YISROEL
MEDRESH (1894-August 2, 1964)
He was born in Lekhevitsh
(Lyakhavichy), Minsk region, Byelorussia.
He attended religious primary schools and spent three years in the Lida yeshiva
of Rabbi Y. Y. Reynes. In June 1910 he
came to Canada. In 1922 he began writing
for Keneder odler (Canadian eagle), at
which he became a member of the editorial board and published feature pieces, political
surveys, and a column entitled “Bilder fun gerikhts-zal” (Images from the
courtroom). He published a book Montreal fun nekhten (Montreal of
yesterday) (Montreal, 1947), 176 pp., with a preface by Y. Y. Sigal.[1] This volume depicts Montreal as it developed economically
and culturally over the course of several decades. His writing excels with quantities of
information and at the same time with its easy, humorful style. He also was the author of Tsvishn tsvey velt-milkhomes (Between
two world wars) (Montreal: Keneder odler, 1964), 144 pp. He was active in Montreal’s community life
and was a member of the Yiddish writers’ association. He died in Montreal.
Sources:
Y. Rabinovitsh, in Keneder odler
(Montreal) (November 6, 1959); information from Meylekh Ravitsh in Montreal.
[Additional
information form: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 370.]
[1] Translatoir’s note.
There is a recent English translation by Vivian Felsen, Montreal of Yesterday: Jewish Life in Montreal,
1900-1920 (Montreal: Vehicule Press, 2000), 214 pp. (JAF)
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