Proletpen: America's Rebel Yiddish Poets is an anthology which demonstrates how the language lived among the Jewish community in New York during the early 1900's. It was spoken not only for daily life but also expressed through the hearts of the youth among the immigrants in the form of poetry. What has been uncovered is the rich tapestry of early Jewish life in New York - which could have been washed away into oblivion. Both Amelia Glaser and David Weintraub deserve full recognition for their service to save its history. The translation done by Ms. Glaser maintains not only the uniqueness of the Yiddish language but also its poetic value as she translates the poems into English, even by recreating the rhyming scheme.

This anthology introduces 100 Yiddish poems by 39 American Yiddish proletarian writers from the 1920s to the early 1950s. Among them is Alexander Pomerantz, whose book, entitled "Proletepen", was published in Kiev in 1935.

Unlike its demographic comparison of a half century ago, when Yiddish speakers flourished, Yiddish has been revitalized thanks to Amelia Glaser and David Weintraub. Because of their efforts, Yiddish is not yet a dead language. In fact, the language persists like an old couple nursing their bygone days with words only they can locate at the bottom of their hearts.

Norimi G. Yamaguchi