LEYBUSH
(LEIBUSH-MORTKHE) LEHRER (April 6, 1887-September 17, 1964)
The brother of Lipe Lehrer, he was
born in Warsaw, Poland. He attended
religious primary schools and the yeshivas of Makov (Maków) and Novominsk. At age fifteen he went to work so as to be
independent. In 1903 he joined the group
“Der unz” which stood for a goal of founding a cooperative agricultural colony
(some of the members later emigrated to the United States and created a
cooperative colony in Alliance, New Jersey).
At the same time, he was attracted to the Zionist movement, and was
later for a time active in the Socialist Zionist Party in Częstochowa. In 1906 he moved to Belgium, where
(1906-1907) he was an early follower of Université Nouvelle in Brussels, and at
the same time he worked slicing pieces of kindling wood used to light
stoves. In late 1907 he returned to
Warsaw. A short time later his friends
in America sent him a ship’s ticket for passage, and in 1908 he left Warsaw,
spent a short period with his brother Lipe in Paris, and in April 1909 arrived
in New York, where until 1911 he worked making slippers, blankets, and
neckties, and in his free time he was writing song lyrics. In his early youth back in Warsaw, he had already
written songs to sing for the “Unz” group, and during his stay in Paris he
published a song in a Parisian Yiddish magazine. Using such pen names as L. Magister, Sol
Kesman, and Herkules, he published poetry and prose items in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of
labor), Dos yudishe folk (The Jewish
people), Der kibetser (The kibitzer),
and Di fraye gezelshaft (The free
society), among others. In 1912 he left
for Valparaiso, Indiana, and graduated there from the preparatory school of
Valparaiso University. In 1916 he
received his B. A. diploma from Clark College in Wooster, Massachusetts, and in
1917 his M. A. degree from Clark University.
That year he moved to New York, worked initially as a book seller, later
(1918) became a teacher at the No. 3 Sholem Aleichem School, and in 1922 he moved
to the No. 6 Sholem Aleichem School in New York. He was a cofounder of the Sholem Aleichem
Folk Institute and Camp Boiberik, where Lehrer served as director for over
forty years, which practiced an innovative method of inculcating Jewish
traditions and customs in youth, ceremonial celebrations of Sabbaths and
holidays, widely commented upon in the American Yiddish press. The essays and articles that he wrote in
subsequent years had the goal of explaining the spiritual path of the Jewish
people, their thought and their story.
“The artistic and the thoughtful word and also life with its
practicalities,” wrote Dr. Shloyme Bikl, “were for Leybush Lehrer never a book
from which to draw only knowledge or enjoyment, but always a text which taught
him and stimulated him to do—namely, to bear the burden of work for the
community, which others, and he himself, marked in writing and orally.” He published his essays in: Tog (Day), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Fraye arbeter-shtime, Tsukunft
(Future), in the yearbooks and bulletins of the Sholem Aleichem Folk Institute
and Workmen’s Circle, the anthologies Shriftn
(Writings), Undzer bukh (Our book), Oyfkum (Arise), and other publications
in New York, as well as in Di goldene keyt
(The golden chain) in Tel Aviv. Together
with Froym Oyerbakh, M. Boreysho, Dr. Chaim Zhitlovsky, H. Leivick, and Dovid
Pinski, he served on the editorial board of the weekly Idish (Yiddish), published by the Jewish Cultural Society in New
York (1932-1934). Together with Dr.
Yankev Shatski and Shmuel Niger, he was one of the principal initiators in
founding the American division of YIVO, and from 1940 he contributed both to
the administration and to the scholarly leadership of YIVO in America. He was secretary of the psychology-pedagogy
section of YIVO and in his last years one of the leaders among the scholarship
committee of YIVO as well as of Yivo-bleter
(Pages from YIVO) and the English-language Yivo
Annual. Among his studies, the
following appeared in YIVO publications: “Meynungen vegn eygnshaftn fun bakante”
(Views of characteristics of the eminent), Yivo-bleter
(Vilna) 2 (1931), pp. 32-48; “Di psikhologye fun der lerer-perzenlekhkeyt” (The
psychology of the teacher’s personality), Yivo-bleter
4 (1932), pp. 97-117; “Dos yidishe in der psikhik fun dem amerikaner yidishn
kind” (The Jewish [element] in the psyche of the American Jewish child), Yivo-bleter 4 (1932), pp. 330-63; “Natsyonale
eygnshaftn” (National [Ethnic] characteristics), Yivo-bleter 7 (1934), pp. 257-59; “Di inteligents fun di amerikaner
yidishe kinder” (The intelligence of American Jewish children), Yorbukh fun amopteyl fun yivo (Annual from the American branch of YIVO) (New
York) 1 (1938), pp. 217-37; “Zigmund froyd” (Sigmund Freud), Yivo-bleter 15 (1940), pp. 2-10; an essay on Yitskhok Polishuk’s Di antviklung fun bavustzayn un der protses
fun visn (The development of consciousness and the process of knowledge),
in Yivo-bleter 17 (1941), pp.
73-78; “Natsyonale eygnshaftn,” Yivo-bleter
17 (1941), pp. 130-45; “Shekspir oder sheikspir?” (“Shekspir” or “Sheikspir”
[on the proper Yiddish spelling of “Shakespeare”]), Yidishe shprakh (The Yiddish language) (Vilna) 1 (1941), pp.
86-89. He served as editor for Shriftn far psikhologye un pedagogye
(Writings on psychology and pedagogy) (Vilna) 1 (1933), 528 columns, in which
he published his essay: “Di psikhologye fun shpil” (The psychology of play),
cols. 77-106, and “Gevise eygnshaftn fun vizueln oyfnemen in zeyer shaykhes tsu
teyl geometrish-optishe iluzyes” (Certain traits of visual reception in its
connection with some geometric-optical illusions), cols. 275-94. In the second number of this journal (Vilna,
1940), he published: “Di dinamishe role fun yidishe simboln in der psikhik fun
amerikaner yidishn kind” (The dynamic role of Jewish symbols in the psyche of the
American Jewish child), cols. 80-110. He
was co-editor of Yorbukh fun amopteyl fun yivo 2
(1939), 329 pp., in which he published: “Shtimungen bay undzer yugnt”
(Tendencies among our youth), with tables, cols. 133-46. His subsequent work includes: “Kultur un
geshikhte” (Culture and history), “Zhestikulatsye bay yidn un italyener”
(Gesticulation among Jews and Italians), and “Teoryes vegn negative batsiungen
fun yidn tsu yidn” (Theories of negative attitudes of Jews toward Jews), in Yivo-bleter (New York) 19 (1942); “Historish-psikhologishe faktorn un
tsvishnyidishe batsiungen” (Historical-psychological factor of attitudes within
Jews), Yivo-bleter 20 (1942); a
series entitled “Fun poylishe dyalekt” (Of
the Polish dialect), in Yidishe shprakh
(New York) 2 (1942), pp. 47-48, pp. 149-51, pp. 180-81, and Yidishe shprakh 3 (1943), pp. 51-53 and
146-48; “Zhitlovskis teorye vegn ideen-farbindungen” (Zhitlovsky’s theory of ideas
in contact), Yivo-bleter 22 (1943),
pp. 131-46; “Yidn in likht fun sotsyologye fun visn” (Jews in light of the
sociology of knowledge), Yivo-bleter
23 (1944), pp, 142-46; “Di dinamishe role fun yidishe simboln in der psikhik
fun amerikaner yidishn kind,” Yivo-bleter
28 (1946), pp. 273-90, and 29 (1947), pp. 51-70; “Natsyonaler kharakter”
(National character), Yivo-bleter
31-32 (1948), pp. 293-351; “Di yidishe ongeherikeyt fun der yugnt bay yidn”
(The Jewish sense of belonging among Jewish youth), Yivo-bleter 38 (1954), pp. 78-105; and “Problemen fun yidishn
folks-kharakter” (Problems of Jewish ethnic character), Yivo-bleter 41 (1958), pp. 290-329; among others.
His published books include: Di modern yidishe shul (The modern
Jewish school) (New York: Maks N. Mayzel, 1927), 190 pp.; Di psikhologye fun literatur, an aranfir in filomitologye (The
psychology of literature, an introduction to philematology) (New York: Matones,
1925), 254 pp.; Azoy zenen mentshn,
shmuesn vegn der mentshlekher natur (That how people are, chats about human
nature) (New York: Matones, 1934), 238 pp.; Psikhologye
un dertsiung (Psychology and education) (New York: Matones, 1937), 488 pp.;
Yidishkeyt un andere problemen (Jewishness
and other issues) (New York: Matones, 1940), 208 pp.; Azoy zenen yidn (That’s how Jew are) (New York: Matones, 1959), 414
pp.; Fun dor tsu dor (From generation
to generation) (New York: Matones, 1959), 412 pp.; Camp Boiberik, the Growth of an Idea (Boiberik, 1950), 44 pp.; Mentsh un ideye (Man and thought) (New
York: Matones, 1960), 479 pp.; Simbol
un tokh (Symbol and substance) (New York, 1965), 33 pp. Yiddish, 31 pp.
English; In gayst fun traditsye (In
the spirit of tradition) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1966), 523 pp. Of his translations, the following appeared
in Yiddish: William McDougall, Psikhologye
(Psychology), with a general introduction by Hugo Münsterberg (New York: Di
heym, 1919), 187 pp.; Georg Brandes, Di
romantishe shul in daytshland (The Romantic School in Germany), 2 vols.
(New York: Maks N. Mayzel, 1921).[1] He edited: with Y. Levin and Kalmen Marmor, Ertsiung, zamlbikher far algemeyner un
shul-ertsiung (Education, collections for general and school education)
(New York, 1922); and with Dr. Y. A. Merison, and Y. Levin, Unzer kind, tsvey monatlekhe zhurnal far
dertsiungs-frages (Our child, a bimonthly journal of educational issues)
(New York) 1 (1924), 2 (1925). He wrote
prefaces to the textbook by Yisroel Shteynboym, Dovid Bridzher, and Yudel Mark,
Der vokabular farn obheyber-klas in der
amerikaner yidisher shul (The vocabulary for the beginning class in the
American Yiddish school) (New York: Biblyotek fun YIVO, 1944), 78 pp.; and
Yekhiel Shtern, Kheyder un beys medresh
(Religious elementary school and synagogue study house) (New York, 1950), 128
pp. He contributed two essays, “Religye
un yidishkeyt” (Religion and Jewishness) and “Ruzvelt-troyer” (Mourning Roosevelt)
to Di yidishe esay (The Yiddish
essay), ed. Dr. Shloyme Bikl (New York, 1946), pp. 49-53 and pp. 211-15,
respectively. From 1919 he was a teacher
at the Jewish teachers’ seminary and people’s university in New York. Over the years 1921-1947, he served as
director of the Sholem Aleichem Middle School.
He was a member of the national council on Jewish education, among other
posts. He was a delegate to the second
conference of World Jewish Culture Congress in New York (March 1959). In 1960 there was a celebration in New York
for the fifty years of his educational, scholarly, and community
activities. For his books of essays, in
1961 he received the Lonye Bimko Prize from the World Jewish Culture Congress. To honor his seventieth birthday, there
appeared a great number of articles with appreciations of his life and activities. He died in New York.
Sources:
B. Ts. Goldberg, in Fraye arbeter-shtime
(New York) (December 3, 1926); Goldberg, in Tog
(New York) (January 30, 1930); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (October 17, 1926; August 14, 1927; February 18, 1933;
September 23, 1934; February 3, 1935; April 3, 1938); Dr. Y. Shatski, in Der oyfkum (New York) (July 1926);
Shatski, in Unzer shul (New York)
(January 1934), pp. 22-25; Z. Vaynper, in Der
oyfkum (January 1927); Vaynper, Yidishe
shriftshteler (Yiddish writers), vol. 1 (New York, 1933), pp. 127-31; B. Y.
Byalostotski, in Der oyfkum (March
1928); A. Litvak, in Tsukunft (New
York) (May 1932); Y. Tverski, in Tsukunft
(December 1932; June 1934); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 24, 1933; September 24, 1934;
September 11, 1940); Y. Botoshanski, in Di
prese (Buenos Aires) (October 17, 1934; October 24, 1934; October 31, 1934);
Dr. E. Knox, in Fraye arbeter-shtime
(November 15, 1937); Knox, in Idisher
kemfer (November 18, 1960; November 25, 1960); H. Kh. (Khatskeles), in Naye vegn (Riga) 2 (February 1938);
Moyshe Shtarkman, in Tog (August 17,
1940); K. S. Pinson, in Jewish Social
Studies (New York) 3 (October 1941), pp. 427-29; N. B. Minkoff, in Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 6
(New York, 1942), p. 599; A. A. Robak, in Afn
shvel (New York) (April-May 1945); M. Ravitsh, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (July 3, 1947); E. Almi, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (September 15,
1948); Almi, In gerangl fun ideyen,
eseyen (Struggling with idea, essays) (Buenos Aires, 1957), pp. 135-40; Z.
Yefroykin, in Algemeyne entsiklopedye
(General encyclopedia), “Yidn H” (New York, 1957); Yefroykin, in The Jewish People, Past and Present (New
York, 1948), vol. 2; Sh. Margoshes, in Tog
(July 3, 1954; July 12, 1954; March 5, 1960; May 1, 1960); E. Oyerbakh, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 13,
1957; November 27, 1961); A. Tsaytlin, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(September 21, 1957); Tsaytlin, in Idisher
kemfer (Passover issue, 1958), pp. 79-83; S. Dingal, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (June 5, 1959; April
30, 1960); A. Glants, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(August 31, 1959; November 18, 1959); Sh. Suskovitsh, in Davke (Buenos Aires) 43 (July-December 1960), pp. 246-50; B.
Sherman, in Idisher kemfer (April 29,
1960); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(August 9, 1960); Dr. Shloyme Bikl, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal
(April 30, 1960; August 10, 1962); Joseph C. Landes, in Jewish Social Studies 32.1 (April 1960), pp. 115-16; S. Kreiter, in
In Jewish Bookland (New York) (March
1961), p. 3
Zaynvl Diamant
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 341.]
[1] In the YIVO archives maybe found Lehrer’s unpublished
translation of William James, Shmuesn mit
lerer (Chats with a teacher), and Alfred Russell Wallace, Di sotsyale svive un der moralisher problem
(The social environment and the moral issue [original: Social Environment and Moral Progress]).
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