Abraham Tabachnik, Jewish Editor of Jta, Poet, Literary Critic, Dies at Age 68

Abraham Ber Tabachnik, poet, writer, literary critic, and Jewish editor since 1941 of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency died Saturday at the age of 68 after suffering a stroke while at work in the JTA editorial office. Mr. Tabachnik collapsed at his desk at 3:40 p.m. He was taken to Bellevue Hospital where he died at 5:10 p.m. His funeral will be Tuesday at 10 a.m. from the Zion Memorial Chapel at 41 Canal Street. Mr. Tabachnik, who at the time of his death was in the process of working on a major literary analysis of the Jewish playwright and poet Itzik Manger, was born in Russia and came to the United States in 1921. He attended the Jewish Teachers Seminary from 1924-26. He was the author of numerous essays, poems, and critical analyses including “Der Man Fun Lied,” “Mentsh in Cholem,” “Dichter und Dichtung.” He was the editor of the Yiddish literary quarterly, Vogsball, since 1958, and a member of the Yiddish Writers Union, Yiddish PEN Club, and a contributor to Yiddish periodicals. Mr. Tabachnik was a former night editor of the JTA and translated articles from English into Yiddish for the Jewish Day-Journal and the Forward.