I noticed the following message in today's H-JUDAIC digest. Those who knew and worked with Dr. Kabakoff remember him fondly. As the long-time editor of the Jewish Book Annual he enlisted numerous librarians to write articles or contribute bibliographies each year.
Dr. Kabakoff always kept his eyes peeled for content that he felt would be of interest to the Annual's readers. I will cite just one example: In the mid-1980s the Israeli critic and film historian Natan Gross published an article in the journal Di Goldene Keyt, about the spate of books of Jewish topical interest that were being published in Poland - still under Communist rule. Dr. Kabakoff, the ardent Hebraist, was a faithful reader of this flagship Yiddish publication, and felt that Gross's article deserved wider circulation - so he had it translated for the Jewish Book Annual. He spotted a bibliographical trend and, I have no doubt, followed it closely as Poland developed into a significant center of Judaic publishing and scholarship after 1989. In 1999, at the AJL convention in Boca Raton, Jacob Kabakoff delivered the annual Feinstein Lecture, "Some Notable Bibliographers I Have Known," the text of which is now accessible on the AJL website: http://www.jewishlibraries.org/ajlweb/resources/feinstein.htm./ /He was indeed a gentleman and a scholar, and he will be missed. Zachary >From: "Moshe Pelli" <[email protected]> >Subject: Fwd: Jacob Kabakoff Z.L. >Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2008 13:20:33 -0500 We are very sorry to announce the passing of Jacob Kabakoff Z.L., a former President of National Association of Professors of Hebrew in America, yesterday. The funeral will take place tomorrow, Friday, December 19, 2008, at 9 am, at the White Plains Hebrew Institute Synagogue. A prolific historian of Hebrew literature and Hebrew culture in American, he wrote several books and numerous articles on the subject (Halutzei Hasifrut Ha'ivrit Ba'america, 1966, Shoharim Vene'emanim, 1978, Naphtali Herz Imber 'Ba'al Hatikvah,' 1991),was dean of the Institute of Jewish Studies in Cleveland, taught at Lehman College in New York, was active in the Hebrew movement in America, Histadruth Ivrith of America, member of the editorial board of Hadoar, founder and editor of the journal for young writers, Niv (1936), and editor of Jewish Book Annual. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy, three sons, and 2 grandchildren. Yehi zichro baruch. -- Zachary M. Baker Stanford University Libraries Green Library 321 Stanford, CA 94305-6004 Telephone 1-650-725-1054 Fax 1-650-725-1068 E-mail [email protected] http://library.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/jewish/jewish.html Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) =========================================================== Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: [email protected] SUBscribing, SIGNOFF commands send to: Listproc @ lists.acs.ohio-state.edu Questions, problems, complaints, compliments;-) send to: galron.1 @ osu.edu Ha-Safran Archives: Current: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/maillist.html History: http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran%40lists.acs.ohio-state.edu/history.html AJL HomePage http://www.JewishLibraries.org
