MENUKHE (MENUHA) RAM

MENUKHE (MENUHA) RAM (March 21, 1916-March 23, 2000)

            The author of stories, she was born Rivke Valdman in Zhetl (Zdzięcioł), Poland.  She studied at the Vilna teacher’s seminary.  She spent WWII in the Soviet Union.  After two years in Lodz, she settled in Paris.  She taught Yiddish at the Institute of Oriental Languages, Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies, University of Paris.  She published poetry and mostly stories in: Unzer vort (Our word), Unzer shtime (Our voice), and Unzer kiem (Our existence)—in Paris; Letste nayes (Latest news) and Di goldene keyt (The golden chain)—in Tel Aviv; and Tsukunft (Future) and Svive (Environs) in New York; among other serials.  In book form: Vayter fun trakt, dertseylung (Further from the highway, a story) (Paris: Minatur-biblyotek, 1961), 77 pp.; Vintn (Winds) (Buenos Aires: Yidbukh, 1964), 176 pp., Hebrew translation as Ruḥot by Mordekhai Amitai (Tel Aviv: Sifriyat poalim, 1977), 182 pp., French translation as Le vent qui passe by Rachel Ertel (Paris: Julliard, 1974), 234 pp.; Arum der verbe, dertseylungen (Around the willow, stories) (Tel Aviv: Yisroel-bukh, 1970), 282 pp., Hebrew translation as Betsel ets haarava by Moshe Yungman (Tel Aviv, 1983), 159 pp.; Shteyner, 18 dertseylungen (Stones, eighteen stories) (Tel Aviv: Yisroel-bukh, 1981), 188 pp.  In 1984 she received the Manger Prize.  “Ram is an authentic prose writer,” opined Yitskhok Yanasovitsh, “and possesses an observational capacity and an eye for the spiritual condition of her protagonists.”  She died in Aubervilliers, France.

Sources: Y. Rapoport, in Di yidishe post (Melbourne) (July 4, 1961); Shloyme Bikl, Shrayber fun mayn dor (Writers of my generation), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv, 1970), pp. 85-88; Froym Oyerbakh, Af der vogshol, esey (In the balance, essay), vol. 2 (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1975), pp. 272-76; Yitskhok Yanasovitsh, Penemer un nemen (Faces and names), vol. 2: Yidishe prozayikers nokh der tsveyter velt-milkhome (Yiddish prose writers after WWII) (Buenos Aires-Tel Aviv, 1977), pp. 304-13.

Dr. Noyekh Gris

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 500.]