MOYSHE MANDELMAN

MOYSHE MANDELMAN (January 2, 1895-November 3, 1963)

            He was born in Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland.  He studied in religious elementary schools, yeshivas, and with private tutors.  For a time he worked as a watchmaker.  He organized (1915-1916) the secular Jewish school in Siedlce.  He was active in the Folks-partey (People’s party), the Bund, and the craftsman’s union, among other community institutions.  In 1918 he left for Kiev, served as assistant manager of the Jewish People’s Publishing House (Yidisher folks-farlag), studied at the Jewish teachers’ courses, and assembled materials on the pogroms in Ukraine (1918-1920) as well as folkloric, ethnographic materials.  Over the years 1921-1923, he was (in Baranovich) the official representative of the Ukrainian-Jewish Committee aiding tens of thousands of Jews in emigration and re-emigration matters.  He worked in 1924 with the central Jewish craftsman’s union in Warsaw.  He was general secretary in 1928 of the Jewish Folks-partey in Poland.  He traveled around Poland, Western Europe, the Baltic states, and Scandinavian countries (1929-1939) on behalf of Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization).  He lived in Lithuania (1940-1941), and from there the Jewish Labor Committee brought him to the United States.  For five years he was involved with the Jewish Encyclopedia at YIVO.  From 1947 he was active in the World Jewish Culture Congress and organized its Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Canadian, and Mexican divisions.  He gave reports on culture, literature and socio-political matters.  He published articles in: Kharkover tsaytung (Kharkov newspaper), the Folks-partey organ edited by Moyshe Taytsh, Dos folk (The people), Folks-tsaytung (People’s newspaper), and Shul-veg (School ways)—in Warsaw; Folksblat (People’s newspaper) in Kovno; Tog (Day), Forverts (Forward), Unzer tsayt (Our time), and Der veker (The alarm)—in New York; Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv); Yidishe shtime (Jewish voice), Der veg (The way), and Foroys (Onward)—in Mexico City; Yidish far ale (Yiddish for everyone) in Warsaw; and the anthology Lite (Lithuania) (New York, 1951), in which he published a long piece entitled “In freydn un leydn tsvishn litvishe yidn” (In joys and sorrows among the Lithuanian Jews).”  He authored the pamphlets: Di nitskhiyes fun yidishn gayst (The eternity of the Jewish spirit) (Chicago, 1948), 24 pp.; Kdushe ugvure, gloybn un bitokhn (Sanctity and strength, faith and confidence) (Chicago: L. M. Shtayn, 1953), 14 pp., for the memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising; Shimen dubnov un zayn lebns-verk “Di velt-geshikhte fun yidishn folk” (Shimen Dubnow and his life-work The World History of the Jewish People) (Chicago, 1960), 24 pp., on the centenary of Dubnow’s birth; Der onzoger fun der yidish-veltlekher kultur (The bearer of secular Jewish culture) (New York: Tsiko Publ., 1963), 35 pp., earlier published in Di tsukunft (The future) (January 1963).  He died in New York.

Sources: Y. Kaspi, in Sefer yizkor lekehilat shedlets (Memory volume for the community of Shedlets), ed. A. V. Yasni (Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires, 1956), p. 277; S. Kahan, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (July 17, 1960; March 4, 1961); M. Rubinshteyn, in Di shtime (August 4, 1960); M. Ginzburg, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (September 29, 1960; August 27, 1961; August 29, 1962); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 9, 1963); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (New York) (March 24, 1963).

Benyomen Elis