Editing Itzik Feffer (section)

==Literary work==
Feffer was a prolific poet who wrote almost exclusively in [[Yiddish]], and at a young age became prominent in the Yiddish literary scene in Kiev. He began writing poems in 1918, and in 1922 joined the [[Vidervuks (New Growth)]] group of young literary Yiddish poets and writers mentored by [[Dovid Hofshteyn]]; his first published collection of poetry, titled "''Shpener''" (Splinters), brought him to prominence quickly. Gennady Estraikh comments that "[h]is poetry amalgamated the ''[[Kultur-lige]]'' poets' revolutionary romanticism with the propagandist objectives of the workers' movement." His approach to literature differed from over Soviet Yiddish poets of the 1920s avant-garde in that Fefer strove for a kind of plain clarity he called ''proste reyd'' (simple speech). This made his work attractive to editors and critics.

In 1919, as a member of the [[Red Army]], he began writing for the [[Kyiv]] newspaper "Komunistishe fon" (Communist Banner) and was later published in the newspapers "Yugnt" (Youth), "Nye Zeit" (New Times), "Folks-Zeitung" (The People's Newspaper), "Shtern" (Star), "Ukraine", and "Proletarishe fon" (Proletarian Banner). His published works in Yiddish take up almost eighty volumes.

His poetry was strongly political, and Feffer remained a devout Communist until his death. Gennady Estraikh comments that "the romantic spirit of continuous revolution runs through his writing."<ref name="YIVO Biography - Itsik Fefer" /> In his early poems Feffer praised the revolution and the party. His poems were quickly published and earned him a senior position among Jewish Soviet writers. He remained strongly bound to his native Ukraine as well, where Jewish literary activity was flourishing in both Ukrainian and Yiddish,<ref name="Secular Jewish Literature in Ukraine - Amelia Glaser for My Jewish Learning">{{cite web |last1=Glaser |first1=Amelia |title=Secular Jewish Literature in Ukraine |url=https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/secular-jewish-literature-in-ukraine/ |website=My Jewish Learning |publisher=My Jewish Learning |access-date=21 September 2024 |ref=Glaser-Secular-Jewish-Lit-Ukraine}}</ref> and during the [[Korenizatsiia]] movement of the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, Feffer, along with [[Shakne Epshtein]] and [[Oleksandr Finkel]],<ref name="Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine - Oleksander Finkel">{{cite web |last1=Kubijovyc |first1=Volodymyr |title=Finkel, Oleksander |url=https://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkpath=pages%5CF%5CI%5CFinkelOleksander.htm |website=Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine |publisher=Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies |access-date=21 September 2024 |ref=IEU (Internet Encyclopedia of Ukraine)}}</ref> published essays in Ukrainian about Yiddish and Jewish poets and writers in Ukrainian (not Yiddish) for the mainstream Ukrainian weekly ''[[Literaturnaya Gazeta]]'' (''Literary Newspaper'') and the monthly ''[[Chervonyi Shliakh]]'' (''The Red Path'').<ref name="YIVO Encyclopedia - Ukrainian Literature">{{cite web |last1=Petrovsky-Shtern |first1=Yohanan |title=Ukrainian Literature |url=https://encyclopedia.yivo.org/article/2069 |website=The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe |publisher=YIVO |access-date=21 September 2024 |ref=YIVO-Enc-Ukrainian-Lit}}</ref> He wrote lyrics for political and "folk" songs, songs of nature, and songs of praise for the Jewish community in [[Birobidzhan]]. He also engaged in the study of literature, criticism and linguistic innovation, and was a prolific children's poet. His play ''Di zun fargeyt nisht'' (The Sun Doesn't Set) was staged by the [[Moscow State Jewish Theatre]] in 1947.<ref name="Congress for Jewish Culture - Lexicon of Modern Yiddish Literature - Itsik Fefer">{{cite web |title=Fefer, Itsik |url=https://congressforjewishculture.org/people/1711/Fefer,%20Itsik |website=Leksikon Fun Der Nayer Yidisher Literatur |publisher=Congress for Jewish Culture |access-date=21 September 2024 |ref=Leksikon-Nayer-Yidisher-Lit}}</ref>

With the outbreak of World War II, the [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union]], and the beginning of the mass extermination of the Jews, Feffer's poetry changed markedly in tone. He wrote anti-Nazi Jewish rallying songs and lamented the destruction of Eastern European Jewry. His epic poem {{lang|yi|Di Shotns fun Varshever Geto}} ("The Shadows of the Warsaw Ghetto") is a tribute to the 750 Jews who rebelled against the Nazi liquidation of the ghetto and gave their lives fighting tyranny in what came to be known as the [[Warsaw Ghetto Uprising]].

His poems were widely translated into [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]. He is considered one of the greatest Soviet poets in the Yiddish language and his poems were widely admired inside and outside Russia.

Some of his poems were translated into [[Hebrew]] and published in the literary press and in anthologies by translators such as Avraham Shlunsky, Samson Meltzer, Moshe Basuk, Uriel Ofek and others. No full volume of his poetry has yet been translated into Hebrew in its entirety.