YANKEV BEN R. SHLOYME-ZALMEN HURVITS

YANKEV BEN R. SHLOYME-ZALMEN HURVITS (b. 1858)

            He was born in a village near Navaredok (Novogrudok), Byelorussia.  He studied in religious primary school and yeshivas and received rabbinical ordination.  In 1890 he came to the United States, later becoming a well-known Zionist preacher in New York.  He was a contributor to Der tsienist (The Zionist) (New York, 1898) and to Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York, among other serials.  He authored religious texts: Alumat olamim (??), together with Ayzik Shraga Stoliar (Vilna, 1881/1882); Ruaḥ yaakov (Jacob’s spirit), sermons in Yiddish and Hebrew, 2 parts (New York, 1898), 96 pp.; Der tsienizmus oder di bavegung fun yishev erets-yisroel (Zionism or the movement for a settlement in Israel) (New York, 1899), 32 pp.; Hamaor shebatora (The light in the Torah) (New York, 1917); and Hamaor shebaaguda (The light in the legends) (New York, 1917).  He also published under the pen name: Yeshuva.  He died in New York.

Sources: Y. A. Ruiz, in Hapisga (New York) 4 (1898); M. Mirski, in Der tsienist (New York) (1898); Sh. L. Hurvits, in Der veg-vayzer (New York) (December 22, 1898); Ben-Tsien Ayzenshtadt, Ḥakhme yisrael beamerika (Wise Jewish men in the United States) (New York, 1903), p. 34; Ayzenshadt, in Letoledot yisrael baamerika (Toward the the history of Jews in America) (New York, 1917), pp. 17-18; G. Zelikovits, in Yidishes tageblat (New York) (February 21, 1917); Bernard Drachman, Jewish Theological Seminary (New York, 1900).

Khayim Leyb Fuks