BINYUMIN ZUSMAN

BINYUMIN ZUSMAN (April 1886-1952)

            He was born in the village of Nishtshe, near Zlotshev (Zolochiv), eastern Galicia, into a poor family.  Until age sixteen he studied in the synagogue study hall, later turning his attention to secular subjects as well.  For many years he was a teacher and administrator of the Talmud Torah “Yeshivat oraḥ ḥayim” (Yeshiva of the proper way to life) in Zolochiv.  He was a religious leader and forerunner of the modern Orthodox school curriculum.  Shortly before WWII, he made aliya to Israel with his children.  From 1908 he published articled articles, stories, and poems in the Hebrew collection Maḥazike hadat (Strengthening the faith) and to the Yiddish weekly newspaper Der religyezer yudisher arbayter (The religious Jewish worker)—also to Yoyne Krepl’s Tog (Day)—all in Cracow.  In pamphlet form, he published: Unzer khinekh, a kurtser iberblik in der geshikhte funem yudishn khinekh, amol un haynt (Our education, a short survey into the history of Jewish education, past and present) (Lemberg, 1922), 29 pp.  He translated Mishnas from tractate Berakhot (Blessings) of the Talmud into Yiddish, under the title Mishne lefi hataf (Mishna for beginners).  He died in Haifa.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Antologye fun religyeze lider un detseylungen (Anthology of religious poetry and stories) (New York, 1955), see index.