POMERANTZ, BERL

POMERANTZ, BERL (1900–1942), Hebrew poet. Pomerantz was born in the Polish village of Udrzyn. He studied in Vilna and later settled in Warsaw, where he unsuccessfully applied to the British authorities for an entrance visa to Ereẓ Israel. In December 1942, while hiding with a group of fellow Jewish escapees in the forest near the townlet of Janow, he was killed by German soldiers.

His work constitutes one of the most significant achievements in Hebrew poetry written in Poland between the two world wars. As distinct from the poetry of Bialik and his followers, Pomerantz's poems are in the modern manner. Composed in rhymeless vers libre, they are daringly figurative and evince a close affinity with the Yiddish poetry of the day which had been affected by German expressionism. His themes and preoccupations – nostalgic reminiscences of his native village with contrasting urban tableaux suggested by Warsaw (seen as the epitome of the city) – are in keeping with the spirit of his age. He is at his best when rendering visual impressions that are figuratively elaborated until they acquire the status of symbols of an uprooted, humiliated, poverty-ridden humanity. Although emotionally intense and figuratively hyperbolic, Pomerantz's language is also characterized by the concrete detail in its natural contours. His facility in perceiving metaphoric relationships never interfered with his ability to delineate what was actually observed and genuinely felt.

Pomerantz's poetry is closest to that of ḥayyim *Lensky and Abraham *Shlonsky, but Pomerantz's work is more concrete than the latter's, as well as more intimate in tone. His longest poem, Me-al ha-Hadom ("From Above the Foot-stool"), is dedicated to the memory of his father, "whose grace lasted longer than his meal," as the poet puts it. This is an impressive work, moving in its simple sincerity, which has been compared with Bialik's Yatmut ("Orphanhood") cycle. Bi-Sefatayim el ha-Sela ("With Lips to the Rock"), his first book of poems, appeared in Warsaw in 1935. His second book, Ḥallon ba-Ya'ar ("A Window in the Forest"), the last to come out during his lifetime, was published in 1939 by the Stybel Publishing House in Warsaw. In Ereẓ Israel, his poems were regularly printed in the literary journal, Gilyonot. However, to make a living Pomerantz engaged in teaching, translation from Yiddish and Polish, and various forms of literary hackwork. Despite his trials, his poetry is never devoid of gentle and compassionate humanity nor does it ever become embittered or aggressive. His last poems, written in occupied Poland, were never recovered and were probably buried with him in the forest. Other works were published in 1966 under the title, Shirim ("Poems").

bibliography:

S.Y. Penueli, in: Gilyonot, 26 (1951–52), 308–10; Y. Lamdan, ibid., 28 (1953), 110f.; N. Peniel, in: B. Pomerantz, Shirim (1966), 7–26.

[Natan Zach]