YEKHIEL-MEYER
BEN-AVROM SOKHATSHEVSKI (March 4, 1889-April 12, 1958)
He was born in Lodz, Poland. He studied with his father, a merchant and a
member of the Jewish community council, and in the Zionist “cheder metukan”
(improved religious elementary school) of Yankl Gold, as well as German and
Polish with private tutors. He lost his
father at age twelve and moved to live with relatives in Warsaw. For a time he studied in a small Hassidic synagogue,
later working as a cigarette maker. In
1903 he left for Cracow, was employed in a factory making cigarette paper, and
continued his education in his free time.
In Cracow he joined the Labor Zionists.
Over the years 1911-1913, he traveled through Jewish cities and towns of
Austria, Hungary, Germany, and the Balkan states, and supported himself giving
speeches on Zionist themes and by reading his poems in public. In late 1913 he settled in London, England,
where he was an active cultural leader, builder of the Yiddish press, cofounder
and for many years a member of the administrative committee of the London
Jewish literary association, the local division of YIVO, and the Yiddish
theatrical association, among other groups.
He debuted in print in 1905 with poems in Gershom Bader’s Yudisher folks-kalendar (Jewish people’s
calendar) in Lemberg and later contributed to: Bader’s and M. Frostik’s Yudishe kalendarn (Jewish calendars); Der tog (The day) and Di post (The mail) in Cracow; and Lemberger togblat (Lemberg daily
newspaper); among others. He was a
regular contributor to Avrom Reyzen’s Kunst
un leben (Art and life) in Cracow (1908).
He was among the first contributors to the Lodz dailies: Lodzer nakhrikhten (Lodz reports) (1906-1908)
and Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily
newspaper) (1908-1936), in which he published stories and Hassidic tales. In Morris Meyer’s daily newspaper Di tsayt (The times) (London,
1913-1948), he published (in addition to articles) poetry and stories, as well
as numerous newspaper novels under various and sundry names. He wrote as well for: Der fraynd (The friend) in St. Petersburg-Warsaw; Dos leben (The life) in Warsaw; Di yetsige tsayt (Contemporary times), Folksblat (People’s newspaper), Lodzher folksshtime (People’s voice of
Lodz), and Nayer folksblat (New people’s
newspaper) in Lodz; Yugend-shtrahlen
(Youth beams [of light]), Literarishe
bleter (Literary leaves), Arbeter-tsaytung
(Workers’ newspaper), and Dos vort
(The word) in Warsaw; Tsukunft
(Future) and Yidishe kultur (Jewish
culture) in New York; Yidish
(Yiddish) and Loshn un lebn (Language
and life) in London; among others. From
1951 until his death, he edited and practically wrote the entirety of the
weekly Di idishe shtime (The Jewish
voice) in London. In book form: In shtile tsaytn (In quiet times),
lyrical poetry (Lodz, 1913), 95 pp.; In
shpigel, fun a tagebukh (In a mirror, from a diary) (London, 1920), 42 pp.;
Lieder (Poems) (London, 1921), 82
pp.; In shotn, poemen un lider (In
shadows, poetry) (Warsaw, 1923), 157 pp.; Harov
yoysef shapotshnik, biblyografye (Rabbi Yosef Shapotshnik, bibliography)
(London, 1927), 20 pp.; Untern shvert
(Under the sword) (London, 1939-1940), 146 pp., with Yoysef-Hillel Levi; Lemekh (Lemekh), the first of four
volumes with the same title, satirical poetry and stories (London, 1941), 142
pp.; Lemekh hasheyni (Lemekh II),
poetry (London, 1944), 244 pp.—parts three and four were published in Di tsayt and Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) but not in book form; Albert (Albert), poems dedicated to his
son who died at age thirteen (London, 1942), 61 pp.; In a geto gas (In a ghetto street) (London, 1942), 12 pp., with
drawings by his son Morris; In di
geto-moyern (On the ghetto walls), a one-act play (London, 1942), 16 pp.; Shma yisroel (Hear, O Israel) (London,
1943), 99 pp.; Velt un mentsh (World
and man), collected writings (London, 1942), 238 pp.; Rusishe gueriles (Russian guerrillas) (New York, 1943), 16 pp.; Der aliner in elf lider (The Aliner and
eleven poems), Hassidic poetry and prose, earlier published in Di tsayt (London, 1959), 48 pp. He contributed as well to Jewish Chronicle and other Anglo-Jewish
serials in England. His book Shma yisroel in his own English
translation as Hear, O Israel
appeared in London (1923), 71 pp. In
1952 he visited Paris, Poland, and the state of Israel. He died near London. A special issue of Di idishe shtime was published in his honor (London, May 1958),
with articles and appreciations by Meylekh Ravitsh, Y. A. Liski, A. M. Kayzer,
Yoysef Frenkel, Y. L. Fayn, Y. Rikhtiger, and Y. Yong, and poems by A. N. Shtentsil,
Sh. White, and M. Henman. “He was a
slave to his pen,” wrote Meylekh Ravitsh, “all his years working on a destitute
editorial board, but basically he dreamt of another career. He was drawn back to his source—poetry…. His lyrical, simple poems were often very
heartfelt…. With his poor ten fingers,
he created Di idishe shtime in
London, so that the Yiddish letter and the Yiddish word should not become
extinct among the Jewish community of 300,000 Jewish souls…. He was the watchman of the Jewish lighthouse
in London.”
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2;
Bal-Makhshoves, in Dos leben (Warsaw)
(October 12, 1913); Morris Meyer, in Keneder
odler (Montreal) (August 27, 1941); Meyer, in Di tsukunft (New York) (March 1944); Sh. Slutski, Avrom reyzen-biblyografye (Avrom Reyzen
bibliography) (New York, 1956), no. 5089; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see
index; A. Shklyarek, in Folksshtime
(Warsaw) June 5, 1957); Yoysef-Hillel Levi, Gezamlte
shriftn (Collected writings), vol. 2 (London, 1958), pp. 180-87; Meylekh
Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (April 28,
1958); Ravitsh, in Di prese (Buenos
Aires) (September 7, 1958); Sh. Oyerbakh, in Di idishe shtime (London) (November 20, 1959; November 27, 1959); Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn
un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and
heroism) (New York, 1962), see index; obituary notices in the Yiddish press of
various countries and cities.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
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