Mani Leib (Mani Leyb, Born Mani Leib Brahinsky, 20 December 1883, Nezhin, Russian Empire – 4 October 1953, New York) was a Yiddish-language poet.
He was one of eight children; his father sold furs, hides, and animals at regional fairs. His mother supported the family selling hens, geese and eggs. In A mayse vegn zikh” (A Story About Myself), he describes her as a fount of spontaneous rhymes, poems, and epigrams.
At the age of 11 Leyb left school to be apprenticed to a bootmaker and as a participant in “revolutionary activities”, he was arrested twice while still in his teens.
He emigrated to the United States at the age of 22 and settled in New York City in 1906. He published his poems in Yiddish newspapers like The Jewish Daily Forward. Writing in the cadences of ordinary speech, he formed a group of poets called Di Yunge (“the Young”). According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Leib’s “sound poems drew renewed attention to the Yiddish language through their skillful use of alliteration and repetition.” These poems proved controversial, and were parodied by Moyshe-Leyb Halpern in 1910; the two, it is argued, became rivals.
Mani Leib also wrote about children. His classic, Yingl Tsingl Khvat, was illustrated by the Russian avant-garde master, El Lissitzky.
He worked throughout his life making shoes and boots, and he references his profession in the poem “I Am.” He contracted tuberculosis and lived in a sanatorium for two years. He never lost his belief in “the ability of poetry to transform the mundane into the divine.”
His reputation continued to grow after his death, when his collected work was published: Lider un Baladn (Songs and Ballads) in 1955 and Sonetn (Sonnets) in 1961. Lider un baladn was reprinted in 1963 with parallel Hebrew translations by Shimshon Meltzer, and an introduction by Itzik Manger. The second volume of Lider un Baladncontains a brief autobiography.
12 thoughts on “Kaminos”
Was Nicholas related to Alexander Saslavsky who married Celeste Izolee Todd?
Anyone have a contact email for Yair Klinger or link to score for Ha-Bayta?
wish to have homeland concert video played on the big screen throughout North America.
can organize here in Santa Barbara California.
contacts for this needed and any ideas or suggestions welcomed.
Nat farber is my great grandpa 😊
Are there any movies or photos of max kletter? His wife’s sister was my stepmother, so I’m interested in seeing them and sharing them with his wife’s daughter.
The article says Sheb recorded his last song just 4 days before he died, but does not tell us the name of it. I be curious what it was. I’d like to hear it.
Would anyone happen to know where I can find a copy of the sheet music for a Gil Aldema Choral (SATB) arrangement for Naomi Shemer’s “Sheleg Al Iri”. (Snow on my Village)?
Joseph Smith
Kol Ram Community Choir, NYC
Shalom Joseph. I just saw your 2024 post by chance… I’m a mostly-retired Israeli journalist and translator. In 2003 I translated into English the content (the objective was to remain true to the meaning, not to cadence or rhyme) of poems and lyrics of 48 of Israel’s most iconic songs arranged by Aldema for choirs abroad singing in Hebrew (the words in the scores are transliterated) but members of the choir lack mastery of Hebrew to ‘know’ exactly what they are saying/singing… The book was titled in English “A Merry Choir” – in Hebrew מקהלה עליזה . See if you can find a copy in a used book store, it is priceless and apparently out-of-print – well worth the search. If not, they may have a copy at Tel Aviv Amenu Museum’s music department – write them and see if they can send it to you. Or – if you will contact me via Whatsapp – (972) 546872768 or via my email – I will try and find the book (it is not where it ‘should be’ so I have to search) and I will photograph the score with my cell and send to you as an attachment. Best, Daniella Ashkenazy – Kfar Warburg.
שלום שמעון!
לא שכחתי אותך. עזבתי את ישראל בפברואר 1998 כדי להביא את בני האוטיסט לקבל את העזרה המקצועית שלא הייתה קיימת אז בישראל. זה סיפור מאוד עצוב וטרגי, אבל אני הייתי היחיד עם ביצים שהביא אותו והייתי הורה יחיד בשבילו במשך חמישה חודשים. הוא היה אז בן 9. כעת הוא בן 36 ומתפקד באופן עצמאי. נתתי לו הזדמנות לעתיד נורמלי. בטח, אבות כולם חרא, אומרים הפמינציות, אבל כולם צריכים לעבוד כמטרות במטווחי רובה!
משה קונג
(Maurice King)
Thank you for this wonderful remembrance of Herman Zalis. My late father, Henry Wahrman, was one of his students. Note the correct spelling of his name for future reference. Thank you again for sharing this.
Tirza Wahrman (Mitlak)
amazing zchuso yagein aleinu, he wrote the famous niggun Lefichuch that is sung in almost every Israeli Yeshiva
My grandmother, Rose Ziperson, wrote the words to his music for a song called Main Shtetele, which he produced. I have the sheet music!