Wednesday, 1 March 2017

AVROM BEN MEYER (AVRAHAM BEN MEIR) LURYA

AVROM BEN MEYER (AVRAHAM BEN MEIR) LURYA (1838-1918)[1]
            He was born in Yenukishok (Janušiškis?), Kovno district, Lithuania.  He studied in religious primary school and in yeshivas.  After marrying he worked a retailer in Kovno.  In 1880 he moved to the United States.  He was cofounder of “Ḥevre mefitse sifrut yisrael beamerika” (Society for the promotion of Jewish literature in America) and supporter of Hebrew publications at that time.  He wrote occasional poems for Di yudishe gazeten (The Jewish gazette) and later published articles and poems in Ner hamaarvi (The western candle) (1895-1896) and Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), among other serials, in New York.  His books in Hebrew include: Ahava nisgava (Sublime love) (New York, 1892), 67 pp.; Hapaamon (The bell) (New York, 1898), 126 pp.; Shoshana ben haḥoḥim (Rose among the thorns) (New York, 1901), 39 pp. in Hebrew and 7 pp. in Yiddish; Ḥafshiyut kyuba (Freedom for Cuba) (New York, 1901), 90 pp.  In Yiddish: Der farshlosener gan-eden (Paradise blocked), “or what lies behind the curtain now, a fantasy of Jewish life” (New York, 1886), 27 pp.; Naye lieder fun nayer tsayt (New poems of a new era) (New York, 1896), 96 pp.  He also published under the name “A. Lewis.”  He died in New York.

Sources: B. Drachman, Neo-Hebraic Literature in America (New York, 1900), pp. 73-74; Ephraim Deinard, Kohelet amerika (Ecclesiastes America), vol. 2 (St. Louis, 1926), pp. 6, 55, 90, 110, 125; Y. D. Ayzenshteyn, ed., Otsar zikhronotai (Treasury of my memories) (New York, 1929), p. 194; Benzion Eisenstadt, Sefer anshe hashem beartsot habrit, sefer zikaron (Famous people in the United States, a memoir) (St, Louis, 1933), p. 31.
Khayim Leyb Fuks




[1] Y. D. Ayzenshteyn gives a death date of 1925.

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