RABBI BINYAMIN

RABBI BINYAMIN (May 23, 1880-December 15, 1957)

     Pseudonym of Yehoshua (Shiye) Radler-Feldman, he was born in Zborov (Zboriv), eastern Galicia.  His father Israel descended from a rabbinic family.  He attended public high school and graduated from a senior agricultural school in Berlin.  He began his literary activities with articles about Hebrew literature, which he published in various German-Jewish newspapers.  He contributed to the Hameorer (The awakening) in London and was its co-founder (together with Y. Kh. Brener).  In 1907 he made aliya to Israel and became a laborer in Petach Tikva.  He later worked in the vicinity of Tel Aviv, as well as in Jerusalem.  He was a member of the first Vaad Haleumi (Zionist National Council), an active Mizrachi member, and later participated in the “Brit Shalom” movement [concerned with Jewish-Palestinian peace].  He started publishing in the Hebrew-language Hakeshet (The rainbow) in 1906, Luaḥ ḥermon (Calendar of Ḥermon), and Luaḥ aḥiasef (Calendar of Aḥiasef), and he was the founder of the newspaper Hatsofe (The spectator) and the monthly serial Hahad (The echo).  He also published in Hapoel hatsair (The young worker), Maabarot (Transit camps), and Hatekufa (The epoch).  Among his books: Al hagevulin (At the border) (Jerusalem, 1922); Otsar haarets (Treasure of the land) (Jerusalem, 1926); Partsufim (Faces) (Tel Aviv); and a number of pamphlets.  He also published articles in: Tshernovitser yidishe vokhnshrift (Czernowitz Jewish monthly) (edited by Leybl Tubitsh); Lemberger tageblat (Lemberg daily news); Dos yidishe folk (The Jewish people); and Tageblat (Daily newspaper) in New York.  His books in Yiddish include: Idishe folks-fondn, der keren hakayemet un der keren-hayesod (The Jewish people’s funds: The Jewish National Fund and the United Israel Appeal) (Jerusalem, 1926), 57 pp.  His Otsar haarets appeared in Yiddish translation as Oytser haarets, as well as a pamphlet Di teymanim (The Yemenites).  Among his pen names: Moyshele der blinder, Yehoshua Hatalmi, and Y. H. Gandini, among others.  He was living in Israel where he edited the magazine Haner (The candle), organ of “Iḥud” (Unity), the political party of Brit Shalom.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1950), vol. 4, pp. 1711-12.