most of his life employed as a wallpaper-hanger while simultaneously pursuing his writing. Leivick's style was neo-Romantic and marked by a deep apocalyptic pessimism combined with an almost naive interest and yearning for the mystical and messianic, themes that continually appeared in his writing, particularly The Golem, which depicted the Jewish Messiah and Jesus Christ as representatives of a peaceful redemption, only to be chased away by the Maharal of Prague and his violent Golem, who ultimately rampaged through the streets of Prague injuring large numbers of people, both Jews and Christians. In The Golem, Leivick simultaneously condemned any attempts to heal the world through violence, but also highlighted the fallibility and impotence of all would-be Messiahs. The poem was widely interpreted as a thinly veiled critique of the Bolshevik Revolution and caused Leivick to be criticized by the Soviet Union and Communist Yiddishists. Leivick stopped writing for the Communist papers in 1929 following their public support for the Arab riots in Palestine and broke off all connections with the left following the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. Leivick's writing also incorporated his deep childhood wounds from his abusive father and unpleasant experiences with Orthodox Judaism, as well as his years of imprisonment. Leivick's own suffering strongly influenced that of his poetic characters', taking on near-mythic proportions and requiring similarly grandiose acts of redemption. Many of his poems dealt with themes of illness or exile, and his more realistic works were often set in sweatshops, like the ones Leivick had worked in as a new immigrant in Philadelphia. Leivick's work strongly resonated with the Yiddish public and helped him become one of the most prominent Yiddish poets in the world. Legacy The Leyvik House, named after H. Leivick, is a three-story building in Tel Aviv founded in 1970. It serves as the offices for the Association of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Israel, the H. Leyvik Publishing House, and the Israeli Center for Yiddish Culture. References External links Malka, Jeff. "The Yiddish poet H Leivick". Igumen SIG, JewishGen, 2000 Sung text in Yiddish and English of Un a yingele vet zey firn (And a Little Boy Will Lead Them) (arr. A. Knapp) Naxos. H. Leivick's biography in the "Yiddish Leksikon" Complete works of H. Leivick - Yiddish Book Center 1888 births 1962 deaths Bundists Jewish American writers Jewish dramatists and playwrights Yiddish-language poets Yiddish-language playwrights Yiddish theatre Belarusian Jews American people