Born on 1 January
1894 in Teleneshti, Bessarabia. Father -- a
cantor. In 1903 he lived through a pogrom during
which he lost a brother. He learned in a cheder,
with a private teacher, and Hebrew in a cheder
msukn. He completed the city school in
Chotin. For several years he worked in a
pharmacy.
In 1913 he arrived
in America. He settled in Boston where he took
up various trades. In 1917 he studied, and in
1921 he completed eyhava as a
technological engineer. Here was founded one of
the first Yiddish-Hebrew schools. From 1921
until 1926 he was a teacher in the school of
"Sholem Aleichem's Folks Institute" in New York.
Still in his
children's' years, he began to write Hebrew
songs, and in 1914 he debuted in Yiddish [with]
a song in "Fraye arbeter shtime", since then
printing original creations and translations in
the Yiddish periodical.
Yearlong he directed
with the pedagogical commission for the Sholem
Aleichem Folks Institute, and during the last
years edited the "children's journals".
G. issued a number
of song collections and a volume of folk and
poet's poems/songs with notes for children.
On 9 June 1970, g.
passed away in New York.
Music was composed
for several of his songs, such as "Dray ingelekh"
(music by L. N. Zaslavsky), "Amol un haynt"
(cantata of Lazar Weiner), "Der mzldiker hoz"
(music by Pinchas Yasinovsky, and music by Elihu
Kanter).
G. also writes and
stages children's plays, and from them were
printed: "Klub khkhamim", "Khnukhh-muunus", "Di
goldshpiners", "A din tirh mitn vint", "Di
megilah".
G.'s brother was the
composer Ben Yomin.
G.'s printed plays:
[1] Y.
Goykhberg -- Klub "Khkhmim"
["Kinder zhurnal", New York, April 1925]
[2] same
-- Di goldshpiners
[same, October 1944]
[3]
Sholem Aleichem -- Di goldshpiners
staged by Y. Goykhberg
[same, December 1945]
[4] I.
L. Peretz -- A din surh mitn vint
staged by Y. Goykhberg
[same, May 1945]
[5] Y.
G. -- Di megilah
[same, February 1954]