More than 8,000 persons today attended the funeral of Abraham Reisen, foremost Yiddish poet and novelist, who died last week at the age of 77 after an illness of several months. They included hundreds of children from Jewish schools in the city, some of which carry Reisin’s name.
The funeral started from the building of the Jewish Daily forward, the newspaper on whose staff Reisen served for many years. Eulogies were delivered by Harry Rogoff, editor in chief of the Forward and S. Niger, leading Jewish literary critic. Poems written by Reisen were recited by noted Jewish poets including H. Leivick. Itzik Manger Leonid Feinberg and Nahum Yud. A eulogy on behalf of Jewish youth groups was delivered by Sarah Goodman, a student at the Jewish Teachers Seminary.
Eulogies were also delivered at the Workmen’s Circle cemetery where the burial took place. Thousands of people passed the casket at Forward Hall where Reisen’s body had rest since Saturday. A special committee composed of representatives of all leading Jewish cultural organizations supervised the funeral arrangements.
The death of Abraham Reisen was mourned in Israel, Europe and Latin American countries and hundreds of messages of condolence were received from Jewish cultural organizations and individuals in those countries. Messages were also received from the International Pen Club and other groups of writers. Many of Reisen’s poems and short stories have been translated from the Yiddish into various languages, including Hebrew, English, Russian, German, French, Spanish and Polish.
In addition to Jewish schools carrying his name, many other cultural institutions–including clubs and libraries–in all parts of the world are named for Reisen in recognition of his immortal contributions to Jewish literature. His poems and short stories are included in almost every text book. In this country there are tens of thousands of Jews who have an intimate knowledge of his poems since they were sung as folksongs in shops and factories by Jewish workers who immigrated to the United States after the Czarist pogroms in Russia.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
