EZRA GOLDIN

EZRA GOLDIN (1868-1915)

Born in the town of Luna, near to Grodno, in Russian Poland, he studied in religious primary school and yeshivas.  In his youth he came to Warsaw and became a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment.  Over the years 1899-1915, he was living in Lodz where he worked as a merchant and later a textile manufacturer.  At the same time he also wrote poetry and stories in Hebrew and published them in Hatsfira (The siren) and Hakol (The voice), among other serials.  He also wrote critical treatises on Jewish literature.  He was author of books in Hebrew and editor of the anthology Hazman (The times) (Warsaw, 1896).  In Yiddish he published stories and poems in Lodzher nakhrikhtn (Lodz reports) in 1907, Lodzher tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) over the years 1909-1913, and elsewhere.  He died in Lodz.

Sources: N. Mayzil, Perets, vol. 1 (Vilna, 1931), p. 79; Y. Ugan, in Shira ivrit (Tel Aviv, 1948); Kh. L. Fuks, in Fun noentn over 3 (New York, 1957); Encyclopaedia Judaicam p. 477.

LEYBL GOLDIN

LEYBL GOLDIN (1906-1942)

            He was born in Warsaw to extremely poor parents.  He graduated from the first Jewish evening school in Warsaw.  From his youth he was active among Jewish laboring young.  Over the years 1922-1932, he was active in the Communist Youth Union, later among the Trotskyists.  From 1936 he was in the Bund.  He performed cultural work for the Association of Jewish Commercial Employees in Warsaw.  He published essays and literary criticism in Literarishe tribune (Literary tribune) in Warsaw (until 1932), and in Jewish Communist publications in Poland.  He compiled Hantbukh fun der velt-literatur, prese, kunst un visnshaft (Handbook of world literature, press, art, and science) (Warsaw, 1931), 536 pp.  He translated—from Russian: Maxim Gorky’s Dos lebn fun an iberikn mensh (The life of a useless man [original: Zhizn’ nenuzhnogo cheloveka] (Warsaw, 1927), 350 pp.; from French: Romain Rolland’s Mahatma gandi (Mahatma Gandhi), together with Y. K. Fogel (Warsaw, 1927), 166 pp.; from German: Ernst Tollar’s Hoplya, mir lebn! (Hoppla, we’re alive! [original: Hoppla, wir Leben!] (Warsaw, 1929), 166 pp.  During the years of WWII, He took part in the underground Bundist press.  During the Nazi occupation, he died of hunger in the Warsaw Ghetto.  In the collection Tsvishn lebn un toyt (Between life and death), in the discovered materials of Ringelblum’s archive (Warsaw, 1955, pp. 49-65), is his “Khronik fun a mes-les” (Chronicle of a single day), which provides a portrait of life in the Warsaw Ghetto.  He published under such pen names as L. Dosin.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, in Yivo bleter (Vilna) (January-May 1931); K. Marmor, in Morgn frayhayt (New York) (August 17, 1931); anthology from Yidishe shriftn (Lodz, 1946); In di yorn fun yidishn khurbn (In the years of the Jewish Holocaust) (New York, 1948); B. Mark, foreword to Tsvishn lebn un toyt (Warsaw, 1955), p. 14.

L. GOLDIN

L. GOLDIN

            He was a teacher and Jewish school leader in Ukraine.  He authored a number of Yiddish textbooks for Jewish schools in the Soviet Union, among them: Shprakh (Langauge) (Kharkov, 1932), book one for the first school year, 40 pp. with illustrations, book two for the second school year, 60 pp. with illustrations, book three for the third school year, 128 pp.; with Gershon Yarkhov, Lernbukh af literatur (Literature textbook), for the third school year (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 98 pp. with illustrations; with Nohkem Oyslender, Leyenbukh farn shul fun dervaksene (Reader for adult school), phase two (Kiev, 1933), 108 pp. with illustration; Leyenbukh far dervaksene (Reader for adults), for the third school year (Kiev, 1932), 98 pp. with illustration; with Sh. Gilko, Leyenbukh farn ershtn yor (Reader for the first school year) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1933), 116 pp.  He translated from Ukrainian (with N. Shekhman): L. M. Busilovski, Di kases far kegnzaytiker hilf in di kolvirtn (Societies for mutual help on the collective farms) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 108 pp.  He was also the author of the anti-religious pamphlet: Yidishe yontoyvim (Jewish holidays) (Kharkov, 1929), 74 pp.  Biographical details and his fate remain unknown.

Sources: S. Zhezmer, in Ratnbildung 6 (Karkov, 1933); R. Fish, in Shtern 270 (Kharkov, 1934); Sh. Kupershteyn, in Shtern 105 (Kharkov, 1935); N. Rubinshteyn, Dos yidishe bukh in sovetn-farband (The Yiddish book in the Soviet Union) (Minsk, 1932-1935).

YITSKHOK GOLDIN

YITSKHOK GOLDIN (January 15, 1896-1968)

            The son of the Hebrew-Yiddish writer Arye-Khayim Goldin, he was born in Dusiat (Dusetos), Lithuania.  He studied in religious primary school, in a yeshiva in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), and in a Russian middle school.  In 1911 he arrived in Lodz, and until 1936 he was active in the “Tseire Tsiyon” (Young Zionists) Party and later in Poale Tsiyon.  From 1936 he was living in Israel where he was active in Aḥdut haavoda (Union of labor).  He was the founder of a producers’ cooperative.  Later he worked in a weaving factory.  In 1911 he began writing poetry in Russian, and in 1914 he switched to Yiddish.  In 1914 he first published a story in Lodzher folksblat (Lodz people’s newspaper), and from that time forward he published poems and stories as well in Lodzher tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), In der shtil (In the style) in Lodz (1919), Idishe zhurnalist (Jewish journalist) in Lodz (1919), Bafrayung (Liberation), and Folk un land (People and nation) in Warsaw, among others.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Source: Kh. L. Fuks, in Fun noentn over 3 (New York, 1957).

KHAYIM-ELYAHU (HYMAN E.) GOLDIN

KHAYIM-ELYAHU (HYMAN E.) GOLDIN (March 15, 1881-1972)

            He was born in Eyshishok (Eišiškės), near Vilna.  He studied in religious elementary schools and yeshivas.  In August 1900, he arrived in New York and studied law there.  At the same time, he worked as a Hebrew teacher.  In 1909 he began to practice as a lawyer in New York.  From 1910 to 1914, he worked as a teacher in the Jewish Theological Seminary.  Over the years 1914-1921, he was the director of the “Hebrew Academy” in Brooklyn.  He was the author of books in Hebrew, English, and Yiddish, such as: Der yidisher lerer (The Yiddish teacher), a method of teaching Yiddish and English (New York, 1924), 76 pp.; this also came out in a second edition with an English-Yiddish and Yiddish-English dictionary, and a third, enlarged edition in 140 pp.  He translated into English the Mishnayot of Baba metsia (The middle gate) (New York, 1913); Yidishe legendes (Jewish legends), vol. 3 (New York, 1928); the Mishnayot of Baba kama (The first gate) and Bava batra (The last gate) (New York, 1933).  His book The Case of The Nazarene Reopened (New York, 1948) led to a discussion in the Yiddish and English press.

Sources: “Mishnayes in English” (The Mishna in English), Yidishes tageblat (New York) (April 20, 1913); A. Duker, in Tog (Mew York) (June 20, 1948); M. Dantsis, in Tog (November 15, 1948); A. Tsaytlin, in Morgn-zhurnal New York) (November 15, 1950; February 20, 1951); H. Liberman, in Forverts (New York) (January 29 and February 19, 1951).

OSHER-ARYE GOLDIN (LEON GOLDIN)

OSHER-ARYE GOLDIN (LEON GOLDIN) (May 11, 1892-April 18, 1966)

            He was born in Turov (Turaŭ), Polyesye.  He was the son of Ayzik-Ber Goldin, author of the religious work, Otiyot maḥkimot (Enlightening letters) (part 1, Pinsk, 1912).  He studied in religious primary school and with a private teacher.  At age fourteen he left his town for Feodosia, Crimea, and from there went to Kiev where he graduated from a secular high school as an external student.  He supported himself by giving private lessons.  For a short time he worked for the Hebrew writer Avraham Kahane, helping him translated Russian words and expressions for his Russian-Hebrew dictionary.  He also translated short stories from Yiddish into Russian for a Jewish publishing house in Odessa.  In 1910 he published in Had hazman (Echo of the times) in Vilna his first Hebrew-language story, and in Gut morgn (Good morning) in Odessa his first Yiddish-language story.  He contributed to the two newspapers until 1913 when he emigrated to the United States.  He settled in New York, continued his studies, and graduate with a medical degree from New York Medical College in 1921.  He also continued his literary activities and published in Kol hamore (Voice of the teacher), Haynt (Today) in Warsaw (1913), Hadoar (The mail), Neyar (Paper), Oyfgang (Arise) (1923), Dovid Pinski’s Der idisher arbeter (The Jewish laborer) (1921-1926), Di feder (The pen) (1928-1932), Tsuzamen (Together) (1931), Unzer folk (Our people) (1932), Nyu Yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper) and Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice) (1935), Shikago (Chicago) (1938-1939) and Kultur (Culture) in Chicago, Kama, and Harofe haivri (The Jewish doctor).  Among his books: Refua (Medicine), part 1 (New York, 1924), part 2 (New York, 1927), together with Dr. M. A. Herbert and Dr. Osher Goldshteyn; Geven a tsayt (There was a time), stories (New York, 1930), 128 pp.; Mayn vort un klang (My word and sound), poetry (Warsaw, 1936), 96 pp.; Der talmid (The pupil), a drama (New York, 1941), 42 pp.; Kirkur hakilayon (The dance of ruination), a Hebrew poem (New York, 1943), 32 pp.; Milon refui angli-ivri (English-Hebrew medical dictionary) (New York, 1945).  He was the literary editor of Harofe haivri (1936-1946) and editor of Gezunt-almanakh (Health almanac) (New York, 1945).  He was a member of Tarbut in Kiev.  In 1922 he was one of the founders of “Agudat rofim ivrim” (Association of Jewish doctors) in the United States.  In 1924 he served as a delegate from Bnei Tsiyon (Sons of Zion) to the Zionist conference in Pittsburgh.  He also wrote under the names Leon Goldin and Lev Borisov.  He was living in New York.

Source: Sh. Slutski, Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen bibliography) (New York, 1956), no. 4707.

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ARYE-KHAYIM GOLDIN

ARYE-KHAYIM GOLDIN (1871-June 1, 1918)

            He was born in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Latvia, into a religious family.  His father Mendl was a ritual slaughterer and circumciser.  He studied in religious primary school and in a yeshiva.  At the same time he studied secular subjects.  Over the years 1885-1888, he was a student at the Volozhin Yeshiva.  Over the years 1893-1900, he was living in the Lithuanian town of Dusiat (Dusetos), where he was active among the first “lovers of Zion” (early Zionists).  In 1900 he came to Lodz, working as a merchant and later as a textile manufacturer.  In the last years of his life, he worked as a teacher of Hebrew literature and Jewish history in the “Zionist school” in Lodz.  He started publishing articles and translations from Russian and German in Hatsfira (The siren), Kol mevaser (The herald), and Lodzher tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) in which he published (October-November 1916) “Zikhroynes vegn der volozhiner yeshive” (Memoirs of the Volozhin Yeshiva), which he subsequently translated into German and published in Der Israelit (The Israelite) (Frankfurt, November 1916).  He died in Lodz.

Sources: Lodzher folks-blat (June 2, 1916); Kh. L. Fuks, Fun noentn over 3 (New York, 1957).

ARN GOLDIN

ARN GOLDIN (b. 1884)

            He was born in Pinsk, Polyesye.  His father, Ayzik-Ber, was a collector of editions of the Tanakh.  From his early years, he was active in the Zionist movement.  He lived for a time in Beirut, Lebanon.  During WWI, he was plenipotentiary for the Kiev committee to help Jewish war victims.  He later undertook community positions in Rovno.  From 1908 he published articles in Gutmorgn (Good morning) in Odessa, the Russian Poslednie novosti (Latest news) in Kiev, Pinsker shtime (Voice of Pinsk), and Polyeser nayes (Polese news).  From 1929 he was director of the association for the welfare of orphans in Poland.  He died in Jerusalem.

Sources: Pinkes fun yekopo (Records of Yekopo [Yevreyskiy komitet pomoshchi zhertvam voyny—“Jewish Relief Committee for War Victims”]) (Vilna, 1931), see index; R. Feldshuh, Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish community handbook) (Warsaw, 1939), p. 661.

KHAYIM GOLDZATS

KHAYIM GOLDZATS (JAIME GOLDZAC) (March 3, 1910-September 22, 1977)

            He was born in Ostrovtse (Ostrowiec), Poland.  From 1930 he was living in Argentina.  He was by trade a tailor.  His first story, entitled “Haynt baynakht” (Tonight), appeared in the journal In gang (On the way) (Buenos Aires, 1935).  He published stories in: Shpigl (Mirror), Di prese (The press), Di folks-shtime (The voice of the people), and Der veg (The way) in Argentina.  In the book Ostrovtser (People from Ostrovtse) (Buenos Aires, 1949), he published seven stories.  He also wrote: Ale viln lebn, dertseylungen (Everyone wants to live, stories) (Buenos Aires: Illit, 1960), 343 pp.; In farkisheftn krayz (In an enchanted quarter), about Polish Jews in Argentina (unseen).  He died in Madrid, his family in Buenos Aires.

Source: M. Katz, in Rozaryer lebn (November 6, 1953).

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 137.]

BOREKH GOLDHART

BOREKH GOLDHART (1897-May 13, 1950)

            He was born in the village of Horodyshche, Kiev region, Ukraine.  He was raised in Pyatigorye, same region.  He studied in religious elementary school with his father, a teacher, later with a Hebrew teacher in poor villages.  In 1912 he emigrated to New York, where he worked in various trades.  From 1922 he was living in Chicago.  His first publication was a poem which appeared in Idishe velt (Jewish world) in Philadelphia in 1916.  He later published poems and articles in Tog (Day), Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), Forverts (Forward), Varhayt (Truth), Frayhayt (Freedom), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Kundes (Prankster), Dos idishe vort (The Jewish word), and Arbayter prese (Workers’ press) in New York; and in Chicago serials: Der yidisher record (The Jewish record), Yugend (Youth), Ineynem (Altogether), Shikago (Chicago), In nebl (In the haze), Rezonans (Resonance), Yung-shikago (Youth Chicago).  Representative of his work is a cycle of poems in the anthology Midvest-mayrev (Midwest-West) (Chicago, 1932-1933).  He published as well under the pen name B. Royzkind.  He was among the founders of the group “Yung-shikago” (Young Chicago) and served on the editorial board of their publications.  After a long illness, he died in Chicago.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; M. Khizkuni, in Pinkes shikago (Records of Chicago) (1952), col. 76; Midvest-mayrev anthology (Chicago, 1933), pp. 46-48.

PINKHAS GOLDHAR

PINKHAS GOLDHAR (June 14, 1901-January 25, 1947)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland, into a family of merchants.  His father was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment and belonged to the Lodz “lovers of Zion” (Ḥoveve-tsiyon [early Zionists]).  He received a Jewish and secular education, graduating from Dr. Broydes’s Hebrew high school in Lodz, and he studied journalism at the Warsaw “Wolna Wszechnica Polska” (Free Polish University).  He was active in the youth movement of the Left Poale-Tsiyon in Lodz and in Warsaw.  In 1928 he emigrated to Australia, where he worked as a peddler, later a laborer and co-owner (together with his father) of a factory in Melbourne, and at the same time devoted a great deal of energy to ploughing the raw field of local Jewish culture and literature.  He was the editor of the first Yiddish weekly newspaper in Melbourne, at which he himself helped set type, as there were still insufficient numbers of Yiddish typesetters in that country.  He began writing while still in high school.  He belonged to the Lodz group of young poets.  His first major work was a one-act play that he published in a short book that he published with A. Alpert, Zalbe tsveyt (Two of them) (Lodz, 1921); the next year he published a poem in Toyz royt (Red ace) in a special issue (Lodz, 1922).  He later published poetry in S’feld (The field), Shvel 2 (Threshold 2), and Vegn (Pathways) in Lodz, 1923-1924.  He also published the poem Der letster polonez (The last polonaise) (Lodz, 1923), 48 pp.  He was a contributor to Lodzher tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), in which he published articles on various themes.  His first effort at prose was “Dos glik” (Good fortune), an Egyptian story, published in Der fraytog (Friday) in Lodz-Warsaw, issue no. 3 (1924).  All of Goldhar’s subsequent stories which excelled in their heightened, artistic maturity were composed in Australia.  His story “Der pionir” (The pioneer) was published in the first Yidish-oystralisher almanakh (Yiddish Australian yearbook) (1937).  In 1939 he published a volume entitled Dertseylungen fun oystralye (Stories from Australia) (Melbourne, 1939), 161 pp., in which he described the moods and feelings of Jews in Australia, who had been uprooted from their older surroundings and still were yet not settled in their new surroundings.  This book was warmly received by Jewish critics in many countries.  He also contributed to the editing of the second Yiddish Australian almanac, the anthology Tsushtayer (Contribution) (Melbourne, 1938), and the monthly Oyfboy (Construction) (Melbourne, 1945-1952) in which he published polemical articles concerning Yiddish and Jewish culture under the title “Yidisher antisemitizm” (Jewish anti-Semitism).  He also did translations from English, a number of which appeared in his book Gezamlte shriftn (Collected writings) which appeared after his death (Melbourne: Friends of Yiddish Literature, 1949), 448 pp.  He died in Melbourne.

Sources: M. Ravitsh, in Folks-tsaytung (Warsaw) (November 11, 1938); Ravitsh, in Yorbukh (New York, 1949); H. Bergner, in Oystralishe yidishe nayes (June 9, 1939); Bergner, in Heymish (Tel Aviv) (March 15, 1957); Y. Bashevis, in Tsukunft (New York) (October 1939); Y. Botoshanski, in Tsukunft (April 1946); H. Mints, in Di yidishe post (Melbourne) (January 31, 1947); Kh. L. Fuks, in Dos naye lebn (Lodz) (February 9, 1947); Fuks, in Arbeter-vort (Paris) (January 26, 1951); E. Shulman, in Oyfboy (Melbourne) (February 1947); Bergner, in Oyfboy (Melbourne) (February 1947); Y. Rapoport, in Tsukunft (March 1951); Gitl Meyzl, in Al hamishmar (Tel Aviv) (Tevet, 1954); Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 136.]

YOYSEF GOLDHABER

YOYSEF GOLDHABER (September 2, 1907-August 1943)

            He was born in Khelm (Chełm), Poland.  He studied in a religious primary school and graduated from a state public school.  Later, through self-study, he acquired a great deal of worldly knowledge.  He was a gifted violinist and knew many languages, a popular lecturer, and much beloved by common people.  He began writing lyrical poetry and sketches for Ilustrirte vokh (Illustrated week) (Warsaw, 1922) under the editorship of A. Grafman, and from that point contributed stories, poems, reportage pieces, and impressions for Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Khelm, Voliner vokh (Wolhynia week), Voliner lebn (Wolhynia life), Rovne (Rovno), and Unzer ekspres (Our express) in Warsaw.  During the Nazi occupation, he was in the Khelm ghetto, and with his violin, the only thing he owned, he consoled the helpless Jewish masses.  In August 1943, together with the last Jews from Khelm he was killed by the Nazi murderers.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1927); H. Shishler, in Yisker-bukh khelm (Remembrance book for Khelm) (Johannesburg, 1954), pp. 330-31.

B. GOLDGAR

B. GOLDGAR

            He was born in Poland and came to New York in the 1880s.  A pioneer in the Jewish anarchist movement in America, he served as secretary of the Jewish Propaganda Organization (founded by F. Mirovitsh in June 1882) which held as its goal to lead agitation for freedom of thought among the Jewish masses and Jewish intellectuals.  In 1884 he worked in Duke’s tobacco factory in Durham, North Carolina, where he launched a covert union of the local workers.  He later was a resident of Macon, Georgia, where he involved himself in community work and even became president of an Orthodox synagogue, while still always remaining faithful to his anarchist views.  Together with Mirovitsh, he authored: Der amerikaner (The American), “practical textbook with which in a short time one will learn to speak, read, and write the English language without any help from a teacher,” published by Sarasohn’s Yudishe gazeten (Jewish gazette) (New York, 1883), 192 pp.; this book should be considered the second Yiddish book published in the United States—after Yankev Tsvi Sobel’s Shir hazahav lekoved yisroel hazaken (The song of gold in honor of ancient Israel).

Sources: Ab. Kahan, Bleter fun mayn lebn (Pages from my life), vol. 2 (New York, 1926), p. 108 and vol. 4 (1928), pp. 566-67; Moyshe Shtarkman, in Yorbukh fun amopteyl (Annual from the American branch [of YIVO]), vol. 2 (New York, 1939), pp. 181-90; Geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter bavegung in di fareynikte shtatn (History of the Jewish labor movement in the United States), vol. 2 (New York: YIVO, 1945), see index; Yorbukh (New York) (1942-1943); Tog-morgn-zhurnal (November 14, 1954); Metsuda 7 (1953/1954).

Y. GOLDBROKH

Y. GOLDBROKH (1907-1942)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland, into a working class family.  He graduated from a secular Jewish school.  He later became a seminar member in the course on Yiddish studies at the Warsaw “Culture League.”  His first publication was a critical essay on Mendele’s “Sloyme reb khayims” (Shloyme, son of Khayim), which appeared in the collection Bleter funem seminar far yidishistik (Pages from the seminar in Yiddish studies) (Warsaw, 1929), of which (together with M. Gromb) he served as editor.  He also published in this volume: “Vi azoy darf men nisht shraybn yidish” (How one ought not write Yiddish).  Until WWII, he was a reporter for Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper) and Unzer ekspres (Our express), in which he published (under the pen name Gold) short sketches, city views, and reportage pieces which excelled in their literary Yiddish and artistic austerity.  He also contributed to Foroys (Onward) in Warsaw, among others.  He was in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he suffered from hunger and want, and there he died.

Sources: P. Shvarts, in Fun noentn over (New York, 1956); B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954).

SHIMEN GOLDENBERG

SHIMEN GOLDENBERG (1910-1941)

            He was a Soviet Yiddish poet and prose writer from the post-October generation, born in the Volhynian town of Kupel (Kupil), Ukraine, into a family of butchers. Orphaned at age five, he studied in religious elementary school. At age seven he began reading secular books in Hebrew, and at twelve he started writing poetry in the style of Chaim Nachman Bialik and Shaul Tchernichovsky. In 1925 he became involved in the Zionist youth movement, publishing a poem “Yehudi ani!” (I am a Jew!) in Al hamishmar (On guard), the illegal organ of the Zionist Organization, Hashomer Hatsair (Young guard). Soon, however, he withdrew from the movement, and in late 1927 he traveled to Odessa to study in the Jewish Pedagogical Technicum. Earlier, on April 12, 1927, the Kharkov newspaper Yunge gvardye (Young guard) published his short poem, and this served as his debut into Yiddish literature. Another early publication was a poem in Kharkov’s Yung-boy (Young structure) 7 (1928). In Odessa he became a member of the literary group of young authors that would often convene under the leadership of their teacher of Yiddish literature in school, Arn Vorobeytshik. Goldenberg’s poetry appeared in the newspapers: Odeser arbeter (Odessa worker), Der berditshever arbeter (The Berdichev worker), Kharkov’s Der shtern (The star), Minsk’s Oktyabr (October), and especially in the publications of young authors Yunge gvardye and Zay greyt (Get ready!). The journal Prolit (Proletarian literature) in Kharkov published in issue 6 for 1930 his cycle of poems, In step (On the steppe)—impressions from his trip to the Jewish colonies in the Odessa region. In 1930 he graduated from the teachers’ course of study in the Yiddish language and literature from the Odessa Institute for People’s Education. At that time, his family emigrated from Kupil to Argentina, though he alone remained in the Soviet Union, taking up a teaching position in a Jewish school in Balta, Odessa region. He moved to Kharkov in 1931 and became a contributor to the children’s newspaper Zay greyt and published poems and stories in the literary journals Di royte velt (The red world) and Prolit. When the capital of Ukraine moved from Kharkov to Kiev in 1934, and all the central institutions of the Ukrainian S.S.R. moved there, among them the Yiddish publishing houses and publications, he too moved to Kiev. That same year, he was one of the participants in the All-Soviet Conference of Yiddish Writers in Moscow. In the last years prior to the start of WWII, he worked in the Republican Yiddish Library and continued his literary work. In 1941 he went to the front. The last postcard received from him was dated September 4, 1941.

            Among his books: In umru geboyrene (Born in chaos), poems (Kharkov: Literatur un kunst, 1932), 106 pp.; Lider un balades (Poems and ballads) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1936), 117 pp.; Heymland (Homeland), stories (Kiev, 1938); A mame (A mother), stories (Kiev, 1940); “Sternfal” (Starfall), poetry cycle in the anthology Di lire (The lyre) (Moscow, 1985).  He translated: F. N. Oleshchuk, Dos sektantum un zayn reaktsyonere role (Sectarianism and its reactionary role) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1937), 27 pp.

Sources: “In der yidisher un hebreisher literatur” (In Yiddish and Hebrew literature), Tsukunft (August 1943); Kh. Loytsker, in Eynikeyt (October 7, 1947).

[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.69-70.]

ETL GOLDBERG

ETL GOLDBERG (b. 1897)

            She was born in a village in the Grodno region and emigrated to the United States in 1912.  She translated several chapters from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali (Song offerings) for the journal Kultur (Culture) (Chicago, 1926).  She was living in California.  In Ezra Korman’s Yidishe dikhterins (Jewish poetesses) (Chicago, 1928), she was represented with a lyrical-romantic poem entitled “Durkh ale mayne tuungen” (Through all of my deeds).

NOKHUM GOLDBERG

NOKHUM GOLDBERG (d. 1943)

            He was born in Khelm (Chełm).  He was first editor of the newspaper Khelemer shtime (Voice of Khelm), initially known as Undzer shtime (Our voice).  He remained a contributor to the newspaper until its end with the Nazi invasion.  He was considered among the most important journalists in the Yiddish provincial press in Poland.  He wrote editorials, feature pieces, and sketches.  He was also a member of the community council, well-known as a lecturer, member of the managing committee of “TOZ” [Towarzystwo Ochrony Zdrowia (Society for the protection of health)], and of the old-age home.  In the 1930s he was an active leader in the Committee for Jewish Refugees from Germany.  Together with other members of the Khelm city council, he was killed by the Germans outside the city of Khelm.

Sources: B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), p. 59; Yisker-bukh khelm (Remembrance book for Khelm) (Johannesburg, 1954), see index; H. Shishler, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (April 5, 1948). B. Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954);

NOYEKH (NOAH) GOLDBERG

NOYEKH (NOAH) GOLDBERG (February 15, 1902-1968)

            He was born to extremely poor parents in a village near Bobruisk, Byelorussia.  In 1906 he father left for the United States and brought his mother there, but Noyekh remained in Russia and was later mobilized into the Russian army.  In 1924 he left via Poland for Argentina, and from there joined his parents in America.  He began writing in 1934.  He published poems in Amerikaner (American), and later he placed stories in: Frayhayt (Freedom), Hamer (Hammer), Signal (Signal), Tsukunft (Future), Forverts (Forward), Proletarisher gedank (Proletarian idea), Di feder (The pen), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Yidish kultur (Jewish culture), Kiem (Suvival) in Paris), Tog (Day), Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires, Di idishe velt (The Jewish world), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), Idishe lebn (Jewish life), and Af dos nay (Afresh).  Among his books: Poshete mentshn (Simple folk), stories (Los Angeles, 1942), 182 pp.; A likht geyt oyf (A light rises), “a novella of a Jewish farmer’s life in America” (New York: Dovid Ignatov Fund, 1948), 240 pp.  He was also a contributor to three issues of the monthly journal Idishe lebn (New York, 1939).  He was living in California, where he was a member of the editorial council of the quarterly Kheshbn (Accounting) in Los Angeles.  Most recently published: Oyf tsevorfene vegn (Along scattered roads) (Buenos Aires, 1957), 254 pp.; Vildgroz, ekzotishe novele (Wild grass, an exotic novel) (Buenos Aires: Yidbukh, 1964), 413 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (July 26, 1940; August 14, 1950); Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New York) (December 21, 1940); H. Rogof, in Forverts (New York) (June 6, 1943); A. Glants-Leyeles, in Tog (October 11, 1949); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (December 25, 1949); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (September 20, 1950); Z. Vaynper, in Yidishe kultur (New York) (August 1953); Shloyme Slutski, Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen bibliography) (New York, 1956), nos. 5309, 5310.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 135.]

MOYSHE-MEYER GOLDBERG

MOYSHE-MEYER GOLDBERG (b. 1879)

            He was born in Petrikov, Minsk region, Russia.  After the Bolshevik upheaval, he emigrated to the United States.  He became a rabbi in various cities in Russian and America.  After 1930 he settled in New York.  He authored the religious work Emuna tehora (Pure faith), a debate between an Orthodox rabbi and a Reform rabbi over Jewish religious issues (New York, 1932), 82 pp. in Yiddish and Hebrew, with 20 pp. in English.  He was the author as well of a number of other religious texts, among them: Darkhe yoshar (Paths of righteousness) on tractate Pirke avot (Ethics of the fathers) (New York, 1930).

Source: G. Bublik, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (August 7, 1932).

MOYSHEL GOLDBERG

MOYSHEL GOLDBERG (1895-1944)

            He was born in Lodz.  His father, “Yankl Zgerzher,” was a well-known entertainer at weddings in Lodz.  He studied in religious school and in a yeshiva, and later he himself became a “modern wedding entertainer” in Lodz.  During WWII, he was in the Lodz ghetto, and he was deported from there in August 1944 to Auschwitz where he was murdered.  He published a book entitled Humoristishe lider (Humorous poems), “popular tunes to sing, with notations by Avrom-Meyer Frenkl” (Lodz: A. Y. Shimshya, 1926), 64 pp., which were sung in Lodz and vicinity.

Source: Kh. L. Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957).

MIKHL GOLDBERG

MIKHL GOLDBERG (1865-February 27, 1938)

            He was born in Strizhev (Strzyzów), western Galicia.  He hailed from a very pious family.  Because of compulsory education, his parents were compelled to send him to a school, and he graduated from the fourth level.  With private teachers, he studied Hebrew, Polish, and German.  He received permission to open a private school.  He became interested in dramatic literature.  He read many Polish and German plays, and he regularly attended Polish theatrical performances.  In 1892 he emigrated to the United States.  He took up translating plays from the European repertoire for the Yiddish theater.  For Boris Tomashevsky’s troupe, he translated Hauptmann’s Der farzunkener glok (The sunken bell [original: Die Versunkene Glocke]), Harriet Beecher-Stowe’s Onkl toms kabin (Uncle Tom’s Cabin), and a handful of works by Shakespeare.  For Jacob Adler, he translated Richard Voss’s play Shuldik (Guilty [original: Schuldig].  He also wrote for Vaudeville troupes as many as 150 one-act plays, most of which were adaptations from foreign languages.  He also wrote some original works which were staged from manuscripts.  Best known of these, according to copyright laws in Washington, were the plays: Mish-mash (Hodge-podge), a comedy in four acts, “copyright by Maurice Schwartz” (1915); A vayb af optsoln (A wife in reciprocation), a farce-comedy in four acts, typescript, copyright 1916; Di getlekhe kraft (The divine power), a romantic melodrama in four acts, typescript, copyright 1916; Kohn un leyvi (Cohen and Levy), a farce-comedy in four acts, typescript, copyright 1916.  Among his books: Di yu-es bank depositors (The U.S. bank depositors), a popular drama in five acts (New York, 1937), 26 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 1; Yankev Mestl, 70 yor teater-repertuar (Seventy years of theater repertoire) (New York, 1954); American Jewish Yearbook 5699 (Philadelphia, 1939).

LEYB GOLDBERG

LEYB GOLDBERG (1892-1955)

            A writer, translator, and publisher, he was born in Brisk (Brest), Lithuania, into a family of writers.  He father was a Hebrew teacher and author, and his older brothers were the poet Menakhem Boreysho (1888-1949), and Avrom Goldberg (1881-1933), the editor of the Warsaw newspaper Haynt.  He began his literary activities in Warsaw in 1914 with translations of Leo Tolstoy and Eliza Orzeszkowa and with reviews in Bikher-velt (Book world) and other publications.  He also translated writings by Peretz and Sholem-Aleichem into Russian.  After the October 1917 Revolution in Russia, he settled in Moscow and became an active contributor to the People’s Commissariat for Jewish Affairs in Moscow and to the relief organization Idgezkom (Idishe gezelshaftlekhe komitet = Jewish Social Committee), and other groups.  In the 1920s, he was secretary and later editorial representative of the newspaper Der emes (The truth) in Moscow.  From 1930 until the Nazi invasion of Soviet Russia, he served as the manager of the Emes Publishing House in Moscow.  Goldberg also translated works from the classical Marxist writers and theorists, edited a number of books—among them, two volumes of Lenin’s writings which appeared in Yiddish—and published articles on the Yiddish press, publishers’ work, literature, and culture in Emes, and in the anthology Yidn in f.s.s.r. (Jews in the USSR) (Moscow: Emes, 1935), among other works.  Later he was an active leader in the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee and a regular contributor to Eynikeyt (Unity) in Moscow.  Shortly before his death, his Russian translation of Sholem-Aleykhem’s Motl peysi dem khazns (Motl the cantor’s son) appeared from Melukhe Publishers for Children’s Literature in Moscow. He died in Moscow.

            Among his books (translations): Leo N. Tolstoy, Der tayvl (The devil [original: D’yavol]) (Warsaw: Univerzal, 1914), 86 pp.; Eliza Orzeszkowa, Ringen, gedalye (Cells, Gedalya [original: Ogniwa, Gedalya], with a biography and introduction by Zalmen Reyzen (Warsaw, 1914), 82 pp.; Janusz Korczak, Minyaturn (Miniatures), with a foreword by Bal-Makhshoves (Warsaw: Univerzal, 1914), 73 pp.; Arthur Arnould, Di meysim fun der komune (The dead of the Commune) (Moscow-Kiev: Arbeter-heym, 1917), 21 pp.; Paul Lafargue, Vegn religye (On religion) (Moscow-Kiev: Der hamer, 1919), 66 pp.; Pavel Blonskii, Di shul un der arbeter-klas (The school and the working class [original: Shkola i rabochii klass]) (Moscow: Jewish division of the central Commissariat for Education, 1919), 29 pp.; Joseph Stalin, Di yesoydes fun leninizm (The foundations of Leninism [original: Ob osnovakh leninizma]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1924), 115 pp.; Nikolai Bukharin, Di internatsyonale burzhuazye un karl kautski, ir apostol (The international bourgeoisie and Karl Kautsky, its apostle [original: Międzynarodowa burzuazja i Karol Kautsky, jej apostoł]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1925), 163 pp.; Vladimir Lenin, Fun fevral biz oktyabr (From February to October [original: Ot fevralia︡ k oktya︡briu]), in Lenin’s selected writings, vol. 5 (Moscow: Central Publisher for Peoples of the USSR, 1925), 155 pp.; B. Zhukov, Di opshtamung funem mentshn (The origins of men [original: Proiskhozhdenie cheloveka]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1925), 182 pp.; Nikolai Bukharin, Di khinezishe revolutsye, problemen un perspektivn (The Chinese revolution, problems and perspective [original: Problemy kitaiskoi revoliutsii]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1927), 63 pp.; Emelian Yaroslavskii, Kurtse etyudn iber der geshikhte fun der aikp(b) (Short studies from the history of the Russian Communist Party [original: Kratkie ocherki po istorii VKP(b)]) (Moscow: Shul un bukh, 1927); Dr. M. Dobin, Vos iz azoyns sap un vi darf men kegn im kemfn (What’s glanders and how ought one to fight it) (Simferopol, 1932), 20 pp.; Lenin, Oysgeveylte verk af yidish (Selected writings in Yiddish) (Simferopol, 1933); Karl Marx, Di klasnkamfn in frankraykh (The class struggles in France [original: Klassenkämpfe in Frankreich 1848 bis 1850]) (Simferopol, 1933), 161 pp.; Guy de Maupassant, Tsvey fraynd un andere dertseylungen (Two friends and other stories [original: Deux amis et autres contes]) (Simferopol, 1935), 40 pp.; Stalin, Fragn fun leninizm (Problems of Leninism [original: Voprosy leninizma] (Moscow: Emes, 1936), 858 pp. (first printing was in 1926); and Sholem-Alekhem, from Yiddish to Russian, Mal’chik motl (Motl, a lad) (Moscow, 1954), 100 pp., with a preface by Viktor Fink and illustrations by V. Losin.  Goldberg also contributed, together with Yekhezkl Dobrushin and Y. Rabin, to the compilation of Der deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Declaimer of Soviet Yiddish literature) (Moscow: Emes, 1934), 410 pp. 

Sources: A. Brakhman, in Emes (Moscow) 19 (1934); Leyb Goldberg, “A briv in redaktsye” (A letter to the editorial board), Emes 72 (1935); L. Arye, in Yidishe tsaytung (Winnipeg) (April 13, 1949); Ada Boreysha-Fogel, in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1955); Folks-shtime (Warsaw) (January 14, 1955); L. Leneman, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (February 3, 1956); Leneman, in Der amerikaner (New York) (February 17, 1956); Haboker (Tel Aviv) (February 11, 1956); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (January 13, 1957); Sovetish heymland, Materyaln far a leksikon fun der yidisher sovetisher literatur (Materials for a handbook of Soviet Jewish literature) (September 1975).

Aleksander Pomerants

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 135; and 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.67-68.]

LEYVI GOLDBERG

LEYVI GOLDBERG (August 15, 1893-December 30, 1974)

            He was born in Minsk, Byelorussia.  He studied in religious primary school, with his father who was a teacher by the name of Elyahu Gildenberg, and also in a Russian public school.  In 1909 his older brother enabled him to come to the United States.  In 1918 he published his first poems in Progres (Progress), a weekly edited by Sini Likht, and in Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor).  He later published as well in: Kundes (Prankster), Onheyb (Beginning), Feder (Pen), Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s jounal), Shikago (Chicago), Tsukunft (Future), Nay-yidish (New Yiddish), Tog (Day), Shriftn (Writings), Hemshekh (Continuation), Getseltn (Tents), Epokhe (Epoch), Literarishe heftn (Literary notebooks), and Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), among others.  Among his books: Lider un baladn (Poems and ballads) (Vienna and New York: Heym farlag, 1923), 112 pp.; Noente, lider (Close at hand, poems) (New York: Di feder, 1948), 224 pp.; Peyres af mayn boym, lider (Fruit on my tree, poems) (New York: Feder, 1959), 149 pp.  Leyvi Goldberg’s poems were largely descriptive with a strong note of lyrical realism.  He was living in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; A. Tabatshnik, in Tsukunft (New York) (November 1932); B. Rivkin, in the jubilee volume for Feder (New York, 1945); Hemshekh antologye fun amerikaner-yidisher dikhtung (Hemshekh anthology of American Yiddish poetry) (New York, 1945), pp. 3-5; Z. Vaynper, in Yidishe kultur (March 1949); I. Talush, in Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Buenos Aires) (May-June 1955; Juke-August 1955); Sh. Meltser, Al naharot, tisha mahazore shira misifrut yidish (By the rivers, nine cycles of poetry from Yiddish literature) (Jerusalem, 1956), p. 429; B. Y. Byalostotski, Kholem un vor, eseyen (Dream and reality, essays) (New York, 1956); Sh. Slutski, in Avrom reyzen biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen bibliography) (New York, 1956), nos. 4645, 4749, 5341; A. Pat, in Oyfsnay (New York) (October 1957).

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 135.]

YITSKHOK GOLDBERG

YITSKHOK GOLDBERG (1853-January 6, 1916)

            He was born in Kovno, Lithuania, to observant, well-to-do parents.  He studied until age sixteen in yeshivas, among them Volozhin.  At the end of 1881 he emigrated to the United States.  He was a wine merchant in New York, a friend of modern Yiddish literature, a community leader, and philanthropist.  During WWI, he was a co-founder of the People’s Relief Committee in America.  From time to time, he published articles in the Forverts (Forward).  He authored the pamphlets: Idishe problemen (Jewish issues) (New York, 1913), 32 pp.; Idish un hebreish in teorye un praktik (Yiddish and Hebrew in theory and practice) (New York, 1914), 31 pp., “dedicated to the Jewish people, the nine million brothers and sisters who speak, think, read, and write the mother tongue—Yiddish.”  He died in New York.  He left in manuscript form a polemical pamphlet in opposition to Zionism.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Forverts (New York) (January 8, 1916).

SHIYE GOLDBERG

SHIYE GOLDBERG (1883-1943)

            He was born in Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland, to well-off parents.  His father Moyshe was an early Zionist, came from Zamość, and was related to Y. L. Peretz.  He received a religious-national education.  He studied humanities, 1908-1909, at the University of Liège, Belgium.  After returning to Poland, he worked for a time as a private teacher of Hebrew and German.  His first publications were lyrical poems and translations from Russian poets.  He contributed to: Der shtral (The ray), Der fraynd (The friend), Haynt (Today), Moment (Moment), and Eyropeishe literatur (European literature) in Warsaw; Dos naye land (The new land) in Paris; Shedletser vort (Shedlets word), Shedletser viderkol (Shedlets echo), Shedletser lebn (Shedlets life), and Shedletser vokhblat (Shedlets weekly newspaper).  He served as editor of Shedletser lebn in 1911 (together with D. Neymark), Shedletser viderkol in 1913-1914 (together with Y. H. Fishman and Y. Tenenboym), and on the editorial board of Shedletser vokhblat (1922-1939).  In the last of these he also published “Zikhroynes vegn der yidisher revolutsyoner bavegung in shedlets” (Memoirs of the Jewish revolutionary movement in Shedlets) in 1905; and of the series “Fun di shedletser mayselekh” (Shedletser stories) and “Melamdim” (School teachers), which were a source of Shedlets Jewish folklore.  He wrote under the pen name Bergoldi.  He was in the Shedlets ghetto.  During the liquidation of the ghetto, he was driven out to Treblinka, and there he was killed by Nazi murderers.

Sources: A. Faynzilber, Af di khurves fun mayn heym (On the ruins of my home) (Tel Aviv, 1952); Yivo-bleter (New York) 36 (1952), pp. 361-62; Y. Kaspi, in Sefer yizkor lekehilat shedlets (Remembrance volume for the community of Shedlets) (Tel Aviv and Buenos Aires, 1956).

YOSL GOLDBERG

YOSL GOLDBERG (b. December 1905)

            He was born in Antopol (Antopal), Byelorussia.  He studied in religious primary school and general subject matter with private tutors.  In 1925 he emigrated to Argentina.  He worked as a teacher in Buenos Aires Jewish schools.  He published for the first time in 1926—a poem in Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires.  He later published poems and stories in Dorem-amerike (South America), Oyfsnay (Afresh), and elsewhere.  He published: Gezangen fun front (Songs from the front) (Buenos Aires: IKUF, 1958), 234 pp.; Dos 37te yor (The 37^th year) (Buenos Aires: IKUF, 1967), 172 pp.  He was living in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort un teater in argentine (The published Yiddish word and theater in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), pp. 136-37; Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), pp. 131, 167; Y. Botoshanski, Mame yidish (Mother Yiddish) (Buenos Aires, 1949), pp. 183, 254, 255; Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), “Yidn 5” (New York, 1957), pp. 381-82.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 135.]

Y. GOLDBERG

Y. GOLDBERG (d. 1937?)

            He was a Soviet Jewish folklorist and translator who hailed from Byelorussia.  He edited the folklore portion of the anthology Tsaytshrift (Periodical) (Minsk, 1926-1928), in which he published a number of research papers concerning popular Jewish works.  As a translator, he concentrated mainly on Shakespeare’s plays.  His translations appeared in Melukhe Farlag in Minsk: Yulyus tsezar (Julius Caesar) (1933), 127 pp.; Ritshard III (Richard III) (1933), 172 pp.; Otelo (Othello) (1935), 151 pp.; Romeo un zhulyete (Romeo and Juliet) (1935), 140 pp.; Der shturem (The Tempest) (1937), 102 pp.; and Makbet (MacBeth) (1938), 152 pp.  As he explained, he translated Shakespeare’s works from the texts of the Cambridge editions.  He was also the translator of a number of textbooks for Jewish middle schools in the Soviet Union.  Biographical details remain unknown.

Source: Kh. Dunets, in Oktyaber 110 (Minsk, 1934).

KHAYIM (ḤAGGAI) GOLDBERG

KHAYIM (ḤAGGAI) GOLDBERG (1890-1943)

            He was born in Lukeve (Łuków), Poland, into a Hassidic family.  From his youth he was taken with painting and literature.  He left home for Germany where he studied graphic art.  From 1912 he was living in Warsaw.  He contributed drawings to Yiddish- and Hebrew-language publications.  He was a co-founder of the Jewish “plastic-arts association in Poland.”  He was the leader of the artistic institution “Grafikon.”  He was a pioneer of modern ornamental writing and of artistically produced well-wishing cards with Jewish writing on them.  When the Germans occupied Poland in 1939, he left for Bialystok where he, until the German assault on Russia, worked as a designer and painter in a cooperative.  He began publishing poems in Roman-tsaytung (Fiction newspaper) and Der shtral (The ray) in Warsaw.  He later contributed to Eyropeishe literatur (European literature), Haynt (Today), and to the Hebrew publications: Hatsfira (The siren), Olam katan (Small world), Itoni (My newspaper), and Baderekh (On the way) in Warsaw.  On the whole his poems were satirical and humorous, and his caricatures were of actual sites in Warsaw and on literary themes.  In 1922 he published in Bikher velt (Book world) an article concerning the reform of the Yiddish alphabet with appropriate specimens, for which a sequence of type-founders created new, modern Jewish writing.  He also published a series of luxury editions of works: Moyshe apelboym, zayn lebn un shafn (Moyshe Apelboym, his life and creations) (Warsaw, 1931), 15 pp.; A bisl rekhile, tsiganerye (A little slander, exaggerations); Baladn (Ballads), illustrated; and others.  His diary was lost in the Bialystok ghetto where he was killed.

Sources: Haynt yoyvl bukh (Jubilee volume for Haynt) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; R. Feldshuh, Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish communal handbook), vol. 1 (Warsaw, 1939), p. 660; B. Mark, Der oyfshtand in byalistoker geto (The uprising in the Bialystok ghetto) (Warsaw, 1950), p. 160; Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), p. 200; Y. Sandel, Umgekumene yidishe kinstler (Murdered Jewish artists) (Warsaw, 1957), p. 83.

JENNY GOLDBERG-PRENOVITS

JENNY GOLDBERG-PRENOVITS (1874-November 24, 1922)

           She was born in Lekhevitsh (Lyakhovichi), Minsk region, Byelorussia.  She received a Jewish and general education, graduating from a secular Russian high school in Minsk.  In 1890 she emigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia.  Until she married the poet Y. Sh. Prenovits in 1892, she worked as a tailor.  She was active in Jewish unions and in the Jewish wings of the Socialist Party.  She began publishing her poems under the name Jenny Goldberg in the Philadelphia weekly Di yidishe prese (The Jewish press), 1892-1896.  She later became an internal contributor to Khayim Molits’s Filadelfyer shtat-tsaytung (Philadelphia city newspaper), and there she also published a daily article entitled “Ayndruknfun a yidish arbeter meydl” (Impression of a young Jewish working woman).  She contributed articles labor issues and women’s problems to the Philadelphia section of Forverts (Forward) and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York.  She died in Philadelphia.

Sources: Di yidishe velt (Philadelphia) (November 26-27, 1922); Forverts (New York) (November 26, 1922); Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (November 2, 1922); D. B. Turkel, in Pinkes fun amopteyl (Records of the American division of YIVO) (New York, 1927-1928), p. 260.

DOV-BER GOLDBERG

DOV-BER GOLDBERG (b. 1868)

            He was born in Trisik, near Telshe (Telts, Telz), Lithuania, into a poor family.  He received a Jewish education in religious primary school, later in the Telshe yeshiva.  In 1887 he emigrated to South Africa.  For a time he worked as a Hebrew teacher at the Talmud-Torah in Pretoria.  He later settled in Johannesburg, where was active as a Zionist community leader, speaker, lecturer, and co-founder of the society “Shoḥre tushiya” (Seekers of wisdom).  He began his writing activities with articles in Hamelits (The advocate) and Hatsfira (The siren).  He also contributed a series of correspondence pieces concerning Jewish life in South Africa for Hayehudi (The Jew) in London, edited by Suvalski.  He wrote feature articles and lighter essays for Hakokhav, der yidisher shtern (The star, the Jewish star), Di yidishe fon (The Jewish banner), Di afrikaner-yidishe gazetn (The African Jewish gazette), and other Yiddish and Hebrew periodicals in South Africa and in other countries.  He translated into Yiddish and English essays by Aḥah Haam.  Among his pseudonyms: Flia, M. Bg., and Bal-Makhshoves.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Leybl Feldman, Yidn in yohanesburg (Jews in Johannesburg) (Johannesburg, 1956).

DOV-BORIS GOLDBERG

DOV-BORIS GOLDBERG (November 12, 1866-July 7, 1922)

            He was born in Shaki (Šakiai), near Suwalk, Lithuania, into a well-to-do family that adhered to the Jewish Enlightenment.  He graduated from a secular high school in Kovno.  He graduated from Berlin University with a degree in chemical engineering.  In 1898 he returned to Russia and settled in Vilna.  From 1902 he was one of the most active Zionists in Russia.  He was the main speaker at the Zionist conference in Helsinki, where he defended the importance of work in the Diaspora.  He participated in a number of Zionist congresses.  In 1905 he was a member of the “Committee for Jewish Rights in Russia.”  In 1907 he took part in the third conference of the Zionist press in Vilna.  During WWI, he served as an envoy of Russian Zionists to Scandinavian countries and England.  In 1917 he was selected as a member of the National Council of Russian Jewry, and in 1919 he was a representative of the National Council to the All-Jewish World Conference in Paris.  Until late 1920 he was in England.  He was a co-founder of the Jewish National Fund as well as other international Zionist institutions.  In early 1921 he moved to Israel and started construction factories, which made possible the development of Tel Aviv.  He began writing for Voskhod (Sunrise) in 1906, in which he published articles and impressions of the Fifth Zionist Congress.  He later published feature pieces on Jewish and Zionist issues in Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew, and German in Razsviet (Dawn), Die Welt (The world), Haolam (The world), Dos yidishe folk (The Jewish people) in Vilna (1908-1907), and Altnayland (Old-new land), among other serials.  He was also the author of a statistical work in Russian concerned with Jewish life in Russia (St. Petersburg, 1897) and of a pamphlet entitled Di yidishe kolonyal-bank (The Jewish colonial bank) which appeared in both Yiddish and Russian (Vilna, 1909), 32 pp.  He served on the editorial boards of Haolam, Dos yidishe folk in Vilna, and Altnayland, among others.  He wrote under the pen name “Dov.”  On May 1, 1921 during the Jaffa pogrom, he was severely wounded and he died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Haarets (Tel Aviv) (July 8, 1922); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1947-1971), vol. 1, pp. 293-94.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

BEN-TSIEN (BEN-ZION) GOLDBERG

BEN-TSIEN (BEN-ZION) GOLDBERG (January 9, 1895-December 29, 1972)

            This was the pen name of Ben-Tsien Veyf (Benjamin Waife).  He was born in Olshan (Gol’shany), Vilna region.  He was the son of the Olshan scribe and ritual slaughterer, R. Moyshe Veyf; his mother Khyene was of the Margolis family.  He came from considerable pedigree.  On his father’s side, he was related to the Dvinsker rabbi, and his mother was the daughter of the Gedritser rebbe, and they were related to the author of Pitḥon tshuva (Voice of response) and of R. Chaim Ozer Grodzinski.  He studied with his grandfather in Olshan, also in a religious primary school and later in the yeshivas of Lide (Lida) and Volozhin—secular subject matter with private tutors.  In 1907 he moved with his parents to the United States, settling in New York.  He studied for one year at the yeshiva of R. Yitskhok Elchonon.  He spent the years 1908-1914 in the states of Michigan and Iowa.  There he studied in elementary and middle school, and one year at the University of Iowa.  In 1914 he returned to live in New York.  He studied psychology at Columbia University, and in 1920 he received his doctorate there in psychology.  Goldberg began writing while quite young.  At age twelve he placed a poem in Varhayt (Truth) in New York.  At age sixteen he published articles in Shikager rekord (Chicago record).  While a student at Columbia University, in 1914, he visited Sholem-Aleykhem and invited him to speak before the Jewish students.  From that time on, he became a regular visitor to Sholem-Aleykhem’s home, befriended the latter’s daughter Marusya, and in 1917 became Sholem-Aleykhem’s son-in-law.  In 1920 he placed his first pieces in Tog (Day), a series of articles on psychology which at that time appealed only to a limited circle of readers.  When the editorial board declined to publish him further, because the content of his pieces were deemed too “erudite,” Goldberg did not become discouraged, and using a female name “Ida Brener,” he continued to submit his writings which were published and had such success that the editors of Tog sought out just who the real author was.  In 1921 he made a voyage through Europe and sent in correspondence pieces which were a big hit with readers.  In 1922 he became a regular contributor to the newspaper.  Under his own name, as well as under the pseudonyms B. Marusin and B. Margolis, he wrote on a variety of topics.  From 1924 he wrote a daily column entitled “In gang fun tog” (Starting off the day), in which he reacted to virtually every event in the most diverse fields of general and Jewish life.  Over the years 1916-1926, he was a pioneer and director of the New York Jewish Folk University and the Jewish teachers’ seminary.  He was later active in IKOR (Yidishe kolonizatsye organizatsye in rusland [Jewish colonization organization in (Soviet) Russia]).  He was one of the initiators of the American division of YIVO.  In the 1930s he was one of the founders and active leaders of IKUF (Jewish Cultural Association).  During WWII, he was an active member of the American Jewish-Russian Relief Committee, chair of the “American Committee of Jewish Writers, Artists, and Scientists,” and later chair of the large reception committee for the delegation from the Moscow “Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee,” the stage director and writer Shloyme Mikhoels, and the Soviet Jewish poet Itsig Fefer.  Over the years 1924-1940, he served as managing editor of Tog.  He was also active in the field of English-language journalism.  In 1932 he had a daily column in the Brooklyn Eagle, entitled “The World Today.”  In 1940 he became editor of Jewish Digest and in 1941 edited American Jewish Almanac.  In 1932 he traveled to the Middle East.  In 1934 he traveled through Soviet Russia, Birobidzhan, China, and Japan.  During all of his trips, his daily column appeared in Tog.  His correspondence pieces and subsequent articles about Soviet Russia and Birobidzhan aroused considerable polemics in their day in the American Jewish press.

            Among his books, he published in English: The Sacred Fire (New York, 1930), 386 pp.—also appearing in England (1931), 287 pp.  This volume was a history of the issue of sex as it was handled by various religions—it was translated into other languages as well.  In Yiddish he wrote: Sovetn-farband, faynt oder fraynt (Soviet Union, enemy or friend) (New York, 1947), 48 pp.; and Yidn in ratn-farband, zeyer lage, zeyere problemen, zeyer tsukunft (Jew in the Soviet Union, their condition, their problems, their future) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1965), 452 pp., with Hebrew translation by A. D. Shapir as Habaaya hayehudit bevrit hamoatsot (Tel Aviv: Am oved, 1966), 316 pp.  He edited: Shtudyes in sotsyaler visnshaft (Studies in social science), published in honor of the fiftieth birthday of A. Sh. Zaks (New York, 1930), 203 pp., and to this he contributed an essay on the honoree.  He also contributed an article on Zaks in Dr. Herman Frank’s book, A. sh. zaks, kemfer far folks-oyflebung (A. Sh. Zaks, fighter for popular revival) (New York, 1945), 396 pp.  He published memoirs, entitled “Momentn sholem-aleykhem” (Moments with Sholem-Alekhem), in Sholem-alekhem-bukh (Sholem-Aleykhem book) (New York, 1926).  Over the years 1943-1945, he edited the journal Eynikeyt (Unity), organ of “American Committee of Jewish Writers, Artists, and Scientists.”  He also contributed to Avron Reyzen’s journal, Yung-yidish (Young Yiddish), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), and Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor).  Goldberg frequently published his work in the organ of IKUF, Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture) in New York.  His work on 300 years of Jewish life in the United States was published in the Hebrew-language journal, Orlogin (Clock) in Tel Aviv (May 1940).  He was also a contributor to Al hamishmar (On guard) in Israel.  He was living in New York, and from September 1957 he edited the English section of the Sunday paper, Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Daily morning journal).  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Dos sholem-aleykhem bukh (New York, 1926), see index; Y Botoshanski, “B. ts. Goldberg” (B. Ts. Goldberg), in Portretn fun yidishe shrayber (Portraits of Jewish writers) (Warsaw, 1933); Y. Khaykin, Yidishe bleter in amerike (Jewish newspapers in America) (New York, 1946), see index; M. Yordani, “B. ts. Goldberg” (B. Ts. Goldberg), in Intervyus mit yidishe shrayber (Interviews with Jewish writers) (New York, 1955), pp. 33-43; S. Kahan, B. ts. goldberg, kinstler fun yidisher publitsistik (B. Ts. Goldberg, artist of Jewish journalism) (Mexico, 1956), 28 pp.; Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 5; Who’s Who in World Jewry (New York, 1955); Kh. Liberman, Di maske un dos ponem (The mask and the face) (New York, 1963), p. 64.

Zaynvl Diamant

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 134.]

ASHER GOLDBERG

ASHER GOLDBERG

            He was born in Bialystok, Poland.  He was a rabbi and preacher in New York.  He authored: Sefer hameushar (The book of happiness), “higher thoughts concerning faith, rooted in the foundations of Jewishness” (New York, 1929), 32 pp.; and Sefer hamides baderekh hakhakire (The book of manner on the path of careful scrutiny), “sermons concerning the essence of Jewishness” (New York), 102 pp.  Biographical details remain unknown.

FROYM GOLDBERG

FROYM GOLDBERG (b. February 15, 1883)

            He was born in Mezhybozhe (Medzhybizh, Międzyboż), Podolia.  He studied in religious elementary schools and later in Rameyle’s yeshiva in Vilna.  In 1923 he emigrated to Argentina, and there he became a teacher in a Yiddish-Hebrew school.  He had earlier in Vilna begun writing, and from 1925 he published poetry in Argentine Hebrew publications: Dorem (South), Atidenu (Our future), and Habima haivrit (The Hebrew stage).  He was a regular contributor to Di yidishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) and other publications in Argentina.  Among his books: Fun idishe kvaln (From Jewish sources), part 1 (Buenos Aires, 1944), 294 pp., part 2 (Buenos Aires, 1945), 340 pp.; Dertseyl dayn zun (Tell your son) (Buenos Aires, 1948), 351 pp.; Yerushe fun doyres (Inheritance of the generations), “Legends and history for school and home” (Buenos Aires, 1938), 328 pp.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentina (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 168; V. Bresler, “Biblyografishe reshime” (Bibliographic list), in Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944); Di naye tsayt (Buenos Aires) (December 10, 1954).

ISER GOLDBERG

ISER GOLDBERG (January 8, 1896-January 31, 1968)

            He was born in Pruzhane (Prużana), Poland, into a Zionist family under the influence of the Jewish Enlightenment.  He graduated from a secular high school in Brisk (Brest).  Over the years 1915-1922, he was active in the “United” (Fareynikte) socialist party and secretary of the central bureau of the unaffiliated trade unions.  He joined the Bund in 1921.  He was active in the cooperative movement of Jewish workers in Warsaw.  In 1941 he emigrated to the United States.  He was one of the most energetic organizers of Yiddish book sales, and on behalf of the Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), he visited with great success over thirty Jewish colonies.  He was the manager of the Tsiko (Tsentrale yidishe kultur-organizatsye [Central Yiddish Cultural Organization]) in New York.  He wrote about Jewish labor issues for Unzer veg (Our way) in Warsaw (1917), and later contributed to Folks-tsaytung (People’s newspaper), Kegn shtrom (Against the current), Der metal-arbeter (The metal worker), Der handls-ongeshtelter (The commercial employee), and Der transport-arbeter (The transportation worker) in Warsaw; and Tsayt (Times) in London.  He was living in New York until his death.