DER KHOSID (ḤOSED)

DER KHOSID (ḤOSED) (August 5, 1892-January 1943)

            The pseudonym of Dovid Teumim, he was born in Pultusk (Pułtusk), Poland.  Until age thirteen he studied in religious primary school and synagogue study hall, later switching to a secular education and acquainting himself with European literature, moving to Warsaw, and taking up writing himself.  He debuted in print with an impression (“Tratves” [Rafts]) in Teater-velt (Theater world) in Warsaw (1908), and from then on he wrote for a variety of periodical publications and newspapers.  Over the years 1922-1939, he contributed to Haynt (Today) in Warsaw, in which he published stories and the novels In rebns hoyf (In the rebbe’s court) and Af fremde vegn (On alien paths); in these works he described various types of Polish Jews in small towns.  Among his books: Der poylishe rebe, poeme in proze (The Polish rebbe, a poem in prose)—the spelling reflected the dialect of the Pultusk region—(Warsaw, 1921), 64 pp.; Unter shtile himlen (Under quiet skies), stories (Warsaw, 1921), 122 pp.  He also published under such pen names as: Tsviling.  He died during the January Aktion of 1943.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol.1; Dr. R. Feldshuh, Yidishe gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish community handbook), vol. 1 (Warsaw, 1939), p. 838; Antologye fun der yidisher proze in poyln tsvishn beyde velt-milkhomes (Anthology of Yiddish prose in Poland between the two world wars) (New york, 1946), pp. 353-57; B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), p. 68.