Moyshe-Leyb Halpern (January 2, 1886 – August 31, 1932) was a

Yiddish-language Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

modernist poet Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases ...

. He was born and raised in a traditional

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish household in Zlotshev, Galicia and brought to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

at the age of 12 in 1898 to study commercial art. He then began writing

modernist poetry Modernist poetry refers to poetry written between 1890 and 1950 in the tradition of modernist literature, but the dates of the term depend upon a number of factors, including the nation of origin, the particular school in question, and the biases ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

.Flanzbaum, Hilene, coordinating editor
''Jewish American Literature: A Norton Anthology''
pp. 245-6 Upon returning to his hometown in 1907, he switched to writing in Yiddish. One of his best-known poems is a satire about his hometown. In order to avoid the military draft, Halpern emigrated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 1908 where he became associated with a group of Yiddish poets called ''

Di Yunge Di Yunge was the first major literary movement of Yiddish poetry in America. During the early 20th century, their work emphasized romanticism, individualism, subjectivism, and free and indirect expression. History Yiddish literature was most pr ...

'' (The Young Ones). He published his first book of poetry in 1919, ''In nyu york'' (In New York), translated to English by
Kathryn Hellerstein
That same year he married Rayzele Barron. His son, now called
Isaac Halpern
was born in 1923. His second book,
Di Goldene Pave
(The Golden Peacock), was published in 1924. Halpern also wrote for satirical magazines and ''Frayhayt'' (Freedom), a communist Yiddish newspaper. After leaving the ''Frayhayt'' in 1928, he lived in Los Angeles for two years. He died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in New York in 1932. Ruth Wisse writes about him thus:

Halpern was generally less sociable than his literary colleagues and everyone who met him in the early immigrant years commented on the solitude which seemed particularly pronounced in him. His fellow poet,
Mani Leib Mani Leib (Mani Leyb, yi, מאַני לייב; born Mani Leib Brahinsky, russian: Мани Лейб Брагинский; 20 December 1883, Nezhin, Russian Empire – 4 October 1953, New York) was a Yiddish-language poet. He was one of eight chil ...
, recalled that “we, his friends, like all other Jewish immigrants, also bore the fear of this wondrous unknown called America. But somehow we . . . gave in, adapted ourselves, ‘ripened’ and gradually became . . . real Americans. Not Moishe Leib. He could never compromise or bend.” Though he contributed to the group’s many publications and little magazines, he was slightly apart from the others, the lone wolf, or, as the play on his name suggested, the brooding Lion, Moishe Leib. Almost alone among his fellow writers he failed to find steady work in the small factories, manual trades, or editorial offices where most of the others eventually made their living, and this economic precariousness, which continued practically without interruption until his death, contributed to his image as a troubling nonconformist, and to his artistic distance.

Halpern's importance can be measured in the 50 poems and 400 articles written from 1932 to 1954 on him by his contemporaries, some of whom include

Jacob Glatstein Jacob Glatstein (1896–1971) yiddish יעקב גלאטשטיין was a Poland, Polish-born United States, American poet and literary critic who wrote in the Yiddish language. His name is also spelled Yankev Glatshteyn or Jacob Glatshteyn. Early ...

Itzik Manger Itzik Manger (30 May 1901, Czernowitz, then Austrian-Hungarian Empire – 21 February 1969, Gedera, Israel; yi, איציק מאַנגער) was a prominent Yiddish language, Yiddish poet and playwright, a self-proclaimed folk bard, visionary, a ...

, and

Mani Leib Mani Leib (Mani Leyb, yi, מאַני לייב; born Mani Leib Brahinsky, russian: Мани Лейб Брагинский; 20 December 1883, Nezhin, Russian Empire – 4 October 1953, New York) was a Yiddish-language poet. He was one of eight chil ...

References

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