YEKHIEL
HALPERN (November 11, 1896-1984)
He was born in Jędrzejów, Kielce district, Poland, the son of the playwright
and novelist Yehoyneson Halpern. Until
age twelve he attended religious elementary school, later studying at a middle
school in Kielce. Over the years
1917-1919, he was a student at Cracow University, initially in medicine and
later history and philosophy. From 1920
he was studying political science at the University of Vienna, and in 1928 he
received his doctoral degree for a dissertation entitled “State Civil Servants
and the Social Question.” In 1910 he became
one of the founders of the Zionist Organization in Jędrzejów. He was a member, 1916-1917, of Hashomer
Hatsair (Young pioneers). Already in his
student days, he was chairman of the central committee of the Zionist socialist
group Tseire-Tsiyon (Young Zionists) in western Galicia. He chaired the general Zionist student
organization “Hashaḥar” (The dawn) and was a member of the central committee of
the Zionist Organization in western Galicia.
He
began writing while still quite young.
He published his first article in 1917 (in German) in Wiener Morgenpost (Vienna morning
mail). In 1919 he was a member of the
editorial board of the Zionist daily newspaper in Polish, Nasz Przegląd (Our review). He founded and served as the first editor of
the Tseire-Tsiyon daily, Di tsayt
(The times), and he contributed to the Zionist monthly in Polish, Morija, miesięcznik literacko-społeczny
poświęcony żydowskiej myśli religijnej (Moriah, monthly literary society
devoted to Jewish religious thought). In
that same year in Warsaw, he placed pieces in the organ of Tseire-Tsiyon, Bafrayung (Liberation), and in the daily
Polish Jewish Nasz kurier (Our
courier). Later, in Vienna, he was a
co-editor of the Labor Zionist newspaper Unzer
vort (Our word) and a contributor to the Italian newspaper Yisrael (Israel), edited by M. Beylinson. In 1923 he was editor in Lemberg of the Labor
Zionist Der yidisher arbeter (The
Jewish worker). He returned to Warsaw in
1924, served as secretary of the right Labor Zionists, and edited their organ Arbeter-vort (Labor’s word) as well as being
their agent at the presidium of the Land of Israel Office and in the director’s
council of the United Jewish Appeal. He
was one of the founders of Zionist socialist youth movement, leader of the
Committee for a Laboring Palestine, and was one of the founders of the League
for a Laboring Palestine in Poland. In 1925
he founded and edited the socialist monthly Di
naye gezelshaft (The new society) which appeared over the course of two
years. With the discontinuation of this
periodical, he joined the Bund, and he contributed to the Bundist Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s
newspaper) and the Bundist monthly Unzer
tsayt (Our time). He subsequently
left the Bund and returned to the Labor Zionist movement, renewed the
publication and edited Di naye gezelshaft,
was a member of the presidium of the organization’s central committee, and he
was an editorial board member of its daily newspaper Dos vort (The word), in which he wrote editorials and theoretical
treatises on Zionism, socialism, and statehood.
Among his books: Got-zukhenishn
fun der moderner inteligents (Modern intellectuals search for God) (Warsaw:
1931), 187 pp.; Der revolt fun a
goles-folk, komunizm in yisroel (The revolt of a dispersed people,
Communism in Israel) (Buenos Aires, 1954), 257 pp., translated from Hebrew by
Shmuel Naum, Y. Rinkevitsh, and M. Maydanek, under the editorship of Y.
Palatitski.
In 1938 he made aliya to Israel,
worked in vineyards and orchards, and in his free time wrote for the Hebrew
press. Because of illness he had to give
up physical labor. He moved to Tel Aviv
and became a contributor to Davar (Word). He was editor, 1942-1943, of Hege (Helm), a daily newspaper with
vowel markings. In 1943 he renewed Kuntres (Pamphlet), organ of Mapai, and he
was its editor until 1945. He was living
in Israel.
Sources:
D. Tidhar, Entsiklopedyah hachalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of
the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950); “Mi
vemi beitonut” (Who’s who in the press), in Sefer
hashana shel haitonaim (Journalists' annual) (Tel Aviv, 1949-1950); M.
Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon),
vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958), p. 474.
Zaynvl Diamant
No comments:
Post a Comment