YANKEV BELEK

YANKEV BELEK (b. June 3, 1915)

            He was born in Sosnovits (Sosnowiec), Poland.  He studied in religious primary school.  He was active in the Bund.  During WWII he was in Soviet Russia.  From 1957 he was living in Israel.  From 1939 he wrote reportage pieces and articles for Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm) and Folks-shtime (People’s voice) in Warsaw, and later for Tsukunft (Future) in New York, and Letste nayes (Later news), Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), and Lebns-fragn (Life issues), among others, in Israel.  He co-edited the journal Funken (Sparks) in Ḥolon (1966).  In book form: Sintez fun religye un sotsyalizm (Synthesis of religion and socialism) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1964), 75 pp.; Der novi fun dritn khurbn (The prophet of the third destruction) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1971), 173 pp.  He was living in Netanya.

Sources: A. Baraban, in Yidishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (December 10, 1971); Sh. Kats, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (January 7, 1972).

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 97.