SHIYE (YEHOSHUA) MANIK-LEDERMAN

SHIYE (YEHOSHUA) MANIK-LEDERMAN (July 10, 1909-September 1973)

            He was born in Bender (Bendery), Bessarabia.  He studied in religious elementary school, and later as an external student he prepared for the high school course of study.  In 1925 he came to the United States and studied at the University of Chicago.  In 1935 he made aliya to the land of Israel.  He debuted in print in 1930 with a poem in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York, and later published poetry, fables, and children’s stories in: Kinder-tsaytung (Children’s newspaper) in Chicago; Tsukunft (Future), Nyu-yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper), Unzer veg (Our way), Unzer tsayt (Our time), and Vayter (Further)—in New York; Kheshbn (The score) and Kalifornyer yontef bleter (California holiday sheets) in Los Angeles; Nay-velt (New world), Shtamen (Tribes), Bleter (Pages), Di brik (The bridge), Heftn (Notebooks), Tsien-yugnt (Zionist youth), Heymish (Familiar), Dos vort (The word), Yidishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), Letste nayes (Latest news), Yisroel-shtime (Voice of Israel), and in the collection Unzers (Ours) and Yisroel-shriftn (Yiddish writings)—in Tel Aviv; Idishe bilder (Jewish images) in Riga; Der shpigl (The mirror), Di prese (The press), Argentiner beymelekh (Little Argentinian trees), In unzer dor (In our generation), and Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Illustrated literary leaves)—in Buenos Aires; Heftn in Warsaw; Arbeter vort (Workers’ word) and Der frayer gedank (The free word) in Paris; Haynt (Today) and Umophengike yidishe tribune (Independent Jewish tribune) in Montevideo; Dorem-afrike (South Africa) in Johannesburg; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; and Ḥefa haovedet (Laboring Haifa), Haarets shelanu (Our land), and Yediot ramat-gan (News of Ramat-Gan), among others.  In book form: Metalene kveytn (Metal blossom), poems (Tel Aviv: Teḥiya, 1935), 36 pp.; Ikh, poeme (I, a poem) (Tel Aviv, 1941), 20 pp.; Trit in baginen (Steps at dawn) (Haifa: Ankor, 1955), 200 pp. (English translation [in part] by Joseph Leftwich); In trit fun dayn vander (In step with your wandering), poetry (New York, 1964), 158 pp.; In mayn glezernem turem, moshl un satire (In my glass tower, parable and satire) (Tel Aviv, 1968), 155 pp.  In 1944 he settled in Haifa, where he helped to establish the Franz Kursky Library, and helped organize the Yiddish Cultural Circle, the YIVO Circle, and the Yiddish Writers’ Group in Haifa.  He was a book agent and dealt primarily with the distribution of books written in Yiddish.  He prepared for publication books by a variety of authors.  He co-edited the remembrance volume Di yidn fun bilgoray un krasnobrod (The Jews of Biłgoraj and Krasnobród).  He was a correspondent and contributor to Groyser verterbukh fun der yidisher shprakh (Great dictionary of the Yiddish language) in New York.  He also contributed to Almanakh fun yidishe shrayber in yisroel (Almanac of Yiddish writers in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1962).  He also published “miniatures” in the monthly Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv.  He died in Haifa.

Sources: A. Shnayderman, in Tsvit (Warsaw-Brestetshko) (May 1938); A. V. Yasni, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (November 18, 1955); Der Lebediker, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (August 12, 1956); D. Volpe, in Dorem-afrike (Johannesburg) (May 1956); M. Yofe, in Haboker (Tel Aviv) (July 13, 1956); Yofe, in Lebns-fragn (Tel Aviv) (November-December 1956); Y. Paner, in Folk un tsien (Jerusalem) (April 1957); Paner, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (December 27, 1957); A. Blum, in Tsukunft (New York) (July-August 1957); Blum, in Heymish (Tel Aviv) (October 1957); Y. Bronshteyn, Ineynem un bazunder, eseyen (Altogether and separate, essays) (Tel Aviv, 1960), p. 138; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958); M. Yekhieli, in Haynt (Montevideo) (February 20, 1959); Y. Z. Sharger, in Yisroel-shtime (Tel Aviv) (July 2, 1959); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (October 16, 1959).

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 365.]