YOYSEF-YEREMYE GLAS

YOYSEF-YEREMYE GLAS (1870-April 26, 1933)

            He was born in Chernigov (Chernihiv) region, Russia, into a Hassidic rabbinic family.  He received both a Jewish and general education.  He was one of the pioneers of Jewish secular schools and was therefore persecuted by opponents of such schools.  Later he was a manager of a Talmud Torah in Moscow.  He worked as a teacher in a yeshiva in Odessa, as well as a teacher of Hebrew in Grodno and at a high school in Vilna.  For a time he lived in London.  In 1927 he traveled (for the second time) to the United States and then returned to Poland.  He later worked as a teacher in a Polish Jewish high school in Lodz.  In the last years of his life, he was active as a pedagogue in Lithuania.  He began writing on pedagogical topics for Hayehudi (The Jew) in London, contributed to Hazman (The times) and Vilner tog (Vilna day) in Vilna, Lodzher tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) in Lodz, Idishe shtime (Jewish voice) and Olmani (Our world) in Kovno, Dos folk (The people) in Riga, and Haynt (Today) in Warsaw, among others.  He was also the author of Hebrew books on pedagogy, and he translated works on pedagogy from other languages into Hebrew.  He also wrote under the pen name “Yosele.”  In 1927 he attempted in Antwerp to publish a Hebrew-language journal Moznaim (Balance).  He died in Vilkomir (Ukmerge) on a trip (for the third time) to the United States.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; M. Gerts, 25 yor yidishe prese in letland (25 years of the Yiddish press in Latvia) (Riga, 1933), p. 42; Frimorgn (Riga) (April 28, 1933); Hadoar (New York) (May 19, 1933); Kh. Sh. Kazdan, Fun kheyder un shkoles biz tsisho (From religious and secular primary schools to Tsisho) (Mexico, 1956), see index.