ABA BRASLAVSKI (ABBA BRASKAVSKY)

ABA BRASLAVSKI (ABBA BRASKAVSKY) (b. June 13, 1864)

He was born in Boryspil, Kiev region.  His father Yisroel was a merchant and a scholar who wrote poetry.  He studied in religious elementary school and graduated from a secular high school.  He was arrested for his ties to revolutionaries.  He emigrated to the United States with “Am Olam” (Eternal people) [a group aimed at establishing agricultural colonies in the United States].  He worked hard, studied medicine, and was a co-organizer of the tailors’ unions in New York.  He worked as a lecturer, correspondent, and essayist for the local Russian-language press.  He served on the editorial board of the social-democratic Yudishe folks-tsaytung (Jewish people’s newspaper) in New York (June 25, 1886-December 20, 1889); editor of the weekly Der morgnshtern (The morning star) which began appearing on June 17, 1890; a co-editor of Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor) together with Dovid Edelshtat; and translator of Karl Emil Franzos’s Di yuden fun barnov (The Jews of Barnow [original: Juden von Barnow]) and Dmitry Ivanovich Pisarev’s Di binen (The bees [original: Pchely]), among others.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Kalman Marmor, Dovid edelshtat; Moyshe Shtarkman, in Yorbukh (Annual) (New York, 1943); E. Shulman, Geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur in amerike (History of Yiddish literature in America) (New York, 1943); Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (August 1940); M. Epshteyn, “Dzhuish leibor in yu-es-ei” (Jewish labor in the United States), in Geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter-bavegung in di fareynikte shtatn (History of the Jewish labor movement in the United States), vol. 2.