Aliza Greenblatt

Aliza Greenblatt (Yiddish: עליזה גרינבלאַט‎, September 8, 1888 – September 21, 1975) was an American Yiddish poet. Many of her poems, which were widely published in the Yiddish press, were also set to music and recorded by composers including Abraham Ellstein and Solomon Golub, and were recorded by Theodore Bikel and Sidor Belarsky, among others.[1] Greenblatt published five volumes of Yiddish poetry and an autobiography in Yiddish, Baym fentsṭer fun a lebn (A Window on a Life Yiddish: ביים פענצטער פון א לעבן‎) and her works include such well-known Yiddish songs as Fisherlid, Amar Abaye, and Du, Du. She had five children, Herbert (1908), David (1914), Gertrude (1915), Marjorie (1917), and Bernard (1921).[2]

Aliza Greenblatt
BornAliza Waitzman
(1888-09-08)September 8, 1888
Azarenits, Podolia Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine)
DiedSeptember 21, 1975(1975-09-21) (aged 87)
OccupationWriter, Poet
SpouseIsadore Greenblatt

Early life

Aliza Greenblatt was born in Azarenits, Bessarabia[3] in the Podolia Governorate of the Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine), to Brokhe Bas-Tsion Rozovsky (Yiddish: ברכה בת־ציון ראָזאָװסקי‎) and Abraham Aronson (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם אַהרונזאָן‎). After her father died unexpectedly in 1893,[3] her mother remarried and the family moved to Soroca. Aliza, her step-father, and her three step-brothers came to Philadelphia in 1900.[4] [2] Her mother and her younger sister immigrated in 1904 while her older sister arrived with her own family in 1922.[1]

Marriage and move to Israel

She married Isadore Greenblatt, also from Bessarabia, in 1907.[3]

The couple had five children, Herbert, David, Gertrude, Marjorie and Bernard. In 1920 the couple made a failed attempt to move to Israel, then known as Palestine. Thirty years later they tried again, after the establishment of the Jewish state, but after a year of struggling with the difficult conditions, they moved back to the United States, to New York City.

Isador's birth name was Isadore Stukelman. He is a cousin of Shifra Stukelman, and through her, cousin twice removed to Canadian composer Jan Randall (her grandson). Isador died in 1960, an active promoter of investment in Israel.[3]

Daughter Marjorie, was a dancer in the Martha Graham Dance Company, and was married to folk musician Woody Guthrie. Through her, Greenblatt was the grandmother of folk musician Arlo Guthrie,[5] Woody Guthrie archivist Nora Guthrie,[6] and computer programmer Richard Greenblatt.

Aliza Greenblatt also helped found the Atlantic City, NJ chapters of the Zionist Organization of America, Hadassah and the Yidish Natsionaler Arbeter Farband. She was the president of the Women's Pioneers. She was also involved with fundraising for the Jewish National Fund and Histadrut.

Books by Aliza Greenblatt
  • Lebn mayns (My Life). Farlag Kadime-Central Philadelphia 1935.
  • Tsen lider mit gezang (Ten Poems with Music). Alizah Greenblatt: Brooklyn 1939.
  • Ikh zing (I Sing). Farlag Aliza: New York, 1947.
  • Ikh un du (Me and You). Farlag Aliza: New York, 1951.
  • In si-geyt baym yam (In Sea Gate by the Ocean). Farlag Aliza: New York, 1957.
  • Baym fenster fun a lebn (At the Window of a Life). Farlag Aliza: New York, 1966.

References
  1. Guide to the Papers of Aliza Greenblatt and the American Jewish Historical Society in New York, NY
  2. Jewish Women's Archive
  3. "Aliza Greenblatt | Jewish Women's Archive". jwa.org. Retrieved 2019-11-30.
  4. Greenblatt, Aliza. Baym Fentster fun a Lebn. Farlag Aliza, 1966, p. 9.
  5. A Jewish Visit to Guthrie's Land, Jewish Journal, Dec. 2, 2004
  6. The Official Woody Guthrie Website
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