MORTKHE-ARN BIRNBOYM (MAB)
He was the author of Politish-ekonomish verterbukh
(Dictionary of political economy) (Warsaw, 1929), 334 pp., which he published
under the pseudonym “A. mab” [his initials].
Friday, 30 January 2015
MORTKHE (ABA) BIRNBOYM
MORTKHE (ABA) BIRNBOYM (1877-1934)
He was born in Shereshev (Sharashova), Grodno region, to
wealthy parents. In 1890s, he settled in
Warsaw. He was the founder of the
publishing house “Mayselekh” (short stories) which had become famous with its textbooks
for younger and older children—at the time the only teaching material for
Jewish schools. Birnboym was active in
the revolutionary movement of the early twentieth century in Russia-Poland, and
he was a teacher in the school for girls of Puah Rakovsky, his wife, in which
Yiddish had already been introduced as a subject. He was a member of the pedagogical commission
of the Peretz Children’s Home in Warsaw.
He participated in the Czernowitz language conference on 1908, and he
fought for Yiddish during the German occupation during WWI. Among his books: Khrestomatye far
dervaksene (Reader for adults), part 1, for evening and Shabbat schools
(Warsaw, 1907), 184 pp. (reprint, 1912, 160 pp.); Folks-shule (Public
school), with David Kassel, a textbook for beginners, vol. 1 (Warsaw), 105 pp.;
Praktishe yudishe gramatik, elementarkurs: ortografye, etimologye un
sintaksis (Practical Yiddish grammar, beginning course: orthography,
etymology, and syntax) (Warsaw, 1917, 1919), 2 parts, 179 pp.; Yidishe
geshikhte fun velt-bashafung biz di shoftim (Jewish history from the creation
of the world until Judges), with Moyshe Taytsh, part 1 (Warsaw, 1917); Mayn
bukh, lernbukh farn tsveytn shulyor (My book, textbook for the second year
in school) (Warsaw, 1921), 181 pp.; Naturvisnshaft, luft un vaser
(Natural science, air and water), with David Kassel, part 1 (Warsaw, 1920), 100
pp.; Kinder fraynt, khrestomatye farn 2tn shulyor, ilustrirte (Children’s
friend, a reader for the second school year, illustrated) (Warsaw, 1916), 195
pp.
Sources:
Shriftn far psikhologye un pedagogik (Writings om psychology and pedagogy),
vol. 1 (Vilna, 1933); Puah Rakovsky, Zikhroynes fun a yidisher
revolutsyonerin Memoirs of a Jewish revolutionary) (Buenos Aires, 1954),
pp. 96-164; Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), vol. 5 (New York, 1944);
Kh. Sh. Kazdan, Di geshikhte fun yidishn shulvezn in umophengikn poyln
(The history of the Jewish school system in independent Poland) (Mexico, 1947),
see index.
MARTIN (MORTKHE-EZRIEL) BIRNBOYM (BIRNBAUM)
MARTIN
(MORTKHE-EZRIEL) BIRNBOYM (BIRNBAUM) (October 29, 1904-August 1, 1986)
He was born in Zukov, eastern Galicia. His father, Hersh, was a distiller. He studied in a Hebrew and in a Polish
school. During WWI he lived in the
Bukovina Carpathians, later in a Viennese home for child refugees, and later
still in Brin. From 1917 he was back
living in the city of his birth and making preparations to go to Palestine. In 1920 he settled in Vienna, and in 1923 he
emigrated to the United States where he became a laborer in fur-ware. He studied in a New York evening high school. Initially he wrote poems in German for New
York’s Deutsche Volkszeitung (German people’s newspaper). In 1929 he began writing Yiddish poems and
published them in Frayhayt (Freedom).
He also wrote trade songs. He
contributed pieces to: Hamer (Hammer), Naylebn (New life), Funken
(Sparks), and Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), and he was on the
editorial board of Signaln (Signals).
He was a teacher in the International Workers’ Order (IWO). He was one of the most talented poets in the
leftist camp. Among his books: Vayzers
(Hands [on a clock]) (New York, 1934), 158 pp.; and Der veg aroyf (The
way up) (New York, 1939), 208 pp.;
Sources:
Moyshe Shtarkman, in Hemshekh-antologye (Continuation anthology) (New
York, 1945), pp. 333-39; Y. A. Rontsh, in Hemshekh-antologye, pp.
152-53; Joseph Leftwich, comp., The Golden Peacock: An Anthology of Yiddish
Poetry Translated into English Verse (Cambridge, Mass., 1939), pp. 152-53; Yevreyskaya
poeziya (Jewish poetry) (New York, 1947), pp. 214-17.
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), cols. 85-86.]
M. BIRNBOYM
M. BIRNBOYM
He published stories in the Bundist Veker (Alarm) in
Minsk (1918); no. 360 of Veker has his piece, “A yomkiper-legende” (A
Yom Kippur legend).
Source:
B. Orshanski, Di yidishe literatur in vaysrusland nokh der revolutsye (Yiddish
literature in Byelorussia after the revolution) (Moscow, 1931), pp. 151-52.
M[OYSHE] BIRNBOYM
M[OYSHE] BIRNBOYM
He was a teacher of Hebrew and German in communities in Moldavia. He managed a home for orphans in Jassy. From 1889 he was publishing in Hayoets levet yisrael (Advisor to the
House of Israel) in Bucharest; from 1895 he was writing didactic verse for Dos naye folksblat (The new people’s
newspaper) in Bucharest (issue no. 1, March
1892) and for Ahavat tsiyon (Love of
Zion) in Galați (February 28-August 28, 1893). He also wrote poetry as
well as plays which were staged in the Romanian Yiddish theater: Di yudishe
printsesin (The Jewish princess), Nikodeymen un khane (Nicodemus and
Hannah), and R’ itsik sholem (R. Itsik Sholem), a satire on a Hassidic
rebbe. He edited Nes tsiyona (The miracle of Zion) in Galați of which five issues (September 7, 1908-February 6, 1909)
appeared. He also authored the book: Lider (Poems) (Piatra Neamț, 1893), 52 pp.
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Teater-leksikon,
vol. 1.
Y. Kara
YOYSEF-HALEVI BIRNBOYM
YOYSEF-HALEVI BIRNBOYM
He was a religious poet, author of the poem “Taor oder tome”
([Ritually] pure or impure) and of the one-act play, In a beynashmoshes
(At twilight). He died during WWII and
the Nazi occupation of Poland.
Source:
M. Prager, Antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (Anthology of religious poems and stories) (New York, 1955),
pp. 589-96.
Thursday, 29 January 2015
Y. BIRNBOYM
Y. BIRNBOYM (d. April 10, 1960)
Born in Galicia, he lived in Argentina. By trade he was a compositor. He translated from German to Yiddish three
books by Rudolf Rocker: Die Rationalisierung der Wirtschaft und die
Arbeiterklasse as Di ratsyonalizatsye fun der virtshaft in der
arbeter-klas (The rationalization of the economy and the working class)
(Buenos Aires, 1930), 168 pp.; Nationalismus und Kultur as Natsyonalizm
un kultur (Nationalism and culture) (Buenos Aires, 1949), 740 pp.; and In
shturem, goles yorn (In the storm, years in exile) (Buenos Aires, 1952),
809 pp. Also, Luigi Fabbri, Enriko
malatesta, zayn lebn un zayne sotsyale ideen (Enrico Malatesta, his life
and his social ideas) (Buenos Aires, 1932), 48 pp.; Martin Buber, Pfade in Utopia (Paths in Utopia) as Shtegn in utopye (Buenos Aires:
Bukhbemaynshaft, 1959), 208 pp.; and one volume of Rudolf Rocker’s Yugnt fun a rebl (Youth of a rebel) (Buenos
Aires: Bukhgemaynshaft, 1965-1971). He
died in Buenos Aires.
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 85.]
AVROM-BER BIRNBOYM
AVROM-BER BIRNBOYM (January 30, 1965-November 11, 1922)
He was born in Pułtusk, Poland, into a family of Kotsker Hassidim. He made
his way to Lodz in 1886. In 1888 he
became the cantor and ritual slaughterer in a town in Hungary, perfected
himself in the theory of music, and taught German. He published articles in Hatsfira (The
siren). In 1893 he became the cantor and
ritual slaughterer in Częstochowa, published Yarḥon haḥazanim (Cantors’
monthly), and in 1902 published a musical theory in Yiddish and Hebrew entitled
Torat hazemira hakelalit (General rules of music). In 1906 he opened in Częstochowa
a school for cantors, and the following year in Warsaw he convened the first cantorial
congress; over the years 1909-1912 he brought out the monumental cantorial
work, Amanut haḥazanut (The artistry of cantorship). He was a popularizer of Jewish music in the
Yiddish and Hebrew press. He composed
music to the poems of Yankev Cohen and to prayers for the Kabbalat-Shabbat
service. He died in Częstochowa.
Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.
TSIPORE BIRMAN
TSIPORE BIRMAN (d. in the Bialystok ghetto in 1943)
She was born in Vilna.
After the invasion of Hitler’s armies, she surreptitiously made her way
to Bialystok together with other members of the pioneer group Dror (Freedom),
founded the settlement of Tel-Ḥai
(Mound of life), and began to organize attacks on the Germans. In the Bialystok ghetto, she wrote Di
geshikhte fun dem kibets tel-khai (The history of the Tel-Ḥai kibbutz) and of the wrestling
with ideas with which they were concerned at the time. She also wrote a work entitled Geto-byalistok
(Bialystok ghetto) and other notes that have been preserved in the Jewish
Historical Archive in Warsaw.
Sources:
B. Mark, Der oyfshtand in byalistoker geto (The uprising in the Bialystok
ghetto) (Warsaw, 1954); B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern
(Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954).
MEYER (MEIR) BIRMAN
MEYER (MEIR) BIRMAN (November 24, 1891-December 24, 1955)
Born in Ponevezh (Panevezys), Kovno region, he attended
religious elementary schools and yeshivas, in addition to studying with private
teachers. During the expulsion of
Lithuanian Jews (May 1915), he was deported to Melitopol in the Tavrich
region. In 1917 he left for Harbin in
Manchuria. Over the years 1939-1949, he
was living in Shanghai, China. In 1916
he began to contribute to the Russian press in Melitopol. In 1920 he began publishing articles,
correspondence pieces, and feature essays in the Yiddish press under the
pseudonyms: M. Litay, M. Ben-Menachem, A Ponyevezher, A Vayt-mizrakhisher, and
M. Rokhels, among others. He published
depictions of Jewish refugees in Siberia, about Jewish life in the Far East,
the Subotniks in eastern Siberia, and about the tribe of Chinese Jews as well
as the Japanese who claimed that they descended from Jews. He wrote for: Folks-tsaytung (People’s
newspaper) in New York, Tog (Day) in Vilna, Yidisher folksblat
(Jewish newspaper) in Kovno, Tog in New York, Yidishe tsaytung
(Jewish newspaper) in Argentina, and elsewhere.
Over the years 1920-1922, he was the editor of the one and only
Yiddish-language newspaper in the Far East, Der vayter mizrekh (The Far
East), published three times each week in Harbin. He was also the editor, 1919-1920, of the
Yiddish-Russian bilingual Nashe slovo (Our word). He was as well the director of HIAS (Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society) in China, head of the publishing houses of “Tsukunft”
(Future) and “Yidish,” and a leader of various communal and cultural organizations. Birman was the literary address in the Far
East to which writer-travelers came, including: Perets Hirshbeyn, Melech
Ravich, B. Ts. Goldberg, and others. On the
eve of the Communist upheaval, he escaped in May 1949 from Shanghai and arrived
in the United States. He died in New
York.
In the December issue (1955) of the monthly journal Dorem-afrika
(South Africa) in Johannesburg, an interesting work by Birman appeared,
entitled “Kantonistn un zeyer seyfer toyre” (Cantonists and their Torah scroll),
with a rare Cantonist song, “In der tsayt fun di kantonistn” (In the time of
the Cantonists), and the notes to the melody of the song.
Wednesday, 28 January 2015
YISROEL-ZALMEN BIRMAN
YISROEL-ZALMEN BIRMAN (b. April 5, 1884)
Born in Sądowa-Wisznia,
Galicia, he published articles in Machzikei hadat (Holder of the
faith), Hamitspeh (The watch tower), and in Sądowa’s Folks-fraynd
(Friend of the people).
Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.
TSVI (TSEVI) BIKELS-SHPITSER
TSVI (TSEVI) BIKELS-SHPITSER (April 27, 1887-January 2,
1917)
Born in Lemberg, he attended religious primary school and
public school, subsequently in middle school and university in Lemberg and
Vienna. In 1911 he graduated with a law
degree and practiced locally. A member
of the student Zionist circle Hashaḥar (The dawn) and a thorough expert in the
Hebrew language, he became—contrary his friends—one of the champions of Yiddish
in Galicia. He wrote critical and
feature pieces in Yiddish, and in a series of works in Dos yidishe vokhnblat
(The Jewish weekly newspaper), Dos naye lebn (The new life) in New York,
and Der fraynd (The friend) in Warsaw, he acquainted his readers with
the writings of the young Yiddish writers in Galicia. He contributed as well to Der yudisher arbayter (The Jewish laborer) in Lemberg, Der tog (The day) in Cracow, and Gershom Bader and M. Frostig’s Kalendar (Calendar), among others. In
1910 he edited, together with Bader and Yankev Mestl, the anthology Yung-galitsisher almanakh (Young Galician almanac). He became editor-in-chief in 1915 of Tageblat (Daily news) in Lemberg, where he had earlier been the literary and
theater critic. In addition to a major
work on the repertoire of Yankev Gordin, he wrote a play in three acts entitled
Der goyel (The redeemer), and Dr. Nosn Birnboyn
(Nathan Birnbaum) translated it into German.
The translation, like the original, remain in manuscript. In his literary bequest was as well a work
entitled “Di heroishe motivn in peretses shafn” (The heroic motifs in Peretz’s
works), which was later first published in Di goldene keyt 10 (The
golden chain) (Tel Aviv, 1951).
Sources: Sefer tsevi bikels-shpitser, demuto veyetsirato (Tsvi Bikels-Shpitser, his figure and his
creation), ed. and trans. by Dov Shtok (Tel Aviv, 1947/1948); D. Sadan, in Di goldene keyt 10 (Tel Aviv, 1951), pp. 64-65; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Teater-leksikon, vol. 1; Dr. Y. Tenenboym, Galitsye,
mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old
home) (Buenos Aires, 1952), p. 168; D. Leybl, in Nay-velt 46 (Tel Aviv,
1948).
SHLOYME BIKL (SHLOMO BICKEL)
SHLOYME BIKL (SHLOMO BICKEL) (June 8, 1896-September 3, 1969)
He was born in Ustechko, Eastern Galicia. His father, Yitskhok, descended from an elite
family of Misnogdim (anti-Hassidic, religious Jews) in Galicia. He was a maskil (enlightenment figure)
and a Zionist in the Chibat-Tsiyon (Love of Zion) era, and he was an avid
reader of contemporary Hebrew and Yiddish writers. He attended public school, a Polish high school
in Kołomyja (Kolomyia), and at the same time he
was studying the Hebrew Bible, Gemara, and Tosafot in religious school—and
later with a private tutor, he studied Hebrew and Hebrew literature. He was drafted in 1915 into the Austrian army
and became an officer—demobilized in 1918.
For a short time he was commandant of the Jewish Legion in the Ukrainian
National Army in Kołomyja. From early
1919 he settled in Czernowitz which had then fallen under Russian control. He studied law in the university there and
graduated in 1922 with a doctor of law degree.
Bikl began writing when still in secondary school. He was a contributor to Maḥshavotenu
(Our thoughts), a hectographically produced Young Zionist publication in Kołomyja. In May 1919 he published in Frayhayt
(Freedom), a Poale-Tsiyon weekly in Czernowitz, his first article in Yiddish—a
polemic with Aḥad Ha’am. Initially he
became a regular contributor to and later the editor of Frayhayt, in
which over the course of three years he published current events articles,
feature pieces, and essays of criticism.
In September 1922, Bikl moved to Bucharest where he practiced law for
the next sixteen years; in 1939 he emigrated to the United States. During his years as a lawyer in Bucharest, he
continued his writing, contributing to: Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture),
an anthology, edited by Leyzer Shteynberg (Czernowitz, 1921); Shoybn
(Panes of glass), a monthly, edited by Yankev Shternberg (Czernowitz, 1924); Literarishe
bleter (Literary pages) in Warsaw; Tog (Day), a regular contributor
from 1940, Tsukunft (Future), Yidisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Fraye
arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Inzikh (Introspective), Kultur
un dertsiung (Culture and education), Undzer veg (Our way), and Opatoshu-leyvik-zamlbukh
(Opatoshu-Leivick anthology), all in New York; and Di prese (The press)
in Buenos Aires. A great number of his
works were essays on literary and social themes. Among his books: Inzikh un arumzikh,
notitsn fun a polemist in kritishe bamerkungen (In and around oneself,
notes of a polemicist and critical observations) (Bucharest, 1936), 187 pp.; A
shtot mit yidn, zikhroynes un geshtaltn (A city with Jews, memoirs and
impressions) (New York, 1943), 246 pp.; Detaln un sakhaklen, kritishe un polemishe
bamerkungen (Details and sum totals, critical and polemical observations)
(New York, 1943), 256 pp.; Eseyen fun yidishn troyer (Essays of Jewish
sorrow) (New York, 1948), 246 pp.; Yidn davenen (Jews at prayer) (New
York, 1948), 201 pp.; Dray brider zaynen
mir geven (I had three brothers) (New York: Matones, 1956), 234 pp.; Rumenye: geshikhte, literatur-kritik,
zikhroynes (Romania: history, literary criticism, memoirs) (Buenos Aires:
Kiem, 1961), 400 pp.; Mishpokhe artshik
(The family Artshik) (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1967), 198 pp.; Di brokhe fun sheynkeyt, eseyen vegn avrom sutskever (The blessing
of beauty, essays on Avrom Sutzkebver) (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1969), 60 pp.; Shrayber fun mayn dor (Writers of my
generation) (New York: Matones, 1958-1970), 3 vols. A volume dedicated to him: Shloyme bikl yoyvl-bukh: Ateret Shelomo, tsu
zayn 70stn geboyntog (Shloyme Bikl jubilee volume, on his 70th
birthday) (New York: Matones, 1967), 331 pp.
Edited journal issues: Di
frayhayt (Czernowitz, 1920-1922); Undzer veg, a periodical (together
with Yankev Shternberg) (Bucharest, May 1926-June 1929); Di vokh (The
week), for a short time only with Moyshe Altman (Bucharest, 1934-1935); Shoybn,
initially a monthly and later a weekly (Bucharest, 1934-1938); and Di
yidishe esey (The Yiddish essay), an anthology (New York, 1946).
His political and social
activities included: secretary (1919-1922) in Czernowitz of the Bukovina national
organization of Poale-Tsiyon; chairman of the Culture League of Bucharest;
member of the central committee of the Jewish cultural federation of Greater Romania;
member of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) central committee in Bucharest; and
Romanian member of the YIVO world council.
In New York: member of the
world council of the International Jewish Culture Congress; member of the YIVO
administrative committee; and vice-chairman of the Jewish Pen Club.
Bikl
was one of the more prominent columnists, essayists and literary critics. “Shloyme Bikl was not tricked into essay
writing. He is an essayist, and as one
reads through his books, one senses that one is actually reading the essayistic
autobiography of the new Jew, with the language of his thoughts, with prepared
material. Bikl renders clearer for us
the spiritual pathway of such Jews who have in their own way developed a
profound, Jewish perseverance.” (Yankev Glatshteyn) Among his pseudonyms: Aleksander Kluzher, Sh.
Kirs, Sh. Ḥad, Sh. B., Shin Bet, Sh. Verbosh, A. M. Babshi, and Leybush Gefner. He was last living in New York.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Froym
Oyerbakh, in Morgn-zhurnal (November 9, 1943 and August 13, 1948); Y.
Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (October 6, 1948 and March 14,
1951); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Yidisher kemfer (February 24, 1950); D.
Leybl, in Nay-velt (Tel Aviv) (September 30, 1949); A. Liessin, in Tog
(August 21, 1948 and September 9, 1950); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (November
2, 1937, March 12, 1944, and April 9, 1944); Dov Sadan, in Hapoel hatsair
(Tel Aviv) (November 17, 1953); N. B. Minkov, in Algemeyne
entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), vol.
5 (New York, 1944); Moyshe Shtarman, in Tog (September 12, 1943 and
December 5, 1948).
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 85.]
YANKEV-SHMUEL BIK (YAAKOV-SHMUEL BICK)
YANKEV-SHMUEL BIK (YAAKOV-SHMUEL BICK) (1772-1831)
Born in Brod (Brody), Galicia, he was a Hebrew writer and
translator, as well as an outstanding maskil (enlightenment figure) in
Galicia. Bik was distinguished among his
maskilic contemporaries for his tolerance with respect to Hassidim and for his
demonstrating a love for Yiddish. Bik
was the first Hebrew writer in the Enlightenment epoch who defended the Yiddish
language and literature. In 1823 he
sharply and clearly countered a pamphlet entitled Kol meḥatsetsim (Voice of the archers)
that Tuvye Feder wrote against Mendl Lefin for having translated Proverbs
into the Yiddish of Volhynia. In Bik’s
reply to Feder’s pamphlet, he marveled with chagrin at “how one could blanket
with calumny a language that our fathers spoke over the course of 400
years!” He reminded the maskilim that
“all languages were, in the initial phase of their development, just as labored
and rough as zhargon, but with development of a literature the language
became refined.” Bik’s rebuttal was
first translated into Yiddish in Kol mevaser (The herald) in 1863, but
like everything else that the maskilim wrote at that time, Bik’s
Hebrew-language reply to Feder circulated in manuscript. Over the course of many years, Bik wrote
memoirs. The manuscript of them, though,
was lost in the great fire in Brod of 1835.
Bik died in Brod.
Sources:
Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (January 1922, May 1924); E. R. MalaChi, in Tsukunft
(October 1928); Zalmen Reyzen, in Literarishe bleter (October 16, 1931);
Morgn-zhurnal (September 14, 1936); Maks Erik, Etyudn tsu der
geshikhte fun der haskole (Studies in the history of the Jewish
Enlightenment) (Minsk, 1934); Dr. R. Tsinberg, Di geshikhte fun der
literatur bay yidn (The history of Jewish literature) (Vilna, 1936), vol.
7, book 2, pp. 262-66; Dr. P. Fridman, in Fun noentn over (From the
recent past) 4 (Warsaw, 1937); Sh. Verses, in Yivo-bleter 13.7-8 (November-December
1938), pp. 306-36.
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
A.-M. BYELENKI
A.-M. BYELENKI (b. ca. 1890)
Born in a town near Warsaw, Poland, he was living in Warsaw
in the years 1909-1912. He began to
publish poems in Roman-tsaytung (Fiction newspaper) in Warsaw (1909). He also published in Der shtral (The
ray of light) in Warsaw (1909-1910). He
brought out a booklet, In tsoyber-nets (In the web of enchantment)
(Warsaw, 1912), 32 pp. Lyrical poems,
some of which could be found here, were dedicated to Mendele Moykher-Sforim (on
the occasion of his jubilee in 1912) and to Z. Y. Onkhi. Subsequent news of him remains unknown.
ELYE (ELIHU, LOUIS) BYELI
ELYE (ELIHU, LOUIS) BYELI (b. July 6, 1891)
Born in Bohopolye (Bogopol), Ukraine, he attended religious
elementary school and a commercial school in Odessa. In 1907 he emigrated to the United
States. He was an employee at Tageblat
(Daily news), later head manager of the newspaper. For many years he held positions at Morgn-zhurnal
(Morning journal). His first published
writings appeared in 1907, a sketch in Tageblat. Later he published as well in Morgn-zhurnal,
Amerikaner (American)—sketches, feature pieces, theater criticism, and reviews. In 1932 he visited Soviet Russia and
published travel impressions. He was
living in New York.
Sources:
P. Rudoy, in Der amerikaner (New York) (December 22, 1950).
ARN-LEYB BISKO
ARN-LEYB BISKO (1859-1929)
He was born in St. Petersburg where his father, a
Nikolaievskii soldier (one who had served in the army of Tsar Nikolai I for
twenty-five years) had served in the military.
Later, he lived in Poland where he studied in religious elementary
school and yeshivas. He moved to England
and from there contributed to the Hebrew and Yiddish press. Among his books: Ḥokhmat hapartsuf (Physiognomy), a translation
from Russian into Hebrew (Warsaw, 1888); Pirke talmud (Sections of the
Talmud) (Warsaw, 1902); Torat hamusikah (The theory of music) (London,
1924); in Yiddish translation an adaptation of a story by Tolstoy entitled Der
malekh (An indifferent person [Rus. Chem liudi zhivy = What do men
live by?]) (Berdichev, 1894); and a Yiddish-Hebrew dictionary entitled Milon
male veshalem zhargoni-ivri (A complete jargon [Yiddish]-Hebrew
dictionary), with a preface by the editor, Dr. Y. M. Zalkind (London, 1913),
255 pp. The Yiddish words in this
dictionary were arranged, on the whole, according to the Yiddish-English
dictionary of Alexander Harkavy and then translated into Hebrew.
Source:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.
MEYER BISTRITSKI
MEYER BISTRITSKI (b. February 1899)
Born in Ruzhyn, Kiev region, Ukraine, he descended from an
affluent family. He received a Jewish
education in religious primary school and middle school. He graduated from secular high school in
Kiev, and studied jurisprudence in Kiev and St. Petersburg and philosophy in
Germany. In 1922 he left Russia and
settled in Danzig. For a period of ten
years he worked there as secretary of the “Ostjüdischer Verein” (Association of
eastern Jews). In Russia, he contributed
to a Russian newspaper. He published works
on current literary events in Russian and German publications. He was a regular contributor to Danzig’s Jüdisches
Gemeindeblatt (Jewish community newspaper) in German. Over the years 1929-1939, he was the Danzig
correspondent for Moment (Moment) in Warsaw. Prior to the outbreak of WWII, he emigrated
to the United States. He was the
traveling representative (1942-1945) for Tsukunft (Future) in New York,
and an active leader in the Jewish National Workers Alliance. He was assistant editor, 1940-1941, of Fraye
arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York. He published his literary writings in Tsukunft,
Tog (Day), Fray arbeter shtime, Byalistoker shtime (Voice
of Bialystok), and Byalistoker lebn (Bialystok life). He was last living in New York.
Source:
“Undzere mitarbeter” (Our contributors), Tsukunft (New York) (March
1943).
YITSKHOK BISTRITSER
YITSKHOK BISTRITSER (b. November 23, 1907)
Born in Lepanta, Czechoslovakia, he was in Nazi concentration
camps. Upon liberation, he settled in
Munich and edited Di yidishe shtime (The Jewish voice), organ of the
Mizrahi movement among survivors living in Germany. He published articles on religious and
political matters. He was last living in
Israel.
Monday, 26 January 2015
YEHUDE-LEYB BINSHTOK
YEHUDE-LEYB BINSHTOK (1836-October 22, 1894)
Born in Lukatsh (Lukach), Volhynia, Ukraine, he attended
religious elementary school until age nine or ten. Around that time, circa 1846, the Cantonist
laws (drafting Jewish teenagers into the tsarist military for twenty-five
years) of 1827 took on an especially harsh form. “Kidnappers” (khapers) lay in hiding
at every step to seize eight-to-ten year-old children. The surest safeguard was a Russian
school. Binshtok’s father, Moyshe,
turned him over to a Russian public school in Zhitomir. In 1858 he graduated from the Zhitomir
rabbinical seminary, and thereafter he studied for a time in a yeshiva in
Mogilev, Podolia. From 1862 he was the
rabbi of Zhitomir, and later he became the “learned Jew” serving the governor of
Volhynia and working as a teacher of Judaism in a Zhitomir high school. In 1881 he participated, without the
knowledge of the governor, in a conference of Jewish community leaders in
connection with the wave of local pogroms and was consequently dismissed from
his posts. He remained in St. Petersburg
for a number of years where he took up the position of secretary for the St.
Petersburg Jewish community, and later of the “Khevre mefitse haskalah”
(Society for the promotion of enlightenment [among the Jews of Russia]). In 1892 he traveled to Palestine as
plenipotentiary of the Odessa “Committee to Support Jewish Agricultural
Laborers and Artisans.” Over the course
of the years that he held this position in Israel, he worked energetically to
bring the Sefardi and Ashkenazi sections of the Jewish community together. He founded the first Hebrew school in Jaffa
and created there the first library in the name of Y. L. Levanda. He died in Jaffa.
He began his literary activities in 1860 with currents events
articles in the first Russian Jewish magazines, Rassvet (Dawn) and Sion
(Zion). In 1868 (1867?) he published a Russian
translation of Mendele’s Haavot vehabonim (Father and sons); in 1868 he
translated into Yiddish, together with Mendele, Jules Verne’s Five Weeks in
a Balloon as Der luftbalon; in 1870 he helped Mendele write the
popular scientific booklet, Der fish, vos hot ayngeshlungen yoyne hanovi
(The fish that swallowed Jonah the prophet); in 1874—again together with
Mendele—he translated into Yiddish Ustav
o voinskoi povinnosti vysochaishe as Dos gezets vegn algemayne militer-flikht (The law
concerning general military duty). He
also contributed to Yudishes folksblat (Jewish people’s newspaper) and
to Voskhod (Sunrise). He published
in 1884 a critical biographical treatise concerning Mendele in connection with
the jubilee of Mendele’s twenty-fifth literary work. The biographical information in this work
remains until today an important source for all works concerning Mendele’s
life. In 1891 Binshtok—using the
pseudonym “Uleinikov”—published in Russian the results of his research on the
Jewish colonies in the Ekatorinoslav region; in 1896 the Zionist organization
the Galicia published, under the auspices of R. Shlomo Berliner, Binshtok’s Dertseylungen
funem yidishn lebn in rusland (Tales of Jewish life in Russia), 71 pp. Mendele’s closest friend from 1863 until
1892, they carried on a frequent correspondence. For the historiography of Yiddish literature,
Mendele’s letters to Binshtok are an exceedingly important source.
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; D. Tidhar, Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1949), vol. 3, p. 1280; Sh. Ginzburg, “Mendele moykher-sforim
in zayne briv” (Mendele Moykher-Sforim in his letters), in his Historishe
verk (Historical works) (New York, 1937), vol. 1, pp. 140-63; “Fun undzer
arkhiv” (From our archive), Tsaytshrift 5 (Minsk, 1931), pp. 1-42; Avrom
Abtshuk, Mendele moykher-sforim (Kiev, 1927), pp. 12ff; Shmuel Niger, Mendele
moykher-sforim, zayn lebn, zayne gezelshaftlikhe un literarishe oyftuungen
(Mendele Moykher-Sforim, his life, his social and literary feats) (Chicago,
1936).
PEYSEKH BINETSKI (PESACH BINETZKI, BINECKI)
PEYSEKH BINETSKI (PESACH BINETZKI, BINECKI) (1912-January 3, 1966)
Born in Bialystok, Poland, he attended religious primary
school and a Polish public school. As a
child of impoverished parents, he became a factory laborer at a tender age, and
because he belonged to the left wing of the labor movement, he spent six year
in Polish prisons and came out a sickly man.
In 1941 at the time of the German surprise attack against Russia, he
(together with a group of Jewish writers) escaped from the Nazis. He was in Novokuznetsk, near Saratov, and
there he worked on a collective farm. He
later was in Alma Ata where he worked for a time in a coal mine. In 1946, during the repatriation, he returned
to Poland and settled in Lodz. From 1949
he was living in Israel. He began publishing
individualistic lyrical and revolutionary poems in Inzl (Island), edited
by Zishe Bagish (Bialystok, 1937). He
also published in Unzer lebn (Our life) in Bialystok, Literarishe
bleter (Literary pages) in Warsaw, in the Soviet Byalistoker shtern
(Bialystok star) (1939-1941), Der shtern (The star) in Minsk, Tsum
zig (To victory) in Moscow, Dos naye lebn (The new life), Yidishe
shriftn (Yiddish writings), Folks-shtime (Voice of the people), Oyfgang
(Arise) in Poland, and Nay-velt (New world), and Letste nayes
(Latest news) in Israel. Aside from
poems, he wrote short stories, impressions, reportage pieces, and articles as
well. Among his book-length works: A
fenster tsu der velt, lider (A window on the world, poems) (Lodz, 1948), 70
pp.; Lider (Poems) (Warsaw:
Yidish bukh, 1957), 89 pp.; Oysdoyer,
lider un poemen (Perseverance, songs and poems) (Tel Aviv, 1963), 259 pp.; Hemshekh, lider (Continuation, poetry)
(Tel Aviv, 1966), 107 pp. This collection includes poetry
written in Poland and Russia but not his later, more nationalistic and more
poetic creations.
Cover of A
fenster tsu der velt
Sources:
A. Lis, Nay-velt (Tel Aviv( (July 21, 1950); Dr. L. Zhitlovski, Ikuf
(Buenos Aires) (March-April 1948); Sh. Kants, in Nidershlezye (July
1949), pp. 40-41; Z. Natan, in Bafrayung (Lodz) (June 20, 1948); Sh.
Lastik, in Yidishe shriftn 3 (1949).
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), cols. 83-84.]
MAKS BINENSHTOK (MAX BIENENSTOCK)
MAKS BINENSHTOK (MAX BIENENSTOCK) (March 24, 1881-March
20, 1923)
Born in Tarnów,
Eastern Galicia, from his student years he was an active Zionist. He worked as a high school teacher, putting
up with the persecutions of the Polish authorities for his Zionist convictions
and his pro-Ukrainian sentiment (1919).
He contributed to Polish and German periodicals. In Yiddish he published in Lemberger
tageblat (Lemberg daily news) and the anthology Ringen (Links). After his death, an article of his was
published: “Tsvey tekufes in der yid. literatur, pruv fun a sintez” (Two eras
in Yiddish literature, evidence from a synthesis), Milgroym
(Pomegranate), issue no. 6; and in Polish he wrote articles concerning modern trends
in Yiddish literature and concerning Moyshe Broderzon. Prior to his death, he was elected to the
Polish Senate.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon ,
vol. 1; Dr. Y. Tenenboym, Galitsye, mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old country) (Buenos Aires,
1952); Gershom Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934); Dov Sadan, Avne
zikaron (Milestones) (Tel Aviv, 1953/1954); Tarne (Tarnów) (Tel
Aviv, 1954); Dr. maks binenshtok, a zamlshrift vegn zayn lebn un shafn
(Dr. Maks Binenshtok, a collection of writings concerning his life and work)
(Lemberg, 1924).
SHLOYME BINDER
SHLOYME BINDER (1904-1943)
Born in Baltremantaz (Butrimonys), Lithuania,
he received both a Jewish and a general education. He was a student in Kovno University, and he
was a leader in the Zionist movement. Until
1941 he was living in Kovno, later in the Vilna ghetto where he was an official
in the Jewish management committee. In
the 1920s he was a contributor to Folks-blat (People’s newspaper), later
to Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Kovno. In the Vilna ghetto he published in the weekly
news-bulletin Geto-yidies (Ghetto news) (Vilna, 1942-1943). At the end of 1943 he was sent to the Ülenurme Camp
near Dorpat (Tartu), Estonia, and there he died.
Sources:
Sh. Katsherginski, Khurbn vilne (The Holocaust in Vilna) (New York, 1947);
A. V. Yasny, in Dos naye lebn (Warsaw) 311 (1949).
Sunday, 25 January 2015
ZALKIND BINDER
ZALKIND BINDER
Born in Zakrowe (?), Poland, he published poems and short
stories in the publications of Agudas Yisroel (Union of Orthodox rabbis) in
Poland. He died in the Holocaust.
FISHL BIMKO
FISHL BIMKO (December 28, 1890-April 7, 1965)
Born in Kielce, Poland, he came from a family of Hassidic rabbis and
merchants. His father, Yitskhok, was a
Hassid, a speculative thinker, and an impoverished grocer. His mother, Khane, was from a family of
children’s teachers, in Włoszczowa, and she helped out in the store. Bimko studied in religious primary school and
in the synagogue study hall. At roughly
age fifteen, he was captivated by the revolutionary movement, arrested, and spent
six months in jail in Kielce. In 1909 he lived for a short while as a
political emigrant in Cracow, and thereafter he returned to Kielce and devoted himself to business. In 1917 he was arrested during the German
occupation and spent a short time in the Warsaw Citadel. He began writing at age twelve. His first publication—a story entitled “A
mayl vegs” (A mile’s journey)—appeared in a Lemberg newspaper. In the Sukkot issue for 1909 of Lodzher
tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), he
published a short story: “Dos land fun libe un umshuld” (The land of love and innocence). From that point he published in the Lodz
Yiddish press a series of sketches and stories concerned with the living
conditions of Jews. In a deeply
authentic, juicy, Polish Yiddish, he described the lives of Jews in towns
during WWI. A portion of this work had
an autobiographical character to it.
Influenced by the events of WWI, he wrote up a mystery in light verse
entitled “Frok” (Frock coat). In 1912 he
published his first book, Di aveyre (The transgression) (Lodz), 32 pp. Bimko brought over to drama and later to
comedy his native language, his flair for dialogue, and his realistic, dramatic
description. In 1914, his play Afn breg
vaysl (On the shore of the
Vistula) was staged in Lodz by Julius Adler and Herman Serotsky. From that point, his dramatic pieces were all
staged by the best theatrical companies, such as the Vilna Troupe, Maurice
Schwartz’s Art Theater, Ben-Tsvi Baratov in Vienna, the Skala Theater in Lodz,
Zigmunt Weintraub, Y. Sheyngold, Fraye yidishe folksbine in New York, and in
Hebrew translation in Palestine. His
plays were exceedingly popular in the Polish hinterland where virtually every
Jewish community had a drama circle in the years between the two world wars. In 1916, his first important prose work, Rekrutn (Recruits), was published in Warsaw, 127 pp., and it drew
attention to its new subject matter and its robustly realistic writing. Later, his drama Ganovim (Thieves) made a huge impression; it was staged almost
everywhere that Yiddish theater existed.
The realism of the types in the Jewish underworld with the distinctive
Yiddish language of thieves was something new for the Yiddish stage. In 1921 Bimko emigrated to the United States
and worked for a number of years in a sweatshop as a stitcher of boots. In 1929 he wrote a long story on an American
theme: Ist-sayd (East Side), 131 pp.
(reprinted in his selected writings).
From then on, he published stories in: Tsukunft (Future), Di tsayt (The times), Fraye
arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Tog (Day), Amerikaner (American), and Zamlbikher (Anthologies) edited by Yoysef Opatoshu and H. Leivick,
among others. In 1938 he received a
literary prize from Ikuf (Jewish Cultural Association).
Among his
books in addition to the earlier mentioned Di aveyre and Rekrutn (second
printing, Warsaw, 1921, 156 pp.): Ganovim, drame in dray aktn,
tsugegebn a verter-fartseykhenish fun ganovim-shprakh (Thieves, a drama in three acts, with the addition
of a word list of thieves’ parlance) (Warsaw, 1919), 62 pp.; S’letste vort, stsenisher monolog (The last word, a staged monologue)
(Warsaw, 1919), 16 pp.; Di intrige, tragi-komedye in 3
aktn (The
intrigue, a tragi-comedy in three acts) (Warsaw, 1920), 56 pp.; Afn breg vaysl, drame in 3 aktn (On the shore of the Vistula, a drama in
three acts) (Warsaw, 1921), 123 pp.; Fun krig un fun fridn (From war and from peace), stories
(Warsaw, 1920; second printing, 1921), 156 pp.; Farborgene koykhes, drame in 3 aktn (Hidden strength, a drama in three acts)
(Warsaw, 1921), 116 pp.; Hele blikn (Light glances) (New York, 1926), 219 pp.;
Tunkele geshtaltn (Dark images) (New York, 1926), 270 pp.; Goldene tsoytn (Golden
tufts of hair) (New York, 1926), 302 pp.
In Warsaw in 1921, a volume of his plays appeared which included: Ganovim, Farborgene koykhes, and Afn breg vaysl. In 1936 the publishing house Tseshinski in
Chicago published Binko’s seven-volume Geklibene verk (Collected writings) which included twenty
theatrical pieces: dramas, comedies, tragedies, one-acters, and monologues. for
a total of 2,362 pages; volume 8 subtitled “In der heykh un in der nider”
(Above and below) was comprised of stories and was published by “F. Bimko
farlag” (F. Bimko publishers) (New York, 1941), 283 pp.; volume 9, “Kelts” (Kielce), stories, appeared from the
same publishing house (New York, 1947), 287 pp.; volume 10, also called
“Kelts,” was short novels (New York, 1947), 259 pp. Also, in 1954 (New York) he published: Dos
geveyn fun blut (The lament of blood), a
three-act drama, 160 pp. In 1967, Afn veg tsum lebn (On the road to life) (New York: CYCO, 1967) was published
posthumously in five volumes.
In 1950,
Bimko established in the name of his tragically murdered wife, Lyonye, an
annual literary prize distributed by the World Congress for Jewish Culture. In
1952 he established a second Lyonye Bimko Prize for the best story in the
journal, Di goldene keyt (The golden chain), in Israel. He was living in New York.
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun
yidishn teater, vol. 1; L. Finkelshteyn, Dortn un do (There and
here) (Toronto, 1950); A. Bekerman, F. bimko, der dramaturg un realist
(F. Bimko, the playwright and realist) (New York, 1944); Sh. Perlmuter, Yidishe
dramaturgn un teater-kompozitors (Jewish playwrights and theatrical
composers) (New York, 1952); Dr. A. Mukdoni, “Di emigrantishe drame” (The
emigrant drama), Yorbukh fun amopteyl 1 (New York, 1938); Mukdoni,
“Teater” (Theater), Tsukunft (New York (May-June 1955); Y. Botoshanski, Pshat
(Literally) (Buenos Aires, 1951); Dr. Michael Weichert, in Teater un drame
1 (Vilna, 1926); Sh. Y. Stupnitski, in Lubliner togblat (1917); Y.
Entin, in Tsayt (New York) (November 16, 1920); Entin, in Yidisher
kemfer (New York) (October 31, 1941); Y. Y. Sigal, in Keneder odler
(May 31, 1948); Dr. Y. Shatzky, in Poylishe yidn (Polish Jews) (1937),
pp. 23-28; Yankev Glatshteyn, in Yidisher kemfer (1955); Y. Shatzsky,
“F. Bimko,” in Enciclopedia dello spettacolo (Encyclopedia of
performance) (Rome, 1955), vol. 1 (in Italian); Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft
(December 1926); Niger, in Tog (July 12, 1941; October 25, 1941); A.
Gordin, Yidish lebn in amerike, in shpigl
dun f. bimkos verk (Jewish life in America, in light of the work of F. Bimko)
(Buenos Aires, 1957), 341 pp..
Zaynvil
Diamant
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 83.]
Friday, 23 January 2015
MORTKHE BILSKI
MORTKHE BILSKI
He was the author of More hadikduk, oder der dikduk lerer
(A guide to grammar, or the grammar teacher) (Berdichev: Khayim Yankev Sheftil,
1904).
YONOSN-BINYUMIN BILLITSER
YONOSN-BINYUMIN BILLITSER
Together with Moyshe-Tsvi Kahane, he published in 1909 a
weekly newspaper in Siget-Marmoresh, Hungary, entitled Yidishe tsaytung
(Yiddish newspaper), “organ of Jewish confessional interests, business, and
literature.”
Source:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1
SHLOYME BILOV
SHLOYME BILOV (1888-1949)
A literary scholar and educator, he was born in Brisk (Brześć), Lithuania. His
difficult childhood years led him into the socialist movement. In 1905 he joined the Bund. In 1907 he emigrated to the United States
where he worked hard by day and studied on his own by night. In 1912 he graduated from a secondary school
and entered Kingston College (Rhode Island) where he studied languages,
literature, and philosophy. Following
the February Revolution in Russia (1917), he was returning to Russia; en route,
though, he was stuck for one year in Norway where he studied Scandinavian
languages and literature. In 1918 he
arrived back in Rovno (Rovnoye), western Ukraine, and became a manager of a
Jewish night school and a leader in the Bundist organization. In 1919, he became the manager of the Jewish section
of the Rovno Commissariat for People’s Education. He was arrested by the Polish authorities the
next year, 1920, during the Polish occupation, and after being freed he settled
in the nearby city of Kovel where he switched to the Jewish Communist Labor Bund
(Kombund). When the Red Army withdrew
from the city, he moved on to Kiev and from there to Homel and Novozybkov,
where he switched (together with the local organization of the Kombund) to the
Communist Party. From his return to
Russia until the liquidation of Yiddish cultural work in Soviet Russia, Bilov
was active as a school manager, lecturer, and teacher—mainly in Yiddish
language and literature. In the early
1920s, he was a teacher in the pedagogical institutes in Novozybkov and Homel
where he also undertook research on historical materialism in the Homel Jewish
Party School. Over the years 1924-1926,
he held the chair in Yiddish language and literature at the Odessa Institute
for People’s Education. In 1930 he held
a similar position in Kiev. From 1932,
he was a professor in the Kiev Institute for Jewish Proletarian Culture and
professor at the Linetski Theatrical Institute—where he lectured on Western
European and Jewish literature and the history of painting. In addition to Yiddish, Russian, and Hebrew, Bilov
also wrote in English, Norwegian, and Swedish; and he was the author of over
200 scholarly, critical works on questions of literature and art.
He began writing (in English) in 1914 in the American socialist
weekly newspaper Labor Advocate (in Providence, Rhode Island). In 1923 he contributed to the Homel Komsomol (Communist
Youth) weekly Nabat molodyozhi (Alarm for youth) in Russian and to the
Yiddish magazine, Der komunistisher veg (The Communist way). In 1924 he edited a pioneering weekly newspaper
Iskry ilyicha (Ilyich’s sparks) and was a contributor to the magazine
(later, a newspaper) Der odeser arbeter (The Odessa laborer). Bilov was a member of the association of
proletarian writers (1928-1930), secretary of the Jewish division the writers’
association in Odessa, and a councilman on the Odessa city council (1929). Later, as a scholarly contributor to the
literature section of the Institute of Jewish Culture, he devoted his time to
researching the creative work of Avrom Goldfaden, Moyshe Nadir, and Dovid
Edelshtadt, and at the same time he played a significant role in preparing a
full array of Yiddish actors, while working as a professor in the Jewish
division of Kiev’s Linetski Theatrical Institute. Together with a group of
others scholars from the Institute of Jewish Culture, he was arrested as an “enemy
of the people,” but soon was released miraculously and thus evading the tragic
fate of his colleagues. At the start of WWII, he was evacuated to Sverdlovsk,
worked as a correspondent for the “Sovinformbyuro” (Soviet Information Bureau),
and served on the Jewish Anti-fascist Committee. In 1945 he took up his work
again at the Theatrical Institute in Kiev, but he was frequently summoned to exhausting
“discussions” with security organs. After a short-term arrest and unpleasant interrogation,
he became paralyzed. He died in Kiev, possibly of a stroke.
From his large body of work: “Kegn mekhanitsizm in der litforshung” (Against mechanism in literary research), in the collection, Farn leninishn etop in der literatur-kritik (Toward the Leninist stage in literary criticism) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), pp. 125-42; Literatur-frages bay marksn un engelsn, etyudn (Literary questions in Marx and Engels, studies) (Kiev, 1934), 34 pp.; “Fefer in shpigl fun der kritik” (Fefer in light of criticism), in the collection for Itzig Fefer (Kiev, 1934); “Edelshtadts dikhterisher veg” (Edelshtadt’s poetic way), in Dovid edelshtadts geklibene verk (Dovid Edelshtadt’s selected writings), vol. 2, compiled by Kalmen-Tsvi Marmor (Moscow, 1935), pp. 7-60; introduction and notes to Moyshe Nadir selected writings (Kiev-Kharkov, 1937), 404 pp.; Sholem-aleykhem (with Irme Druker) (Kiev, 1939), 183 pp., which also appeared in Russian; Avrom Goldfadn, Geklibene dramatishe verk (Selected dramatical writings), introduction by Bilov and Avrom Velednitski (Kiev, 1940), 328 pp.; “Sholem-aleykhem,” Sovetishe literatur (Soviet literature) 6 (1938), pp. 142-58.
Sources:
The Fefer collection appeared in Literatur un revolutsye 1-2 (Kiev,
1934), see pp. 142, 144, 149, 151; launch session of the section on literature
and criticism, Odeser arbeter (April 28, 1934); Dr. Y. Shatzky, review of
Bilov’s Goldfadn book, in Yivo-bleter no. 20, pp. 109-12; “A groyser oyftu in
antviklen di yidishe kultur un visnshaft” (A great feat in developing Jewish
culture and science), Eynikeyt (Moscow) (April 2, 1946); “Dray
disertatsyes” (Three dissertations), Eynikeyt (February 18, 1947); H. Vaynraykh, Blut af der zun (Blood on the sun) (Brooklyn, 1950), p. 48); Aleksander Pomerants,
“Edelshtat un der yidish-sovetisher literatur-kritik” (Edelshtat and Soviet
Jewish literary criticism), in Dovid
edelshtat gedenk-bukh (Dovid
Edelshtat memorial volume) (New York, 1952), pp. 530, 549, 553, 554.
Aleksander
Pomerants and Leyzer Ran
[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. 45-46.]
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