Eisig Silberschlag

Eisig Silberschlag
Born(1903-01-08)January 8, 1903
Stry, Galicia, Austria-Hungary
DiedSeptember 30, 1988(1988-09-30) (aged 85)
Austin, Texas, United States
Resting placeMount of Olives Jewish Cemetery
LanguageHebrew
Alma materUniversity of Vienna
Notable awards
  • Lamed Prize for Hebrew Literature (1943)
  • Tchernichovsky Prize (1951)
  • Florence and Harry Kovner Memorial Award (1960)
Spouse
Milkah Antler
​
(died 1971)​
Academic work
DisciplineJudaic studies
Institutions

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]

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 [Wikidata].[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 [Wikidata].
  • 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

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.

References

  1. ^ a b Mintz, Alan (2011). "Eisig Silberschlag and the Persistence of the Erotic in American Hebrew Poetry". In Jelen, Sheila E.; Kramer, Michael P.; Lerner, L. Scott (eds.). Modern Jewish Literatures: Intersections and Boundaries. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. pp. 169–188. doi:10.9783/9780812204360-010. ISBN 978-0-8122-0436-0.
  2. ^ Blumesberger, Susanne; Doppelhofer, Michael; Mauthe, Gabriele (2002). Handbuch österreichischer Autorinnen und Autoren jüdischer Herkunft: 18. bis 20. Jahrhundert (in German). Vol. 1. Munich: K. G. Saur. pp. 1322–1323. doi:10.1515/9783110949001. ISBN 978-3-11-094900-1.
  3. ^ a b c Holtzman, Avner. "Zilbershlag, Yitzḥak". Leksikon heksherim le-sofrim yisre'elim. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  4. ^ a b Tolkes, Jerucham (2007). "Silberschlag, Eisig". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
  5. ^ a b c Mintz, Alan (2011). Sanctuary in the Wilderness: A Critical Introduction to American Hebrew Poetry. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. pp. 252–273. doi:10.11126/stanford/9780804762939.003.0011. ISBN 978-0-8047-6293-9.
  6. ^ "Eisig Silberschlag, 85, Hebrew College Chief". The New York Times. October 6, 1988. p. 26.
  7. ^ Galron-Goldschläger, Joseph (ed.). "Eisig Silberschlag". Leksikon ha-sifrut ha-'ivrit ha-ḥadasha (in Hebrew). Ohio State University. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
  8. ^ Wilensky, Mordecai (1988). יצחק זילברשלג ז״ל [Eisig Silberschlag Z"L]. Newsletter (in Hebrew). 29 (29). World Union of Jewish Studies: 76–77. JSTOR 23377109.
  9. ^ "Past Leadership". Hebrew College. Archived from the original on 18 September 2020.
  10. ^ "Eisig Silberschlag, former president of Hebrew College, scholar; at 85". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. October 3, 1988. p. 27.
  11. ^ Band, Arnold J. (2003). Studies in Modern Jewish Literature. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. pp. 16–17. ISBN 978-0-8276-0762-0.
  12. ^ "Finding aid" (1910–1989). Eisig Silberschlag papers, ID: M1479. Stanford, California: Department of Special Collections and University Archives, Stanford University.