NEKHEMYE (NATHAN) KAPLAN (b. August 1881)[1]
He was
born in Bialystok. He studied in
yeshivas, later in a Russian middle school.
His father, Kasriel, was a pioneer follower of the Jewish Enlightenment
in Bialystok. In 1906 he made his way to
New York. He began writing in 1910, also
using the pen name Ben Khorin, in: Yudishe
emigrant (Jewish immigrant) in St. Petersburg, Der idisher imigrant (The Jewish immigrant) in New York, Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily
newspaper), Haynt (Today), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of
labor), and Kinder-zhurnal
(Children’s magazine), among others. He
served as editor of Idisher kunst zhurnal
(Jewish art journal) in New York. In
book form: In blumen-land, dramatishe
fantazye in eyn akt un dray stsenes (In the land of flowers, a dramatic
fantasy in one act and three scenes) (New York: Matones, 1925), 9 pp. + 38 pp.;
Simfoni muzik, kurtse derklerung iber dem inhalt fun di vikhtigste simfonis (Symphony
music, short explanations of the content of the most important symphonies) (New
York, 1925), 210 pp.; Shtimungen, lider
(Moods, poetry), with Yitskhok Finkel (Vilna: F. Garber, 1930), 13 pp.; Lernbukh fun esperanto (Esperanto
textbook) (New York), 96 pp. His
translations include: Oscar Wilde, Poezi
in proze (Poetry in prose) (New York, n.d.), 44 pp.; Geklibene perl fun tanakh (Selected pearls from the Tanakh) (New
York, 1913), 78 pp. + 62 pp.; Ethel L. Voynich, Der shtekhediger, historisher roman (The gadfly, a historical
novel) (New York: Literarisher ferlag, 1917), 265 pp.; Rabindranath Tagore, Tshitra (Chitra) (New York, 1919), 36
pp.; Stanisław Przybyszewski,
Ametisten (Amethysts) (New York,
1919), 19 pp.; Maurice Maeterlinck, Di
shvester bitris (Sister Beatrice [original Soeur Béatrice]) (New York: Literarishe perl, 1919), 47 pp. Kaplan’s translation of Mikhail Artsybashev’s
play Dos gezets fun vildn (The law of the savage) was staged by Maurice
Schwartz.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Byalistoker
shtime (New York) (October 1924); Byalistoker
leksikon (Bialystok handbook) (Bialystok, 1935); autobiographical notes
(gives birth date as August 1881); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Yekhezkl Lifshits
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