MENASHE UNGER

MENASHE UNGER (November 12, 1899-July 7, 1969)

            He was born in Żabno, Galicia.  His father was a rabbi who descended from rabbinic dynasties.  He studied in the Brody yeshiva and in 1917 received rabbinic ordination.  He lived in Warsaw for several years, and in 1925 made aliya to Israel.  Over the years 1931-1934, he was in Poland and in 1935 he emigrated to the United States.  Initially he worked as a teacher in a Jewish middle school in New York, and soon thereafter he became a contributor to Tog (Day) in New York, for which he wrote mainly about Hassidism and Hassidic rebbes; later, he wrote for Morgn zhurnal (Morning journal).  He also wrote for Eynikeyt (Unity) in New York.  He used the following pen names: M. A. Turner and M. A. Ger.  He compiled (with M. Kosover) Yankev shatski-biblyografye (Yankev Shatski bibliography) (New York, 1939), 81 pp.  His works included: Khsides un lebn (Hassidism and life) (New York, 1946), 222 pp.; Pshiskhe un kotsk (Pszysche and Kock) (Buenos Aires: Union of Polish Jews, 1949), 301 pp.; Di federatsye, vos zi iz geven, vos zi iz un vos zi darf zayn (The federation, what it was, what it is, and what it should be) (New York, n.d.), 36 pp.; Gut yontef, kinder (Happy holiday, children) (New York, 1950), 112 pp.; Di khsidishe velt, geshikhte fun khsidishe hoyfn in poyln un galitsye (The Hassidic world, a history of Hassidic courts in Poland and Galicia) (New York, 1955), 351 pp.; Khsides un yontef (Hassidism and holidays) (New York, 1958), 16, 344 pp.; R’ yisroel bal-shem-tov (R. Israel Bal Shem Tov) (New York, 1963), 412 pp.; Seyfer kdoshim, rebeim af kidesh-hashem (Book of martyrs, rabbis martyred) (New York: Shulsinger Brothers, 1967), 444 pp.; Der gaystiger vidershtand fun yidn in getos un lagern (The spiritual resistance of Jews in the ghettoes and camps) (Tel Aviv: Hamenora, 1970), XV, 300 pp.

Sources: A. Oyerbakh, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (March 5, 1967); Leyzer Unger, in Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (July 15, 1969); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (July 15, 1969); A. Vizel, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (November 21, 1971).