AVROM BUKSHTEYN (ABRAHAM BOOKSTEIN, BUCKSTEIN)

AVROM BUKSHTEYN (ABRAHAM BOOKSTEIN, BUCKSTEIN) (b. 1877)

Born in a village near Ostrów, Ukraine, he attended the Telshe (Telts, Telz) Yeshiva.  He left his village for Vilna to devote himself to acquiring a general education.  In 1898 he studied philosophy and natural science in Bern; in 1900 he was studying literature and political economy in Leipzig.  He graduated as well in Leipzig from a senior commercial school.  In 1914 he emigrated to the United States.  He studied statistics and sociology at Columbia University.  His maiden publication appeared in 1915 in Tog (Day).  He published in Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Dos vort (The word), Minikes bleter (Minikes’s pages), and Morg-zhurnal (Morning journal).  He published articles on social, philosophical, and economic issues.  He also wrote novels and theatrical plays.  Among his books: Doktor rapoport (Dr. Rapoport) (New York, 1918), 235 pp.; General hershelman, a novele (General Hershelman, a novella) (New York, 1923; 2^nd printing: Warsaw, 1927), 263 pp.; Di boymayster fun lebn, roman fun yidishn studentn-lebn in der shvayts (The architect of life, a novel of Jewish student life in Switzerland) (New York, 1926), 260 pp.; In shoym fun lebn, a zitn-geshikhte fun yidish-amerikaner lebn (In the froth of life, a tale of escapades in Jewish-American life) (Bayonne, N. J., 1931), 412 pp.  Among his plays: Di tsebrokhene geter (The broken gods), staged in 1914; Doktor rapoport, staged in 1915; Muter un froy (Mother and woman), staged in 1916.  He was living in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Teater-leksikon, vol. 1; P. Viernik, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (January 17, 1932), Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (January 1, 1932); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New York) (January 8, 1932).