MIKHL HENDEL

MIKHL HENDEL (April 18, 1899-December 28, 1965)

            He was born in Bolekhov (Bolekhiv, Bolechów), eastern Galicia, into a middle-class family.  He studied in religious elementary school, in a Polish public school, and later graduated from a secular high school in Struj.  He studied humanities, 1920-1924, at the Universities of Prague and Vienna.  He then worked as a teacher in Jewish middle schools in Lutsk, Mezritsh (Międzyrzecz), Bialystok, and Vilna.  In 1934 he moved to Israel, where he was active in various educational institutions.  He began writing articles for Di yidishe kooperatsye (The Jewish cooperatives) in Vilna (1932), and from then on he wrote for: Di tsayt (The times) in Vilna; Der morgn (The morning) in Lemberg; Podlasher lebn (Podlasie life), Mezritsher lebn (Międzyrzecz life), and Podlasher tsaytung (Podlasie newspaper) in Międzyrzecz; and Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Bialystok; among other serials.  In Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) in Vilna (1935), he published a work entitled “Mezritsher pinkeysim” (Międzyrzecz records), and several research works on Jews in the Radzymin and Biała-Shedlets (Siedlce) regions were later published in the collection Mezritsh (Buenos Aires, 1952), pp. 15-41.  He was also the author of works (in Yiddish and Hebrew): “Di geshikhte fun di yidn in bolekhov baym sof fun 18tn yʺh” (The history of the Jews in Bolekhov at the end of the eighteenth century); and “Maskilim un di haskole in bolekhov in 19tn yʺh” (Followers of the Jewish Enlightenment and the Enlightenment movement in Bolekhov in the nineteenth century)—both were published in Sefer hazikaron lekodshe boliḥov (Remembrance volume for the  martyrs of Bolekhov) (Tel Aviv, 1957), pp. 11-55 and 163-218; a long work on the history of the Biała Jewish community through 1862—in Byaler yizker-bukh (Biała remembrance volume) (Tel Aviv, 1958-1959); a work entitled “Di yidish gimnazyel-yugnt in stri in der tsayt fun der ershter vilt-milkhome” (The Jewish high school youths in Struj at the time of WWI)—for a projected remembrance volume for the community of Struj.  He contributed as well to Entsiklopediya kolelit (Complete encyclopedia) in Israel and the author of a series of Hebrew works in the fields of history, pedagogy, and research on Jewish trades.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Yivo-biblyografye (New York) 1 (1943), no. 540; Kiryat sefer (Jerusalem) 27 (p. 292) and 28 (p. 294); Dr. Yerushalmi, in Urim (Tel Aviv) (1951), p. 240; Dr. Landau, in Had haḥinukh (Echo of education) (Jerusalem) 13-14 (1955), p. 9; Professor Simon, in Haarets (Tel Aviv) (May 2, 1956); Dr. Mentser, in Had haḥinukh 14 (1957), p. 8; Y. She-Lavan, in Urim (1957), p. 458; M. Edelman, Di yidn-shtot metritsh (The Jewish city of Mezritsh) (Buenos Aires, 1957).

Khayim Leyb Fuks