ALEKSANDER (SENDER) MATS

ALEKSANDER (SENDER) MATS (1883-November 19, 1961)

            He was born in Vilna, son of the printer and publisher Yude-Leyb Mats and grandson of R. Leyzer-Lipman Mats who cast the new Jewish letters of the alphabet; he was also the brother of Hirsh Mats.  He studied in religious elementary school and the Vilna Teachers’ Institute, before graduating in dentistry from the military medical academy in St. Petersburg.  He began his writing activities with a story in Hatsfira (The siren).  He also wrote for Hamelits (The spectator).  He compiled and published in Hebrew Ḥakhmat hanituaḥ (Surgery) (Vilna, 1900) and the Bet yehuda Pentateuch with his own notes in Yiddish.  In 1913 he moved to the United States, and there in 1914 he was the manager of Russkoie slovo (The Russian word) and editorial manager of the weekly newspaper Bostoner shtime (Voice of Boston).  He contributed work to: Byalistoker shtime (Voice of Bialystok), Byalistoker lebn (Bialystok life), Byalistoker fraynd (Bialystok friend), a jubilee publication, and Khovershaft (Friendship)—in New York; and Byalistoker vegn (Bialystok pathways) in Buenos Aires.  He published poetry and stories in: Tog (Day), Amerikaner (American), and Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper).  His poem “Vilne” (Vilna), with music by Sholem Secunda, was published by “Alm.”  He died in New York.

Sources: Byalistoker shtime (New York), jubilee issue (1940); B. Y. Byalostotski, in Byalistoker shtime (1948); D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), in Byalistoker shtime (January-February 1949); Byalistoker bilder-albom (Photographic album of Bialystok) (New York, 1953); Yanos Turkov, Farshlosene shtern (Extinguished stars) (Buenos Aires, 1953), p. 253; Y. Gar and F. Fridman, in Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and heroism) (New York, 1962), see index.

Yankev Kahan