ZALMEN KOTLER

ZALMEN KOTLER (October 26, 1874-March 23, 1953)

            He was born in Monastrishtsh (Monastrikh).  He received a traditional education.  For several years he worked as a librarian for the association of Jewish office employees in Odessa.  Over the years 1908-1921, he lived in New York.  He was a cofounder of Tseire-Tsiyon (Zionist youth) in the United States.  He began literary work in 1892 with articles for Hatsfira (The siren).  He contributed work to: Odeser folksblat (Odessa people’s newspaper) in 1906, Y. Kh. Ravnitski’s Lekoved shabes un yontef (In honor of the Sabbath and holidays) in Odessa in 1907, Abe Rubentshik’s Di idishe virklikhkeyt (The Jewish reality), Fraynd (Friend) in St. Petersburg, and Vuhin (Whence) in Kiev, among others—and in a slew of American Yiddish publications: Dos folk (The people), Dos idishe folk (The Jewish people), B. Tsvien’s Dos naye vort (The new word), Amerikaner (American), Der idisher gayst (The Jewish spirit), Rikhter’s Der idisher shrayber (The Jewish writer), and the like.  He was a regular contributor to Dos yudishe tageblat (The Jewish daily newspaper) (1908-1921).  He wrote Hassidic tales, legends, sketches drawn from Jewish life, and on bibliography and library science.  He published a goodly number of pamphlets: Der shekel, zayn geshikhte, bedaytung un tsil (The shekel, its history, importance, and purpose) (Odessa, 1903), 17 pp.; Shalakhmones, a blatel lekoved purim un peysekh (Purim gifts, a leaflet in honor of Purim and Passover) (Odessa, 1905), 19 pp.; Loy tirtsekh! oder der eshafot (You shall not kill!, or the scaffold) (Odessa, 1906), 16 pp.; A sgule gegen pogromen (A solution against pogroms) (Odessa: Frayhayt, 1906), 16 pp.; Shteyner shrayen, dos blut from di helden (The stones scream out, blood of the heroes) (Odessa, 1905/1906), 16 pp.; Hekhaluts, zayn entviḳlung, tsiel un thetigkeyt (The pioneer, its development, objective, and activity) (New York, 1921), 32 pp.; Der yudisher natsyonal-fond, keren kayemet leyisrael, zayn geshikhte, tsilen un teṭigkeyṭ (The Jewish national fund, Keren Kayemet, its history, objectives, and activity) (New York, 1924/1925), 19 pp.; Menakhem mendl usishkin, zayn lebn un shafn (Menahem Mendel Ussishkin, his life and work) (São Paolo, 1942), 60 pp.; and a volume of sketches entitled In di royte un shvartse ṭeg, skitsen un bilder, tsum tsenten yohrtsayt fun di revolutsyon un pogromen in rusland in oktober fun yohr 1905 (In the red and black days, sketches and images, on the tenth anniversary of the revolution and pogroms in Russia in October of the year 1905) (New York: Literarisher Farlag, 1950), 80 pp.  His translations include: Maks nordoys hesped af teodor hertsl, blut un trehren oder di ferumglikte (Max Nordau’s funeral oration for Theodor Herzl, blood and tears or those ruined) (Odessa: A. Beylin, 1905), 16 pp.; D. Pasmanik, Di sotsyal-demokraten iber der natsyonal-frage (The social democrats on the nationality issue [original: Natsionalʹnyi vopros pred sudom sotsial-demokratov]) (Odessa: Kadima, 1905/1906), 78 pp.; Graf l. n. tolstoy iber antisemitizm un di iden frage (Count L. N. Tolstoy on anti-Semitism and the Jewish question) (New York, 1910), 24 pp.; Ḥ. N. Bialik, Dos idishe bukh (The Jewish book) (New York, 1918), 32 pp.  One of Kotlyar’s pseudonyms was Aleykhem-Sholem.  He also wrote as “Kotlyar.”  He died in Jerusalem.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv, 1949), p. 1487; Sefer haishim (Biographical dictionary) (Tel Aviv, 1953/1954), p. 254; R. Benyamin, Kneset ḥakhamim (Assembly of wise men) (Jerusalem, 1960/1961), p. 439; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen