Isaac Dov Berkowitz

Isaac Dov Berkowitz was born in 1885 in Slutsk

Berkowitz was born in 1885 in Slutsk, in the Russian Empire. His father had a small workshop for cleaning and dyeing clothes. He received a traditional Jewish education and also studied Hebrew, Russian and Russian literature.

While working as a teacher in Łódź, he began publishing stories in the Warsaw newspaper HaTzofe in 1903. In 1905 he moved to Vilna and edited the literary section of HaZman. There he met Sholem Aleichem and later married his daughter.

In 1910 he published his first collection of stories and began translating Sholem Aleichem from Yiddish into Hebrew. He moved to the United States, where he edited the periodical HaToren from 1916 to 1919 and the journal Miklat in 1919. He wrote in both Hebrew and Yiddish.

In 1928 he settled in Mandatory Palestine. He co-edited the literary weekly Moznayim with Yeruham Fishel Lachower and adapted plays for Habima Theatre. He published a 13 volume Hebrew edition of Sholem Aleichem's works and wrote memoirs of his childhood.

He died in Tel Aviv in 1967 and was buried in Trumpeldor Cemetery.