My relative Eliyahu
Goldenberg was a Yiddish and
Hebrew actor. Eliyahu, son of
Michel Goldenberg and Edith/Yehudit
Fishman, was my father's first
cousin. He was born in an
agricultural village, which
later became a kolhotz,
Sosnivka, Ukraine, on Sept. 9,
1909. His mother died when
Eliyahu was less than two years
old. The family later moved to
Belozerka, which he referred to
henceforth as his home town.
Both Sosnivka and Belozerka are
near Kremenets. From the age of
eleven, Eliyahu was apprenticed
to a grave carver, and he became
independent. At the age of
fourteen or fifteen, Eliyahu
arrived in Krakow, where we have
an account of him living in a
clubhouse, and paying for his
food by giving Hebrew lessons.
He was known there as "Belozorker."
Although he left home at a very
early age, he remained a loyal
son of his father in Belozerka.
After his five siblings
immigrated to Argentina and the
United States, Eliyahu continued
to visit and support Michel
until his death in 1934.
Although Eliyahu had very
little formal education, he
became a self-taught and learned
man. From Krakow he moved to
Warsaw, where he both acted in
theater and taught drama, before
coming to Israel in about 1938.
In late 1937, he met his future
wife, Lili Folman, who was one
of his students in a high school
Hanukah play about Eretz Israel
which he had written and
directed. He later succeeded in
a desperate attempt to remove
Lili from the clutches of the
Nazis; she became the last
person to leave Warsaw by
permission of the Gestapo. |
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During
World War II, Eliyahu was the director of
the Palestine British Army entertainment
group.
Professionally Eliyahu mostly presented
dramatic readings of classical Yiddish
writers, including Shalom Aleichem, usually
with two other actors. (This form of drama
is no longer seen.) He also read these
writers' works in translation to English and
Hebrew. In his readings, he would often act
out several roles, injecting them with a
good measure of humor. His best-known
program was entitled Die
Kleine Menshalach (The
Little People), in which he
appeared with actors Shmuel Rudensky and
Shmuel Segal.
In the
early 1950s Eliyahu also worked in London,
England, for a couple of years. In 1960 the
flag of Israel flew at the Edinburgh
Festival for the first time, with The
Little People, directed by
Eliyahu, and with himself, Rudensky and
Segal as actors. Later Eliyahu directed and
acted in dramatic readings in Cincinnati and
Cleveland, Ohio, where I first met him, in
the winter of 1967-8.
Several
well-known Israelis were among his students
of dramatic and radio reading. He appeared
before many schools in Israel, gratis, and
especially liked working with young people.
He was very well known in Israel in his own
right. Later he became known by many as the
father of Dudu Topaz, a popular Israeli
entertainer. A second son, Michael, is a
producer and author.
Eliyahu
told me that he was a distant cousin of
Edward G. Robinson (Emanuel Goldenberg), but
we don't know the connection.
Eliyahu
was also an ardent Zionist, and spent many
hours in a moshav in the north of
Israel inhabited by families from Morocco.
His goal was to help them to help
themselves. When I first went to Israel
(encouraged by Eliyahu), in February 1968,
with two friends, Eliyahu and Lili hosted
the three of us for a month in their home.
Eliyahu
died on November 4, 1976. |