MOYSHE VITYES

MOYSHE VITYES (January 14, 1898-April 11, 1963)

            This was the literary name of Moyshe Sorgen, born in Strelisk (Novi Strilyshcha, Strzeliska Nowe), eastern Galicia, to Hassidic parents.  At two years of age he moved with his parents to New York, and later due to his mother’s illness, he moved back with his family to Strelisk, where until age nine he studied in religious elementary school and a Polish-Ukrainian public school.  In 1907 he returned once more to the United States and studied with itinerant teachers.  He left home at fifteen or sixteen years of age, performed a variety of jobs by day and studied at night—with the ambition of becoming a doctor or a writer.  He went on to study in medical school in Boston, spent a year perfecting his craft in Boston City Hospital, specializing in manipulative healing and then turning to chiropractic.  He debuted in print in 1910 with a story in Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York, and thereafter he edited the monthly journal for youth Fraye muze (Free muse) in 1914.  He was later invited to be a regular contributor to Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal.  Returning to New York the following year, he was a cofounder of the monthly Di feder (The pen) to which he contributed for many years thereafter.  Aside from published stories, children’s tales, and lyrical prose, he mainly wrote critical essays—about Perets Hirshbeyn, Avrom Reyzen, Yoysef Opatoshu, Shmuel Niger, B. Y. Byalostostki, B. Rivkin, and many others.  These appeared in: Der onheyb (The beginning), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Idishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper), Oyfsnay (Afresh), Fraye arbeter shtime (Free voice of labor), and Ksovim fun khayim krul (Writings of Khayim Krul)—all in New York—among others.  In book form: Eseyen vegn literatur (Essays on literature), theoretical literary studies (New York: Shulzon, 1956), 350 pp.  He also published under the name “Dr. M. Sorgen.”  He died in New York.

Sources: B. Rivkin, in Di feder (New York) (1919), p. 99, and (1945), pp. 98-99; M. Glikovski, in Der veg (Mexico City) (November 7, 1936); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (1947), p. 113; Ksovim fun khayim krul, edited by Y. H. Radoshitski (New York, 1954); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Yorbukh (New York, 1955); M. Shenderay, in Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (June 29, 1958); Der Lebediker, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (New York) (September 7, 1958); Aba Gordin and Kh. Pet, in Fraye arbeter shtime (New York) (September 7, 1958); Kh. Liberman, in Forverts (New York) (November 24, 1958; March 23, 1959); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn zhurnal (March 23, 1959); A. Almi, in Fraye arbeter shtime (April 1, 1959); A. Kliger, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (July 1959); Sh. Tenenboym, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (September 5, 1959); M. Daytsh, in Tsukunft (December 1959), pp. 528-39.