Biletzki, Israel Ḥayyim

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BILETZKI, ISRAEL ḤAYYIM

BILETZKI, ISRAEL ḤAYYIM (1914–1992), Yiddish poet and Hebrew essayist. Born in Kobrin, Biletzki immigrated to Palestine in 1934, and published extensively in Yiddish before and after the founding of the State of Israel. From his first book of Yiddish verse Umru ("Anxiety," 1937) to his 15th lyric volume Shures Tsvantsik (1982), he displayed impeccable artistry in simple rhymed quatrains as well as in sophisticated free rhythms. While he published books in Yiddish about Itzik *Manger (1976) and Uri Zevi *Greenberg, most of his studies about individual Yiddish writers (e.g., H. *Leivick, *Bashevis Singer (English translation 1995), A. *Sutzkever) and various periods of the Yiddish literature were written in Hebrew.

bibliography:

lnyl, 1 (1956), 292; M. Ravitch, Mayn Leksikon (1958), 85–86; Kressel, Leksikon, 1 (1965), 229. add. bibliography: I. Yanasovitch, in: Di Goldene Keyt, 83 (1974), 185–91; B. Kagan, Leksikon (1986), 83.

[Sol Liptzin]