Wednesday 13 November 2019

TASHRAK


TASHRAK (January 30, 1872-October 5, 1926)
            He authored stories, was a humorist, and translated homiletical material from the Talmud.  Tashrak was the pen name of Yisroel-Yoysef Zevin.  He came from a wealthy Hassidic family.  He received an excellent Jewish education and studied Talmud and commentators as well as Russian and German.  In 1889 he made his way to the United States.  He worked as a peddler, a shopkeeper, and later devoted himself entirely to journalistic and literary activities.  In 1893 he debuted in print with a sketch in Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), and he remained linked to this newspaper his entire life as one of its principal contributors under various pseudonyms (mainly: Yudkovitsh); in this period, he also worked for a short time in 1894 as editor of the Philadelphia weekly Di yudishe prese (The Jewish press).  For Yidishes tageblat, he wrote stories, feuilletons, tales, humorous sketches, and novels—among them, Fun akhtsehn biz draysig (From eighteen to thirty)—as well as journalistic articles.  The humorous sketches and stories drew mainly on daily immigrant life, such as the series “Khayim der kostomer peddler” (Khayim the customer peddler), “Dzhou der veiter” (Joe the waiter), “Berl der butsher boy” (Berl the butcher boy), and “Simkhe der shames” (Simkhe the sexton).  From 1924 he was also a regular contributor to Morgn zhurnal (Morning journal); in it he published popular articles, mainly in the section “Far hoyz un familye” (For home and family), edited by Dr. A. Adelman and Meyer Zonenshayn.  From time to time, he wrote for Warsaw’s daily newspapers Dos leben (The life) [Der fraynd (The friend)] and Der shoyfer (The shofar) (1905), New York’s Minikes yontef bleter (Minikes’ holiday sheets), Minikes yohr-bukh (Minikes’ yearbook), and Di idishe bihne (The Yiddish stage), among others.  Tashrak also placed work in Gershon Rozentsvayg’s Haivri (The Jew), Haam (The people) in New York (1907/1908), and English-language newspapers.  Over the years 1907-1914, he was a standing contributor to the Anglophone daily New York Herald and in it published some eighty humorous stories of Jewish life in New York.  Two of his stories appeared as well in: Helena Frank, Yiddish Tales (Philadelphia, 1912).
            His writings include: Fun tashraks tagebukh (From Tashrak’s diary), “reports, observations, impressions, expressions, witty tales, ideas, porridge, and beet leaves” (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., n.d.), 32 pp.; Zevins geklibene shriften (Zevin’s [Tashrak’s] selected writings), part 1, supplement to Minikes’ Yomim-neroim un sukes blatt (Days of Awe and Sukkot newspaper) (New York, 1906), 32 pp.; Geklibene shriften (Selected writings) (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1909), newer editions (1917, 1926), 2 vols.; Tashraks beste ertsehlungen I. Dos goldene land (Tashrak’s best stories, 1. The golden land), “stories from Jewish life in America”; II. Shpas un ernst (2. Joking and serious), “stories, fables, and fantasies”; III. Mener un froyen (3. Men and women), “tragedies and comedies of family life”; IV. Af der zayt yam (On this side of the ocean), “images of us yellow and green” (New York, 1910), 4 vols.: 224 pp., 160 pp., 223 pp., 160 pp., second edition (1911), third edition (1912), fourth edition (1919); Etikete, a veg vayzer fun laytishe oyffihrung, helflikhkayt un shehne manyeren far mener un froyen (Etiquette, a guide to proper demeanor, assistance, and beautiful manners for men and women) (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1912), 310 pp.; Mayselekh far kinder (Stories for children) (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1919), 222 pp., later edition (1928); Ale agodes fun talmud an ayen yankev af idish, ale mayses, agodes, mesholim, alegoryen, anekdoten, historishe un byografishe ertsehlungen, poetishe, moralishe un filozofishe perl fun gants talmud bavli un yerushalmi (All the homiletics from the Talmud, an Ein Yaakov in Yiddish, all the tales, homiletical tales, fables, allegories, anecdotes, historical and biographical stories, [and] poetic, moral, and philosophical pearls from the entire Talmud, Babylonian and Jerusalem [editions]) (New York, 1922), 3 vols., later edition (1925); Ale mesholim fun dubner magid (All the fables of the Dubner preacher) (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1925), 2 vols.; Der oytser fun ale medroshim, ale agodes, ertshelungen un mesholim, aroysgenumen fun medresh rabe tankhume,…un fun ale andere medroshim (The treasury of all midrashim, all homiletics, stories, and fables, including Midrash Rabbah Tanuma,…and of all other midrashim) (New York, 1926), 4 vols.; Fun akhtsehn biz draysig, a novel (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1929), 586 pp.  He died in New York.
            “He made a name first and foremost,” wrote Zalmen Reyzen, “for his humorous stories drawn from Jewish life in the United States….  He was at that time the humorist of Jewish America,...depicting the comical situations and the twisted nature of the community in the new country.”
            Among the hundreds of anecdotal stories, noted E. Vohliner, Tashrak also had “truly masterful humorous sketches, stories, and feuilletons with vivid people and with surroundings, drafted…with a proficient hand….  When you peruse Tashrak’s writings, you travel through all the stages of the Jewish American community…and this is an interesting history, if still not so great as literature….  [Even in his best pieces, one senses] the haste, the negligence, and the carelessness of newspaper writing, and the whole suffers from wordiness.”
            “Tashrak is still more a journalist and critic of the democratic life of the people,” commented Bal-Makhshoves, “than the purely artistic storyteller.”



Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Ab. Goldberg, Gezamlte shriftn (Selected writings) (New York, 1913), pp. 249-51; Shmuel Niger, in Fraynd (New York) (October-November 1921); Bal-Makhshoves, Geklibene shriftn (Selected writings) (Warsaw, 1929), vol. 4, pp. 146-50, vol. 5, p. 140; Yoyel Entin, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 20, 1944); Borekh Rivkin, Grunt-tendentsn fun der yidisher literatur in ameriḳe (Basic tendencies in Yiddish literature in America) (New York, 1948), p. 77; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Berl Cohen


ARN-SHMUEL TAMARES


ARN-SHMUEL TAMARES (1869-August 12, 1931)
            Known by his pen name “Aḥad harabanim hamargishim” (One of the sensitive rabbis), he was born in Maltsh (Malecz), Grodno district.  From 1893 until his death, he was rabbi in the small town of Mileytshits (Milejczyce).  He was a well-known rabbinical-intellectual personality, an original and unique figure in the Jewish world of thought.  He fought against Zionism (earlier, he was for it), against nationalism, against the petrification of Orthodoxy; for uncompromising pacifism, territorialism, and a Crimean land project.  In his last years he grew closer to Agudat Yisrael.  He wrote mainly for the Hebrew-language press and published several religious texts in Hebrew.  In Yiddish he published a pamphlet entitled Farn tsar fun a nirdef (For the grief of a persecuted man), “illuminating the ‘Radom matter’ [the struggle of the Radom Jewish community against the imposition of R. Yekhiel Kestenberg] and incidentally also the full batch of painful events…in the Jewish world” (Pyetrkov, 1927/1928).  He also wrote articles in Fraynd (Friend) (1911), the daily newspaper Dos yudishe velt (The Jewish world) in Warsaw 219 (1917), the popular Dos folk (The people) (1922), Vilna’s Dos vort (The word) and Vilner tog (Vilna day) 35-41 (1925) (a series of articles against Zev Jabotinsky’s Jewish Legions), Aguda’s Der yud (The Jew), and elsewhere.  Among his Hebrew books: Musar hatora vehayahadut (The etiquette of the Torah and Judaism) (Vilna: Garber, 1912), 174 pp.; Sefer haemuna haṭehora vehadat hahamonit (Pure faith and mass religion) (Odessa: N. Halprin, 1912), 71 pp.; Kneset yisroel umilḥamot hagoyim (The congregation of Israel and the wars of the gentiles) (Warsaw, 1920), 83 pp.  He died in Warsaw.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Meravya, 1967); Arn Tsaytlin, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (September 22, 1961).
Berl Cohen


SHMUEL (SAMUEL) TALPIS


SHMUEL (SAMUEL) TALPIS (June 29, 1877-November 21, 1951)
            He was born in Nayshtot-Sugind (Žemaičių Naumiestis), Lithuania.  He studied in religious elementary school and for three years at the Telz yeshiva.  He lived in Germany, England, and from 1894 Montreal.  For a time he took up business, later devoting himself to community and literary matters.  From the founding of the Zionist Organization in Canada, he was active in Jewish colonization in Israel.  He wrote numerous articles on the Jewish wisdom, historical figures, Jewish history, travel impressions, and contemporary community topics.  He wrote for a string of Hebrew serials: Hamelits (The advocate), Hatsfira (The siren), Hatsofe (The spectator), Haolam (The world), and others, as well as for Anglophone Jewish ones.  In Yiddish he wrote primarily for: Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; and from time to time for other Yiddish publications—in Forverts (Forward) in New York under the pen name K. Bernard.  He edited the illustrated weekly newspaper Folks-tsaytung (People’s newspaper).  In book form: Geklibene shriften fun shmuel talpis, a zamlung ophandlungen iber khokhmes yisroel (Selected writings of Shmuel Talpis, a collection of treatments of Jewish wisdom) (Montreal., 1939), 303 pp.  He died in Montreal.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Y. Y. Sigal, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (January 11, 1935); Benyomen-Gutel Zak, in Lite (Lithuania), vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1965), p. 238; N. Goren, ed., Yahadut lita (Jews of Lithuania), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv: Am hasefer, 1967), p. 251 (his given name is incorrectly given as “Shloyme”); Yeshrin archive, YIVO (New York).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


Tuesday 12 November 2019

TALUSH


TALUSH[1] (May 17, 1887-July 7, 1962)
            He was a story writer, born Iser Muselevitsh in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Latvia.  He was orphaned in his youth.  He wandered along the Volga River and for a time lived there among vagabonds.  He learned Russian and left for abroad—Switzerland, Paris, twice in the land of Israel, performing hard labor everywhere.  In 1920 he emigrated to New York.  In 1925 he founded the publishing house of Tsvaygn (Branches) for booklets.  He spent his last years in Miami Beach.  He began his literary work in 1909 in Russian, and in 1920 he turned to Yiddish with a novel appearing in Tsukunft (Future) in New York; it was entitled Fremde (Stranger), and in book form it was titled Der yam roysht (The sea rushes).  He was a regular contributor (1920-1921) to the daily newspaper Di tsayt (The times), later placing sketches and stories in Tog (Day), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Forverts (Forward), Tsukunft, Amerikaner (American), Gerekhtigkeyt (Justice), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor)—all New York—and Eygns (One’s own) in Bayonne, among others.  Talush’s sketches were often reprinted in the Polish Yiddish provincial press.  Several of his stories were translated into French, German, and English, among them “L’étranger” (The stranger), “a tale of the new Jewish life in Palestine.”  One story drawn from the life of the pioneers in the land of Israel was dramatized under the title “Der falfalener” (The lost one).  His work appeared as well in Mordekhai alamish, ed., Mikan umikarov, antologya shel sipure yidish beerets yisrael (From near and from far away, anthology of stories in Yiddish in Israel) (Meravya, 1966).
            His writings include: Der yam roysht, dertsehlungen un skitsen (The sea rushes, stories and sketches) (New York: Kultur, 1921), 378 pp.; A zump, ertsehlung fun amerikanem idishen farmer leben (A marsh, a story from the life of an American Jewish farmer) (New York: Zangen, 1922), 73 pp., later edition (1924); Der kholem, dertseylung (The dream, a story) (New York: Tsvaygn, 1925), 16 pp.; Ven mir zaynen kinder geven, eskizn (When we were children, sketches) (New York: Tsvaygn, 1925), 16 pp.; Der bilbl, drama (The blood libel, a drama) (New York, 1929), newspaper clippings from published chapters in Fraye arbeter-shtime; Der bunt (The rebellion) (Warsaw: Kh. Bzhoza, 1936), 288 pp.; Voglenish, roman (Wandering, a novel) (Warsaw: Literarishe bleter, 1938), 560 pp.; Yidishe shrayber, derinerungen un fartseykhenungen (Yiddish writers, memoirs and notes) (Miami Beach, 1953), 319 pp.; Mayn tatns nign, dertseylungen un skitsn (My father’s melody, stories and sketches) (Buenos Aires: Der shpigl, 1957), 319 pp.  He used the pen name Noytman for the humor page of Forverts.  In English: The New Bethlehem (New York, 1936), 281 pp.  He died in Miami Beach.
            “Behind every one of Talush’s stories,” wrote Borekh Rivkin, “there is pantomime and shadow play, which can be narrated and displayed without words….  He introduces into the events…his solitude—the solitude of one who is all by himself in the world….  He seizes the solitary ones, makes them even more lonely, borrows their unhappiness, and the joy of loneliness—befalls them.”
            “Talush, the convert to our literature,” noted A. Mukdoni, “…brought with him from Russian literature the search and discovery in human disquiet, longing, and perpetual haunting….  Talush…paints with the quietest of colors.  Often the colors are so quiet that…only a sharp eye will even notice them.”


Talush in the frontispiece to his book, Der yam roysht

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; A. Mukdoni, in Tsukunft (New York) 2 (1954); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (September 3, 1954); Ben-Tsien Goldberg, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 2, 1958); Sh. Rozenberg, in Amerikaner (New York) (May 30, 1958); Yankev Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (July 10, 1962); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Yekhezkl Lifshits



[1] He was given this pseudonym by Zalmen Shneur in 1918 as a characterization of his life at the time—no home, no country, a wanderer.

DOVID TEOMIM


DOVID TEOMIM (d. January 1943)
            He attended religious elementary schools and yeshivas.  At age sixteen he debuted in print with a story drawn from Hassidic life.  He wrote for various newspapers.  In Haynt (Today) in Warsaw, he published several stories under the pen name “Der Khosid.”  In Yoyvl-bukh fun haynt (Jubilee volume from Haynt) for the years 1908-1938, there appeared a fragment of his long story Nekome (Revenge).  He was confined in the Warsaw Ghetto and died there in January 1943.

Sources: Ber Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), p. 68; Khayim Finkelshteyn, Haynt, a tsaytung bay yidn, 1908-1939 (Haynt [Today], a newspaper for Jews, 1908-1939) (Tel Aviv, 1978), pp. 202-3.
Bew\rl Cohen


ARYE SHARFI


ARYE SHARFI (1907-1966)
            The author of stories, he was born with the surname Gozheltshani in Tshizeve (Czyżew), Poland.  In 1936 he moved to the land of Israel.  He contributed to Israeli periodicals: Shtamen (Tribes), Di brik (The bridge), Nayvelt (New world), Bleter far literatur un kritik (Pages for literature and criticism); and to New York’s Tsukunft (Future) and Unzer veg (Our way); among others.  His work also appears in Mordekhai alamish, ed., Mikan umikarov, antologya shel sipure yidish beerets yisrael (From near and from far away, anthology of stories in Yiddish in Israel) (Meravya, 1966).  Prior to his death, he was preparing for publication a collection of stories.  He died Peta Tikva.

Sources: Mordekhai alamish, ed., Mikan umikarov, antologya shel sipure yidish beerets yisrael (From near and from far away, anthology of stories in Yiddish in Israel) (Meravya, 1966); Avrom Kleyn, in Yisroel shtime (Tel Aviv) (January 11, 1967).
Yekhezkl Lifshits


DOVID-LEYB SHRENTSEL


DOVID-LEYB SHRENTSEL (b. July 13, 1895)[1]
            He was born in Zlatshev (Zolochiv), Galicia, the son of Emanuel Goldshmid.  Until age ten he attended religious elementary school, later a middle school.  He served in the Austrian army.  He was active in the Labor Zionist party and wrote for party organs.  He published a booklet Oysn hartsen (From the heart), poems of youth (Zolochiv: Kesher, 1918), 32 pp.  Dov Sadan states that it had to be included in an anthology of Yiddish literature in Galicia.  “Arye” Shrentsel was the author of Der kos (The cup) (Warsaw, 1931); this may be the same author.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; catalogue of “Kult-bukh” (Warsaw, 1934).
Berl Cohen



[1] This birthdate follows Zalmen Reyzen; Pinkhes galitsye (Records of Galicia), p. 258, gives a date of October 1877.

SHLOYME-ZAYNVL SHREBERK


SHLOYME-ZAYNVL SHREBERK (October 1866-November 5, 1944)
            He was a publisher, born in Postav (Pastavy), near Vilna.  He attended religious elementary school and yeshiva.  In 1900 he opened a publishing house in Vilna, which brought out over one hundred Hebrew and Yiddish books by 1908, among them writings by Bal-Makhshoves, Shmuel Niger, Lipman Levin, Yitskhok-Meyer Vaysenberg, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, and others.  In 1911 he founded—with the publishers Yankev Lidski (“Progres”), Avrom Leyb Shalkovitsh (“Tushiya”), Benyomen Shimin, and Mortkhe Kaplan (“Hashaar”)—the immense publishers’ association “Tsentral” (Central).  In 1919 he was living in Warsaw and there revived his publishing activities by bringing out Shimon Dubnov’s history of the Jews in ten volumes, Shmuel-Leyb Tsitron’s Hebrew and Yiddish works, and Sh. An-ski’s writings (fifteen volumes).  Together with partners, he established in 1926 “Aiasef,” which published the collected works of Mortkhe Spektor (13 vols.), Yankev Dinezon (9 vols.), Der Lebediker (Khayim Gutman) (7 vols.), and Dr. Avrom Koralnik (5 vols.).  With his partners and the publisher B. Kletskin, he organized a cooperative of bookdealers, “Bikher.”  In 1935 he settled in Tel Aviv and there continued his publishing work through “Yizrael,” which he had created, but it only published Hebrew-language works.  He had published over 300 Yiddish volumes.  Either alone or with partners, he helped to publish the monthly Leben un visnshaft (Life and science) in Vilna, edited by A. Litvin, the daily newspaper Dos leben (The life) (1914, though it ceased publication that same year because of WWI), and Vilner tog (Vilna day) in 1919.  After his death in Tel Aviv, there appeared in print Zikhronot hamotsi laor shelomo shreberḳ (Memoirs of the publisher, Shloyme Shreberk) (Tel Aviv, 1954), 232 pp.—some of the articles are in Yiddish.



Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Meravya, 1967); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah lealutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950); A. V. Shir, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (April 22, 1955); H. Shimoni, in Amerikaner (New York) (May 20, 1955); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Yekhezkl Lifshits


SHMUEL SHRIRE


SHMUEL SHRIRE (March 3, 1893-May 26, 1944)
            He was born with the surname Shrayer in Slavuta, Volhynia.  He was a Hebrew research of Tanakh and Talmud, and he published books on these topics.  He took part in the An-ski expedition to research Jewish folklore.  He wrote a bit in Yiddish.  He edited Di yidishe vokh (The Jewish week) in Rovno (1923) and at the same time was the literary editor of Vohliner leben (Volhynian life).  He settled in the land of Israel in 1925 and died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Meravya, 1967); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopediya lealutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv, 1950); Rovna, sefer zikaron (Rovno, remembrance volume) (Tel Aviv, 1956), pp. 479-80.
Ruvn Goldberg


FROYM SHRAYER


FROYM SHRAYER (b. July 8, 1911)
            He was born in Tolmitsh (Tlumach), Galicia, into a well-to-do, rabbinical family.  He received both a traditional and a general education.  In 1928 he joined the left Labor Zionists and remained affiliated with them his entire life.  From 1930 he was living in Warsaw where he graduated from a school for folk art.  He spent WWII in the Soviet Union.  After the war he was active among refugees in Germany.  From 1950 he was living in Tel Aviv.  He wrote criticism, journalism, and mainly on theater and art.  He began publishing in the 1930s in Arbeter-tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper) and Fraye yugnt (Free youth).  He contributed as well to: newspapers of the survivors in Germany; New York’s Proletarisher gedank (Proletarian idea) and Unzer veg (Our way); Nayvelt (New world) in Munich; Folksblat (People’s newspaper), Di goldene keyt (The golden chain), and Bay zikh (On one’s own) in Tel Aviv; and Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris; among other serials.  He edited Nayvelt in Munich (1946-1949) and Der morgn (The morning) in Munich (1949); and he co-edited Hamshekh (Continuation) in Munich and Yizker-bukh tlumich-tolmitsh (Remembrance volume for Tlumach) (Tel Aviv, 1976).  His work also appeared in: Sefer zerubavel ([Yankev] Zerubavel volume) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1961); and Almanakh fun yidishe shrayber in yisroel (Almanac of Yiddish writers in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1962).
            In book form: Irena aykhler, monografye (Irena Eichler, a monograph) (Warsaw, 1939), 63 pp.; Problemen fun kinstlerishn shafn (Problems of artistic creativity) (Munich: Nayvelt, 1948), 91 pp.; Bay heymishe shveln, ayndrukn, eseyen, profiln (At familiar thresholds, impressions, essays, profiles) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1976), 172 pp.; Bleter fun mayn album (Pictures from my album) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1978), 106 pp., translated into Hebrew by Yosef Aai as Ale aviv (Spring leaves) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1979), 100 pp.; Friling-bleter (Spring leaves) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1981), 95 pp.; Estetishe vertn (Aesthetic values) (Tel Aviv: Leivick Publ., 1985), 103 pp.  The two books, Neo-realizm in kunst (Neo-realism in art) and Stefan yaratsh (Stefan Yaratsh), allegedly published in 1937 in Warsaw and Lemberg, were never published.  In Hebrew: Omanut veteatron (Art and theater) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1958), 118 pp., an expanded translation of his Problemen fun kinstlerishn shafn; and Deyokan umasekha (Portrait and mask) (Tel Aviv, 1965), 160 pp., translated from a Yiddish manuscript.  Until 1945 he used the surnames Shrayer-Krigel and Ayzner.
Ruvn Goldberg

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 536.]


FROYM SHRAYER


FROYM SHRAYER (October 20, 1890-January 14, 1948)
            A German and Yiddish poet and translator, he was born in Vizhnits (Vizhnitsa), Bukovina.  He received a traditional and general education—in a German high school in Czernowitz and in Jong’s Hebrew high school in Hungarian Brod.  He lived in Vienna, Berlin, and London (1939-1942), and later moved to New York.  He published poems and reviews in German periodicals.  He grew closer to Yiddish in Berlin and began translating from German into Yiddish: Oysgeklibene mayselekh (Selected stories) by the Brothers Grimm (Berlin: Idisher kultur-farlag, 1923); and poetry by modern Yiddish poets.  From Yiddish to German, he translated: Mendele’s Shloyme reb khayims (Shloyme the son of Reb Khayim) and Masoes benyomen hashlishi (The travels of Benjamin III); Avrom-Moyshe Fuks, Afn bergl, dertseylung (In the hills, a story), in Menorah (Vienna); and poetry by Dovid Aynhorn, Meylekh Ravitsh, and others.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Yidishe kultur (New York) 2 (1948).
Berl Cohen


MATISYOHU SHRAYBER


MATISYOHU SHRAYBER (b. 1891)
            He was born in Vilna.  He graduated from the Warsaw polytechnical school as an engineer.  For many years he served as director of the ORT (Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades) technical school in Vilna.  He helped Vilna’s ORT publish fifteen lithographed handbooks on Yiddish with the terminology for mechanics, technology, and various branches of practical physics.  He survived the Vilna ghetto and died in the Klooga concentration camp in Estonia.  In book form: Teyln fun mashines, shroyfn (Machine parts, screws) (Vilna: ORT, 1938), 75 pp.

Sources: Hirsh Abramovitsh, Lerer yizker-bukh (Remembrance volume for teachers) (New York, 1954), pp. 432-35.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 535-36.


MONI SHRAYBER


MONI SHRAYBER
            He was the author of Iber nakht, a drame in 5 aktn (Overnight, a drama in five acts) (Vilna, 1932), 133 pp.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 535.


YISROEL-ZELIG SHRAYBER


YISROEL-ZELIG SHRAYBER
He was the author of a book entitled Beshkover mayse, a geshikhte (Bieszków tale, a story) (Warsaw, 1863).
Berl Cohen


YEKHIEL SHRAYBMAN

YEKHIEL SHRAYBMAN (March 12, 1913-December 9, 2005)

            He was an author of novels and stories, born in the town of Vad-Rashkev (Vadul-Rascov), Bessarabia [now, Moldova]. He attended religious elementary school and a Romanian public school, had private tutors, and later studied in the Hebrew teachers’ seminary in Czernowitz, where he was arrested for Communist activities. In his youth he sang with a synagogue cantor and choir on the High Holidays for two years in the neighboring town of Căpreşti. He worked for two years as a watchmaker, for two terms as a village teacher, and for about ten years he worked as a prompter for Yiddish theatrical troupes in Bucharest. In Czernowitz and Bucharest, he contributed to the underground revolutionary movement. In 1940 when Bessarabia became a part of the Soviet Union, he moved from Bucharest to Kishinev and became a member of the Soviet writers’ association. He was evacuated during WWII to Uzbekistan in the Soviet Union, where he worked on a collective farm, and afterward he settled in Kishinev and continued his creative writing. The Moscow publisher “Der emes” (The truth) brought out his prose work, Dray zumers (Three summers), in 1946. There was an interruption in his writings, 1948-1960, when the entirety of Yiddish culture in the Soviet Union suffered persecution.

            He debuted in print in 1936 with a story entitled “Ershte trit” (First step) in Signal (Signal), a proletarian literary journal in New York, and two of his poems also appeared in this issue of Signal. He went on to write for: Shoybn (Panes of glass) in Bucharest, Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper) in Warsaw, and Shtern (Star) in Kiev, among other serials. He published numerous stories in Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland), which was launched in 1961, in Moscow; its very first issue included a cycle of prose miniatures by him, and he then renewed his creative activity. He brought out two collections of stories and essays in Bucharest. His work also appeared in: Tsum zig (Toward victory) (Moscow: Emes, 1944); and Af naye vegn (Along new pathways) (New York: Yidisher kultur farband, 1944); Dertseylungen fun yidishe sovetishe shrayber (Stories by Soviet Yiddish writers) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1969); Azoy lebn mir, dokumentale noveln, fartsaykhenungen, reportazh (How we live: Documented novellas, jottings, reportage pieces) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1964); and Oyfshteyg (Ascent) (Bucharest: Literatur farlag, 1964). He published a journal entitled Mayne heftn (My notebooks) in Bucharest (1939).

            His writings include: Dray zumers, dertseylungen (Three summers, stories) (Moscow: Emes, 1946), 146 pp.; Ganeydn epl (Apple from the Garden of Eden) (Kishinev, 1965), 278 pp.; Yorn un reges, roman, noveln un minyaturn (Years and moments, a novel, stories, and miniatures) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1973), 430 pp.; In yenem zumer (That summer) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1982), 63 pp.; Vayter…roman, dertseylungen, noveln, eseyen, minyaturn (Further…a novel, stories, novellas, essays, miniatures) (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1984), 456 pp.; Shtendik...gresere un klenere dertseylungen, minyaturn (Always…longer and shorter stories, miniatures) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publishers, 1997), 271 pp.; Yetsire un libe (Creation and love) (Kishinev, 2000), 168 pp.; Zibn yor mit zibn khadoshim (Seven years and seven months) (Kishinev: Ruksanda, 2003); Kleyns un groys, kleyne noveln, miniaturn (Little and big, short stories, miniatures) (Kishinev: Ruksanda, 2007), 288 pp.

            Shraybman was a master of various literary genres—from miniatures to stories to novellas to novels. He wrote as well in Russian and Moldovan. He was renowned for his innovative use of Bessarabian Yiddish language, and his style is considered among the very best to come out of Soviet Yiddish literature from the second half of the twentieth century. He died in Kishinev.

            “Shraybman belonged to the type of writer,” noted Hersh Remenik, “who is everywhere creatively subjective in descriptions. He never paints like anyone other than himself…. Shraybman’s work is Shraybman’s autobiography…. Shraybman is…one of the most important masters of Soviet Yiddish prose.”


Sources: Hersh Remenik, in Sovetish heymland (Moscow) 9 (1973), 1 (1974, 2 (1974); Remenik, in Sovetish heymland 3 (1973), autobiography; Tevye Gen, in Sovetish heymland 10 (1980).
Y. Kara

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 534; and Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 392-93.]

Monday 11 November 2019

NOKHUM SHARON


NOKHUM SHARON (1912-May 22, 1976)
            He was born in Loytsk (Lutsk), Volhynia.  He attended a Jewish and later a Polish high school.  At a very early age he joined Hashomer Hatsayir (The young guard), and he was later one of its leaders.  During WWII he was in Lemberg and in the Red Army.  From 1949 he was living in Israel, where he was active in Mapam (United Workers’ Party).  He was co-editor of Yisroel shtime (Voice of Israel) in Tel Aviv, and he edited Sefer lutsk (Volume for Lutsk), mostly in Yiddish (Tel Aviv, 1961), 608 pp.  An essay of his also appeared in Almanakh fun yidishe shrayber in yisroel (Almanac of Yiddish writers in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1962).  He published a pamphlet entitled: Yisroel, problemen un parteyen (Israel, problems and parties) (Tel Aviv: Mapam, 19658), 89 pp.  Sharon’s autobiography, a selection of his articles, and his bibliography were included in the memorial work: Otobiyografya-kayits 1942 (Autobiography, summer 1942) (Tel Aviv, 1977), 120 pp.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: N. Feder, in Yisroel shtime (Tel Aviv) (May 11, 1977); R. Arzi, in Yisroel shtime (June 6, 1979)
Ruvn Goldberg


KASRIEL-TSVI SOREZON (KASRIEL-HIRSH SARASOHN)


KASRIEL-TSVI SOREZON (KASRIEL-HIRSH SARASOHN) December 12, 1834-January 12, 1905)[1]
            He was a newspaper publisher, born in Poyzer, near Suvalk (Suwałki), Poland.  His father had been a rabbi and preacher in Polish towns.  In 1869 he emigrated to the United States but soon returned home.  In 1871 he again made the trip, settled in New York, and there opened a Yiddish print shop.  In 1872 he brought out (in printing partnership with E. Shrentsl and with the editorial help of his brother-in-law Mortkhe Yohalemshteyn) the weekly newspaper Di nyu-yorker yudishe tsaytung (The New York Jewish newspaper), which appeared in print for five months.  In 1874 he brought out a new weekly Di yudishe gazetten (The Jewish gazette), which from June 18, 1981 came out five times each week under the title Teglikhe gazetten (Daily gazette), and after two months again became a weekly.  From April 6, 1883, the Teglikhe gazette was again published but only for three months.  In January 1885 Sorezon founded Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper). Which remained in existence as a daily for forty-three years.  As the first Yiddish daily newspaper in America (and in the world), Teglikhe gazetten—together with Yidishes tageblat—played a pioneering and highly influential role in the development of the Yiddish press in the United States.  For years Yidishes tageblat sold more than 70,000 copies each day—a huge number for that time.  The newspaper—under the editorship of M. Yohalemshteyn, later that of Yohan Paley and Gedalye Bublik—was the organ of Orthodox Jewry in America, and in April 1928 it was purchased by a second Orthodox daily, Morgn zhurnal (Morning journal).  Sorezon also set up divisions of his newspapers in Chicago (Yudishe gazetten fun der vest [Yudishes gazetten of the West], 1894-1895), Philadelphia, and elsewhere.  He also published a small newspaper called Yidishes vokhenblat (Jewish weekly paper), which lasted for four months in New York (first issue: October 12, 1887).  He was active in Zionist and philanthropic organizations—cofounder of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), the first Talmud Torah in New York, and president of the Orthodox “Central Relief for War Victims,” and the like.  He died in New York., and some 50,000 were in attendance.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; A. R. Malachi, in Prese-zamlung, 1886-1936 (Press collection, 1886-1936) (New York, 1937), pp. 175-96; Moyshe Shtarkman, Moyshe Shtarkman, in Yorbukh fun amopteyl fun yivo (Yearbook of the American division of YIVO), vol. 1 (New York, 1938), reprinted with notes in Shtarkman, Geklibene shriftn (Selected writings) (Tel Aviv, 1979), pp. 77-161; Kalmen Marmor, Der onhoyb fun der yidisher literatur in amerike, 1870-1890 (The start of Yiddish literature in America, 1870-1890) (New York: Writers’ Section of IKUF, 1944); Yoysef Khaykin, Yidishe bleter in amerike, a tsushteyer tsu der 75-yoriker geshikhte fun der yidisher prese in di fareynikte shtatn un kanade (Yiddish letters in America, a contribution to the seventy-five-year history of the Yiddish press in the United States and Canada) (New York, 1946), see index; Yisroel-Ber Beylin, in Morgn frayhayt (New York) (January 22, 1956); Yekhezkl Lifshits, in Tsukunft (New York) (May-June 1974); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Yekhezkl Lifshits



[1] Zalmen Reyzen gives a birth year of 1831.

YEKHEZKL SOREZON (SARASOHN)


YEKHEZKL SOREZON (SARASOHN) (September 15, 1863-August 16, 1933)[1]
            He was a newspaper publisher, born in Suvalk (Suwałki), Poland, the son of Kasriel-Tsvi Sorezon.  He emigrated to the United States in 1876.  He studied to be a lawyer.  From his youth, he was tied to his father’s Yiddish newspaper, and after the latter’s death, he took over (with his brother-in-law Leon Kameyka) Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) and Yudishe gazetten (Jewish gazette).  For a short time, he also published Di yudishe shpayz-gazet (The Jewish food gazette) in New York.  He died in New York.

Sources: Moyshe Shtarkman, Moyshe Shtarkman, in Yorbukh fun amopteyl fun yivo (Yearbook of the American division of YIVO), vol. 1 (New York, 1938), reprinted with notes in Shtarkman, Geklibene shriftn (Selected writings) (Tel Aviv, 1979), pp. 77-161 (see also the bibliography of his father, Kasriel-Tsvi Sorezon).
Yekhezkl Lifshits




[1] Zalmen Reyzen gives a birthdate of April 15, 1863.

SHLOYME-ZALMEN (SHLOMO ZALMAN) SHRAGAI


SHLOYME-ZALMEN (SHLOMO ZALMAN) SHRAGAI (December 31, 1898-September 1, 1995)
            He was a religious journalist, born in Gorzkowice, Poland.  He attended religious elementary schools and yeshivas.  He was one of the leaders of “Tora veavoda” (Torah and belief) movement in Poland, and from 1924, when he arrived in the land of Israel, of “Hapoel hamizraḥi” (Mizrachi workers) and of Mafdal (Miflaga Datit Leumit, or the National Religious Party).  He was a member of the Jewish Agency and mayor of Jerusalem (1950-1952), among other posts.  He published thoughtful journalistic essays and pieces—in both Hebrew and Yiddish—on the topic of Judaism and religious Zionism.  In addition to Hebrew periodicals, he placed work in: Tshenstokhover tageblat (Częstochowa daily newspaper); Unzer lebn (Our life) in Warsaw; Der mizrakhi veg (The Mizrachi way), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), and Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal) in New York; and Heymish (Familiar) and Letste nayes (Latest news) in Tel Aviv; among other serials.  In book form: In gerangl far yidishkeyt (In the struggle for Judaism) (Tel Aviv: Letste nayes, 1960), 188 pp.; Der yidisher shabes (The Jewish Sabbath) (Paris: Unzer veg, 1966), 55 pp.; Vuhin? Yidishe kegnvart un tsukunft (Where to? Jewish present and future) (Paris: Unzer veg, 1968), 62 pp.; Yidishe shmuesn (Jewish conversations) (Paris: Unzer veg, 1969), 64 pp.; Yidishe yontoyvim, purim, peysekh (Jewish holidays, Purim [and] Passover) (Paris: Unzer veg, 1970), 63 pp.; Di rebeyim funem izhbitse-radziner kheyder, zayer veltblik un lebens-veg (The rabbis of the Izhbitse-Radziner religious elementary school, their world view and pathway in life) (Paris: Unzer veg, 1972), 47 pp.  Among his Hebrew-language books: Teḥumim (Domains) (Jerusalem, 1951), 448 pp.; Tahalikhe hatemurah ṿehageula (The process of transformation and redemption) (Jerusalem, 1959), 560 pp.; Shaa venetsa (An hour and an eternity) (Jerusalem, 1960), 470 pp.

Sources: Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Meravya, 1967); Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah lealutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Ruvn Goldberg


MOYSHE-MORTKHE SHKLYAROV


MOYSHE-MORTKHE SHKLYAROV
            He was born in Slatvine (Słotwina), Volhynia.  He authored the pamphlet: Kina leveyt romanov, a klog tsum hoyz romanov, me broykht nit lezen mit giveyn, me meg makhen a koyse un zikh freyen (Lamentations for the house of Romanov, one need not read this with tears, one may lift a glass and be joyous) (1918), 16 pp., in Hebrew and Yiddish.

Source: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1962), no. 237.
Berl Cohen


MOYSHE SHKLYAR

H. SHKLYAR

            He was a linguist and lexicographer. He worked in the Jewish section of the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences and contributed to its publications. Together with Sonye Rokhkind, he published his most important work: Yidish-rusisher verterbukh (Yiddish-Russian dictionary) (Minsk: Byelorussian Academy of Sciences, 1940), 519 pp., which was the only publication of this sort in the Soviet Union. He placed longer articles such as “Yidishe dyalektologye” (Yiddish dialectology) in the literary-linguistic collection Tsum XV-tn yortog oktyaber revolyutsye, literarish-lingvistisher zamlbukh (Toward the 15th anniversary of the October Revolution, literary-linguistic anthology), ed. Vaysrusishe visnshaft-akademye, idsektor (Byelorussian Academy of Sciences, Jewish Section) (Minsk, 1932); also work in Afn shprakhfront (On the language front) (1933, 1935); and elsewhere. He took part in the discussions concerning language issues which were dealt with at the Ukrainian Yiddish Language Conference in Kiev (May 7-11, 1934).

Berl Cohen

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 391-92.]

HIRSH SHKLYAR


HIRSH SHKLYAR (1891-1931)
            He was born with the longer surname Shklyarski in Skidl (Skidzieĺ), Grodno region.  He attended religious elementary school and for secular subject matter had private tutors.  He lived in Warsaw, and from 1921 in Kovno.  He wrote about music and theater in the Kovno daily newspaper Nayes (news), edited by A. Mukdoni.  From 1923 he was for many years the music and theater reviewer for Kovno’s daily Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice).  He published on musical matters as well in Had lita (Echo of Lithuania) and Netivot (Pathways).  He brought out a series of opera librettos in Yiddish.  In book form: Muzik-velt, artiklen un retsenzyes (Music world, articles and reviews) (Riga, 1934), 78 pp.  He died in Königsberg.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; N. Goren, ed., Yahadut lita (Jews of Lithuania), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv: Am hasefer, 1967), p. 250.
Berl Cohen


H. SHKLYAR


H. SHKLYAR
            He was a linguist and lexicographer.  He worked in the Jewish section of the Byelorussian Academy of Sciences and contributed to its publications.  Together with Sonye Rokhkind, he published his most important work: Yidish-rusisher verterbukh (Yiddish-Russian dictionary) (Minsk: Byelorussian Academy of Sciences, 1940), 519 pp.  He placed long pieces in: “Yidishe dyalektologye” (Yiddish dialectology) in the literary-linguistic collection Tsum XV-tn yortog oktyaber revolyutsye, literarish-lingvistisher zamlbukh (Toward the 15th anniversary of the October Revolution, literary-linguistic anthology), ed. Vaysrusishe visnshaft-akademye, idsektor (Byelorussian Academy of Sciences, Jewish Section) (Minsk, 1932); in Afn shprakhfront (On the language front) (1933, 1935); and elsewhere.  He took part in the discussions concerning language issues which were dealt with at the Ukrainian Yiddish Language Conference in Kiev (May 7-11, 1934).
Berl Cohen

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 391-92.]


MOYSHE-SHMUEL SHKLARSKI


MOYSHE-SHMUEL SHKLARSKI (March 8 [28?], 1888-July 13, 1961)
            He was a publisher, born in Ratnitse (Rotnica, Ratnyčia), Lithuania.  In 1907 he emigrated to the United States.  He was one of the most energetic distributors of the Yiddish book in America.  He alone published new editions of: Yisroel Tsinberg, Di geshikhte fun der literatur bay yidn (The history of Jewish literature); Shiye-Khone Rabnitski and aim-Naman Bialik, Di yudishe agodes, dertseylungen, zagn, legendn, mesholim, aforizmen un shprikhverter, geklibn fun talmud un medroshim nokhn hebreyishn sefer haagode (The Jewish tales, stories, sagas, legends, fables, aphorisms, and sayings, selected from the Talmud and midrash following the Hebrew Sefer haagoda); and works by Sholem Asch and others.  In his last years he ran a column entitled “Kultur-khronik” (Culture chronicle) in Kultur un dertsiung (Culture and education).  From 1912, he contributed work to: Kundes (Prankster), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Oyfkum (Rise), Undzer bukh (Our book), Veker (Alarm), Vegvayzer (Guide), and Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) 18.1.  In book form: Dos idishe bukh in amerike (The Yiddish book in America) (New York, 1924), 48 pp.; Vegn idishe bikher (On Yiddish books) (New York, 1928), 46 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Yitskhok Shmulevitsh, in Forverts (New York) (January 13, 1956); Meylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (July 24, 1961); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Yekhezkl Lifshits


GIZELA SHKILNIK


GIZELA SHKILNIK (December 22, 1910-December 4, 1978)
            She was a translator, born in Kolomaye, Galicia.  After 1918 she was living in Czernowitz, and in 1935 she emigrated to São Paulo.  She translated Leyzer Shteynbarg’s “Mesholim” (Fables) into German.  Her translations in book form include: Nelly Sachs, Eli, a misterye-shpil fun yisroels laydn, un dray tsiklen lider (My God, a mystery-play of Israel’s suffering, and three poetry cycles) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1974), 177 pp.; Samuel Beckett, Dos vartn af godo (Waiting for Godot) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1980), 203 pp.  She died in São Paulo.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 534.


SHAYE SHKAROVSKI

SHAYE SHKAROVSKI (September 26, 1891-May 23, 1945)

            He was the author of stories, novels, and criticism, born in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine, into the family of a teacher and community leader. Over the years 1921-1923, he was plenipotentiary for Yidgezkom (Jewish Social Committee [for the Relief of Victims of War, Pogroms, and Natural Disasters]) and ORT (Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades) in Podolia. He was a member of the Jewish Section of the Ukrainian Proletarian Writers. He lived in Kiev, Odessa, and Moscow. His journalistic activities began in 1909 in Kiev’s Russian press, and he later wrote a great deal in Russian and Ukrainian, among other venues in Ogni (Fires) in 1910 a series of twenty-four articles entitled “Sketches from Yiddish Literature.” From 1915 he was contributing to such Yiddish periodicals and collections as: Unzer leben (Our life) in Odessa; Naye tsayt (New times) in Kiev (1917-1918); Di komunistishe shtim (The Communist voice) in Odessa (1921), a daily and later a weekly for which he served as editor, and in addition to articles on political topics, he also wrote a series of essays on Yiddish literatur, including Sholem-Aleichem, Perets, and Bergelson; Emes (Truth) in Moscow; Komfon (Communist banner) in Kiev; Shtern (Star) in Kharkov; Proletarishe fon (Proletarian banner) in Kiev; Prolit (Proletarian literature); Di royte velt (The red world); Farmest (Challenge); Sovetishe literatur (Soviet literature); the almanac Komsomolye (Communist Youth League) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1938); and Sholem-aleykhem, zamlung fun kritishe artiklen un materyaln (Sholem-Aleichem, anthology of critical articles and materials) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1940); among others. Aside from jottings, travel impressions, reportage pieces, and ideological journalistic articles, he published literary essays, stories, novels, and a number of poems—under a variety of pen names including Ishin, Hirsh, and Shiroki.

In book form: Der ershter may, zayn geshikhte un badaytung (May 1, its history and significance) (Odessa: Jewish Section, Odessa Regional Publishers, 1921), 16 pp.; Reges (Moments), his first booklet of stories (Kiev: Vidervuks, 1922), 40 pp.; Kayor, roman in fir teyln (Dawn, a novel in four parts), his first novel, in which he describes the condition and psychology of Jewish clerical plutocrats in the late nineteenth-early twentieth centuries (Moscow: Central Publishers, 1928), 237 pp.—a novel about the psychology of Jewish plutocrats in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries; Kolvirt, veg-skitsn (Collective farm, a traveler’s sketches) (Kharkov-Kiev: Central Publishers, 1931), 75 pp.; In shnit fun tsayt, fartseykhenungen (In the harvest of time, notations) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932), 146 pp.; Meran, roman in tsvey teyln (Meran, a novel in two parts) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1934), 277 pp.; Nakhes fun kinder, novele (Pleasure from children, a novella) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1938), 16 pp.; Kritik, zamlung (Criticism, a collection) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1938), 174 pp.—among other items, writings about Sholem-Aleichem, Perets Markish, and Dovid Hofshteyn; Odes, roman (Odessa, a novel) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1938-1940), 2 vols., with the third part of this novel appearing in Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) 1 (1966), a historical novel; Dos ufgerikhte yidishe folk (The restored Jewish people) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1939), 67 pp. With Y. Khintshin and H. Verber, he compiled Di generale repetitsye, politish-literarishe zamlung vegn 1905 yor (The general repetition, a political-literary collection concerning the year 1905) (Moscow-Minsk: Central People’s Publishers, USSR, 1931), 257 pp.—mostly translations from Russian. He died in Kiev.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1962), see index; Sovetish heymland (Moscow) 1 (1966), 11 (1966), 9 (1971); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen 

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), p. 391.]