Monday, 18 May 2015

DOVID GOLD

DOVID GOLD (February 22, 1898-November 10, 1948)
            He later used the name David Kalai, born in Szczekoczin, Kielce region, Poland, into a merchant family.  He studied in the yeshiva of the Gerer rebbe, and for a time he was secretary for the yeshiva.  He began writing when young, sending his writings in Hebrew to the religious newspaper of the Poltava rabbi, Hapeles (The balance), in Berlin.  He later published in Moment (Moment) in Warsaw depictions of yeshiva life and of young people in small towns; for that reason, he was expelled from the yeshiva.  He taught himself much of worldly subject matter.  Under the influence of his brother, he became involved in Zionist and Jewish cultural activities.  He served as secretary of the association Kultur (Culture), was founder of the Radom Zionist organization and its secretary, and was one of the founders and leaders of Hashomer (The guardian).  In 1918 he was living in Warsaw.  He was active in the Tseire Tsiyon (Young Zionists) movement and published feature articles in the weekly Bafrayung (Liberation).  In 1920 he made aliya to the land of Israel.  He worked in the Palestine press and was an active leader in Aḥdut haavoda (Union of labor) and in Histadrut (Federation of labor).  He was the author of a number of books in Hebrew and the translator of Otto Bauer, Karl Marx, and Ferdinand Lassalle.  In Yiddish he published Di tsveyte aliye (The second aliya) (Tel Aviv, 1947), 80 pp.  He edited publications of Shtibl Publishing House, Entsiklopedyah kelalit (General encyclopedia), and the encyclopedia Neurim (Youth).  He was the editor of Sefer haishim (Book of personalities) (Tel Aviv, 1936), 375 pp., and in his last years he was in charge of the archive and museum of the Israeli labor movement.  He died in Israel.

Source: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah lealutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950).

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