Aaron Zeitlin, Hebrew Poet and Dramatist, Named Recipient of Literary Award

Aaron Zeitlin, Hebrew poet and dramatist, has been named the 1970 recipient of the Irving and Bertha Neuman literary prize awarded annually by New York University’s Institute of Hebrew Studies. NYU President James M. Hester will make the presentation at a reception in Zeitlin’s honor on Jan. 26. The prize, which consists of a citation and a cash award of $1,000, was established in 1962 by Neuman, a New York realtor, and his wife to encourage Hebrew letters. This is the first time that the prize will be given to an American citizen and that the ceremony will take place in this country. Zeitlin, who lives in New York City, is being honored, not for any one piece of work, but for his entire literary output–“more than a half century of creative contributions to Hebrew literature.” The son of a world-renowned Hebrew scholar and writer, Hillel Zeitlin, Aaron Zeitlin was born in White Russia and was graduated from Warsaw University. His entire family was exterminated in the Nazi holocaust. Zeitlin emigrated to the United States in 1939. From 1950 to 1964, he served as associate professor of modern Hebrew literature and language at the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 1959 he was given an honorary doctorate by that institution. Zeitlin has written extensively in Yiddish as well as in Hebrew, and he is a frequent contributor to the Yiddish press. He has also translated many works from English, Russian, Polish, French, Spanish and German into Hebrew.