MENDL MOZES

MENDL MOZES (February 28, 1885-March 3, 1966)

            He was born in Działoszyn, Lodz district, Poland.  He studied in a religious primary school and at the Turker Rav’s yeshiva, and with the Vorter Gaon.  In 1905 he came to Warsaw and there graduated from a high school and for a time studied in the humanities faculty of the local university.  He was for many years a member of the central committee of the Labor Zionists.  He was among the designers of the secular Yiddish school curriculum in Poland and a member of the Dinezon-Medem-Raichman School Committee, which later grew into Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization).  During WWI he ran a Jewish news agency which later merged with ITA (Jewish Telegraphic Agency).  He was a cofounder of the Club of Foreign Journalists and president of the Jewish section of the general journalists’ syndicate.  He was a member of the executive of the Jewish art association and of the Jewish economic committee which led the boycott again Hitler’s Germany, among other such groups.  He was president (1938-1939) of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) in Poland.  His activities as a journalist-publicist began with Hayom (Today) and Varshever morgenblat (Warsaw morning newspaper) in 1910, and from that point he wrote from Warsaw for Yiddish and Hebrew newspapers around the entire world.  His work appeared in: Der fraynd (The friend), Moment (Moment), Haynt (Today), and Unzer ekspres (Our express)—in Warsaw; Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) and Nayer folksblat (New people’s newspaper) in Lodz; Vilner tog (Vilna day) and Tsayt (Time) in Vilna; Di tsayt (The times) in London; and Di prese (The press) and Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires; among others.  Over the years 1941-1954, he lived in New York.  He was the founder and president of the club “Tłomackie 13.”  He was active in the Y. L. Perets Writers’ Association.  In America he wrote for: Forverts (Forward), Tog (Day), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Poylisher id (Polish Jew), and Folk un velt (People and world), among other serials.  In the state of Israel he published in Letste nayes (Latest news), Folk un tsien (People and Zion), Folksblat (People’s newspaper), and Yisroel-shtime (Voice of Israel), among others.  He authored the monograph “Der moment” (The Moment) in volume 2 of the collection Fun noentn over (From the recent past) (New York, 1956), pp. 241-99.  He also published under such pen names as: M. Ben-Yankev, M. Ben-Khane, and M. Henezon.  He was living from 1955 in Rehovot where he died.

Sources: Keneder odler (Montreal) (March 28, 1955); B. Kutsher, Geven amol varshe (As Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955), see index; Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), p. 240; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1938), pp. 244-45; P. Shteynvaks, Siluetn fun a dor (Silhouettes of a generation) (Buenos Aires, 1958), pp. 153-58.

Khayim Leyb Fuks