Halkin was born in
Rahachow, in what was then the
Russian Empire (now
Belarus) on December 5, 1897. He was the youngest of nine children in a
Hasidic,
Jewish household and a cousin of
Simon and
Abraham Halkin. In his youth he wrote his poetry in
Hebrew, but from 1921 onwards he wrote in
Yiddish. Halkin's first poems were published in 1917 in an anthology. He would then move to Moscow in 1922, after having lived in Kiyv for a year, where he published his debut collection
Lider (Songs) with the help of
David Hofstein. This would not only be the foundation of his career, but part of the foundation of
Soviet Jewish poetry. These and his later works would earn his
lyric poetry acclaim. He was arrested in 1949 alongside other members of the committee but was spared execution alongside them in 1952, likely due to a
heart attack he suffered while imprisoned that hospitalized him. He would go on to be released in 1955. Along with his original works, Halkin was known for translating the poems of
Pushkin,
Yesenin,
Blok,
Mayakovsky,
Shakespeare's tragedy
King Lear into Yiddish. Halkin supported
zionism, and would be criticized for his advocacy of Jewish nationalism. He was buried in
Novodevichy Cemetery. Following his death more of Halkin's works would be posthumously released, notably his work on the chorus of
Mieczysław Weinberg's sixth symphony. ==Musical settings==