Wednesday, 19 October 2016

PINKHES-MORTKHE TAYTS

PINKHES-MORTKHE TAYTS (b. 1908)
            He was born in Subot (Subate), Latvia.  He studied with his father, the local rabbi, in various yeshivas, and received ordination into the rabbinate.  He was one of the principal leaders of the Orthodox movement in Latvia, later going as emissary of the Telts (Telz) yeshiva to the United States.  From 1936 he was serving as rabbi in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  He was a member of the main administration of ORT (Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades) and Agudat Harabanim (Union of Orthodox Rabbis) in the United States, as well as of Vaad Hatzalah (Rescue Committee) on whose behalf he carried out a mission to Europe.  He published essays in: Idishe shtime (Jewish voice) in Riga-Kovno in the 1930s, and he served on its editorial board.  In America he contributed to: Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice), and Hapardes (The orchard), among others, in New York.  He published the pamphlet: Orah! a ruf tsu der amerikaner ortodoksye (A call to American Orthodoxy) (New York, 1936), 16 pp.  He was in charge of the weekly “Daf hashevua” (Page of the week), the Gemara in Yiddish, for the Yiddish radio station WEVD in New York.  He was last living in Elizabeth, New Jersey.


Sources: A. Z. Rand, Toldot anshe shem (Stories of famous people) (New York, 1950), p. 60; Rabbi A. B. Shurin, in Forverts (New York) (January 7, 1957); P. Pili, in Panim al panim (Jerusalem) (Iyar 9 [= May 6], 1960).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


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