YISROEL V. MARKUS

YISROEL V. MARKUS (1884-May 7, 1946)

            He hailed from Lithuania, the son of the rabbi of Riteve (Rietavas), Rabbi Meyer Falk, and the younger brother of Barukh Markus who served as rabbi in Yafo and Haifa.  He was for many years a contributor, and for a time editor, of the daily newspaper Idisher kuryer (Jewish courier) in Chicago.  Aside from other items, he published in it essays on the weekly portion from the Pentateuch and the prophets.  He also placed work in Shikagoer vokhnblat (Chicago weekly newspaper), Zuntog kuryer (Sunday courier) in Chicago, and Der idisher kempfer (The Jewish fighter) in Philadelphia (1906-1907).  Together with N. Kravyets, Markus was co-editor of the weekly Kuryer (Courier) in Chicago in 1940.  In book form: Geklibene perl fun unzer kultur-oytser (Selected pearls from our cultural treasury), vol. 1: Breyshes, shmoys, vayikro (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus) (Chicago: M. Tseshinski, 1942), 257 pp., with a foreword by Dr. Shloyme Goldman.  Markus died suddenly in Chicago.  After his death, there appeared: Geklibene perl fun unzer kultur-oytser, vol. 2: Bamidbor, dvorim, yon-toyvim, megiles (Numbers, Deuteronomy, holidays, scrolls) (New York: Oym, 1947), 240 pp.  He usually signed his name: Dr. Yisroel Markus.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950), p. 1770 (under the biography of his brother, Rabbi Barukh Markus); D. B. Tirkel, in Pinkes fun amopteyl fun yivo (Records of the American division of YIVO), vol. 1 (New York, 1927-1928), p. 261; M. Ḥizkuni (Moyshe Shtarkman), in Pinkas shikago (Records of Chicago) (1951/1952), p. 76; L. Mishkin, in Pinkas shikago, p. 103; A. Reyzen, in Di feder (New York, 1942), p. 88; obituary notices in the Yiddish press.

Zaynvl Diamant