MEYER-ZIML TKATSH

MEYER-ZIML TKATSH (December 1894-1986)

            He was born in the village of Priborsk, Kiev district, Ukraine, to a father who worked as an itinerant teacher.  He studied in religious elementary school, later on his own becoming a village teacher and at the same time turning his attention to self-study.  In 1913 he moved to the United States and worked there as a painter.  He began publishing Russian-language poetry in Russkoe slovo (The Russian word) and Novyi mir (New world) in New York in 1914, later switching to Yiddish.  He published poems and fables in: Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Der kundes (The prankster), Di naye velt (The new world), Nay yidish (New Yiddish), Oyfkum (Arise), Signal (Signal), Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), Tsukunft (Future), Studyo (Studio), Frayhayt (Freedom), Tog (Day), Forverts (Forward), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Unzer veg (Our way), Getseltn (Tents), Vayter (Further), Zayn (To be), Kinder-zhurnal (Children’s magazine), and Kinder-tsaytung (Children’s newspaper)—in New York; Indritses yontef bleter (Indritse’s holiday sheets), and Shikago (Chicago) in Chicago; Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia; Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw; Goldene keyt (Golden chain) and Dos vort (The word) in Tel Aviv; Kiem (Existence) and Far unzere kinder (For our children) in Paris; Der veg (The way) in Mexico City; and Argentiner beymelekh (Little Argentinian trees) in Buenos Aires; among others.  His books include: Af gots barot, lider un fablen (In God’s care, poems and fables) (New York, 1927), 160 pp.; Dos taykhl katshet zikh afn baykhl, lider un fablen far kleyn un groys (The stream flows on its belly, poems and fables for young and old) (Chicago, 1933), 64 pp.; Zun iber alts, lider (Sun over everything, poems) (Chicago, 1936), 112 pp.; In shotn fun dir, lider 1939 (In your shadow, poems 1939) (Chicago, 1939), 64 pp.; Noyekhs kastn, mesholim un mayselekh (Noah’s crate, proverbs and tales) (Chicago, 1942), 112 pp.; Blut shrayt fun der erd, lider (Blood cries from the earth, poems) (New York, 1946), 64 pp.; Fun dor tsu dor, mayses, agadetes un lider (From generation to generation, stories, homiletical tales, and poetry) (New York, 1947), 96 pp.; Dorsht tsum kval, lider (Toward the source, poems) (New York, 1952), 160 pp.; Bleterfal, lider (Falling leaves, poems) (New York, 1960), 96 pp.; Mayn hob un gob, gezamlte ferzn (My possession and gift, collected verse) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1962-1963), 2 vols. (vol. 2 with a bibliography by Y. Yeshurin); Elterfrukht fun yugnttsvit (Late fruit from early blossoms) (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1971), 71 pp.; Mayn antologye fun der rusisher poezye (My anthology of Russian poetry) (Tel Aviv, 1973), 128 pp.; Eygns un fremds (One’s own and another’s) (New York, 1977), 63 pp.  Tkatsh’s poetry was included in the following anthologies: Midvest-mayrev (Midwest-West) (Chicago, 1933); I. Kissin’s Lider fun der milkhome, antologye (Poems from the war, anthology) (New York, 1943); L. Faynberg’s Evreiskaya poeziya, antologiya (Yiddish poetry, anthology) (New York, 1947); Naye yidishe dikhtung (New Yiddish poetry) (Iași, Romania 1947); Al naharot yerushalaim (By the rivers of Jerusalem) (1955/1956).  In April 1961 he left on a trip to the state of Israel.  “Tkatsh is very careful about language,” wrote Yankev Glatshteyn.  “We see in him an inclination to create softness from what is hard, something difficult to say….  He loves to put the moral or interpretation of a poem in the final lines.  In this regard he closely resembles Avrom Reyzen.  The simplicity of his poems often creates the impression of new Reyzen-like motifs, newer in language and more alive in the end, but Reyzen-like in tone.”

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Y. Glants, in Meksikaner shtime (Mexico City) (July 26, 1933); B. Tutshinski, in Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz) (December 24, 1934; March 26, 1936); Dr. L. Zhitnitski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (December 13, 1939); Yankev Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence) (New York, 1947), pp. 266-72; Glatshteyn, in Yidisher kemfer (New York) (June 10, 1960); Meylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (July 14, 1947); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York) (1949); Y. Bronshteyn, Unter eyn dakh (Under one roof) (Los Angeles, 1956); P. Shteynvaks, in Der amerikaner (New York) (July 15, 1960); Yosl Kohn, Bayn rand fun obhoyb (On the edge of beginning) (New York, 1960); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (New York) (May 29, 1960); M. Tshemni, in Blitsn (Ramat-Gan) 4 (July 1960); Professor Sol Liptsin, in Jewish Bookland (New York) (December 1960); M. Daytsh, in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1961); Y. Kh. Biletski, in Yisroel-shtime (Tel Aviv) (July 27, 1961)

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 286-87.]

AVROM TKATSH (ABRAHAM TKACH)

AVROM TKATSH (ABRAHAM TKACH) (May 23, 1895-October 1961)

            He was born in Yedinets (Edineţ), Khotin (Hotin) district, Bessarabia.  His father, a Russian teacher was a friend of Yude Shteynberg.  Tkatsh studied in religious elementary school and with a private tutor for secular subjects.  He moved with his parents in late 1909 to Argentina, lived for a time in a Jewish colony, and later moved to Buenos Aires where he graduated from middle school and went on to study medicine for three years in university.  For many years he worked as a Yiddish and Hebrew teacher.  He cofounded the Jewish teachers’ seminary where he ran a course of study in Yiddish and Yiddish literature.  For a time he was in charge of the Board of Education within the Jewish community and a member of the Jewish community council.  He began his writing activities with children’s stories and humorous sketches in Penemer un penemlekh (Appearances, big and small) in Buenos Aires (1923), of which he was editor at one time.  He later contributed to: Far groys un kleyn (For big and small [adults and children]), Unzer dertsiung (Our education), Argentiner lebn (Argentinian life), Argentiner magazin (Argentinian magazine), and Di naye tsayt (The new times), among others—all in Buenos Aires.  With Sh. Tsesler, he published the textbooks: Undzer hemshekh, khrestomatye far hekhere gradn onfang-shul un ershte klasn mitlshul (Our continuation, a reader for upper levels of elementary school and the first classes of middle school) (Buenos Aires, 1948), 370 pp., several editions appeared, the final one in 1958; Undzer hemshekh, farn tsveytn lernyor (Our continuation, for the second school year), with drawings by V. Vind (Buenos Aires, 1949), 113 pp.; Undzer hemshekh, farn dritn lernyor (Our continuation, for the third school year) (Buenos Aires, 1949), 167 pp.; Ilustrirter alef beys un arbetsbukh, undzer hemshekh far kinder-gortn un onheyber (Illustrated ABCs and workbook, our continuation for kindergarten and beginners) (Buenos Aires, 1955), 107 pp.; with B. Kobrinski and Tsvi Bronshteyn, Dos yidishe folk, yidishe geshikhte far di anfangs-shuln (The Jewish people, Jewish history for elementary schools), part 1 (Buenos Aires, 1955), 108 pp., second edition (1959); Kinderland, leyen bukh farn 1tn un 2tn lern-yor (Children’s world, textbook for first and second school year) (Buenos Aires, 1952), 103 pp.; Erets-yisroel geografye (Geography of the land of Israel) (Buenos Aires, 1958), 143 pp.  He compiled fourteen booklets for various occasions: Purim (Purim), Peysekh (Passover), Oyfshtand in di getos (Insurrection in the ghettos), Yom hatsmoes (Independence day), Leg-boymer (Lag baomer), Shvues (Shavuot), Di dray vokhn (The three weeks [between Tamuz 17 and Av 9]), Avrom Reyzen (Avrom Reyzen [three booklets]), and Sholem aleykhem (Sholem-Aleykhem), among others—each sixteen pages.  He wrote and illustrated himself a wall chart for home and school: Shtamboym fun folk yisroel (Pedigree of the Jewish people).  He was the editor of a pedagogical journal from the seminary Unzer dertsiung (beginning in 1955).  He died suddenly in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentine (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 117; Rozhanski, in Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (May 20, 1955); Yorbukh tshi”d (Yearbook, 1953/1954) (Buenos Aires), pp. 153-54; V. Tshernovetski, in Argentiner magazin (Buenos Aires) (April 1955); obituary notice in Idishe tsaytung (October 5, 1961).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

MENDL TERKELTOYB

MENDL TERKELTOYB (June 1, 1906-1942)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  He studied in a Mizrachi school, later graduating from the Schweitzer Realschule in Lodz.  He studied the humanities at Warsaw University (1926-1927), from which he was expelled for political activities.  In 1929 he studied engineering in Brussels.  He was active in the Bund’s youth organization Tsukunft (Future) and later in the Bund itself.  In 1934 he left for Paris where he became a typesetter and worked in a Yiddish-language print shop; he was a member of the committee of the Bund and of the Workmen’s Circle there.  When Hitler invaded France in 1939, he volunteered to join the French army.  In May 1941 he was interned by the Germans in a camp in France, and in June 1942 he was deported to Auschwitz.  Over the years 1929-1939, he corresponded from Berlin and from France for Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Warsaw, in which he also published articles on a host of topics.  He also wrote pieces for: Vokhnshrift (Weekly writing), Foroys (Onward), and Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm) in Warsaw; Parizer veker (Parisian alarm) and Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; and in the French, Spanish, and Italian socialist press.  He also wrote under such pen names as: Mendl T. and A Funk.

Sources: M. Borvin-Frenkel, in Unzer shtime (Paris) (November 20, 1955); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Doyres bundistin (Generations of Bundists), vol. 2 (New York, 1956); Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 267.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

Y. L. TERKELTOYB

Y. L. TERKELTOYB

            He was drafted into the Polish military in 1939.  He survived the war disguised as an ethnic German.  He authored: In kamf farn lebn, mayne iberlebungen als yid af arishe papirn, 1939-1943 (Fighting for life, my experiences as a Jew with Aryan papers, 1939-1943) (Munich, 1949), 89 pp.

BETSALEL TERKEL

BETSALEL TERKEL (February 24, 1909-July 21, 1961)

            He was born in Sokolke (Sokółka), Grodno district, Russian Poland.  In his youth he moved with his parents to Vilna.  He studied in religious primary school, public school, yeshiva, and later in a senior high school for journalists in Warsaw.  He was active in “Yung vilne” (Young Vilna), the Jewish literary association, and the Jewish division of the Vilna journalists’ syndicate, among other such groups.  At the time of the German invasion of Poland during WWII, he escaped to Russia and for many years he was exiled to Soviet camps.  In 1946 he returned to Poland and from there left for Paris where he was a cofounder of the refugee writers’ association and active in the party of the right Labor Zionists.  From 1952 he was living in Argentina.  He was active in Mapai (Workers’ Party in the Land of Israel), YIVO, and the H. D. Nomberg Writers’ Association.  He debuted in print with poetry in Di tsayt (The times) in 1929, later contributing to: Y. M. Vaysenberg’s Inzer hofening (Our hope) in Warsaw; Ovnt-kuryer (Evening courier), Di tsayt, and Ekspres (Express) in Vilna; Arbeter-vort (Workers’ word) and Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris; Di naye tsayt (The new time), Der shpigl (The mirror), Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Iluustrated literary leaves), and Dos vort fun beys-am (The word from Beys-Am)—in Buenos Aires.  He published stories, feature pieces, and articles.  He edited Frimorgn (Morning) in Vilna (1933-1934); co-edited Grodner opklangen (Grodno echoes) in Grodno (1952-1954) and Byalistoker vegn (Bialystok ways) in Buenos Aires; and served on the editorial board of the afternoon newspaper Di yidishe tat (The Jewish deed) in Warsaw (1937-1939).  He also published under such pseudonyms as: B. Tur, B. Turko, Tsaler, Duner, and “Ata bin ikh.”  In book form he published: Tsvishn shakaln, sheve medorey “gan-eydn” (Among jackals, seven departments of the “Garden of Eden”) (Buenos Aires, 1959), 361 pp., descriptions of the lives of Jewish refugees in the Soviet Union, Poland, and France; Di zun fargeyt bay amu-darya, funen pleytim-lebn in ratnfarband (The sun sets on the Amu Darya, from the lives of refugees in the Soviet Union) (Buenos Aires: Association of Polish Jews, 1963), 379 pp.  He died after a lengthy lung illness in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Sh. Katsherginski, in Khurbn vilne (The Holocaust in Vilna) (New York, 1947), p. 178; Y. Botoshanski, in Yorbukh fun der yidisher kehile (Yearbook of the Jewish community) (Buenos Aires, 1954), p. 151; Leyzer Ran, 25 yor yung vilne (Twenty-five years of Young Vilna) (New York, 1955); H. Abramovitsh, Farshvundene geshtaltn (Disappeared figures) (Buenos Aires, 1958), pp. 44, 192; Yankev Glatshteyn, in Yidisher kemfer (New York) (September 27, 1959); F. Lerner, in Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Buenos Aires) 1-3 (1959); M. Bezovik, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (March 1959); B. Pik, in Unzer gedank (Buenos Aires) 132 (1960); D. Lederman, Fun yener zayt forhang (From the other side of the curtain) (Buenos Aires, 1960); obituary notices in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (July 23, 1961) and Der nayer moment (São Paolo) (July 28, 1961).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 286.]

LEYVI-YITSKHOK TERESHKOVETSKE

LEYVI-YITSKHOK TERESHKOVETSKE

            He was the author of a collection of poetry, Der ben-yokhed (The only son), which is now extremely rare.  A single copy may be found in the Harvard College Library in Cambridge, Massachusetts—a gift from Leo Weiner in 1898.  The fuller title of this short book runs: “The Only Child, written by Leyvi-Yitskhok, son of Rabbi Menashe, Tereshkovetske from Alt-Konstantin” (Zhitomir, 1893), 73 pp.  From these poems (twenty-one of them in all), it can be seen that the author also lived in Kursk and Kharkov.  From the apology on the cover, one can see that he also had written a work entitled Der vilner shames (The Vilna beadle), but it had not been published: “Before I published Ben-yokhed, I thought earlier of publishing Vilner shames, but as Vilner shames would require over 100 sheets of paper to print, which would cost twice as much as it would Ben-yokhed, I therefore chose first to publish Ben-yokhed and, when times turn a bit better, I will publish Vilner shames.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.

Zaynvl Diamant

MOYSHE TERMAN

MOYSHE TERMAN (1874-November 6, 1917)

            He was born in Mohilev, Byelorussia.  He studied a great deal in his youth and was slated to become a rabbi, but he left for Kiev, turned his attention to secular subject matter, attended class as an external student, and lived by giving private lessons in Hebrew and Russian.  While quite young, he became interested in the socialist movement.  Even before the founding of the Bund, there assembled in Mohilev a group of young laborers and intellectuals with the goal of popularizing socialist ideas.  Later, from 1898, he was a contributor to all the illegal and legal Bundist publications.  In 1900 he was a member of the Minsk committee of the Bund, later working for the party in Warsaw.  He returned to Minsk in 1903, lived undercover, was actually the editor of the illegal Bundist party organ Der bund (The Bund), 1904-1905, and wrote as well for the organ of the Warsaw Bundist organization, Der varshever arbayter (The Warsaw worker).  In 1905 he was again active in Warsaw as a member of the local Bundist committee and as director of propaganda.  He translated numerous socialist pamphlets into Yiddish, excelled as a popularizer, and acquired a reputation as a speaker.  He contributed to the first legal Bundist daily newspaper, Der veker (The alarm) in Vilna (1905-1906).  At the beginning of 1906, he departed for London, took part in various jobs there for the Bund at the British Museum, and prepared two manuscripts: on the history of exploitation and on anarchism.  The manuscripts, though, were seized by the police in Warsaw when he was under arrest, and they were lost by the Okhrana (the Tsarist secret police).  He returned to Warsaw in 1907, stood at the head of the local Bundist organization, and gave speeches at the “University for Everyone.”  He was arrested and spent several months at the fortress of Brest-Litovsk, and then deported to the city of his birth under police custody, In 1908 he was the representative for Mohilev district to the Bund’s conference in Grodno.  That same year, due to persecution by the police and his own dire material conditions, he moved to London and from there to New York.  In the new center of the Jewish socialist movement, he dedicated himself to cultural activities and became popular for his speeches on scholarly and socialist topics.  Over the years 1912-1914, he contributed to the Yiddish-language organ of the Socialist Labor Party, Der arbayter (The worker), edited by Dovid Pinski and Yoysef Shlosberg, and he later became a member of the editorial board of Tsukunft (Future) in New York and over the course of fourteen months assistant editor (under editor A. Liessin) of the journal.  He also wrote for the professional organs of Jewish laborers.  He was one of founders of the Jewish Socialist federation and a close contributor to its organs: the biweekly Idisher sotsyalist (Jewish socialist) and later the weekly Di naye velt (The new world).  He was a member of the executive of the Workmen’s Circle and chairman of its education committee (1912-1914).  He edited the collection Di velt un di mentshhayt (The world and mankind), twelve lectures on the development of nature and culture (New York: Education committee of Workmen’s Circle, 1913), 413 pp.  For four years he was co-editor of the English-yidish entsiklopedishe verter-bukh (English Yiddish encyclopedia dictionary) (New York, 1915) under the main editorship of Paul Abelson.  He wrote for: Tsukunft, Avrom Reyzen’s Dos naye land (The new land), and other publications.  After the Russian Revolution (1917), he made his way back to Russia and settled in Petrograd.  For a certain period of time, he was editorial secretary for the Russian-language Golos bunda (Voice of the Bund), but due to asthma and heart disease he was unable to endure the Petrograd climate, and he returned to the city of his birth, Mohilev, where he was selected to be secretary for the city council, but he died soon thereafter.  From all of his many works, his published books amounted only to: Religyon un ir entviklung (Religion and its development) (New York, 1900), 47 pp.; Religyon un klassen-gegenzattsen (Religion and class conflict), which first appeared in an illegal publication, later republished as (Warsaw: Di velt, 1906), 78 pp. (there is also a Russian translation of this work); Kultur un der arbayter-klas (Culture and the working class), with a biographical preface by Shakhne Epshteyn (Ekaterinoslav: Di velt, 1918), 44 pp., second edition (Warsaw: Lebens-fragen, 1918), 48 pp.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Y. Sh. Herts, Di yidishe sotsyalistishe bavegung in amerike (The Jewish socialist movement in America) (New York, 1954), see index; Herts, Doyres bundistn (Generations of Bundists), vol. 1 (New York, 1956), with a bibliography; F. Kurski, Gezamlte shriftn (Collected writings) (New York, 1952), see index; A. Liessin, in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1918); H. Rogof, in Tsukunft (May-June 1942); Lebens-fragen (Warsaw) 10 (1918)

Zaynvl Diamant.

ALEKSANDER TERDIMAN

ALEKSANDER TERDIMAN (b. 1894)

            He was born in Stanisesti, Romania.  He was a poet and journalist.  He contributed pieces to various Yiddish newspapers and magazines.  He also translated into Romanian the works of numerous Yiddish poets, such as: Avrom Reyzen, Dovid Eynhorn, Shimen Frug, Morris Rozenfeld, Yehoash, and Y. Groper.

Y. Kara

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 286.

YANKEV TER

YANKEV TER (October 30, 1861-October 30, 1935)

            He was born in Nayshtat, near the Polish-German border.  Until age thirteen he attended religious elementary school, later the yeshivas of Slonim and Grodno.  He was slated to become a rabbi, but he was lured away by the Jewish Enlightenment and initially became a businessman, and later (in 1880) he launched a Hebrew-Russian school in Rostov-on-Don.  In 1891 he moved to the United States, settled in New York, and opened a Hebrew school there, but he had no further success and became a supervisor for kashrut in the Montefiore Talmud-Torah.  In 1892 he, Morris Rozenfeld, and Yoyel Aronson published the weekly newspaper Di zun (The sun)—seven issues appeared.  In 1898 he brought out the monthly Natur un lebn (Nature and life) in New York—eight issues appeared.  He wrote plays and historical operettas for the professional Yiddish theater as well as for amateur troupes.  These would include: “Amnen vetamar, oder der gliklekher pastekh” (Amnon and Tamar, or the happy shepherd) of 1892; “Di zilberne hokhtsayt” (The silver wedding) of 1893; “Bustenay, oder der letster prints fun malkhes beys-dovid” (Bustenai, or the last prince of the kingdom of the Davidic dynasty) of 1895; “Milkhomes hayehudim, oder di geroybte printsesin” (The wars of the Jews, or the kidnapped princess) of 1896; “Keser malkhes, oder di kroynung fun yanay hameylekh” (The crown of the realm, or the coronation of King Yannai) of 1899; and Di naye aristokraten oder di fertseyfelyte elterin (The new aristocrats or the desperate parents), “freely translated from Hebrew” (New York: Meyer Khinski); among others.  He was also the author of one-act plays and scenarios which were staged in Yiddish vaudeville theaters in New York.  His books would include: Natur un leben, romanen, ertsehlungen, dramme, skitsen, anekdoten, poezye und vitsen (Nature and life: novels, stories, drama, sketches, anecdotes, poetry, and jokes), “collected and original,” also including the drama “Der amerikaner arbayter, oder der kamf fir dos leben” (The American worker, or the fight for life) (New York, 1898), 40 pp.; Der biterer ṭoes, a humoristishe ertsehlung fun nyu yorker idishen leben (The bitter error, a humorous story of New York Jewish life) (New York, 1897), 34 pp.; Der ferfaser in kind-bet (The author in the child’s bed), a one-act comedy “from the diary of a woman” (Brooklyn, 190?), 12 pp., initially published in Minikes’s Di idishe bine (The Yiddish stage) in New York (1897) and later issued by the published “Teater-biblyotek” (Theater library) in Warsaw; Der protsentnik, oder di velt kert zikh iber, a humoristishe ertsehlung (The userer, or the world is tipping over, a humorous story) (New York, 1901), 20 pp.; Di idishe neshome, oder beril kokhlefl, a muzikalishe drame in fir aktn (The Jewish soul, or Beril the troublemaker, a musical drama in four acts), “adapted by B. Tomashefsky” (Warsaw, 1910), 56 pp.; Der geheymer mord, oder dem rebns moyfes (The secret murder, or the rebbe’s miracle), a novel (New York, 1914), 75 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1 (with a bibliography); Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934), with a bibliography.

Zaynvl Diamant

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 286.]

KALMEN (KOLYA) TEPER

KALMEN (KOLYA) TEPER (b. 1879)

            He was born (or raised) in Odessa.  He received an ethnic Jewish education, later graduating from a Russian high school. In his youth he became involved in the national youth movement in Odessa, standing close to the circle around Aḥad Haam, and he was among the first to lay the groundwork for a radical Zionism.  He was a delegate to the second Zionist Congress.  From his youth he excelled with his extraordinary talent for speech-making.  Between 1901 and 1903, more or less, he lived in Switzerland, was initially a Zionist propagandist there, then became an agitator for the Bund, and in early 1903 he left to return to Russia to work in the illegal movement.  At Passover time in 1903, he was brought to Pinsk.  That very month (April 1903), people write of two remarkable events in Pinsk, both associated with Teper’s name: the historical discussion concerning Zionism and Bundism between Kolya Teper and Chaim Weizmann; and the repercussions from the police.  After an illegal meeting of revolutionary workers in the woods, behind the city, at which he gave one of his incendiary speeches, the police and the gendarmerie arrested him (together with his wife, also a revolutionary) and placed them in the police station.  The next morning (April 18, as it happened), the Jewish laborers in Pinsk stormed the police station, broke down the doors, and freed Teper and his wife.  At that point he departed for Minsk, and there, just as in other Jewish cities of Byelorussia and Lithuania, he raged at illegal gatherings of workers with his revolutionary speeches.  In that year of 1903, there took place in various cities the illegal discussions between Teper, representing the Bund, and Borekh Stolpner (also a historic figure of the revolution) as representative of the Jewish “Iskrovtses” (followers of Iskra [Spark], the Communist journal).  For his part, Teper did not remain among the ranks of the Bundists for very long—his socialist ideas were not far removed from those of the Bund; and his own, innovative, semi-nihilistic nature was unable to adapt to the framework of party discipline.  He left Russia in 1907, escaped to Berlin, and from there went to the United States where he further withdrew himself from socialism and moved over to anarchism and individualism.  Using the pseudonym “Hertsog D’Abruzzi,” he wrote for Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Literatur un lebn (Literature and life), and other periodicals in New York, took to publishing essays and feature pieces which with their acuity and lightning-like quality had an immense impact on an entire array of young poets and playwrights, among them: Moyshe Varshe, Zishe Landoy, Moyshe Nadir, and H. Leivick, among others.  He also at this time translated a number of works—from German, Russian, Hebrew, and English—which are considered among the best translations into our literature.  Among other such works, he published in Chaim Zhitlovsky’s Dos naye lebn (The new life) Dmitry Nikolaevich Ovsyaniko-Kulikovsky’s monograph on Lev Tolstoy; together with Moyshe Varshe, he translated a series of dramas by Anton Chekhov (Gezamelte dramen [Selected plays (New York, 1911)], 224 pp. ); by himself, he translated Georg Brandes’s monographs on Ibsen (Henrik ibsen [New York, 1918], 168 pp.) and Nietzsche (Fridrikh nittsshe [New York, 1918], 141 pp.) ; he contributed to Borekh Vladek’s anthology Fun der tifenish fun harts, a bukh fun laydn un kamf (From the depths of the heart, a book of suffering and struggle) (New York, 1917); He also participated in the work on the great English-yidish entsiklopedishn verter-bukh (English Yiddish encyclopedia dictionary) (New York, 1915) (published by Y. Sapirshteyn); he also wrote for Russian-language periodicals, such as Novyi mir (New world), among others.  After the March 1917 Revolution in Russia, he returned to Russia and lived for a time in Saratov where he pursued Germanic studies in university and supported himself giving lessons.  In 1920 he tore himself away from Russia, lived in Vilna and Warsaw, published essays in: Vilner tog (Vilna day) in the section of “Notices,” and Ringen (Links) in Warsaw; and he did translations for the publisher “Kultur-lige” (Culture league), worked as a private tutor of English, and gave his speeches which had flashes of paradox and held his audience in tension for many an hour.  In late 1922 he returned once more to Soviet Russia, studied law in Leningrad, settled thereafter in Veliky Ustyug, Arkhangelsk district, where he worked as an investigator for the people’s court.  Rumors spread that in Soviet Russia he felt compelled to embrace Orthodox Christianity—as a way to spite the Bolshevik authorities.  His subsequent fate remains unknown.  His published books include: Zigzagen (Zigzags) (New York: Ekho, 191?), 118 pp., a collection of his current events and fictional essays which were among his most original in Yiddish (as D’Abruzzi); Di tsukunft-shul, an arbeter-shul (The school of the future, a workers’ school) (Warsaw, 1923), 63 pp.  And his translations: Ibsen, Der kleyner eolf (Little Eyolf [original: Lille Eyolf]) (New York, 1910), 91 pp.; Oscar Ameringer, Onkel sems leben un oyfṭu, abisel geshikhte far dervaksene kinder (Life and deeds of Uncle Sam: A little history for big children) (Chicago, 1910), 64 pp.; Chekhov, Gezamelte dramen (New York, 1911), 224 pp., with Moyshe Varshe, including Feter vanya (Uncle Vanya [original: Dyadya Vanya]) and Der vaser foygl (The water bird [original: Chayka (The Seagull)]), a second edition (Vilna, 1923); Eugene V. Debs, Yunyonizm un sotsyalizm (Unionism and socialism) (New York, 1915), 28 pp.; M. Artsybashev, Dos lebn farn folk (Life for the people) (New York, 1916), 182 pp.; Georg Brandes, Fridrikh nittsshe and Henrik ibsen (see above); Henry Ford, Mayn lebn un mayne oyftuen (My life and my works) (Warsaw, 1931), 320 pp.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1 (with a bibliography); Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934); M. Y. Khaimovitsh, Der onhoyb (The beginning) (New York, 1918); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Folksblat Lodz) (June 22, 1921); Y. M. Nayman, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (February 6, 1925); Tsvi Hirshkan, in Tsukunft (New York) (August 1929); M. Nadir, Tint un feder (Ink and pen) (New York, 1936), see index; M. Ginzburg, in B. kahan-virgili, zamlbukh tsu zayn biografye un kharakteristik (B. Kahan-Virgili, collection for his biography and character) (Vilna, 1938), p. 63; Toyznt yor pinsk (1000 years of Pinsk) (New York, 1941), see index; D. Tsharni (Charney), A yortsendlik aza, 1914-1924, memuarn (Such a decade, 1914-1924, memoirs) (New York, 1943), pp. 270-72; “Fun b. vladeks arkhiv” (From the archives of Borekh Vladek), Tsukunft (New York) (November 1943); M. Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 1 (Montreal, 1945); A. Glants-Leyeles, in Der tog (New York) (October 4, 1952); Glants-Leyeles, in Tsukunft (January-February 1958); R. Ayzland, Fun undzer friling (From our spring) (Miami Beach and New York, 1954), pp. 49ff; M. Kats, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (August 9, 1955); H. Abramovitsh, Farshvundene geshtaltn (Disappeared figures) (Buenos Aires, 1958), pp. 254-60; Kalmen Marmor, Mayn lebns-geshikhte (My autobiography), vol. 2 (New York, 1959), pp. 516, 518, 519; Encyclopédie de la Pléiade (Paris, 1956), p. 1181.

YOYSEF TEPER

YOYSEF TEPER (d. September 23, 1941)

            He was born in Kolomaye, eastern Galicia.  He graduated from a high school in Germany.  Between the two world wars, he was a teacher of German in the Vilna high schools of S. M. Gurvevitsh and Y. Oks.  He was a leader in the society “Friends of the Yiddish Theater” and (from 1935) in the Vilna literary association.  He began writing (using the name “Sharf”) as a theater reviewer in the Vilna assimilationist daily newspaper Undzer shtime (Our voice) in January 1934.  At the same time, he was a contributor (using the name “A Nayer”) to the leftist Saturday newspapers Kurts (Short) and Nays (News) in February 1934, as well as to Vilner tog (Vilna day) in March 1934, where (using the names Yoysef Fray and Okey, among others) he published, among other items, a series of articles about homeless children (November-December 1934).  He also published articles in Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw.  In Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) (Vilna) 12 (1937), pp. 338-50, he published a piece concerning Dr. Roback’s English-language volume, I. L. Peretz, Psychologist of Literature (Cambridge, Mass., 1935).  He co-edited the anthologies: Simkhe natan (Nathan’s joy) (Vilna, April 1933, 16 pp.; and Zamelheft tsum 20 yorikn stsenishn yoyvl fun ide kaminski (Anthology on the twentieth stage anniversary of Ida Kaminski) (Vilna, 1936), 34 pp.  He translated into Yiddish Karol Hubert Rostworowski’s four-scene drama, Mer vi a toes (More than an error), and from Yiddish into German Dr. Max Weinreich’s Der veg tsu undzer yugnṭ, yesoydes, metodn, problemen fun yidisher yugnṭ-forshung (The way to our youth: foundations, methods, and problems of research on Jewish youth).  When the Red Army (1939) entered Vilna, Teper was appointed director of a Jewish high school.  Under the Nazis he worked with a Jewish brigade near Shumsk, not far from Vilna, and on the second day of Rosh Hashanah (1941), they were all taken out and shot.  Teper’s wife and child were later murdered by the Nazis at Lide (Lida).

Sources: N. S(verdlin), in Di tsayt (Vilna) (June 4, 1935); Sh. Kohen, in Vilner tog (Vilna) (June 6, 1935); Sh. Katsherginski, in Khurbn vilne (The Holocaust in Vilna) (New York, 1947), pp. 69, 197; Lerer-yizker-bukh (Remembrance volume for teachers) (New York, 1954), p. 180; D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), A litvak in poyln (A Lithuanian in Poland) (New York, 1955), p. 14.

Leyzer Ran

BENYOMEN TEPER

BENYOMEN TEPER (1887-August 18, 1955)

            He was born in Jerusalem.  He studied in religious primary school and yeshivas, and he received ordination into the rabbinate.  In 1920 he moved to the United States, worked for a time as a teacher in the yeshiva of Rabbi Chaim Berlin in Brooklyn, and later (until 1953) was a teacher in various yeshivas in New York.  He was cofounder of Agudas Bnei Eretz Yisrael (Organization of the children of Israel) in America.  He published articles, stories, humorous sketches, and translations from homiletic texts and from ancient Jewish humor in: Forverts (Forward), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), and Amerikaner (American) in New York, in which he also published a novel about Jewish life in Galicia, entitled Tsvey brider (Two brothers).  He died in New York.  His son, Dr. Morris Tepper, organized the work of sending into space the weather satellite “Tiros 2” in November 1960.

Sources: Obituary notices in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (August 19, 1955); and in Hadoar (New York) (September 30, 1955); S. Nayten, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (November 25, 1960).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

SHLOYME TENTSER

SHLOYME TENTSER (b. October 21, 1900)

            He was born in Nay-Sandz (Nowy Sącz), Galicia.  He studied in religious primary school and yeshiva.  During WWII he was exiled to Soviet Russia.  In 1946 he returned to Poland and in 1947 came to the United States.  He was last living in New York.  In book form: Mayn lebens beshraybung, 1900-1947 (My life’s description, 1900-1957), vol. 1 (New York, 1972), 285 pp.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 286.

LEYB TENTSER (TENCER)

LEYB TENTSER (TENCER)

            He was a teacher in Jewish schools in Montreal.  He authored: Mayselekh far kinder (Stories for children) (Montreal: Yidishe shul, 1970), 36 pp.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 285.

BERISH TENTSER

BERISH TENTSER

            He came from Sosnovits (Sosnowiec), Poland.  He was a well-known Zionist leader in Zagłębie.  He was a regular contributor to Zaglembyer lebn (Zagłębie life) (Będzin, 1919-1939).  There has been no further information about him since WWII.

Source: L. Shpigelman, in Pinkes bendin (Records of Będzin) (Tel Aviv, 1959), pp. 21, 65.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

ELYE TENENHOLTS (ALEX TENENHOLTZ)

ELYE TENENHOLTS (ALEX TENENHOLTZ) (February 17, 1890-July 24, 1971)

            He was born in Ozeran (Ozernay), Volhynia district, Ukraine.  In 1904 he moved to join his father in New York.  He was a member of the Progressive Dramatic Club and appeared on stage to give recitations from Yiddish poets and to read aloud Sholem-Aleykhem’s monologues (his readings from Sholem-Aleykhem’s works and others later appeared on record albums).  He later became a professional actor, playing in Maurice Schwartz’s Art Theater and elsewhere.  In the 1920s he performed in several Hollywood films for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Company.  He debuted in print in 1911 (using the name: Urlik Brender) in Kundes (Prankster) with human-interest theater criticism.  He later moved over to Kibetser (Joker) in which (using the name: Moyshe Mekarti) he published humorous biographies of Yiddish theatrical personalities.  Under the pseudonym Shpigelberg, he wrote several novels for Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal).  In 1916 he became a contributor to Di varhayt (The truth), and there (November 6, 1918) he published: “Dos fraye rusland, a blutiker shpas in eyn akt, fray nokh vilyam proser, fun a. tenenholts” (Free Russia, a bloody gag in one act, freely after William Prosser, by E. Tenenholts).  Sequentially over the years 1915-1916, he published in the newspaper the memoirs of Bessie Tomashefsky, which later appeared in a separate edition under the title Mayn lebns-geshikhte (My life story)—“the suffering and happiness of a Yiddish star actress, by Bessie Tomashefsky, described by her alone and published by E. Tenenboym” (New York, 1916), 304 pp.  In 1923 he edited Idishe teater (Yiddish theater), an anthology dedicated to the fiftieth year of the Yiddish stage.  He spent his last years on a farm not far from Los Angeles where he died.  He also contributed to the periodical Kheshbn (The score) in Los Angeles.  On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Tenenholts’s artistic activities, there was published under the editorship of Y. Fridland: Elye tenenholts yoyvl-bukh (Jubilee volume for Elye Tenenholts) (Los Angeles, 1955), in which was republished, among other items, a number of his sketches and feature pieces.  In 1961 he published in Forverts (New York) a series of descriptions of Yiddish actors.

Sources: Z. Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934); Y. Mestel, in Yidishe kultur (New York) (October 1955); Y. Glants, in Der veg (Mexico City) (March 14, 1959); Tsili adler dertseylt (Celia Adler explains) (New York, 1959), see index; S., in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 4, 1960); Kh. Ehrenraykh, in Forverts (New York) (July 15, 1960).

Borekh Tshubinski

SHMUEL TENENBLAT

SHMUEL TENENBLAT (1935-November 1, 1982)

            He was born in Galicia.  During WWII, he escaped to Soviet Russia.  He returned to Poland afterward.  He graduated from middle school and studied philosophy at Warsaw University.  He served as editor of Folks-shtime (Voice of the people) in Warsaw.  He died in Warsaw.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 285.

MORTKHE-ANSHL TENENBLAT

MORTKHE-ANSHL TENENBLAT (b. February 25, 1888)

            He was born in Ozeran (Ozerany), Galician Podolia.  He studied in religious elementary school and yeshiva.  He was later an external student in Czernowitz and Vienna.  For many years he worked as a teacher at Hebrew schools in Galicia.  From 1907 he was writing articles in Hamitspe (The watchtower) in Cracow, Hazman (The times) in Vilna, and Dr. Sh. Ayzenshtadt’s Shaḥarit (Morning) in Warsaw.  Over the years 1916-1918, he edited Lemberger togblat (Lemberg daily newspaper), in which he wrote largely under the pen name: Mt’t.  For his articles in the newspaper against the Lemberg pogrom, he was interned in November 1918 by Polish military staff in Baranov (Baranów), near the Vistula.  He visited Ukraine in 1919 and wrote about Petliura’s pogroms.  In the 1930s he lived in Vienna, where he represented the “Jewish correspondence bureau” and worked for the Yiddish and German Jewish press.  From 1935 he was living in Israel where he was a contributor to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.  He also wrote for: Haynt (Today) in Warsaw; Forverts (Forward) and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York; and other serials.  He edited the volume: Sefer oziran vehaseviva (Volume on Ozeran and environs) (Jerusalem, 1959), 498 pp.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of the yishuv), vol. 1 (Tel Aviv, 1947), pp. 44-45; Gershon Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934), see index; Dr. Y. Tenenboym, Galitsye mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old home) (Buenos Aires, 1952), see index; N. M. Gelber, Toldot hatenua hatsiyonit begalitsiya (History of the Zionist movement in Galicia) (Jerusalem, 1958), see index; M. Ungerfeld, in Hatsofe (Tel Aviv) (April 29, 1960); Dr. Shloyme Bikl, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (August 7, 1960); Y. Shmulevitsh, in Forverts (New York) (August 7, 1960).

NINA TENENBOYM-BEKER (TENNENBAUM-BACKER)

NINA TENENBOYM-BEKER (TENNENBAUM-BACKER) (b. February 27, 1914)

            She was born in Warsaw.  She received a traditional education.  After graduating from middle school, she studied history and sociology at Warsaw University and received a Master’s degree.  She was in a Siberian camp during WWII.  She returned to Warsaw in 1946, and in 1948 she moved to Argentina; from 1972 she was living in Israel.  She began publishing in 1936 in Polish Jewish newspapers; she later wrote articles about literature and the Holocaust in: Di prese (The press), Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), and Davke (Necessarily) in Buenos Aires; Letste nayes (Latest news) and Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Tel Aviv; Gesher (Bridge) in Jerusalem; and elsewhere.  Among her books: Mortkhe tenenboym-tamarof, der held fun di getos (Mortkhe Tenenboym-Tamarof, the hero of the ghettos) (Tel Aviv: Nay lebn, 1978), two vols.—in Hebrew translation, Gibor hagetaot, mordekhai tenenboim-tamarof (Tel Aviv, 1980), 424 pp. (an earlier Hebrew edition appeared in Jerusalem, 1974); Yalde hashoa (Children of the Holocaust) (Tel Aviv, 1983/1984), 167 pp., an adaptation of eleven diaries and memoirs of children and youth, written during or shortly after the Holocaust, translated into Hebrew by Tsvi Yashiv.  In Argentina she published a book under the pseudonym Bas-Khayim.

Sources: D. Loin, in Gesher (Jerusalem) (August 1974); A. Baraban, in Yidishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (August 16, 1974); A. Tartakover, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (September 11, 1974); M. Goldshteyn, in Har haḥinukh (Tel Aviv) (October 17, 1974); Sh. Yadles (Sh. Kants), in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (August 15, 1975); Y. Shmulevitsh, in Forverts (New York) (September 8, 1978).

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 284-85.

SORE TENENBOYM

SORE TENENBOYM

            She came from a town near Warsaw, Poland.  In the 1920s she was a worker in Warsaw.  She published poetry (also under the name Sh. T. Boym) in: Inzer hofenung (Our hope), edited by Y. M. Vaysenberg, issues 6, 18, and 23; Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm), Fraye yugnt (Free youth), and Foroys (Onward), among others—in Warsaw.  There has been no news concerning her since WWII.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

SHMUEL TENENBOYM

SHMUEL TENENBOYM (b. 1917)

            He was born in the town of Berezhany (Berzhan), eastern Galicia.  He studied in religious primary school, in a Polish public school, and later became an office employee in a petroleum firm in Drohobych.  Over the years 1939-1941, he lived in Lemberg.  He published stories of working life in Galicia in: Dos vort (The word) and Unzer ekspres (Our express) in Warsaw; Der shtern (The star) in Kiev; Forpost (Outpost) in Birobidzhan; and elsewhere.  Together with Sanye Heyferman, he served in the Soviet army and was later confined in the Lemberg ghetto.  He was killed by the Nazis during the years of WWII.

Sources: Forpost (Birobidzhan) 4-5 (1940); Yidishe shriftn anthology (Lodz, 1946).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

SHIYE TENENBOYM (SHEA TENENBAUM)

SHIYE TENENBOYM (SHEA TENENBAUM) (April 14, 1910-November 24, 1989)

            He was born in the village of Bobrinik, Lublin district, Poland.  During WWI he moved with his parents to Koriv (Kurów), later to Pilev (Puławy).  He studied in religious elementary school and in a Jewish public school.  At age thirteen he studied to be a typesetter, before making his way to Belgium.  He lived in Antwerp and Brussels, working in publishing houses and textile factories.  From 1934 he was living in the United States.  For several years he was a patient in the Denver Sanatorium in Colorado for tuberculosis.  He debuted in print with a poem entitled “Mayn gelibte” (My beloved) in Di idishe prese (The Jewish press) in Antwerp (1926), and from that point he wrote and published poems, stories, miniatures, essays, articles, and novels in: Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper), Vokhnshrift far literatur (Weekly writing for literature), Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), Varshever shriftn (Warsaw writings), and Dos naye lebn (The new life), among other serials in Warsaw; Naye folksblat (New people’s newspaper) in Lodz; Tog (Day), Forverts (Forward), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Der amerikaner (The American), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Proletarisher gedank (Proletarian idea), Unzer tsayt (Our time), and other Yiddish publications in the United States, Canada, Argentina, Israel, and elsewhere.  In Yizker-bukh koriv (Remembrance volume for Kurów) (Tel Aviv, 1955), he wrote chapters of his autobiography which retain a general cultural-historical value.  He contributed as well to: Ksovim fun khayim krul (Writings of Khayim Krul) (New York, 1954).  With Zishe Bagish he edited the literary journal Yung belgye (Young Belgium) (Antwerp, 1932).  His books include: Euforyan (Antwerp, 1931), a poem, 16 pp.; Bay der velt tsu gast, reportazhn un dertseylungen (A guest of the world, reportage pieces and stories) (Warsaw, 1937), 192 pp.; Der sfinks (The sphinx), a novel (Chicago, 1938), 179 pp.; Kinder fun der zun, eseyen (Children of the sun, essays) (Mexico City, 1942), 372 pp.; Gold un zhaver, dertseylungen (Gold and rust, stories) (Mexico City, 1943), 394 pp.; Di shrift afn horizont, dertseylungen un eseyen (Writing on the horizon, stories and essays) (New York, 1947), 286 pp.; Shnit fun mayn feld, eseyen, dertseylungen, minyaturn (Harvest from my field, essays, stories, miniatures) (New York, 1949), 624 pp.; In gots geshtalt, minyaturn (In God’s image, miniatures), with drawings by Yude Tofel and Chaim Gross (New York, 1951), 256 pp., winner of the Tzvi Kessel Prize for 1957; A hant farshraybt, minyaturn (A hand is recording, miniatures) (New York, 1953), 224 pp.; Dikhter un doyres, eseyen (Poets and generations, essays) (New York, 1955), 256 pp.; Un di erd bashteyt af eybik, dertseylungen (And the earth remains forever, stories) (New York, 1957), 160 pp.; Ana frank, du vos host getrunken fun gots hant, un andere eseyen, dertseylungen, minyaturn (Anne Frank, you who have drunk from God’s hand, and other essays, stories, miniatures), with illustration by several painters (New York, 1958), 190 pp.; Der emes zol zayn dayn shtern (The truth should be your star), vol. 1 of autobiographical writing (New York, 1960), 334 pp.; Der sar fun lebn (The angel of life), vol. 2 of autobiographical writing (New York, 1963), 320 pp.; Ayzik ashmoday (Isaac Ashmodai), vol. 3 of autobiographical writing (New York: CYCO, 1965), 416 pp.; Iev fun Lemberg, zikhroynes un dertseylungen (Job from Lemberg, memoirs and stories) (New York: CYCO, 1967), 416 pp.; Geshtaltn baym shrayb-tish, zikhroynes vegn shrayber un moler in nyu-york, 1938-1968 (Figures by the desk, memoirs of writers and painters in New York, 1938-1968) (New York: CYCO, 1969), 416 pp.; Hunger tsum vort, minyaturn (Hunger for words, miniatures) (New York: CYCO, 1971), 416 pp.; Der letster eydes, dertseylungen (The last witness, stories) (New York: CYCO, 1972), 320 pp.; In dem keysers vaynshenk (At the emperor’s tavern) (New York: CYCO, 1973), 320 pp.; Oytsres in der fintsternish, eseyen, zikhroynes un notitsn (Treasures in the darkness, essays, memoirs, and notes) (New York: CYCO, 1974), 320 pp.; Di sude fun vort, di groyskeyt fun kleyne zakhn (The feast of the word, the greatness of little things) (New York, 1976), 384 pp.; A lok fun maydanek (A lock of hair from Majdanek), stories (New York: CYCO, 1978), 416 pp.; Er vet tsurikkumen fun oyshvits, eseyen, dertseylungen (He will return from Auschwitz, essays, stories) (New York: CYCO, 1981), 512 pp.; Fun ash un fayer iz dayn kroyn, eseyen, dertseylungen, zikhroynes (Your crown is of ash and fire, essays, stories, memoirs) (New York: CYCO, 1984), 511 pp.

Sources: N. Mayzil, in Haynt (Warsaw) (February 26, 1937); B. Shnaper, in Folkstsaytung (Warsaw) (January 18, 1937); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York) (1937, 1939, 1942, 1945, 1949); M. Grosman, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (September 30, 1937); Grosman, in Arbeter-vort (Paris) (November 1947); Grosman, in Unzer heym (Tel Aviv) (July 7, 1955); A. Grinberg, in Oyfkum (New York) (November-December 1937); N. Y. Gotlib, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (February 28, 1941; December 22, 1944); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (October 13, 1942; October 24, 1944); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (November 4, 1942; January 18, 1948); M. Rubinshteytn, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (November 21, 1942; December 5, 1942); Y. Entin, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (August 20, 1943); E. Almi, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (New York) (August 18, 1944); B. Rivkin, in Der tog (New York) (December 30, 1944); B. Y. Byalostotski, in Di shtime (March 16, 1946); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Der tog (December 4, 1946); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Folkstsaytung (April 1, 1948); Y. Varshavski, in Forverts (New York) (June 19, 1949); Y. Berliner, in Der veg (Mexico City) (January 27, 1951); A. Shulman, in Unzer shtime (Paris) (June 26, 1955; February 23, 1957; April 24, 1957); Kh. Liberman, in Forverts (September 30, 1957; February 15, 1961); Y. L. Gruzman, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (May 1960); Barvin-Frenkel, in Unzer shtime (January 28-29, 1961); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (January 29, 1961; February 5, 1961); A. Gordin, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (September 1, 1961); R. Herman, in Di shtime (September 30, 1961); Kh. Sh. Kazdan, in Unzer tsayt (October 1961).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 284.]

MIRYEM TENENBOYM

MIRYEM TENENBOYM (1896-1944)

            She was born in Stashev (Staszów), Poland, and later she lived in Bendin (Będzin), Warsaw, and Vilna.  She studied pedagogy at Warsaw University and worked as a teacher in a Yavne High School.  She published articles and translations from Polish, Hebrew, and Russian in Zaglembyer tsaytung (Zagłębie newspaper) in Będzin, Di tsayt (The times) in Vilna, and elsewhere.  She was murdered by the Nazis in Auschwitz in 1944.

Sources: Y. Peysekhzon, in Zaglembyer tsaytung (Będzin) 27 (1938); D., in Pinkes bendin (Records of Będzin) (Tel Aviv, 1959), p. 337.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

MORTKHE TENENBOYM-TAMAROV

MORTKHE TENENBOYM-TAMAROV (February 18, 1916-August 20, 1943)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He received a traditional Jewish and a secular ethnic education simultaneously.  He graduated from a Tarbut school in Warsaw.  He was active in the Zionist socialist youth organizations “Frayhayt” (Freedom) and “Heḥaluts” (The pioneer).  At the time of Hitler’s assault on Poland, he escaped from a burning Warsaw, and he lived for a time in Kovel (Kovle) and then in Vilna, where he established a seminar for the underground fight against the Nazis.  With his documents as a Karaite, he had the capacity to move through Polish communities which had fallen into German hands, and to organize underground Jewish fighting groups at various sites.  When the Germans occupied Vilna and confined the Jews in the ghetto there, he was active both in the ghetto and on the Aryan side.  In early 1942 on a mission to the headquarters of the Warsaw fighting organization, he was lured to the Warsaw underground movement and became the leader there of the younger activists and assistant editor of the weekly publication of Jewish fighting organization, Di yedies (The information) (Warsaw, 1942), for which he wrote editorials and “notices of the day” which revolutionized the readership.  He was also the editor of the illegal publication Dror (Freedom) (Warsaw, 1941-1942).  In October 1942 he moved to Bialystok where he became the commandant of the underground Jewish fighting organization.  He died in the midst of the uprising in the Bialystok ghetto in fighting against the Germans (according to another version, he took his own life when the Germans encircled his fighting group).  To honor his memory, an anthology was published, Dapim min hadeleka (Pages from the fire), with a foreword by Yitsḥak Tsukerman (Tel Aviv, 1947), 167 pp.  It includes: Tenenboym’s diary, his current events writings, and his notes in Hebrew, as well as translations from his writings in Yiddish and Polish.

Sources: Y. Tsukerman, foreword to Dapim min hadeleka (Pages from the fire) (Tel Aviv, 1947); M. Nayshtat, Khurbn un oyfshtand fun di yidn in varshe (Holocaust and uprising of the Jews in Warsaw) (Tel Aviv, 1948), pp. 467-71; B. Mark, Der oyfshtand in byalistoker geto (The uprising in the Bialystok ghetto) (Warsaw, 1950), pp. 12, 152, 208; Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), pp. 10, 11, 200, 213; Khayke Grosman, Anshe hamaḥteret (People in the underground) (Merḥavya, 1950), p. 308; Sh. Grayek, entry on Warsaw, in Entsiklopediya shel galuyot (Encyclopedia of the Diaspora) (Jerusalem, 1953), pp. 675-76; Dr. P. Fridman, in Byalistoker shtime (New York) (September 1955); Dr. Y. Kermish, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 27 (1957); Dr. M. Dvorzhetski (Mark Dvorzetsky), in Yediot yad vashem (News from Yad Vashem) (Jerusalem) (Nisan [= March-April] 1958); Sefer milḥamot hagetaot (The fighting ghettos) (Tel Aviv, 1954); L. Shpizman, Khalutsim in poyln, antologye fun der khalutsisher bavegung (Pioneers in Poland, anthology of the Pioneers movement), vol. 2 (New York, 1961).

L. TENENBOYM

L. TENENBOYM (d. August 1943)

            He was born in Bendin (Będzin), Poland.  He was an internal contributor to Zaglembyer tsaytung (Zagłębie newspaper) in Będzin (1919-1939).  He was killed by the Nazis during the liquidation of Zagłębie Jewry in August 1943.

Source: L. Shpigelman, in Pinkes bendin (Records of Będzin) (Tel Aviv, 1959), p. 67.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

YANKEV TENENBOYM

YANKEV TENENBOYM (1878-August 24, 1942)

            He was born in Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school, yeshivas, and with private tutors.  In 1905 he was an active leader of the Bund in Shedlets.  Later, in 1910, he worked as a barber-surgeon at a Jewish hospital.  He was the founder of Hazemir (The nightingale) in Shedlets in 1915, and he administered the dramatic section of the association.  He was one of the pioneers of the Yiddish press in Shedlets.  He contributed work to: Shedletser viderkol (Shedlets echo), Shedletser lebn (Shedlets life) in 1913, and the Yiddish periodical press in Shedlets until 1939; he published in these outlets feature pieces, stories, and articles.  In Dos yudishe folk (The Jewish people) in Warsaw (1916-1917), he published a long story entitled “Yoyel kashke” (Joel Kashke).  He also penned the one-act plays: Vest nisht geyn in “Hazmir” (You won’t go to the Nightingale), “a comedy in one act” (Warsaw, 1920), 16 pp.; S’a mensh (Such a good person), a view of the recent events in Ukraine (Shedlets: Yidishe bine, 1921), 16 pp.; Di ershte vizye (The first vision), “a gag in one act” (Shedlets: Yidishe bine, 1922). 24 pp.  Together with Y. Kh. Ayzenberg and Y. F. Grinberg, he edited the bimonthly magazine Vortslen (Roots) in Shedlets (1927).  In the Shedlets ghetto he once again worked as a barber-surgeon.  He was murdered with the doctors and relief personnel during the liquidation of the Jewish hospital in Shedlets.

Sources: A. Faynzilber, Af di khurves fun mayn heym (On the ruins of my home) (Tel Aviv, 1952), pp. 13, 76, 226; Y. Kaspi, in Yivo-bleter (New York) 36 (1952), pp. 361-62; Kaspi, in Sefer yizkor lekehilat shedlets (Memory volume for the community of Shedlets), ed. A. V. Yasni (Buenos Aires, 1956), pp. 157f.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

YOYSEF-LEYB TENENBOYM (JOSEPH TENENBAUM)

YOYSEF-LEYB TENENBOYM (JOSEPH TENENBAUM) (May 22, 1887-December 10, 1961)

            He was born in Sasov (Sasów), eastern Galicia.  He studied in religious elementary school, graduating later from a public school and a high school, and going on to study medicine in Vienna and Lemberg.  From age fourteen he was active in the student organization Tseire-Tsiyon (Young Zionists).  He founded an academic group Heatid (The future) in Lemberg.  He served at the war front as a doctor with the Austrian army in WWI.  He was a representative from eastern Galicia in the Jewish delegation to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919.  From 1920 he was living in the United States.  He was active in the Zionist Organization, the American Jewish Congress, the World Association of Polish Jews, the World Jewish Congress, YIVO management, and Histadrut Ivrit (Hebrew organization), among other organizations.  He published articles on general and medical topics in: Lemberger togblat (Lemberg daily newspaper); and the Polish Chwila (Moment), Morija (Moriah), and Voskhod (Sunrise); in Martin Buber’s Der Jude (The Jew); Idishe handelsblat (Jewish business newspaper) in London (1921); Forverts (Forward), Tsukunft (Future), and Der fraynd (The friend)—in New York; for many years was a regular contributor to Der tog (The day) in New York, in which he published weekly on medical matters.  He also wrote reviews of Yiddish books for Congress Weekly.  He brought out the journal Snunit (Swallow) in Lemberg (1910-1912).  His books include: In fayer, ertsehlungen fun’m shlakhtfeld fun a doktor in der alter estraykhish-ungarisher armey (Under fire, stories from the field of battle of a doctor in the former Austro-Hungarian army) (New York, 1926), 151 pp., second edition (1926), 160 pp. (it appeared earlier in installment in Tsukunft, 1921-1922); Galitsye mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old home), memoirs revealing a picture of Galicia of old, its writers, leaders, religious scholars, and the like (Buenos Aires, 1952), 319 pp.; Tsvishn milkhome un sholem, yidn af der sholem-konferents nokh der ershter velt-milkhome (Between war and peace: Jews at the Peace Conference after WWI) (Buenos Aires, 1956), which also appeared in Hebrew as Ben milḥama veshalom, hayehudim beveidat hashalom bemotsae milḥemet haolam harishona (Jerusalem, 1960), 214 pp.  In German he published in book form: Unsere Friedensfrage (von einem Zionisten) (Our question of peace, from a Zionist) (Vienna, 1917), 16 pp.; Der Lemberger Judenpogrom (November 1918-Jänner 1919) (The Jewish pogrom in Lemberg, November 1918-January 1919) (Vienna-Brünn, 1918), 167 pp., written under the pseudonym “Josef Bendow.”  In Polish: Żydowskie problemy gospodarcze w Galicyi (Jewish economic problems in Galicia) (Wiedeń: Moriah, 1918), 129 pp.  In French: La Question juive en Pologne (The Jewish question in Poland) (Paris, 1919), 61 pp.  In English: The Riddle of Sex: The Medical and Social Aspects of Sex, Love and Marriage (New York, 1929), 362 pp., two further editions in 1929 alone and more subsequently; Mad Heroes: Skeletons and Sketches of the Eastern Front (New York, 1931), 226 pp.; Races, Nations and Jews (New York, 1934), 170 pp.; when Hitler came to power, Tenenboym led an action to boycott Germany and he wrote The Third Reich in Figures: Present Economic Conditions in Germany (New York, 1937), 36 pp.; Can Hitler Be Stopped? (New York, 1938), 36 pp.; The Economic Crisis of the Third Reich (New York, 1939), 31 pp.; American Investments and Business in Germany (New York, 1940), 39 pp.; The Road to Pan Americanism (New York, 1941), 59 pp.  He dealt with postwar Jewish problems in: Peace for the Jews (New York, 1945), 182 pp.  In later years, he devoted his attention to research on the Holocaust and wrote (together with his wife Sheila Tenenboym): In Search of a Lost People: Old and New Poland (New York, 1948), 312 pp., based on a trip to Poland in 1946.  He also wrote a history of the Jewish resistance and destruction: Underground: The Story of a People (New York, 1952), 532 pp.  In addition, there is also his book: Race and Reich: The Story of an Epoch (New York, 1956), 554 pp.  This work was a study of the rise and history of the Nazis and the Jewish Holocaust in all realms; it appeared in an enlarged edition in Hebrew, entitled Malkhut hageza veharesha, haraykh hashelishi umalalav (The realm of race and evil, the Third Reich and its exploits) (Jerusalem, 1960), 609 pp.  He died in New York.  His community archive was given to YIVO.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Gershom Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934), see index; Y. Shatski, in Tsukunft (New York) (1927), pp. 183-84 (concerning In fayer); Shatski, in In Jewish Bookland (New York) (May 1954) (concerning Galitsye, mayn alte heym); A. L. Shusheys, in Di naye tsayt (Buenos Aires) 229 (1929); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Der veg (Mexico City) (May 31, 1952); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 20 (1954), pp. 246-47; Dr. P. Fridman, in Tsukunft (April 1955); Dr. Z. Blatberg, in Hadoar (New York) (January 18, 1957); P. Shteynvaks, Siluetn fun a dor (Silhouettes of a generation) (Buenos Aires, 1958), pp. 216-21; N. M. Gelber, Toldot hatenua hatsiyonit begalitsiya (History of the Zionist movement in Galicia) (Jerusalem, 1958), see index; Arn Tsaytlin, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (September 25, 1959; July 21, 1961); M. Henish, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (Tishre 30 [= October 21], 1960); Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New York), vol. 10, p. 197.

ARN TENENBOYM

ARN TENENBOYM (1815-1901)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He became a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment movement, but remained a devout Jew.  He was active in Jewish and Polish community life in Warsaw.  For a time he administered the Jewish oath in Warsaw courtrooms.  He was secretary, 1865-1866, of the Warsaw circle of the Mekitse Nirdamim Society which assisted in publishing rare scholarly texts and important historical works.  He also served as the Warsaw agent of Hamagid (The preacher).  A man with an interesting personality, he was for a time a good friend of the Polish writer Bolesław Prus who immortalized him in his poem Lalka (Doll) as “Szlangbaum.”  Tenenboym was in charge of a column entitled “Fersheydenes” (Various and sundry) in Varshoyer yudishe tsaytung (Warsaw Jewish newspaper) in 1867, and he published anecdotes, literary riddles, rebuses, conundrums, and chess problems there.  He also contributed to: Hamagid and Epelberg’s Varshoyer yudisher kalendar (Warsaw Jewish calendar) (1888-1889), among other serials.  He was as well as regular contributor to the Polish-language, daily newspaper Kuryer Warszawski (Warsaw courier) over the years 1868-1888.  In the Hebrew press, aside from puzzles and fables, he published current events articles.  For Hamagid he wrote two essays on hygiene among Jews.  He died in Warsaw.

Sources: Sh. L. Tsitron, Geshikhte fun der yidisher prese (History of the Yiddish press), vol. 1 (Vilna, 1923), p. 82; Dr. Y. Shatski, in Yivo bleter (New York) 20.1 (September-October 1942), pp. 127-28; Shatski, Geshikhte fun yidn in varshe (History of Jews in Warsaw), vol. 3 (New York, 1954), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

AVROM TENENBOYM-ARZI

AVROM TENENBOYM-ARZI (June 18, 1883-1970)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  His father, Tuvye, was one of the builders of Lodz industry.  Avrom studied in religious primary school and synagogue study hall, and secular subjects with private tutors.  For many years he was a member of the Jewish community administration of Lodz.  He was a cofounder of the “Et levanot” (Time to build) faction of Polish Zionism.  He was the Jewish representative on the municipal citizens’ court and a fighter for Jewish rights.  In 1924 he made aliya to Israel, was one of the first silk manufacturers there, and a cofounder of the local manufacturers’ association.  For many years he was a member of the Tel Aviv city council.  Beginning in 1903, he was active in the Yiddish press and journalism.  He founded Lodzer nakhrikhtn (Lodz reports) in 1907; and over the years 1908-1936, he published articles and historical essays in Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper).  He also contributed pieces to: Yidisher zhurnalist (Jewish journalist) and Literatur (Literature) in Lodz; Der fraynd (The friend) in Warsaw; Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; and Doar hayom (The mail today) and Haarets (The land) in Tel Aviv; among others.  He also contributed to the liberal Polish and German press in Lodz.  His published books would include: Di geshikhte fun lodz un fun lodzer yudn (The history of Lodz and Lodz Jewry) (Lodz, 1909), 128 pp., second edition (Petrikov, 1910); Lodzer shpigl (Mirror of Lodz) (Lodz, 1912), 96 pp.; Napoleon in lodz (Napoleon in Lodz) (Lodz, 1913), 64 pp.; Velt-krig, velt-friden un meshiekhs tsaytn, tsuzamengeshtelt un bearbayṭ in a modern-visnshaftlikher oyffasung, loyt mesoyre fun tanakh un talmud (World war, world peace, and the millennium, compiled and adapted in a modern scientific fashion, according to the tradition of the Tanakh and Talmud), with a foreword and an afterword by the author (Lodz, 1920), 95 pp.  He was also the author of the popular pamphlet Di kholyere (Cholera) (Lodz, 1912), 32 pp.; and of such humorous novels as Afn himl a yarid (A fair in heaven) (Lodz, 1913), 96 pp., and Lodzh un ire yidn (Lodz and its Jews) (Buenos Aires, 1956), 393 pp.  He also published such humorous collections as: Yontef gelekhter (Holiday laughter), Fayerlekh (Solemn), Yugend khaloymes (Youthful dreams), Der lodzer foygl (The bird of Lodz), and others which were published over the years 1908-1912 in Lodz.  He also wrote under such pen names as Avreml.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: N. Sokolov, in Hatsfira (Warsaw) (May 12, 1905); Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; A. Kirzhnits, Di yidishe prese in der gevezener rusisher imperye, 1823-1916 (The Yiddish press in the former Russian empire, 1823-1916) (Moscow, 1930), nos. 205, 521, 546; A. V. Yasni, Di geshikhte fun der yidisher arbeter-bavegung in lodzh (The history of the Jewish labor movement in Lodz) (Lodz, 1937); Yasni, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (December 21, 1956); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builder of the yishuv) (Tel Aviv, 1947-1971), vol. 2, pp. 974-75; Y. Mastboym, in Letste nayes (March 12, 1954); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), pp. 195-96; Herts, Di geshikhte fun bund in lodz (The history of the Bund in Lodz) (New York, 1958), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks