NEKHEMYE LIPSHITS (NECHEMIA LIPSCHUTZ)

NEKHEMYE LIPSHITS (NECHEMIA LIPSCHUTZ) (January 20, 1889-January 8, 1954)

            He was born in Pinsk, Byelorussia.  He attended religious primary school, later graduating from the Pinsk senior high school.  In 1906 he immigrated to the United States, living for a time in New York and Philadelphia.  In 1910 he returned to Pinsk and served for four years in the Russian military.  In WWI he was on the Russo-German front and fell into German captivity.  In late 1918 he returned to Pinsk and in 1935 made his way to Canada.  He lived in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and it was there that he died.  He debuted in print with a poem entitled “Idilye” (Idyll) in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York (1917); he later published poetry, stories, and reportage pieces in: Forverts (Forward) until 1910, Der amerikaner (The American) from 1935 until his death, and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal)—in New York; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; and other serials.  He was the chief contributor and actual editor of: Pinsker lebn (Pinsk life) (1921-1922); Pinsker vort (Pinsk word) (1923-1924); Pinsker tribune (Pinsk tribune) (from 1925); Pinsker shtime (Voice of Pinsk) (1928-1930); and Pinsker vokh (Pinsk week) (1931-1933).  Among other items, he published: “Memuarn fun a pinsker krigs-gefangenem” (Memoirs of a Pinsk prisoner of war); “Durkh farmaterte vegn” (Along weary ways)—characters, images, and scenes from WWI; the series, “Romantishe geshikhtes” (Romantic stories) which he reworked from English and American literature.  He also published under such pen names as: Ben-Porat, Fidele, N. Idelson, and Der Lerer.  He published articles and a collection of Jewish humor in the English-language Cape Breton Mirror (1951-1953.  Posthumously: Kheshbn hanefesh, lider (Accounting of the soul, poems) (New York and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 1981), 149 pp.

Sources: Y. Ayznberg, in Pinsker vokh (September 16, 1932); M. Alpern, in Yidishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (October 14, 1953); Noah Lifshits, a volume in English (New York, 1960), p. 22.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 337.]