RUVN-MIKHL ZISKIND

RUVN-MIKHL ZISKIND (b. May 17, 1890)

            He was born in Plotsk (Płock), Poland, into an elite family.  Until age thirteen he studied in religious elementary school, thereafter in the new Plotsk synagogue study hall, and later graduating from the Plotsk high school.  He left Poland in 1908, settled in London, and studied in university there.  In 1914 he became rabbi and preacher at a London synagogue.  He left the rabbinate in 1917 and became a merchant.  He began writing about Jewish topics in the anthology Hameasef (The collector) (Alexandria, Egypt, 1905); and later he wrote for Hatsfira (The siren) in Warsaw and for other serials.  He debuted in Yiddish with poems on ethnic themes in Di tsayt (The times) in London (1914).  He later published poems, stories, and articles in Di tsayt, Abend-nayes (Evening news), Dos yudishe lebn (The Jewish life), Der yudisher ekspres (The Jewish express), Yudishe post (Jewish mail), Yugend-shtralen (Youth beams [of light]), Der folks-veg (The people’s way), Jewish Chronicle, and Sunday Times—all in London.  In book form he published: a volume on the essence of Jewish philanthropy in English and German (1926); and Mikhls lider (Mikhl’s poetry) (London, 1927), 96 pp.  He also wrote under the pen names: Ben-Zakkai, Ben-Zishe, and Aleksandroni, among others.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen-arkhiv (Zalmen Reyzen archive) (YIVO, New York).

Khayim Leyb Fuks