Joseph Leftwich (Zutphen 28 September 1892 – Islington 28 February 1983), born Joseph Lefkowitz, was a British critic and translator into English of Yiddish literature.

Biography

Leftwich was born in the Netherlands. He is known particularly for his 1939 anthology The Golden Peacock of Yiddish poetry, and his 1957 biography of Israel Zangwill. He was one of the 'Whitechapel Boys' group (the others being John Rodker, Isaac Rosenberg and Stephen Winsten) of aspiring young Jewish writers in London's East End, in the period roughly 1910–1914. He himself retrospectively coined the name, to include also the artists David Bomberg and Mark Gertler. Leftwich was a vegetarian and an active patron of the Jewish Vegetarian Society. He wrote biographies of vegetarian writers for The Jewish Vegetarian and an introduction for the book The Tree of Life, edited by Philip Pick, an anthology of essays on Judaism and vegetarianism. His daughter Joan married the American writer Joseph McElroy.

Works