YOYNE BEN DOV TSHEKHANOVSKI

YOYNE BEN DOV TSHEKHANOVSKI (December 1, 1908-November 3, 1979)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland, into a working family.  He studied in religious elementary school, public school, and for a time in high school.  He lost his father at age twelve, and he perforce had to work to help support his family.  He was a boot stitcher, a house painter, a business employee, a traveling businessman, and ultimately he became a worker in a publishing house.  In 1934-1937 he took the preparatory training to become an agricultural settler in the land of Israel at Kibbutz Busliya.  From 1937 he was living in Israel.  He began publishing poems and humorous items in Ekstrablat (Extra newspaper) in Lodz (1924), later becoming a contributor to Unzer moment (Our moment) in Lodz (1925) and to Y. M. Vaysenberg’s Inzer hofening (Our hope) in Warsaw.  He contributed as well to: Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw; the two-volume Af der shvel (At the threshold) in Warsaw (1931), of which he was co-editor; Di epokhe (The epoch), a monthly periodical (Lodz, 1932), which he edited together with Simkhe-Bunem Gliksman; Baderekh (On the road) in Warsaw (1933); Di post (The mail) in Cracow; Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York; Unzer tribune (Our tribune) in Lodz; Busliya (a youth magazine for the pioneer movement, of which he was also editor) in Lodz (1935); Nayvelt (New York), Ilustrirte vokhnshrift (Illustrated weekly writing), Lebns-fragn (Life issues), Letste nayes (Latest news), Ksovim (Writings, ed. Aba Gordin), and Hatsofe (The spectator), among others in Tel Aviv; Undzer veg (Our way) in Chicago (April 1960); and others.  In book form: Di lider (The poems), youthful creations (Lodz, 1926), 12 pp.  He also published under such pseudonyms as: Ben-Dov and Y. Berishzon.  In 1961 he brought out the epic poem (initially written in Hebrew): Bet saba (Grandfather’s house) (Tel Aviv, 116 pp.).  He died in Ramat Gan, Israel. 

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), p. 208; Y. Pat, in Vokhnshrift far literatur (Warsaw) (July 17, 1931); Khayim Leb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 248; Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (January 5, 1962).

Khayim Leyb Fuks