Ezra Fininberg was born in the town of Uman in Kiev Province in 1899.
Ezra attended an "reformed cheder" (cheder metukan) – an elementary Jewish school that combined religious study with other subjects, such as math and grammar, with a particular emphasis on Hebrew.
At the age of 12, Ezra began to write poetry. By the age of 14, he had mastered Hebrew, Yiddish, and Russian, and was reading European literature.
After completing his studies, he decided to follow in the footsteps of one of his grandfathers and become a teacher.
However, Fininberg was so swept up by the ideals of the Revolution of 1917 that he became cofounder of the Uman branch of the United Jewish Socialist Workers Party (Fareynikte), a Yiddish socialist organization that was very active in Ukraine. In 1919, Ezra joined the Communist Party. In 1920, he moved to Kiev, where he combined political activity with intense literary work. He wrote both Yiddish- and Russian-language poems, most of which were overtly political, being inspired by contemporary events. His first collection of poetry, Otem ("Breath"), came out in Yiddish in 1922, and was very well received by critics. Ezra Fininberg's literary career took off, and his works were published extensively. 1925 saw the publication of his second collection of poetry, Lider ("Songs"), which enjoyed a similarly warm critical reception. From that point on, Fininberg had the reputation of being one of the best Yiddish Soviet poets. In the late 1920s, he turned to writing prose, which dealt mostly with anti-Jewish pogroms and with life in the small Jewish towns during the first years of Soviet rule. In subsequent years, Fininberg became a prolific translator of classics of world literature into Yiddish, and published poems, short stories, and essays in the Yiddish-language press.
In late June 1941, following the Nazi invasion of the USSR, Ezra Fininberg volunteered to serve in the Red Army. He fought in numerous engagements on various fronts, being severely wounded on several occasions. He continued writing poetry throughout the war, and his wartime poems were later published in two collections: Within the Huge Conflagration (1946) and Selected Works (1948).
Ezra Fininberg died in Moscow in 1946, from the effects of his wartime wounds.
1957 saw the publication of a volume of his selected poetry. His works later appeared in the Yiddish-language journal Sovetish Heymland.
