ALEF
KATS (ALEPH KATZ) (May 15, 1898-January 22, 1969)
Pseudonym of Moyshe-Avrom Kats
(Katz), he was born in Mlinov, Dubno district, Volhynia. His father, Khayim-Yerukhem Hacohen Kats, had
received ordination into the rabbinate, but was a follower of the Jewish
Enlightenment at the same time; he left behind a manuscript of some 1,000 pages
of memoirs from his youth and his first years in America. His mother, too, also wrote a memoir for the
weekly newspaper Der amerikaner (The
American) in New York. Alef Kats studied
in religious primary school and later graduated from a Russian elementary
school in Mlinov. In late 1913, he and
his mother and a portion of his family arrived in the United States to join his
father and older sister who had been living there since 1906. He first started writing Hebrew poetry in New
York and was cofounder and secretary of the Hebrew youth club “Bnei am ḥai” (Children of a
living nation). He worked in sweatshops,
stores, a laundry, and offices, and in the evenings he studied in night schools
and later at City College. He published
poems and had charge of a column in the English-language college magazine Owl.
One of his poems was included in The
Poets of the Future: A College Anthology for 1922-24, compiled by Henry
Schnittkind (Boston, 1924). He debuted
in print in Yiddish with a poem in Der
groyser kundes (The great prankster) in New York (December 28, 1917), and
from that point he published poetry in: Inzikh
(Introspective), Oyfkum (Arise), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of
labor), Di vokh (The week), Zangen (Ears of corn), Dos yudishe folk (The Jewish people), Tsukunft (Future), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Di feder (The pen), and Getseltn
(Tents)—in New York; Idishe velt
(Jewish world) in Philadelphia; Idisher
kuryer (Jewish courier) in Chicago; Zid-amerike
(South America) in Santiago de Chile; Havaner
lebn (Havana life) in Cuba; Meksikaner
shriftn (Mexican writings) in Mexico City; Der shpigl (The mirror), Di
prese (The press), and Idishe
tsaytung (Jewish newspaper)—in Buenos Aires; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; and Idisher zhurnal (Jewish journal) in
Toronto; among others. In addition, he wrote for such children’s publications
as: Kinder zhurnal (Children’s
journal), Kinderland (Children’s
land), Kinder-velt (Children’s
world), and Kinder-tsaytung
(Children’s newspaper)—in New York; Kinder-fraynd
(Children’s friend) in Warsaw; Argentiner
beymelekh (Little Argentinian trees) in Buenos Aires.
His published books include: A mayse fun yam un andere lider (A story
of the sea and other poems) (New York: Zangen, 1925), 59 pp.; Akertsayt, a zamlung lider (Plowing
season, a poetry collection) (New York: Biderman, 1929), 80 pp.; Dos telerl fun himl (Pie in the sky),
poems, with illustrations by Yosl Kotler (New York: Matones, 1934), 30 pp.; Fun alef biz tof (From A to Z), a poem
following the alphabet, with illustration by Yoysef Shor (New York: Alef,
1939), 32 pp.; Amol iz geven a mayse
(There was once a story), poetry (New York: Matones, 1944), 96 pp.; Gut morgn, alef? (Good morning, Alef!),
initially published in Tsukunft (Future)
in New York (March 1946) and later staged in Holocaust survivors’ camps in
Germany and by various troops in other countries, later published in book form
as Gut morgn, alef, purim-shpil un
yosele, tsvey shpiln un a mayse (Good morning, Alef, a Purim play, and
Yosele, two plays and a story) (New York, 1950), 64 pp., which was highly
praised by Yiddish critics: “The tiny Jewish letters are living creatures for
Alef Kats,” wrote Shmuel Niger. “Alef,
beys, giml, lamed and vov, nun and samekh are the heroes and play roles in this
dramatic work…. The tragic drama of the
Jewish letters becomes an allusion for Kats to the tragedy of the Jewish
people, who are the people of writing, the people of the letter.” He later published: Di emese hasene, a layter fun lider fun mayses un shpil (The true
wedding, a ladder of poems, of stories, and a play) (New York, 1964), 164 pp.; and
Der morgnshtern (The morning star),
poetry (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1975), 152 pp., with a long preface by Yudel
Mark. On his sixtieth birthday, his Kholem aleykhem, shpil un lider (A dream
upon you, play and poems)[1] (New York: Medines yidish,
1958), 160 pp. On the same occasion were
published numerous assessments of the poet in the Yiddish press, and a special
celebration in honor of the jubilee event took place in New York. From English into Yiddish, he translated
Robert Louis Stevenson’s Oytser-indzl
(Treasure Island) (New York: Grohart-Stodolski, 1927), 312 pp.; and he
published serially a Yiddish translation of Stevenson’s Der zelbsmerder klub (The suicide club) in Idishe tsaytung in São Paolo, Brazil (1935). Kats lived in New York, where from 1925 he
served as editor of the Yiddish division of the Jewish Agency (ITA), for which
he wrote the news and edited the ITA-syndicated column “Literarishe nayes”
(Literary news). He contributed as well
to the philological journal Yidishe
shprakh (Yiddish language) and to the preparation of the Groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh
(Great dictionary of the Yiddish language) in New York. Music was composed for a series of his poems
and plays, and it was sung at concerts by Yiddish choirs and musical societies
in New York and other cities. His poetry
appeared as well in: Joseph Leftwich’s English-language anthology of Yiddish
poetry, The Golden Peacock (London,
1939); Y. Kisin’s anthology Lider fun der
milkhome (Poems from the war) (New York, 1943); the Hemshekh-antologye (Hemshekh anthology) of Moyshe Shtarkman (New York, 1945); Leon
Feinberg’s Russian anthology of Yiddish poetry Evreiskaia poezia (Yiddish poetry) (New York, 1947); Henech Kon’s Lider far gezang un piano (Songs for
singing and piano) (New York, 1947); M. Basin’s Antologye fun yidisher poezye af amerikaner motivn (Anthology of
Yiddish poetry on American motifs), mimeographed (New York: World Jewish
Congress, 1955); and Shimshon Meltser’s Hebrew anthology of Yiddish poetry Al naharot (By the rivers) (Jerusalem,
1956). His poems were also included in
readers for Jewish schools. In 1955 his
book Gut morgn, alef! received the
Abel Shaban prize of the World Jewish Culture Congress. “One has the impression while reading Kats,”
wrote Dr. Shloyme Bikl, “that the poet is standing at the front of a band of
‘Broder Singers’ who travel with him…to entertain the Jewish world and to help
it forget its sad disposition with song and with story…. Alef Kats belongs to the category of sober
creator. He has his language always in
hand, and in the most lyrical of moments he is the most conscious master with
his poetic line and his poetic word.” In
Almanakh yidish (Almanac of Yiddish),
published by the Jewish Culture Congress (New York, 1961), he published his
great work “Reb alter fish” (Mr. Alter Fish), pp. 267-75. He died in New York.
Alef Kats and his
book Kholem aleykhem
Sources:
Moyshe Shtarkman, ed., Hemshekh-antologye
(Hemshekh anthology) (New York, 1945), pp. 62-64, which includes a rich
bibliography of Alef Kats’s works published in Yiddish periodicals from 1925 to
1939. In addition, the following works
concern the poet: Z. Vaynper, in Idishe
shriftshteler (New York) 1 (1933), pp. 93-97; A. Shvarts, in Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz)
(November 24, 1934); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (July 2, 1944); Glatshteyn, in Idisher
kemfer (New York) (February 14, 1947; November 13, 1959); Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence), vol. 2
(Buenos Aires, 1960), 335-39; Sh. Rozhanski, in Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (September 17, 1944); Dr. A.
Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (December
30, 1945; October 20, 1950; March 11, 1951); Mukdoni, in Tsukunft (New York) (September 1958); Y. Glants, in Der veg (Mexico City) (February 24,
1945; July 28, 1958); B. Rivkin, in Getseltn
(New York) (January-February 1945); Rivkin, Yidishe
dikhter in amerike (Yiddish poets in America), vol. 2 (Buenos Aires, 1959),
pp. 295-302; Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder
(New York) (1930, 1939, 1942, 1945); B. Y. Byalostotski, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York) (February
1946); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New
York) (March 31, 1946); Niger, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (May 17, 1953); Y. Kisin, in Forverts
(New York) (October 15, 1944); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (July 18, 1950); Y. Berliner, in Der veg (Mexico City) (July 29, 1950);
N. Ziprin, in American Hebrew (New
York) (July 21, 1950); Ziprin, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(April 18, 1958); A, Leyeles, in Tog
(July 19, 1950); Leyeles, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(June 4, 1955); M. Kutshinski, in Nayer
moment (São Paolo) (November 17, 1950); M. Yofe, in Morgn-zhurnal (January 21, 1951); E. Almi, in Idisher kemfer (September 9, 1955); Almi, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (new York) (December 1, 1960); Dr. Sh.
Margoshes, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (May
13, 1955); B. Shefner, in Forverts
(New York) (May 14, 1955); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (June 15, 1958); Dr. Shloyme Bikl, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (October 26, 1958); D. Ignatov, in Jewish Bookland (New York) (January
1959); Sh. D. Zinger, in Undzer veg
(New York) (January 1959); Divon, in Omer
(Tel Aviv) (March 13, 1959); Y. Kohn, Baym
rand fun onhoyb (At the edge of the beginning) (New York, 1960), pp. 14-16;
A. Kh. Heler, in Fraye arbeter-shtime
(December 15, 1960); Y. Bronshteyn, Ineynem un bazunder, eseyen (Altogether and separate, essays) (Tel Aviv, 1960),
pp. 83-87.
[Addition
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 310.]
[1] Translator’s note. The title is a pun, of course, on
“Sholem aleykhem” (How do you do?), and impossible to translate directly. (JAF)
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