Gabriel Preil

Gabriel Preil (born Aug. 21, 1911, Yuryev [now Tartu], Estonia, Russian Empire—died June 5, 1993, Jerusalem, Israel) was a Jewish Estonian poet who, although he lived most of his life in the United States, was internationally known for his introspective and lyrical poems written in Hebrew. He was a powerful influence on younger Israeli poets both through his own works and through his translations into Hebrew of such American poets as Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, and Robinson Jeffers.

Preil immigrated to the United States in 1922 and became a citizen in 1928. He settled in New York City, where he attended the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary and the Teachers Institute (both now part of Yeshiva University). Evidence of Preil’s love of New England and New York City autumn landscapes can be found in such volumes as Nof shemesh u-kefor (1944; “Landscape of Sun and Frost”), Ner mul kokhavim (1954; “Candle Under the Stars”), Mappat erev (1960; “Map of Evening”), and Mi-tokh zeman vanof (1972; “Of Time and Place”). Autumn Music (1979) and Sunset Possibilities and Other Poems (1985) are collections of his poems in English translation.