Dem 25stn November 2013 iz in Petakh-Tikve, Yisroel avek in der eybikayt der poet un prozaiker Aleksander Shpiglblat, eyner fun di letste groyse shraybers in der Yidisher shprakh. Tsum badoyern hot er nit bakumen di geherike onerkenung vos er hot fardint vi a shrayber. Me hot im oykh veynik ibergezetst af English un mistome oykh af andere leshoynes. Ikh breng do tsvey lider kedey der leyener zol khotsh krign a bisl dem tam fun zany shraybn. Dos ershte lid mit der iberzetsung gefinen zikh af mayn blog, Liderlikht: Yidishe lider vegn mames – shevazucker.com/blog. Beyde lider hobn zikh gedrukt in dem zhurnal Afn Shvel, fun velkhn er iz zint 2008 geven a mitglid fun der redkolyege. Nokh di lider kumt a kurtse byografye.
DER MAMES HENT
Ven der vokhediker umet
Minyet in November-groy,
Ruft aroys mayn benkshaft
Fraytik-tsu-nakhtsn vayte,
Ven di mame fleg a forkhtike
Ontsindn di Shabes-likht.
Nit azoy di likht, leman-hoemes,
Ruft aroys mayn benkshaft,
Vi der mames bentshndike hent,
Vos hobn frum getsoybert
Un geflatert iber zey,
Iber di flemlekh
Geshpiglt in glants
Fun laykhter, zilberne.
Dergeyt tsu mir atsind
Der heyliker geflater
Fun der mames hent,
Un tut a blend
In mayn vokhedikn umet
fun November-groy.
*Afn Shvel*, #348-349, 2010
A FREMDKAYT
?A fremdkayt a vayse
Tut zikh on af mir
Vi dem zeydns kitl
Vos er flegt onton
Far Kol-nidre,
Kedey tsu zayn opgesheydt
Fun oylem-haze
Vi a mes.
Benk ikh atsind
Nokh dem heymishn beged
Vos kh’hob farzetst
Bam lombard far a kholem
In eynem mit Tales-un-tfiln,
Un ken zey shoyn itst
Mer nit oysleyzn.
Afn Shvel, #342-343, 2008.
Aleksander Shpiglblat iz geboyrn gevorn in 1927 in Kimpeling, Bukovine. Er hot gelernt in kheyder un in a rumenisher gimnazye. Er hot ibergelebt di milkhome in kontsentratsye-lagern in Transnistriye. Nokh der milkhome hot er zikh gelernt in Bukareshter universitet un iz gevorn a lektor in der rusisher literatur. In 1964 hot er oyle geven un gevoynt in Petakh-Tivke biz zayn ptire. Er iz geven der redaktsye-sekretar fun dem zhurnal Di Goldene Keyt fun 1971 biz er hot zikh farmakht in 1995. Zayne zikhrones vegn dem zhurnal un zayn legendarn redaktor Avrom Sutskever ken men leyenen in zayn bikhl Durkh farreykherte shayblekh, (Leyvik-Farlag, 2007).
In 1984 hot er gevunen di Manger-premye. Er iz der mekhaber fun a tuts bikhlekh poezye un proze, tsvishn zey zibn aroysgegebn in dem nayem yortoyznt: Durkhn shpaktiv fun a zeyger-makher; 2000, Bloe vinklen – Itsik Manger, lebn, lid un balade; 2003, Krimeve – an altfrenkishe mayse; 2005, Griner umet: lider; 2007, Durkh farreykherte shayblekh; 2007, Getunken in honik-tsar; 2009 un ersht mit a por vokhn tsurik iz ongekumen tsu mir zany nayst verk, A moshl zukht a nimshel: Araynblik in di mesholim fun Eliezer Shteynbarg; 2013.
Vegn zayn poezye hot Y. Yanosovitsh geshribn in dem Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur, “Poetisher tsimtsem, lirishe miniatur, dos kleyne lid hobn in Shpiglblatn gefunen a talantfuln zinger.”
Ikh hob gehat di skhiye tsu zayn tsu gast ba im un zayn liber froy Lucie in Petakh-Tikve etlekhe mol. Er iz geven an eydeler mentsh mit a shtiler ironye. Koved zayn likhtikn ondenk.
In English
On November 25, 2013 in Petach-Tikvah, Israel, Alexander Spiegelblatt, one of the last great Yiddish writers passed away. Unfortunately, he did not get the literary recognition he deserved. Very little of his work is as yet translated into English. I would like to offer two of his poems so that the reader may get a taste of his poetry. The first poem, “My Mother’s Hands” and my translation can be found on my blog: Candles of Song: Yiddish Poems about Mothers – shevazucker.com/blog. Both poems were published in the Yiddish magazine Afn Shvel.
*My Mother’s Hands*
When the workaday sorrow
Glistens in the November-grey
My longing summons forth
Far-off Sabbath eves
When my mother, full of awe,
Would light the Sabbath candles.
It is not so much the candles, truth to tell,
That summon forth my longing,
As my mother’s blessing hands,
That quietly worked magic
And fluttered over them,
Over the tiny flames
Reflected in the gleam
Of silver candlesticks.
Now the holy flutter
Of my mother’s hands
Finds it way to me,
And sends a dazzle of light
Into my week-a-day sorrow
of November grey.
Tr. Sheva Zucker
A Strangeness
A white strangeness
Puts itself on me
Like the kitl
That my grandfather used to put on
Before Kol-nidre,
So that he might be separated
From This World
Like a dead man.
So now I long
For that familiar garment
That I pawned
In the pawnshop for a dream
Together with my tales and tfiln,
And that now I can
No longer redeem.
Tr. Sheva Zucker
Alexander Spiegelblatt was born in Kimpelung, Bukovinain in 1927. He went to a traditional kheyder (school) and then to a Romanian gimnazye (high school). He survived the war in concentration camps in Romanian Transnistria. After the war he studied in The University of Bucharest and became a lecturer in Russian literature. In 1964 he emigrated to Israel and settled in Petach Tikvah where he resided until his death. From 1971 until it closed in 1995 he was editorial-manager of the magazine, *Di goldene keyt*, a Yiddish literary periodical of the highest order. One can read his reminiscences about the magazine and its legendary editor Avrom Sutzkever in his book Durkh farreykherte shayblekh (Through smoky windowpanes; 2007). In 1984 Spiegelblatt won the Manger Prize, the highest honor Yiddish literature has to offer.
He is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, among them seven published in this millenium: *Durkhn shpaktiv fun a zeyger-makher* (Through a watchmaker’s spyglass; 2000), *Bloe vinklen – Itsik Manger: lebn, lid un balade* (Blue corners – Itsik Manger, life, song and ballad: 2003), *Krimeve – an altfrenkishe mayse* (Krimeve – an old-fashioned story; 2005), *Griner umet: lider* (Green sorrow: poems; 2007), *Durkh farreykherte shayblekh*(Through smoky windowpanes; 2007), *Getunken in honik-tsar* (Dipped in honied sorrow; 2009). Just a few weeks ago I received his newest volume, A moshl zukht a nimshel: Araynblik in di mesholim fun Eliezer Shteynbarg (A parable seeks a lesson; Insight into the parables of Eliezer Shteynbarg; 2013).
In the Lexicon of New Yiddish Literature the critic Y. Yanosovich wrote this about his poetry, “Poetic conciseness, lyric miniature, the small poem have found a talented singer in Spiegelblatt.”
I had the honor of visiting him and his dear wife Lucie several times in Israel. He was a gentle man possessed of a quiet irony.
