PEYSEKH BAR-ADON (PESSAH BAR-ADON)

PEYSEKH BAR-ADON (PESSAH BAR-ADON) (1907-1985)

This was the adopted name of Peysekh Panitsh, born in Kolne (Kolno), Bialystok region.  He studied in religious primary school and later in the Bialystok “Torah-Kibbutz.”  Around 1921 he moved to Vilna and attended the “Knesses Yitzchak” yeshiva.  His writing debut took place in the humor page of Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Bialystok.  In Vilna he moved closer to secular Jewish circles and published articles in Vilner tog (Vilna day) in 1923, and among other writings, about Dr. J. M. Zalkind’s translation of Berakhot [into Yiddish, Brokhes, a tractate of the Talmud].  In 1925 he moved to Palestine.  He pursued Oriental studies at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.  He lived as a shepherd with the Bedouin tribe of Raai.  Having lived for nearly ten years among the Bedouins, he mastered a variety of dialects of the Arabic language and familiarized himself thoroughly with the Bedouin ways of life and folklore.  When Aziz Effendi (as he was known among the Bedouins) returned to the Jewish settlement, he was recognized as one of the most knowledgeable men concerning Bedouin life and as such provided information for the British Committee of Inquest in Israel.  With his Bedouin pseudonym, he published articles and stories concerning Bedouin life in the Israeli press.  Over a long stretch of time, he maintained contact withVilner tog, in which he published articles and stories (1932-1933) using the name “P. Bar-Adon.”  He was also one of the devoted YIVO collectors of Jewish folklore in Palestine (1929-1933).

[N.b. Bar-Adon lived for three decades after this entry was composed and became a well-known archeologist in Israel—JAF.]

Source: L. Elimelekh, in Tsayt (Vilna) (January 22, 1937).