MOYSHE FRID

MOYSHE FRID (October 17, 1893-December 5, 1985)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  He received a traditional Jewish education and studied secular subjects on his own.  In 1912 he came to the United States and settled in Paterson, New Jersey.  He began writing when he was very young and debuted in print with a novella entitled “On a bord” (Beardless) in the weekly newspaper Der shtern (The star) in Paterson (1919), and from that point he went on to publish sketches, novellas, stories, articles, and short dramas in: Der shtern, Zeglen (Sails), and In veg (On the road) in Paterson; and Tsukunft (Future), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Tog (Day), Veker (Alarm), Nyu-yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper), Di feder (The pen), Unzer veg (Our way), and Forverts (Forward), among others, in New York.  He received first prize in 1936 from Forverts in a story contest.  He also contributed to the anthology Shikago (Chicago), among other venues.  Over the years 1937-1940, he placed work in the daily newspaper Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Cleveland.  In book form: Ir gelt (Her money), a one-act play (Jersey City, 1929), 24 pp.; Di ibergeblibene (The survivors), six one-act plays in verse (Paterson, 1952), 131 pp., translated into English by A. D. Mankof (Cambridge, 1959); Khaver leybke (Comrade Leybke) (Paterson, 1960), 64 pp.; Likht un shotns, dertseylungen (Light and shadows, stories), drawn from Jewish and working life in the United States (Tel Aviv, 1966), 272 pp.  He also published under such pen names as: Ben-Sholem and Moyshe-Arn ben Alter.  He died in Paterson, New Jersey.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; Ab. Cahan, in Forverts (New York) (January 9, 1936); A. Sh., in Omer (Tel Aviv) (Nisan 25 [= April 22], 1960); Dr. E. Pat, in Veker (New York) (August 1, 1960); Sh. D. Singer, in Unzer veg (New York) (September 1960); Yankev Pat, in Tsukunft (New York) (October 1960); Berl Boys, in Oyfsnay (New York) (summer 1961); Y. Shumelvitsh, in Forverts (January 22, 1962).

Khayim Leyb Fuks