PINKHES MORDEL

PINKHES MORDEL (1859-July 19, 1934)

            He was born in a village near Shat (Seta), Kovno district, Lithuania, and he later lived in Elizavetgrad, southern Russian, where he survived the pogrom of 1881.  He then joined an “Am Olam” (Eternal people) group [aimed at establishing agricultural colonies in the United States] with whom he came to America.  He lived for a time in New York and New Jersey, and from 1884 he was living in Philadelphia.  He was a cofounder of the “Ohave tsiyon” (Lovers of Zion) group in Philadelphia.  For many years he worked in the field of Hebrew education, translated Sefer yetsira (The book of creation) into English with a commentary in Hebrew and English.  He also contributed to: Dos likht (The light) in 1887, Der idisher kempfer (The Jewish fighter) in 1906, the journal Der shtern (The star) in 1907, and Di idishe velt (The Jewish world), in which he placed an essay on Hammurabi, 1914-1934—all in Philadelphia; and Hashiloaḥ (The shiloah), Haivri (The Jew), Hatoran (The duty officer), and Leshonenu (Our language)—in New York (1900-1934).  He died in Philadelphia.

Sources: D. B. Tirkel, in Pinkes fun amopteyl fun yivo (Records of the American division of YIVO), vol. 1 (New York, 1927-1928), p. 261; S. Frihman, Fuftsik yor idish lebn in filadelfye (Fifty years of Jewish life in Philadelphia) (1935); Y. Tsuzmer, Beikve hador (In the footprints of a generation) (New York, 1957), see index; obituary notices in the Yiddish press.

Khayim Leyb Fuks