YUDL MILTON

YUDL MILTON (1866-1913)

            The adopted name of Yudl Kolton, he was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He studied in the synagogue study chamber of the Gerer Rebbe, later graduating from Poznanski’s trade school for artwork in Warsaw.  In 1890 he immigrated to South Africa, later living in London, England, and the United States where he traveled through various and sundry cities.  He was active in the Zionist movement.  He participated in Zionist congresses, and at the same time was a member of the Fabian Club in London.  After publishing a correspondence piece in Hatsfira (The siren), he wrote articles on community topics in Hebrew, English, and French (in the Parisian Humanité, edited by Jean Jaurès).  In Yiddish he contributed work to Di naye velt (The new world) in London, and Forverts (Forward) and Tsayt-gayst (Spirit of the times) in New York.  Together with his younger brother, Max Milton, he wrote Der khaos oder di letste yudishe hofnung (Chaos or the last Jewish hope), a drama in four acts, preface by A. V. Finkelshteyn (London, 1909), 101 pp., in which the authors criticized the modernists and decadent ones in Yiddish literature of their time.

Sources: E. Almi, in Forverts (New York) (April 23, 1932); Almi, Momentn fun a lebn (Moments in a life) (Buenos Aires, 1948), pp. 67, 69, 70; N. B. Minkov, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York) (January 1947).

Benyomen Elis