NOSN HOROVITS

NOSN HOROVITS (December 1888-January 1934)

            He was born in Vilna.  Until age seventeen he studied in the Slobodka yeshiva, later leaving for London where from 1907 he published poetry, articles, and translations from English in various periodicals—under his own name as well as the pseudonyms of N. Rokhlin, Y. Funk, and N”ts.  He subsequently became a reporter and proofreader for Idisher ekspres (Jewish express) in London.  In 1911 he published in book form a translation Ferzen—fun’m bavustn perzishn dikhter omar khayam (Verses from the famed Persian poet Omar Khayyam (London: Fridman), 19 pp.  He later brought out: Troymen un gedanken, oyservelte lider mit an-hagdome un bild fun der dikhter (Dreams and thoughts, extraordinary poems with a preface by and a picture of the poet) (London, 1924), 16 pp.—the preface was written by the author’s editorial colleague at Idisher ekspres, Hirsh Spriling; Bayrons hebreishe melodyen (Byron’s Hebrew melodies), translations of twenty-three poems by Byron with a foreword by the author (London, 1925), 16 pp.; Tfile un shire, lider (Prayer and song, poems) (London, 1926), 16 pp.—thirty-three poems with various prayer motifs, among them the poem “Der moyekh vos af golgose” (The head that was at Golgotha), the end of a longer poem entitled “Kristus” (Christ) in which was celebrated the “holy head” that “saved the world and was exalted to the kingdom of Heaven”; Himnen un fantazyes, melodyen bazirt af hebreishe liturgi (Hymns and fantasies, melodies based on Hebrew liturgy) (London, 1927), 16 pp.; Idishe tfiles un piyutim, zeyer vezn, geshikhte un badaytung (Jewish prayers and hymns, their essence, history and significance) (London, 1929), 24 pp.—a brief treatise on the contents and the development of the Jewish liturgy from ancient times to the twentieth century.  He also published in English: Souls in Exile: A Play in Four Acts (London: I. Narodiczky, 1928), 52 pp.; and Sabbath and Other Tales (London: I. Narodiczky, 1926), 36 pp.  He died in Vilna.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; American Jewish Yearbook (1935), p. 292.