NAKHMEN (NAHON) MIZHERITSKI

NAKHMEN (NAHON) MIZHERITSKI (February 4, 1900-January 21, 1956)

            He was born in the town of Horoszki (Kutuzovo), Zhitomir district, Volhynia, the son of an itinerant school teacher.  He attended religious elementary school, and at age ten he entered the Zvihil (Novohrad-Volynskyy) yeshiva, later studying to become a watchmaker.  In January 1911 he moved with his mother and sister to Buenos Aires where his father had earlier made his way and was then selling cigarettes.  Mizheritski worked in various trades and in the evenings studied piano.  He graduated from the Conservatorio Nacional de la Prensa (National press conservatory) in 1918, while at the same time attending middle school and then going on to study medicine at the university.  In 1928 he graduated as a doctor of medicine.  He was a cofounder of the Zionist association “Agudat ohave tsiyon” (Organization of lovers of Zion).  He wrote stories about the life a sick person, and he debuted in print, using the pen name “N. Ben-Mortkhe,” in 1929 with a story in the Rosh Hashana issue of Argentiner tog (Argentinian day).  He later published his stories in: Di prese (The press), Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper), Der shpigl (The mirror), Folks-gezunt (People’s health), Rodnaya mir (Native village) in Russian, Darom (South) in Hebrew, Ineynem (Altogether) from the Culture Congress, Der holts-industryal (The wood industry), Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Illustrated literary leaves)—in Buenos Aires; Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Yiddish literature in Argentina) of 1944; and the jubilee volume of Ezra (Ezra) of 1950.  In book form: Tsvishn di vent fun a shpitol (Within the walls of a hospital) (Buenos Aires, 1942), 241 pp.; Shotns, dertseylungen (Shadows, stories) (Buenos Aires, 1951), 175 pp.  A collection of his Geklibene dertseylungen (Selected stories) (Buenos Aires, 1956), 303 pp., was published after his death; it included in addition: an introduction by Y. Oshendorf; a biographical work about the author, written by his younger brother, Dr. Avrom Mizheristki; and essays concerning the author by Y. Okrutni, Y. Botoshanski, Y. Yonasovitsh, M. Ravitsh, and Sh. Rozhanski.  “N. Mizheritski,” noted Y. Botoshanski, “recounts more than he describes,…but from the recounting evolves a mood as well….  Mizheritski darkens things in his stories, but when you reread them, something clears up around you and it becomes bright.”

Sources: Volf Bresler, ed., Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Jewish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), pp. 475ff; Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentina (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 119; Y. Botoshanski, Mame yidish (Mother Yiddish) (Buenos Aires, 1949), p. 252; Botoshanski, in Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), “Yidn 5” (New York, 1957), p. 383; Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (January 29, 1958); Botoshanski, in Zamlbukh fun shtriker-fabrikant (Collection from the knitting factory) (Buenos Aires, 1961), p. 291; Meylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (December 1952); Ravitsh, in Der veg (Mexico City) (January 9, 1954); Anon., “Fartseykhenungen” (Notes), Tsukunft (New York) (March 1956); A. Blum, in Tsukunft (May-June 1957); Dr. Avrom Mizheritski, in Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Buenos Aires) (January-February 1958); obituary notices in the Yiddish press.

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