LAPIN, BERL (1889–1952), Yiddish poet and translator. Born in Grodno, he lived in Argentina 1905–9 and 1913–17 and in the U.S. 1909–13, before settling in New York in 1917. His first lyric collection Umetige Vegn ("Sad Ways," 1910) was completed in Vilna, where he had come under he influence of Chaim *Zhitlowsky (as whose personal secretary he served) and the literary group Di *Yunge. His excellence as a stylist is reflected in his translations of Shakespeare's Sonnets, Russian lyrics, and American poems, and his collected poems Der Fuler Krug ("The Full Pitcher," 1950).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Rejzen, Leksikon, 2 (1927), 74–6; LNYL, 4 (1961), 452–4; J. Glatstein, In Tokh Genumen, 1 (1947), 395–403; 2 (1956), 157–63; 3 (1960), 351–6; S. Liptzin, Flowering of Yiddish Literature (1963), 214–6. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Sh. Niger, Bleter Geshikhte fun der Yidisher Literatur (1959), 375–76; B.Y. Bialostotsky, Kholem un Vor (1956), 341–49; R.R. Wisse, A Little Love in Big Manhattan (1988), 45.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

Berl Lapin