CHURGIN, YA'AKOV YEHOSHUA

CHURGIN, YA'AKOV YEHOSHUA (1898–1990), Hebrew writer and educator. Born in Jaffa, he was educated there and in Jerusalem. Churgin was a teacher from his youth. He taught Hebrew literature at Yeshiva University, New York (1952–54) and at Bar-Ilan University (from 1955). Churgin was also a poet, short-story writer, novelist, and essayist; his writings appeared in numerous journals   in Israel and the United States. His historical novels and short stories for young readers enjoyed great popularity. His impressions of his American experience are reflected in Galleryot Amerika'iyyot ("American Galleries," 1964). He also edited several children's magazines and anthologies. Churgin was the subject of Aharon Reuveni's story, "The Watchman and the Wall," translated by M.Z. Frank (in: Frank, M.Z. (ed.), Sound the Great Trumpet (1955), 117–36, condensed). His prose appeared in Kitvei Ya'akov Churgin (1943). H. Bar-Yosef edited a selection of his stories in Yalkut Sippurim (1981) and added a foreword. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: G. Shaked, Ha-Sipporet ha-Ivrit, 2 (1983), 98–113. (Getzel Kressel)