RUBIN, HADASSAH

RUBIN, HADASSAH (1912–2003), Yiddish poet. Born in Yampol, Ukraine, Rubin moved with her family to Zbarazh, Galicia (now Ukraine) at the age of nine, and later to Kremenets (Krzemieniec). She graduated from a Polish secondary school. From 1935 she was a member of the illegal Polish Communist Party and was arrested several times. After spending World War ii in Kyrgyzstan, she returned to Poland and became chairman of the Yidisher Kultur-Gezelshaftlekher Farband in Stettin (Szczecin) from 1948 to 1952, and a staff member of the magazine Yidishe Shriftn in Warsaw from 1956 to 1959. In 1960 she immigrated to Israel. Her poems were first published in 1931 in the Kremenitser Shtime and the Vilner Tog, then in various other Yiddish publications. Her poetry, which is characterized by original imagery, deals with social problems, the Holocaust, the joys of love and motherhood, the lost illusions and life in Israel. It was collected in the volumes: Mayn Gas iz in Fener ("My Street Is Full with Banners," 1953); Veytik un Freyd ("Pain and Joy," 1955); Trit in der Nakht ("Steps in the Night," 1957); Fun Mentsh tsu Mentsh ("From Person to Person," 1964); In Tsugvint ("In a Whirlwind," 1981); Eyder Tog ("Before Dawn," 1988); and Rays Nisht op di Blum ("Don't Pluck the Flower," 1995).

bibliography:

R. Katznelson-Shazar, Al Admat ha-Ivrit (1966), 225–7. add. bibliography: lnyl, 8 (1981), 410–11; D. Sfard, Shtudies un Skitsn (1955), 101–5; D. Sadan, Avnei Miftan, 2 (1970), 194–8; G. Mayzel, in: Di Goldene Keyt, 51 (1965), 211–13; K. Molodowsky, Sevive, 19 (1966), 17–19.

[Arieh Pilowsky]