NAFTOLI (ANATOL) GELBERG

NAFTOLI (ANATOL) GELBERG (February 28, 1894-January 8, 1958)

            He was born in Mezritsh (Międzyrzecz), Poland, into a middle-class, commercial family.  For many years his father was head of the Jewish community in the city.  He received a traditional Jewish and later secular education as well.  He subsequently became active in the local Bundist movement.  He was a cofounder in 1916 and later a teacher of Yiddish and arithmetic in the Jewish public school in Mezritsh.  In 1919 he studied in Warsaw at the Jewish teachers’ seminary and took Polish courses, too.  Over the years 1921-1924, he helped on the questionnaire and with the analytical text in the Joint Distribution Committee’s publication, Yidishe industryele unternemungen (Jewish industrial undertakings) (Warsaw).  He was secretary of the literary association of Warsaw, 1924-1925, at 13 Tłomackie St.  In 1926 he moved to Canada and lived in Toronto for about eight years where he worked as a teacher in the local Workmen’s Circle middle school; from 1927 he was director of the Workmen’s Circle Peretz Schools and the summer camp “Yungvelt” (Young world).  In 1934 he settled in New York where he worked as a teacher in the Workmen’s Circle schools.  In 1942 he served as an emissary for Tsiko (Tsentrale yidishe kultur-organizatsye [Central Yiddish Cultural Organization]).  He began to write in 1914, publishing articles on community and literary matters in: Mezritsher vokhnblat (Mezritsh weekly newspaper), Idisher zhurnal (Jewish journal), Kanader tribune (Canadian tribune), and Idishe velt (Jewish world)—in Toronto; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Dos idishe vort (The Yiddish word) in Winnipeg; Der veker (The alarm), Sotsyalistishe shtime (Socialist voice), Unzer shul (Our school), Unzer tsayt (Our time), Forverts (Forward), Bleter far yidisher dertsiung (Pages for Jewish education), and Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor)—in New York; Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires; Havaner lebn (Havana life) in Cuba; Foroys (Onward), Di shtime (The voice), and Der veg (The pathway)—in Mexico; and Nayer moment (New moment) and Idishe prese (Jewish press) in Brazil.  He was the founder and co-editor of Mezritsher vokhnblat and Kinder-tsaytung (Children’s newspaper) in New York (1935-1937 and 1938-1942).  In his last years he worked as a technical editor, translator, and proofreader for the publishing house of Tsiko, for the monthly magazine Tsukunft (Future), for Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), and for books published by the World Jewish Culture Congress.  Among his pen names: A. Yakovlyev, N. Jacobson, Feter Elye (“Uncle Elye”), Lornete, and A Lerer (“a teacher”).  He died in New York.

Sources: M. Rubinshteyn, in Di shtime (Mexico) (October 28, 1944); B. Gebiner, in Di shtime (November 11, 1944); L. M. Kaplan, in Havaner lebn (Cuba) (December 27, 1945; January 12, 1946); Y. Sigel, in Forverts (New York) (December 12, 1954); I. G. (Iser Goldberg), in Unzer tsayt (New York) (January-February 1958); and obituaries in the Yiddish press.