ALEKSANDER ZELDIN

ALEKSANDER ZELDIN (April 2, 1882-November 26, 1949)

            He was born in Lelchytsy (Lieĺčycy), Minsk district, Byelorussia, where his father served as rabbi and ritual slaughterer.  At age eighteen he left for Vilna and there turned his attention to secular knowledge and joined the Labor Zionists.  In 1904 he published (under the pen name Itl Gutkind) several stories and monologues in Tog (Day) in St. Petersburg.  In 1905 he moved to the United States, where he was employed in his first years there in various lines.  Later he became thoroughly involved in literature and journalism, and he published sketches, stories, and one-act dramas and comedies in such New York periodicals as: Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), to which he was a contributor for two years; Der idisher kemfer (The Jewish fighter); Der amerikaner (The American); Chaim Zhitlovsky’s Dos Naye lebn (The new life); and the anthology Literatur (Literature), in which he published the first act of his play Shloyme (Samuel).  With the founding of Tog in New York in 1914, he became a standing contributor to the newspaper, for three years its news editor, and (using the pen name Aleksander) published current events articles, feature pieces, and humorous sketches, and ran various departments within the newspaper.  He specialized in the main on American politics and economics, and among the most popular series in the newspaper was his column: “Iber amerike” (Across America), built upon extracts from the American press.  Great interest was shown by readers in his series on an automobile journey through the United States.  All this did not satisfy him.  He aspired to artistic expression through fiction.  This aspiration partially found expression in his book A tsigele a vayse, a mayse far kinder, yunge un eltere (A little white goat, a story for children, young and older) (New York, 1936), 22 pp.  Among his dramatic works: Dos tsebrokhene harts (The broken heart), Eksternes (External students), Man un vayb (Man and wife), and others.  Man un vayb was a four-act comedy, staged by a dramatic club in New York.  For a certain period of time, he was active in the Labor Zionist movement in New York.  He was one of the founders of the “Y. L. Perets Writers’ Union” and for several years its president.  He was also chairman of the directors’ council of the “Jewish Writers’ Fund for Needy Jewish Writers and Artists.”  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 1; Talush, Yidishe shrayber (Yiddish writers) (Miami, 1953), pp. 143-48; Y. Rolnik, Zikhroynes (Memoirs) (New York, 1954), p. 163; Kh. Gotesfeld, in Forverts (New York) (November 20, 1958).