanan traveled to Palestine, and in 1921 they returned to Eastern Europe, settling in Warsaw.

Zeitlin's literary abilities were apparent already in his youth when he contributed some articles to the Odessa-based children's journal Perachim and Hashachar.

His first publication was a fictional piece that appeared in the journal Di yidishe velt (די ייִדישע װעלט "The Jewish World"), in 1914. His first published books of Yiddish poetry were Matatron (1922) and Shotns oyfn shney (Shadows on Snow; 1923).[1]

In the 1920s to 1930s, he published short stories, as well as many philosophical and journalistic essays, and pieces of literary and cultural criticism.[2]

In 1939, Zeitlin accepted an invitation from Maurice Schwartz, the director of the Yiddish Art Theatre, to come to New York to work on the company's production of his play Esterke;[2] prevented from returning home by the beginning of the Second World War, Zeitlin settled in New York permanently.[1]

His play Chelmer Chachomim (the title refers to the Wise Men of Chelm) had already opened to critical acclaim at the Yiddish Theatre in New York prior to his arrival, and he slowly became a fixture of the Yiddish scene.

For a time, he was also Professor of Hebrew literature at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, in New York.

He wrote the famous Yiddish song "Donna Donna", whose music was composed by Sholom Secunda.

In 1969 Zeitlin and Abraham Sutzkever were the first recipients of the Itzik Manger Prize for Yiddish letters.[3]

After WWII, Zeitlin married Rachel Wolfowski, a widow who hailed from Vilna. Her son from her previous marriage was Jewish philanthropist Zev Wolfson.

Zeitlin died in Queens, New York, at the age of 75.[4]

Published works

Ha-meziut ha-aheret (The other Dimension), Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1967. Parapsychologia murchevet (Expanded Parapsychology), Tel Aviv: Yavneh, 1973. Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith [ed./trans. Morris Faierstein] (iUniverse), 1-217 (122, emended), 2007

Sources

  • Alpert, Reuven. Caught In The Crack, Wandering Soul Press, 2002. pp. 151
  • Faierstein, Morris M. trans. and Ed., "Poems of the Holocaust and Poems of Faith" By Aaron Zeitlin. iuniverse: New York, 2007.

Further reading

  • Astro, Alan, "Aaron Zeitlin's Cuban Exile," Judaica Latinoamericana 4 (2001), 451–64.
  • Masor, Alyssa, "Ghost Cities: Aaron Zeitlin's Post-Holocaust Poetry," Zutot 12 (2015), 53–78.
  • Schwarz, Jan, "A Poetics of Retrieval and Loss: Aaron Zeitlin and Yankev Glatshteyn," chap. 6 of Survivors and Exiles: Yiddish Culture After the Holocaust (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2015).
  • Szeintuch, Yechiel, "Aaron Zeitlin's Novels" (in Hebrew), Proceedings of the World Conference of Jewish Studies 10 (1989), 323–30.
  • Tolle, Yeshua G. B., "World Literature at the End of the World: The Case of Aaron Zeitlin," Asymptote (January 2022)
  • Trinh, Miriam, "Anticipation of the Shoah in the Poetic Works of Aaron Zeitlin" (in Hebrew), Khulyot 6 (2000), 141–85.
  • Wolski, Nathan, "The Secret of Yiddish: Zoharic Composition in the Poetry of Aaron Zeitlin," Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts 20 (2009), 147–80.

References

  1. ^ a b "Zeitlin, Aaron." Encyclopaedia Judaica. 2nd ed. Edited by Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. Macmillan Reference USA, 2007. Vol. 21, p. 496. Retrieved via Gale eBooks database, May 22, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Krutikov, Mikhail, and Pinsker, Shachar (June 27, 2011). "Zeitlin Family." YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  3. ^ Weisgal, Meyer (1971). Meyer Weisgal ... so far; an autobiography. Weidenfeld and Nicolson. p. 320. ISBN 9780394475943.
  4. ^ "Aaron L. Zeitlin, a Jewish Writer". The New York Times. 30 September 1973. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
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