AVROM (AVRAHAM) KAHANE

AVROM (AVRAHAM) KAHANE (May 1, 1887 or 1889-September 9, 1954)

            He was born in Torne (Tarnów), western Galicia.  He studied in religious elementary school and synagogue study hall, and later (1914-1918) he studied humanities at Prague University.  From 1920 he was a teacher at the Hebrew high school in Przemyśl, western Galicia.  From 1935 until his death, he lived in Israel.  He was active for many years in the Mizrachi party in Galicia.  He began writing in 1902 for Hashaḥar (The dawn) in Rzeszów-Tarnów; and he later published articles, poetry, and stories in: Hamitspe (The watchtower), Hamesila (The roadway), and Shevuon (Weekly) in Cracow; M. Vizenfeld’s Naye folkstaytung (New people’s newspaper) in Rzeszów; Hatsfira (The siren) and Hamizraḥi (The Mizrachi) in Warsaw; Hayarden (The garden) in Zurich; Haivri (The Jew) in Berlin-New York; Hator (The turtle-dove) and Netiva (Path) in Jerusalem; and Hatsofe beerets hagar (The spectator in a strange land) in Budapest; among others.  He was a regular contributor to Lemberg togblat (Lemberg daily newspaper) and Der morgen (The morning) in Lemberg, Moment (Moment) in Warsaw, Morgenpost (Morning mail) in Vienna, and the Hebrew-language journals Bat-kol (Heavenly voice), Pardes (Orchard), and others.  In Israel he wrote for: Haarets (The land), Davar (Word), Davar hashavua (Word of the week), Haboker (This morning), Hatsofe (The spectator), Hege (Steering wheel), Mishor (Honesty), Nerot shabat (Sabbath candles), and Sinai (Sinai), among others.  He also placed work in: Barkai (Morning star) in Johannesburg and Hadoar (The mail) in New York.  He was editor of the Zionist weekly Selbstwehr (Self-defense) in Prague (1915-1918) and co-editor of Die jüdische Volkszeitung (The Jewish people’s newspaper) in German and Moriya (Moriah) in Polish.  In addition, he assisted the revision of materials for Gershon Bader’s Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934).  He was the author of a number of books in Hebrew, such as: Masot al sofrim veanshe shem vedivre ḥasidut (Essays on writers and persons of distinction, and Words of Hassidism) (Przemyśl, 1934), 48 pp.; Harambam (The Rambam [Maimonides]) (1935), 16 pp.; Sefer habediḥot vehalatsot (Volume of jests and jokes) (Przemyśl, 1935), 56 pp.; Letoldot yehude behm (Biography of Yehuda Behm) (Budapest, 1925), 42 pp.; Sefer hatemunot (Volume of images); Shire gola ugeula (Poems of exile and redemption) (Przemyśl, 1933), 56 pp.; Sefer agadot leyeladim (Books of tales for children); Devarim beitam (Things in their place) (Tel Aviv, 1938), 48 pp.; Pitgamim (Proverbs) (Przemyśl, 1933), 48 pp.  Also, the monographs: Avraham mapu (Avraham Mapu) (1928), 21 pp.; Mikha yosef lebenzon (Micah Joseph Lebensohn) (1928), 17 pp.; Rabi yisrael baal shem tov (Besht) vehagra mivilna (Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov [Besht] and the Gaon of Vilna).  He translated from the Czech original Jaroslav Vrchlický’s play Rabınská moudrost (Rabbinical wisdom) about the Maharal of Prague, published earlier serially in Hatsofe in Warsaw, and Jonathan Swift’s Masa goliver (Gulliver’s travels) from a German translation.  He also wrote under such pen names as: Avrekh, Av-Hamon, Rabaḥ, and Ploni Hacohen.  The last years of his life he worked in the Rav Kook Institute in Jerusalem.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Gershon Bader, Medina veḥakhameha (The state and its sages) (New York, 1934); Sefer haishim (Biographical dictionary) (Tel Aviv, 1936/1937); Dov Sadan, Kearat tsimukim (A bowl of raisins) (Tel Aviv, 1950), see index; Sadan, Kearat egozim o elef bediha ubediha, asufat humor be-yisrael (A bowl of nuts or one thousand and one jokes, an anthology of humor in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1953), p. 1382; Sefer tarne (Volume for Tarnów) (Tel Aviv, 1953/1954), see index; Hadoar (New York) (June 17, 1955); N. M. Gelber, Toldot hatenua hatsiyonit begalitsiya (History of the Zionist movement in Galicia) (Jerusalem, 1958), see index; Bet eked sefarim; obituary notices in Davar, Hatsofe, and Haarets (September 10, 1954).

Khayim Leyb Fuks