Goldin, Ezra
GOLDIN, EZRA
GOLDIN, EZRA (1868–1915), Hebrew and Yiddish author. Born in Luna, Grodno district, Goldin lived in Warsaw from 1886 to 1893 and then moved to Lodz. His first publication was a collection of poems, Shirei No'ar ("Poems of Youth," 1887). Subsequently he turned to writing fiction, and his stories appeared in Hebrew and Yiddish literary journals, including Ha-Ẓefirah and Ha-Meliẓ. Several of his stories were published as separate books. In 1896 he published Ha-Zeman, a literary anthology to which many leading Hebrew writers of the day contributed. At the beginning of the century he abandoned his literary activity, took up commerce, and became a prosperous merchant. During World War i he fled from the approaching German army and spent his last days in Riga. Goldin's short stories idealized the traditional Jewish way of life, particularly its devotion to Torah. In his view the secularized Judaism of the new nationalism had yet to prove its legitimacy as a replacement for the old faith.
bibliography:
B.Z. Eisenstadt, Dor, Rabbanav ve-Soferav, 1 (1895), 12f.; H.I. Yanovsky, Le-Dorotai, 2 (1938), 180f.; Waxman, Literature, 4 (19602), 151–4.
[Getzel Kressel]