ARYE-LEYB GELMAN (LEON GELLMAN)

ARYE-LEYB GELMAN (LEON GELLMAN) (August 14, 1887-1973)

            He was born in Yampol (Yampil), Volhynia, Ukraine.  He studied in religious elementary school and on his own in a house of study.  In 1910 he emigrated to the United States.  He settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he devoted himself to studies of literature, history, and philosophy.  In 1936 he was elected president of Mizrachi in America, and he later became president of Mizrachi World Central and “Hapoel hamizrachi” (Mizrachi labor), and he was a member of the American Jewish Congress, of the Jewish World Congress, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, and other organizations.  In 1949 he settled in Israel.

            He began writing in 1913 for Di idishe prese (The Jewish press) in St. Louis.  He wrote current events articles for Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York.  Over the years 1917-1935, he edited Yidisher rekord (Jewish record) in St. Louis (initially, a weekly, and in 1927-1928 a daily; and 1936-1949 he edited Der mizrakhi veg (The Mizrachi way) in New York.  In recent years, he became a regular contributor to Hatsfira (The siren) in Israel.  He author the book: In’m kamf far der idisher medine (In the fight for the Jewish state) (New York, 1948), 202 pp.  Most recently, in Hebrew he published: Hayahadut bemaavaka (Judaism in struggle) (Jerusalem, 1955), 243 pp.

Sources: P. Vyernik, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (November 25, 1937); Sh. Izban, in Der amerikaner (January 25, 1957); Sh. Donesh, in Or hamizraḥ (New York) (Nissan, 1958), pp. 48-50; Who’s Who in World Jewry (New York, 1955).