YITSKHOK KATZ

YITSKHOK KATZ (1905-August 1942)

            He was born in Ripin (Rypin), Plotsk (Płock) district, Poland.  He studied in religious primary school, synagogue study chamber, and yeshiva.  He was a student of Rabbi Menakhem Zembo (Warsaw), and from him he received ordination into the rabbinate.  He was a frequent visitor to Hillel Tsaytlin, under whose influence he began to write.  He contributed work to the Orthodox Dos yudishe togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper) in Warsaw—aside from articles and stories, he also published a novel here on yeshiva life in Poland, entitled Nokhumke (diminutive for the given name Nokhum)—Ortodoksishe bletlekh (Orthodox sheets) in Lodz-Warsaw, Beyz-yankev-zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal) in Lodz, and Deglanu (Our banner), Darkhenu (Our path), and Degel hatora (Banner of the Torah)—in Warsaw.  He published in book form: Problem fun arbet un arbayter in likht fun toyre un talmud (Problem of labor and laborers in light of the Torah and Talmud), part 1: “Does Judaism Tolerate Slavery?”, part 2: “The Ethical Principles of a Jewish State” (Bilgoray, 1929), 106 pp.; In di letste minuten, ertseylung fun yudishen arbayter leben (In the final minutes, a story of Jewish working life) (Bilgoray, 1929), 44 pp.  He died of hunger in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Source: Information from Rabbi Avrom Zembo in New York.

Khayim Leyb Fuks