SIMKHE TSFAS

SIMKHE TSFAS (May 21, 1907-February 16, 1968)

            The adopted name of Sh. Poznyak, he was born in Bialystok, Poland.  He attended religious elementary school and later graduated from a secular Jewish school.  Until 1926 he lived in Bialystok, where he was active in the Jewish labor movement.  He was secretary of the youth organization “Tsukunft” (Future).  Later he lived for a time in Germany, from whence he emigrated to Mexico in 1928.  He worked for awhile as a Yiddish typesetter.  He was active in the Bund, Relief Association (Hilfs-farayn), Jewish Labor Committee, and secretary of the “Culture Society.”  He began writing with articles in Meksikaner yidish lebn (Mexican Jewish life) in 1935 (which he edited with Solomon Kahan).  Later, he published articles and features in Unzer lebn (Our life) in Mexico City.  From 1940 he was a regular contributor and secretary of the editorial board of the monthly journal Foroys (Onward) in Mexico City.  He also placed work in Unzer tsayt (Our time) and other serials in New York.  He also wrote under the pen name Sh. Poznyak.  He died in Mexico City.

Source: Sh. Yezhor, in Foroys (Mexico City) (June 1957).

Khayim Leyb Fuks