Funeral services were held Friday for Eliezer Greenberg, a Yiddish poet and critic who translated many works of Yiddish literature into English. He died last Thursday at the age of 80 after a long illness.
Greenberg published five books of poetry and three books of critical essays in Yiddish. He edited five volumes of translations of Yiddish works in collaboration with Irving Howe, the best known of which is “A Treasury of Yiddish Stories.” Their most recent works is “Ashes Out of Hope,” fiction by Soviet Yiddish writers.
Born Dec. 31, 1896 in Lipkani, Russia, Greenberg came to the United States in 1913. He was director of Yiddish press relations for the American Jewish Committee for several years. He was a founder and former officer of the Yiddish branch of the P.E.N. Club. He was also a member of the I.L. Peretz Yiddish Writers Union and the Workmen’s Circle.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
