Thursday 29 March 2018

JOACHIM STUTSHEVSKI (STUTSCHEWSKY)


JOACHIM STUTSHEVSKI (STUTSCHEWSKY) (July 2, 1891-November 13, 1982)
            He was born in Romny, Ukraine.  He was a composer and researcher of Jewish music who had studied music in Leipzig, Jena, and Zurich.  Over the years 1924-1938, he lived in Vienna and from there departed for the land of Israel.  He published works in Goldene keyt (Golden chain) in Tel Aviv.  In book form: Der vilner balebesl (1816-1850), legende vegn a yidish-muzikalishn gaon, biografishe dertseylung (The young gentleman of Vilna, 1816-1850, legend of a Jewish musical genius, a biographical story) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1968), 56 pp.  Stutshevski would say that he wrote in German and the publisher or editor would translate into Yiddish.  However, neither in his books nor in his writings for Goldene keyt is it clear that they were translations, and Avrom Sutzkever conveyed to me that his works in the periodical he edited (Goldene keyt) were written in Yiddish.  Books in Hebrew include: Musika yehudit, mahuta vehitpathuta (Jewish music, its essence and development), trans. Yitsak Avishai (Tel Aviv, 1944/1945), 72 pp.; Folklor musikali shel yehude mizra-eropa (Musical folklore of the Jews of Eastern Europe) (Tel Aviv, 1958), 93 pp.; Haklezmorim, toledotehem, ora-ayehem viyetsirotehem (Klemers: Their history, their way of life, and their works) (Tel Aviv, 1959), 223 pp.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Source: Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature) (Meravya, 1967), vol. 1.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 403-4.


MOYSHE STUDENTSKI (STUDENCKI)


MOYSHE STUDENTSKI (STUDENCKI) (1806-1876)
            He was born in Zbarzh (Zbarazh), Galicia, where his father (Arn Polyak) was a religious judge.  Until age ten he studied with his father and then until age seventeen in a yeshiva in Bród (Brody).  Under the influence of followers of the Jewish Enlightenment in Bród, he left the yeshiva and began studying secular subject matter.  He lived in Bród until 1827, supporting himself as a private tutor, while at the same time studying at the Warsaw Lycée.  At the time of the Polish uprising of 1831, he left for Berlin, studied medicine at university, and received his doctor’s degree in 1834.  He then returned to Warsaw and until his death practiced as a doctor in a local hospital and privately.  At the end of 1843, at the request of the Warsaw health department, he translated from Polish into Judeo-German, under the title Marpe leam (Healing the people), several brochures about hygiene which were distributed for free among the poor Jewish population.  He authored medical books in Hebrew and Polish, among them: Rofe hayeladim, kolel etsot tovot veneemanot lishemor beriut hayeladim (Children’s doctor, including good advice and loyalty to keep children healthy), “the pediatrician,” “a textbook for how to prevent children’s diseases” (Warsaw: 1847), 64 pp., second edition (1876), with a preface which includes his autobiography in Hebrew.  He also authored: Refuot yeladim (Pediatrics) (Warsaw, 1850); and Orot aim (Lights of life) (1853)—both works in Hebrew with Yiddish explanations.  He also prepared for publication Dr. M. Levin’s Refuot haam (Medicine for the people), a volume about hygiene (Lemberg, 1851), with his annotations in “the spoken language, Judeo-German.”  As Dr. Yankev Shatski put it, “Dr. M. Studentski over the course of forty years was the idol of the Warsaw Jewish poor and often, instead of taking remuneration for a visit, he would give his patient the Yiddish booklets on hygiene and health, as a gift.”  He died in great poverty in Warsaw.

Sources: The Jewish Encyclopedia (London-New York, 1903), p. 572; Dr. Yankev Shatski, Geshikhte fun yidn in varshe (History of Jews in Warsaw), vols. 2 and 3 (New York: YIVO, 1948-1950), see index; Bet eked sefarim.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


SHOLEM STAROSHEVSKI


SHOLEM STAROSHEVSKI (b. November 17, 1902)
            He was born in Kosov-Telaki (later, Kosów Lacki), Poland.  The son of an itinerant schoolteacher, he attended religious primary school, the Węgrów yeshiva, as well as the yeshiva of the Sokolov rebbe.  He later worked as an assistant to a primary village schoolteacher, and after WWI he began on his own to study secular subjects.  He worked as a cobbler, a baker, and did business in a village.  In 1923 he made his way to Argentina.  There he became an apprentice to a carpenter.  In 1927 he moved to Montevideo, Uruguay.  He was the organizer of the “Workers’ Home” and “Workers’ Kitchen” with the left Labor Zionists in Montevideo, where he also helped organize a division of YIVO.  In the early 1930s, he founded (with Shame Grinberg) the weekly newspaper Dos vort (The word) in Montevideo, wrote for it, and was also its administrator.  In 1936 he published the party organ of the Labor Zionists in Uruguay: Dos arbeter-palestine (The workers’ Palestine).  In 1953 he began to publish the Umophengike idishe tribune (Independent Jewish tribune), served as editor and administrator, and also wrote for it along the lines of Mapam (United Workers’ Party).  For more than ten years he was the Uruguayan correspondent for the daily Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires.  He wrote on literature, Jewish issues, and general socialist problems.  He also contributed to: Folksblat (People’s newspaper), Unzer fraynt (Our friend), and Haynt (Today) in Montevideo.  He was last living in Montevideo.

Sources: Y. Vaynshenker, Boyers un mitboyers fun yidishn yishev in urugvay (Founders and builders of the Jewish community in Uruguay) (Montevideo, 1957), p. 118; Di prese (Buenos Aires) (May 25, 1962); D. Gotlib, Yorbukh (Polish Jewry) (New York) 1 (1964), p. 306.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


RALPH STAR


RALPH STAR (1896-February 13, 1969)
            He came to the United States in his youth.  He began writing humorous sketches for Der groyser kundes (The great prankster) in New York and other humorous periodicals.  From 1929 he published short humorous stories on the humor page of the Forverts (Forward) in New York.  He died in New York.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 403.


LEYB STOTSKI


LEYB STOTSKI (b. May 14, 1902)
            He was born in Vilna.  He studied in religious primary school, a Russian elementary school, the first secular Jewish school run by “Mefitse haskole” (Society for the promotion of enlightenment [among the Jews of Russia]), and Epshteyn’s Vilna Hebrew High School.  He placed poetry in various Vilna publications, such as: Grinike beymelekh (Little green trees), Der khaver (The friend) (1919-1920), Unzer fraynd (Our friend), Vilner tog (Vilna day), Yugnt-zhurnal (Youth journal), Vegn (Pathways), Grosman’s almanac Vilne in vort un bild (Vilna in word and image), and Zalmen Shik’s 1000 yor vilne (One thousand years of Vilna).  He also published under the pen names Leyb S-ki and Leyb Kornbliml.  From 1933 he served as an internal contributor to Unzer fraynd (later, Di tsayt [The times]).  He was living in Vilna after the entry of the Soviet Russian authorities in 1939 and under the rule of the Lithuanians (beginning in late 1939).  He also contributed work to the Soviet Russian and Polish press.  According to Shmerke Katsherginski, he was among the exiled writers who were killed in Siberia.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Z. Shik, 1000 yor vilne (One thousand years of Vilna) (Vilna, 1939), pp. 82-83; D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), “Poylishe yidn” (Polish Jews), in Yorbukh 1942 (Yearbook 1942) (New York, 1942), p. 96; Shmerke Katsherginski, Tsvishn hamer un serp (Between hammer and sickle) (Paris, 1949); the anthology Lite (Lithuania), vol. 1 (New York, 1951), pp. 1149-50; Leyzer Ran, 25 yor yung vilne (Twenty-five years of Young Vilna) (New York, 1955).
Yankev Kahan


Wednesday 28 March 2018

ELYE (ELI) STOLPNER


ELYE (ELI) STOLPNER (April 6, 1923-August 2007)
            He was born in Brooklyn, New York.  He studied with an itinerant schoolteacher, in the Chaim Berlin Yeshiva, the Jewish teachers’ seminary, the teachers’ course at Workmen’s Circle, a high school, City College, and New York University (where he studied drama).  During WWII he served in the American Army.  From 1947 he was employed in the administration of the Forverts (Forward) and was in charge of the daily section of the newspaper entitled “Radyo un televizye” (Radio and television).  He also published reviews of theater and films under the pen name S. Elye.  He published humorous sketches and articles on music in the weekly newspaper Der id (The Jew), edited by A. Rozmarin.  He wrote an English-language column for the Jewish Press Syndicate, which appeared (1950-1952) weekly in Anglophone Jewish newspapers.  He also contributed articles to: Veker (Alarm) and Unzer tsayt (Our time) in New York.  For a time he also placed work in Kinder-tsaytung (Children’s newspaper), published by the Workmen’s Circle in New York.  In later years he served as manager of the image department of the Forverts.  He died in New York.
Benyomen Elis


NOSN STOLNITS (NATHAN STOLNITZ)


NOSN STOLNITS (NATHAN STOLNITZ) (1893-March 22, 1969)
            He was born in Ostrov (Ostrów), Lomzhe region, Russian Poland.  He attended religious elementary school, yeshivas, and a Russian public school.  He studied the cantorial art and music in Vilna, and he sang in the Taharat Hakodesh Choral Synagogue in Vilna.  He performed at evenings of the historical ethnographic society of Sh. An-ski.  For a period of time he traveled through Lithuania and Latvia with the Vilna Yiddish operatic theater.  From the summer of 1926 he was living in Canada.  Until 1927 he was a cantor in Ottawa, later in Toronto where he was also active in Jewish community and cultural life.  He was a cofounder of the local YIVO, of the local division of the cantors’ union, and of the “Association of Lithuanian Jews” in Toronto, among other such organizations.  He began writing in Hebrew, publishing correspondence pieces in Hazman (The times) in Vilna, and from 1912 he wrote in Yiddish.  His first article, concerning Yiddish theatrical issues, was published in Vilner vokhenblat (Vilna weekly newspaper) in December 1912, edited by Lipman-Levin; later, he contributed correspondence pieces, articles, and surveys of cantorial art and music in: Unzer osed (Our future), a weekly of the Zionist Youth in Vilna (1918); the theater newspaper Habima (The stage), edited by Moyshe Zilburg (1925); and Vilner tog (Vilna day); among others.  From 1926 he was a regular contributor to: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Der idisher zhurnal (The Jewish journal) in Toronto; and Dos yudishe vort (The Yiddish word) in Winnipeg.  He placed work as well in: Forverts (Forward), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), and Der amerikaner (The American) in New York; Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires; Di shuhl- un khazonim-velt (The synagogue and cantor’s world) in Warsaw; and the like.  His works are included in the anthologies Khazones (Cantorial art) of 1937 and 1947.  In book form, he published: Negine-oyflebung (Music revival) (Toronto, 1952), 24 pp.; and Negine in yidishn lebn (Music in Jewish life), articles and biographies of Jewish cantors and composers (Toronto, 1957), 328 pp.  He also published under such pen names as: A. Ostrover, N. St-ts, and A. Vilenski.  He served as the Toronto correspondent for Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal) in New York.  He died in Toronto.

Sources: F. Zolf, in Dos yudishe vort (Winnipeg) (March 12, 1927); Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; E. Zaludkovski, Kultur-treger fun der yidisher liturgye, historish-byografisher iberblik iber khazones, khazonim un dirizhorn (Culture bearer of Jewish liturgy, historical-biographical survey of the cantorial art, cantors, and conductors) (Detroit, 1930); A. Kh. Shrayer, in Der yudisher rekord (St. Louis) (September 26, 1947); 50-yoriker yubeley-bukh fun agudes hakhazonim (Fifty-year jubilee volume of the association of cantors) (New York, 1948); Sh. Rozhanski, in Di idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (September 4, 1952); N. Shemen, in Der idisher zhurnal (Toronto) (June 29, 1953); Shemen, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (October 14, 1957); Khayim Liberman, in Forverts (New York) (December 16, 1957); M. Sh. Geshuri, in Shaarim (Tel Aviv) (Shevat 28 [= February 18], 1958); Y. Rabinovitsh, in Keneder odler (November 3, 1959); Bet Halevi, in Hatsofe (Tel Aviv) (Elul 29 [= September 21], 1960).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


SHIYE STOLITSKI


SHIYE STOLITSKI (August 21, 1890-1943)
            He was born in Vilna.  His father was an employee in a sawmill.  He studied in a Russian school.  From 1906 he was active in various cultural groups, dramatic and musical circles.  He wrote a series of musical texts to poems by Leyb Naydus, with whom he was a close friend.  In Vilna’s Grininke beymelekh (Little green trees), he published translations of Lermontov, as well as Zhukovsky’s “Di milkhome tsvishn de mayz un di zhabes” (The war between the mice and the frogs).  In book form: Oysgeveylte mesholim (Selected fables) from the Russian author of fables, Ivan Krykov (Vilna: Ost, 1928), 94 pp.  During WWI he was held in German captivity, later returning to settle in Vilna, where he worked in an oil factory.  Over the years 1941-1943, he hid out with his family, using Aryan papers, in various villages in the Narocz area.  In early 1943 he was located in the town of Svir (Swir), and later peasants denounced him; he was then shot along with his wife and two sons.

Sources: Sh. Katsherginski, Khurbn vilne (The Holocaust in Vilna) (New York, 1947); E. Stolitski, in Yidishe shriftn (Warsaw) (April 1958).
Benyomen Elis


ARN STOLINSKI


ARN STOLINSKI
            He was a contributor to Di tsayt (The times) (1920-1922), edited by D. Pinski.  He wrote mainly about cooperatives—in his day, a pioneering field for Jews in the United States.  His writings in book form include: Di kooperative bavegung, vos zi iz un vos zi darf zayn (The cooperative movement, which it is and what is ought to be) (New York: Education Committee, Workmen’s Circle, 1919), 220 pp., with illustrations and a bibliography in English, German, and Russian.  This volume consists of two parts: (1) “Di teorye un praktik fun kooperatsye” (The theory and practice of cooperatives); and (2) “Kooperative bavegung in farsheydene lender (england, rusland, belgye, denemark, daytshland, fareynikte shtatn)” (The cooperative movement in various countries: England, Russia, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, United States).  The second part also includes (pp. 203-19) a chapter on Jewish cooperatives.  Further books: Varum yeder arbayter darf vern a kooperator? (Why should every worker become a member of a cooperative member?) (New York: Cooperative League of America, 1919), 15 pp.; and Kooperativen in sovet-rusland (Cooperatives in Soviet Russia) (New York: Jewish Socialist Federation of the Socialist Party in America, 1920), 29 pp., in pocketbook format.  Further biographical information remains unknown.

Source: Moyshe Shtarkman, “Fun populer-visnshaft biz visnshaft” (From popular science to science), Yorbukh (Yearbook) (New York, 1942/1943).
Yankev Birnboym


MORTKHE STOLYAR


MORTKHE STOLYAR (1885-July 24, 1951)
            He was born in Kishinev, Bessarabia.  He studied in religious elementary school, later becoming an apprentice to a carpenter.  He was subsequently drawn into the Zionist Socialist party, began reading secular works, and on his own studied general subject matter.  In 1906 after the failure of the first Russian Revolution, he moved to Argentina.  For a time he worked in carpentry.  Later, together with his father, he opened the first Yiddish bookshop in Buenos Aires.  He had in his shop the best works then available in Yiddish, and his home became a meeting place for intellectuals.  Several months after the outbreak of WWI (November 15, 1915), there was founded in Buenos Aires the daily newspaper Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper).  Initially a cooperative undertaking, the managers of the newspaper later hired Y. Sh. Lyakhovitski as editor, Louis Mas as assistant editor, and M. Stolyar as administrator.  In 1930 he became editor of the newspaper and remained in this position until his death.  Under his leadership the newspaper became an institution in the life of the Jewish community of Argentina.  He wrote essays and articles on cultural historical and community themes for it.  The newspaper offered a Jewish and socialist predilection.  With his indefatigable work, Stolyar helped to mold through the newspaper the Argentinian Jewish community.  He attracted as contributors to the newspaper the finest literary capacities not only in Argentina but from other countries as well.  In 1955 an annual literary prize was established in his name.  It was awarded for the best book in Yiddish or in Hebrew.  He died in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Y. Botoshanski, in Argentine (Argentina), anthology (Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 72; Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentina (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), pp. 80, 95, 96, 98; N. Khanin, A rayze iber tsentral- un dorem-amerike (A voyage through Central and South America) (New York, 1942), pp. 249-51; Volf Bresler, Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Jewish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), p. 933; Di idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (July 25, 1951); obituary in Davke (Buenos Aires) 8 (1951); B. Stolyar, in Forverts (New York) (July 30, 1951; B. Stolyar, in Hadoar (New York) (August 24, 1951); Sh. Ernst, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (July 17, 1952); M. Ginzburg, Sh. Y. Dorfzon, Sh. Y. Hurvits, Ben-Tsien Kats, A. Sh. Suris, B. Stolyar, Y. Pat, and Kh. Shoshkes, in Di idishe tsaytung (July 22, 1954; November 15, 1954); M. Regalski, in Yorbukh tsht”v fun der yidisher kehile in buenos ayres (1954/1955 annual of the Jewish community of Buenos Aires) (Buenos Aires); M. Turlov and M. Shenderay, in Di idishe tsaytung (July 4, 1961); Motye Stolyar (may he rest in peace), in Di idishe tsaytung (July 1, 1964); Di idishe tsaytung (November 15, 1964).
Yankev Birnboym


AYZIK STOLYAR


AYZIK STOLYAR
            He was a rabbi, president of the court in the Jewish community of Raczki [Poland].  He was also a preacher in Yiddish, though his sermons were initially written in Hebrew.  He authored the religious work Shefekh sia (Pour out complaints) (Vilna: Efel and Garber, 1913/1914), 100 pp., with a preface by the author and a foreword.  The text is a collection of commentaries and explanations of the prayer “Avinu malkenu” (Our father, our king); every verse was translated from Hebrew into Yiddish.  On the frontispiece of the work, he wrote: “We have translated into Yiddish the precious commentary on the sacred prayer ‘Avinu malkenu,’ as a favor to the rabbis.”  Further information about the author remains unknown.
Yankev Birnboym


Tuesday 27 March 2018

YISROEL STOLARSKI


YISROEL STOLARSKI (1900-April 19, 1986)
            He was born in Krinki (Krynki), Grodno region, Russian Poland, the son of Shiye-Heshl Stolarski, a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment and a Labor Zionist.  He studied in a “cheder metukan” (improved religious elementary school) and the Krinki yeshiva, and he attended a Russian middle school where the students adhered to circles of various political shades.  At thirteen years of age, he was already active in a Zionist youth organization.  When the Labor Zionist party of Poland split in 1920, he moved with the left wing and worked in the trade union movement of the left Labor Zionists.  In 1925 he was arrested in Lodz for illegal political activity and thrown in prison in Grodno; at his trial he was freed and returned to activity in the Lodz trade union movement.  In 1934 he was sent by the party to Warsaw.  At the time of the outbreak of WWII, he was in Geneva as a delegate to the Zionist congress, and he soon set off back to Poland via Czechoslovakia and Hungary.  In Warsaw he found his wife and son, and together they fled to the East.  They were separated along the way and only seven years later were reunited in New York.  He came to the United States in late 1940 via Russia and Japan, as one of a group that was brought by the Jewish Labor Committee.  For a time he tried to make a living by writing articles and giving lectures, later he turned to working in a tailor shop, initially as a cutter and later as a presser.  He worked for seven years by day in the shop and in the evenings for the Histadruth campaign.  In 1947 he turned to the right Labor Zionists.  In 1949 he became solely linked to the Histadruth campaign, later becoming an associate director.  In 1960 the Histadruth campaign celebrated Stolarski’s sixtieth birthday.  He began writing in 1920 for Arbeter-tsaytung (Labor newspaper) in Warsaw.  He wrote about labor Zionism and general political issues as well in: Haynt (Today) and Undzer vort (Our word) in Warsaw; and Lodzer folksblat (Lodz people’s newspaper) and Lodzer arbeter (Lodz worker).  In America he wrote for: Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), Idisher kemfer (Jewish fighter), Proletarisher gedank (Proletarian idea), and Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free thought of labor) in New York; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Hibru dzhoyrnel (Hebrew journal) in Toronto; Dos vort (The word) in Paris; Di naye tsayt (The new times), Di prese (The press), and Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires; Der veg (The way) and Dos vort in Mexico City; and Davar (Word) in Tel Aviv; among others.  He also published in English in: Jewish Frontier, Contemporary, and Jewish Record.  He edited Yidish-zamlung (Yiddish collection), dedicated to the thirteenth year of the state of Israel and to the fortieth year of Histadruth, published by the Latin American Department of the Histadruth Campaign (Mexico City, 1961), 200 pp.; the anthology Hazikaron leshoa veligvure (The memory of the Holocaust and heroism) (Mexico City: Latin American Department of the Histadruth Campaign, 1963); Di 71ste sesye funem rat fun der histadrut haovdim, opgehaltn in tel aviv (The 71st session of the Federation of Labor, held in Tel Aviv) (New York, 1959), 48 pp.; Di histadrut un di medine, di akhte histadrut konferents oyfgehaltn in tel-aviv (The general labor organization and the state [of Israel], the eighth Histadruth conference held in Tel Aviv) (New York, 1956), 78 pp.  He also edited the annual Histadrut-almanakh (Histadruth almanac), organ of the same department.  Among his books: Ber borokhov (1881-1917), tsu zayn fertsiktn yortsayt (Ber Borokhov, 1881-1917, on the fortieth anniversary of his death) (New York, 1958), 27 pp.; Geto oyfshtand (Ghetto uprising) (1958, 1962).  His pen names include: Y. Byalostotski, Dovid Grodner, Y. Polin, Observator, Y. Heshelzon, and Y. Varshanski.  From 1972 he was living in Israel.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: P. Shteynvaks, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (March 4, 1960); Shteynvaks, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 20, 1960); Kh. Ehrenraykh, in Forverts (New York) (April 8, 1960); Y. L. Berg, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (June 8, 1960); Sh. Izban, in Der amerikaner (New York) (October 21, 1960); Y. Glants, in Der veg (Mexico City) (August 8, 1961); S. Kahan, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (August 19, 1961); A. Oyerbakh, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (July 23, 1962); A. Golomb, in Der veg (August 16, 1962); B. Kovalski, in Der veg (September 11, 1962).
Leyb Vaserman

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 403, 548.]


MAKS STOLOVITSH


MAKS STOLOVITSH
            He was born in Vengrov (Węgrów), Poland.  In 1910 he made his way to Uruguay.  He settled in Montevideo and opened up a Yiddish publishing house.  In 1926 he began published the weekly newspaper Unzer lebn (Our life), the first Yiddish newspaper in the country, as a weekly for community and cultural issues.

Source: Zalmen Reysen, Leksikon, vol. 2.


BROKHE STOLOVI


BROKHE STOLOVI (March 15, 1904-December 16, 1983)
            She was born in Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland, into a devout family.  She studied in a Russian school and with private tutors, and she also attended Hebrew classes.  In 1916 she made her way to the United States.  In 1942 she debuted in print with poems in Der tog (The day) in New York, and from that point she published poetry also in: Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper), Di prese (The press) in Buenos Aires, Heymish (Familiar) in Tel Aviv, and Forverts (Forward) in New York—in all of which from 1955 she also published short stories and articles, mainly on the women’s page of Sunday issues.  In book form: Mayn velt, lider (My world, poetry) (New York, 1942), 144 pp., with a preface by Y. Zilberberg; Verter un verterlekh fun yidishn folklor (Words and aphorisms in Jewish folklore) (New York, 1976), 36 pp.; Fun fargangene teg (Of days gone by) (White Plains, New York, 1978), 104 pp.  She was active for many years in the schools of the Sholem Aleichem Folk Institute and the Workmen’s Circle, as well as in the pioneer women’s organization.  Vladimir Khafets and other musicians composed music to accompany Stolovi’s poems.  She died in White Plains, New York.

Sources: Sh. Z. Rubin, in Der tog (New York) (October 1942); M. Dantsis, in Der tog (January 5, 1951); L. Goldberg, in Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York) (September 26, 1952).
Benyomen Elis

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 402.]


Monday 26 March 2018

BENJAMIN S. STONE


BENJAMIN S. STONE (1891-March 8, 1953)
            He was born in Haisyn, Podolia.  His father was an orchard keeper and dried fruit.  He attended religious elementary school, later studying on his own.  In 1909 he came to the United States.  He studied at the agricultural school of Baron Hirsch in Woodbine, New Jersey, from which he graduated in 1914.  He later studied agronomy at Michigan State College.  In 1918 he served in the U. S. Army.  From 1919 he was active in the Jewish Agricultural Society and editor of the monthly Der idisher farmer (The Jewish famer), with an English section, and for years he published popular articles on farming issues.  He also organized a series of farming cooperatives, which significantly helped to improve the economic condition of many Jewish farmers.  He was also a lecturer in evening courses for farmers and worked actively in their organizations.  In addition, he organized hundreds of farmers’ meetings and demonstrations in various farming areas in America.  He was the organizer and speaker at the annual farmers’ conference in New York.  In book form, he published: Krankhayten fun beheymes, vi tsu ferhiten un vi tsu laysten hilf in a noyt-fal (Animal illnesses, how to protect and how to offer assistance in an emergency) (New York, 1922), 38 pp.; Der farm-ferd, vi tsu ervehlen, farmehren, bahandlen un bashitsn (The farm horse, how to select, breed, treat, and protect [them]) (New York: Jewish Agricultural Society, 1924), 54 pp.  Stone strove to increase productivity and care for the health, physically and spiritually, of the lives of all who sought possibilities to be rescued from sweatshops, stores, and livelihoods on air.  He died in New York.

Sources: M. Ayzman (Alter Epshteyn), in Der tog (New York) (March 26, 1935); B. Miler and G. Bavedson, in Idisher farmer (New York) (April 1953).
Benyomen Elis


S. STONE


S. STONE (b. April 1867)
            His original name was S. Ershteyn, and he was born in Bialystok, Russian Poland.  His father was a rabbi in various cities and the author of Ateret yehoshua (The crown of Joshua).  Stone immigrated to the United States in 1886.  He debuted in print in 1900 with an article in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Voice of free labor) in New York.  He lived also in Pittsburgh and there edited Idisher telegraf (Jewish telegraph) and published Di idishe pres (The Jewish press).  In 1919 he edited Di idishe tsayt (The Jewish times) and Biznesman (Businessman) in Los Angeles, California.  He also wrote under the pen names: Mayim and Even.
Benyomen Elis


ISAAC STONE


ISAAC STONE (1855-May 1916)
            The Anglicized name of Yitskhok Shteyn, he immigrated to London in his youth and worked as a tailor in a sweatshop.  In the 1870s he was a member of Arn’s Liberman’s Jewish Socialist Union.  He and Nosn Berlin, a raincoat maker, were among the first Yiddish writers who emerged from the sweatshops.  Stone contributed to Morris Winchevsky’s weekly newspaper Der poylisher idel (The Polish Jew) and later to Arbayter fraynd (Labor’s friend)—both in London.  In his article “Treyd-yunyonizm un sotsyalizm” (Trade unionism and socialism), published in the first issue of Arbayter fraynd, he wrote: “In a word: the trade unions can today bring workers very little they can use; they even have a directly harmful impact by virtue of their misguiding English workers from the right path which leads to socialism.”  Later, though, he changed his stance and in his writings led a campaign for his “Jewish Tailoring Workers’ Union.”  He wrote a story that appeared in a separate pamphlet—one copy is preserved in the Hebrew University Library—entitled:

A Short
Life Depiction
of a
London Tailor—

Who toiled sadly for several years in hard labor in London and from whose drudgery he collapsed and very quickly departed this world.  Before his death he wrote down his entire life story to demonstrate a proper moral for all workers in tailoring.
Written by
Isaac Stone
Published by the Jewish Tailoring Workers’ Union in the year the Jewish laborer contemplates your poor state of affairs.

The story is accompanied by a motto, an eleven-verse poem, “Der fershklafter idel” (The enslaved Jew).  “Isaac Stone,” noted Kalmen Marmor, “was perhaps the first to write a labor song in Yiddish.”  The song sings of the labor exile being bitterer than the Jewish exile: “But just listen, Jew: What you think is false.  No one is in exile, if he is but a man and this is no exile as it may seem, compared to the whole labor exile which does exist.”  The story was written in the form of a biography of a London tailor, named Motl, who died at a young age, and a worker finds the dead man’s writings.  In his last years, Stone served as editor of Lidzer ekspres (Leeds express), an Orthodox newspaper, in which he struggled against anti-religious propaganda in Jewish life.  He contributed to Moyshe Bril’s Shulamis.  He was well known by the pen name “Der zokn” (The old man).  He published books on religious themes: Di eybige milkhome tsvishn yudenthum un ihr shtifkind (The eternal war between Judaism and its stepchild), a dialogue, “taken from…historical and Biblical sources by Isaac Stone (the old man), parts 1-3 (London, 1911-1912)”; and Yeshu hanotsri (Jesus the Christian), “an answer to the soul-stealers” (London: Idisher zhurnal), 32 pp.  He died in London.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2, under the name “Ston”; obituary in American Jewish Yearbook (1916/1917); Kalmen Marmor, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (October 16, 1938); Marmor, in 10-yoriker yubiley fun internatsyonaln arbeter-ordn (Ten-year jubilee of the International Labor Order) (New York, 1940); Shmuel Niger, “Imigrantn literatur” (Immigrant literature), Di tsukunft (New York) (June 1940); Niger, Dertseylers un romanistn (Storytellers and novelists), 2 parts (New York: Tsiko, 1946), pp. 141-43; R. Roker, In shturem (In the storm) (Buenos Aires, 1952), see index.
Yankev Birnboym


MOYSHE STAVSKI (MOSHE STAVI)


MOYSHE STAVSKI (MOSHE STAVI) (February 27, 1884-June 24, 1964)
            Original family name Stavski, he Hebraized it to Stavi in the land of Israel.  He was born in Antopol (Antopolye), near Brisk (Brest), Lithuania.  His father Yankev-Shmuel was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment and moved to Antopol after marrying; there he ran a mill and also dealt in grain and was a synagogue beadle and one of the heads of the Jewish community.  Stavi grew up in a town in which every Jew had a Jewish prayer belt and a cow, where every weekday for morning prayers and afternoon-evening prayers people hitched up their carts before the houses of worship—these were the Jews of Antopol, before going into the fields and later when coming back, poured into the house of study to seize the opportunity to pray.  Until his bar mitzvah, Stavi studied in religious elementary school, but he didn’t like it.  He would often get lost in a nearby meadow or in a barn with calves and cows.  He later attended public school.  At age sixteen he left the town and lived in Warsaw and Kremenchug, where his parents had moved.  For a long period of time he remained in Aleksandrowa, at the border between Lithuania and eastern Prussia, and there he took up business and had great success at it, but then suddenly he abandoned all of his businesses, returned to Kremenchug to his parents, and there (in late 1905) lived through the pogrom against the Jews; he was a firm believer in Zionism and contemplated traveling to the land of Israel, but in the meantime he went to Warsaw and became involved in writing.  While still in Aleksandrowa, he attempted to write and even published several correspondence pieces and a poem, but his actual debut in print took place at the end of 1906, when he published the sketch “A zumer-fraytog in a kleyn shtedtel” (A summer Friday in a small town) in Der veg (The path), issue no. 265, in Vilna.  He spent five years in Warsaw, published stories and sketches in various periodicals and anthologies (translations into Hebrew as well), and edited several collections himself, such as: Lebens-klangen (Sounds of life), Zumer (Summer), Tishre (Tishre [month of the Jewish calendar]), and Frihling-shtromen (Spring tides).  In 1907 he wrote his story Lavan haarami (Laban the Aramaean) and read it before a circle of writer-friends, among them Menakhem Boreysho and Hillel Tsaytlin.  The impact of this story was huge: “Menakhem locked the door behind me in Zonshteyn’s inn and said to me: Here will be your grave; don’t publish it as is, until you translate the story (into Hebrew).  I translated it and submitted it for publication.”  The story was published in Dovid Frishman’s Sifrut (Literature)—and it was included later as well in Pinas Shifman’s reader Bikurim (First fruits).  Bialik was also delighted by the story.  This was a new means to write about animals—without parable or allegory.  Stavi was “the first to open the barn for the Yiddish reader.”  At that time he published two anthologies of his writings in Yiddish—Idilyen un bilder, a zamlung (Idylls and images, a collection) in 1909 and A tikhel, di beheyme, dos shmeykhel (A kerchief, the cow, the smile) in 1910—and in Hebrew—and Mizikhronot hayaldut (From memories of childhood) in 1910.  Irrespective of his literary success, he did not wish to remain in Warsaw.  “I slipped out of there quietly, fled, bidding no one farewell.”  In late 1911 he made aliya to the land of Israel, en route stopping in Odessa and meeting Mendele, Bialik, and Ravnitski.  Traveling with him was his first wife, Roze Lebensboym (known under her name as a poet, Anna Margolin), but she did not long remain there (Naaman, their son who was born there, and he stayed with his father after her departure from Israel.)  His first years in Israel, Stavi lived in Neve Shalom.  From there he wrote for Warsaw and New York newspapers.  For a year’s time, he managed the library in a Tel Aviv Hebrew high school.  At the beginning of WWI, he worked in farming in an agricultural collective in Beer Tuvia, “a small corner where the entire world for me was the land of Israel and all of Israel was for me Beer Tuvia.”  He later worked at Ben Shemen and Petaḥ Tikva, fell ill with malaria, and became a guard in Yosef Lishansky’s guard organization “Hamagen” (The shield).  In 1917, as soon as he had recuperated somewhat, he again began working in agriculture.  For about eight years he was a day laborer doing difficult field work at five pounds per month: “I was tied to the earth, to the land; a person not tied to the land had nothing to look forward to.”  This was a time of taking root in the land.  He knew from Hebrew ever since he was a child, and now it became his daily language.  While working he learned Arabic, and he made many good friends among the Arab fellahin and Bedouins.  This served him well in providing grain for the Jewish cooperatives.  From 1922 he was living in Tel Aviv.  He built a home on Mendele Street, with lodgers, installed four or five cows, raised them himself, and then milked them and sold the milk.  He did not want to live by writing: “Skin a carcass in the market and gain no help for bread from literature.”  Over the years 1930-1932, he went on a lengthy trip through Europe, spent time in Poland, France, and other places, and published three volumes of selected works in Yiddish with B. Kletskin Publishers and two volumes in Polish translation with Rubin Publishers in Lemberg.  In Israel he had spent some eight years not writing and then he began to write in Hebrew.  He nonetheless remained a lover of Yiddish.  His field of vision had now expanded.  Stavi began with the “mute friends”—the field, the cat, the hen; in Israel he moved on to describe working people as well, the quiet “idylls” of Antopol life gave way to the ruggedness of the Negev.  Arabs were also protagonists in his stories.  Stavi especially excelled in this with his Oriental tales.  He introduced into Hebrew literature from Arabic folklore “Itsḥa” (Isaac)—a kind of Oriental “Hershele Ostropolyer”: “The stories of the Arab came like a refreshment, together with black coffee, sitting on a blanket spread out with a cushion by the side.  Other stories I heard in the quiet lackadaisical nights, extending over a caravan under the sound of a wooden bell and the distant cry of a jackal.”  He wrote down 1000 Arab tales for the volume Baderekh leerets haosher (On the road to the land of happiness), written under the pseudonym Abu-Naaman (Tel Aviv, 1954), 316 pp.  In 1965 he received the Yitsḥak Lamdan Prize from the city of Ramat-Gan.  For many years he also published drawings of nature and animals, as well as essays, in: Davar (Word), Gilyonot (Tablets), Hasade (The field), and Bitsaron (Fortress) in New York, among other serials.  He published observations of linguistic phenomena.  His stories were translated into Russian, Polish, German, French, and other languages.  He also published his writings in separate volumes: Idilyen un bilder, a zamlung (Warsaw, 1909), 80 pp.; A tikhel, di beheyme, dos shmeykhel (Warsaw, 1909), 32 pp.; Mizikhronot hayaldut (Warsaw, 1910), 40 pp.; Lavan haarami (in Hebrew) (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1925), 24 pp.; Yalde adama, sipurim (Children of the earth, stories) (Tel Aviv, 1927), 32 pp.; Shefa; Banegev (Abundance; In the Negev) (Tel Aviv: Omanut, 1929), 48 pp.; Haboker or (The morning light) (Tel Aviv, 1930); Shtume fraynt (Silent friend), vol. 1 of selected writings (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1931), 249 pp.; Ven tog fargeyt (When day comes to an end), vol. 2 of selected writings (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1931), 244 pp.; Araber dertseyln (Arabs recount), vol. 3 of selected stories (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1933), 213 pp.; Ben hashemen mibagdad (Oil from Baghdad) (Tel Aviv, 1934); Hakefar haarvi (The Arab village) (Tel Aviv, 1946), 404 pp.; Yedidim ilmim, sipurim (Mute friends, stories) (Tel Aviv, 1949/1950), 203 pp.; Baarov yom, sipurim (By the end of the day) (Tel Aviv, 1952), 205 pp.; Baderekh leerets haosher (En route to the land of treasure) (Tel Aviv, 1954); Pirke teva velashon (Pieces on nature and language) (Tel Aviv, 1958), 170 pp.; Hazorim bedima (Sowing with tears) (Tel Aviv, 1959), 193 pp.; Geluyot usetumot belashon (Visible and hidden things in language) (Tel Aviv, 1960), 189 pp.  In Polish: Dlaczegoi inne opowiadania (Why…and other stories) (Lwów, 1932); and Opowieści arabskie (Arab tales) (Lwów, 1932).  He also wrote under such pen names as Abu-Naaman, M. St., and M. Samekh.  He died in Tel Aviv.
            As Yankev Fikhman has noted:

We treasure Stavski’s writings not solely for their observational faculty, their ability to know the traits of the cow and the chicken, and their ability to describe with humor possessing poetry and love, but also the integration of the Jewish condition into the web of their lives.  His little Jewish world rids itself of depressiveness and seizes hold of hope, joy, and warmth.  Home is no longer lonely and poor, when one senses in the barn the breath of a cow, when one hears in a corner of the kitchen the squeals of the chicken….  In this, a mirror of love of children and adults for animals, Stavski saw the entire life of the Jewish shtetl.  Stavski’s deep connection to the world of domesticated animals reveals for us the Jewish street in a new light of childhood, as it approaches blessed nature.  The cow—not only does she provide an abundance of milk and butter for the poor members of the household; and the hen—not only does she lay eggs in a corner of yard, she brings to poverty consolation, sweetness, that caring that influences their fundamental being within the scope of house and barn….  With his stories, Stavski gave the lie to the received idea that the ghetto Jew did not know the meaning of an attachment to nature, that it was alien to him to possess a longing for things which had no value for one’s daily needs.  In his descriptions which are so faithful to reality, he demonstrated insofar as he could a genuine shyness and restraint, necessarily concealed in the hearts of small-town Jews, for a wall was erected between them and the green earth.  The love for animals was a compensation for them and a reward for what was taken from them in the narrow alleys.

E. Ben-Ezra had the following say:

Not only did he see the shtetl with loving eyes, not only did he see the people—the Jews as well as the gentiles—but also the mute creatures, the fields, the cows, the chickens, the dogs.  He described them realistically, not like Mendele for whom the field “spoke” and “thought” like a Jew….  Oftentimes, it would appear as though there was no difference for him between man and animal (“Sheora”), between a young colt, which has lost its mother at a terribly young age, and a Jewish child who been orphaned (“Der yosem” [The orphan])….  Stavi fell in love with the land of Israel….  He performed all sorts of work, as a simple hard-working farmer, a guard, and lastly a proprietor for himself.  He labored with an Arab fellah, learned his ways of life, and Stavi showed us the Arab village, his tents in the world of Oriental fantasy (“Hakefar haaravi” [The Arab village])….  He was enthused but he restrained his enthusiasm, he controlled it.  And very rarely he would lose his temper, and the reader just like him—would warm up to the point of becoming furious with the same fire as Stavi.  One of the most beautiful pearls in Stavi’s crown is his A tikhel (A kerchief).  This is a paean to a Jewish kerchief which was used for various Jewish ends.  Stavi sees in this kerchief no ordinary, everyday garment, for good deeds are done with this kerchief, such as: collecting alms, concluding an agreement, performing a kosher dance, and one sings to the kerchief—and we along with him.”



Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2, with a bibliography; Bal-Makhshoves, in Di tsukunft (New York) (1913), pp. 499ff; Shmuel Niger, in Undzer shul (New York) (October 1931), pp. 7-11; M. Natish, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (December 4, 1931); Dr. Y. Rubin, in Literarishe Bleter (November 10, 1933); Sefer haishim (Biographical dictionary) (Tel Aviv, 1937), p. 318; Dr. A. A. Roback, The Story of Yiddish Literature (New York, 1940), pp. 243, 244; Y. Rapoport, Mesefarim ivrim (Of Hebrew writings) (Tel Aviv, 1956), p. 307; Elkhonen Tsaytlin, In a literarisher shtub (In a literary home) (Buenos Aires, 1946), pp. 120, 121, 126; Aharon Ben-Or, Toldot hasifrut haivrit haadasha (History of modern Hebrew literature), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv, 1950); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah lealutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950), pp. 1713-14; aim Toren and Marcus Rabinson, Sifrutenu hayafa (Our beautiful literature), vol. 1 (Jerusalem, 1953), pp. 190-98; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vols. 1 and 3 (Montreal, 1945 and 1958); Ravitsh, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (September 23, 1964); Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (Octoer 14, 1955); Y. Likhtnboym, Hasipur haivri (The Hebrew story) (Tel Aviv, 1955); Likhtnboym, Tekuma (Rebirth) (Tel Aviv, 1958), p. 60; Likhtnboym, in Brisk delita (Brest, Lithuania) (Jerusalem-Tel Aviv, 1954/1955), see index; Rokhl Oyerbakh, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (Siven 1 [= May 31], 1957); Y. Fikhman, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 28 (1957); Fikhman, in Unzer vort (Paris) 230 [3201] (1957); B. Y. Mikhali, in Di goldene keyt 28 (1957); Avraham Shaanan, Milon hasifrut haadasha haivrit vehakelalit (Dictionary of modern Hebrew and general literature) (Tel Aviv, 1959), pp. 569-70; Y. Mentser, in Leshonenu (Jerusalem) (Nisan [= April-May] 1959), pp. 197-99; Yankev Pat, in Di tsukunft (January 1959); Pat, Shmuesn mit shrayber in yisroel (Conversations with writers in Israel) (New York, 1960); A. Lis, Heym un doyer, vegn shrayber un verk (Home and duration, on writers and work) (Tel Aviv: Y. L. Perets Library, 1960), pp. 206-14; D. Ben-Naḥum, in Al hamishmar (Tel Aviv) (July 7, 1961; March 27, 1964); Yom-Tov Levinski, in Haarets (Tel Aviv) (November 10, 1961); M. Vaykhert, Varshe (Warsaw) (Tel Aviv, 1961), see index; Y. Yakobovits, in Hadoar (New York) (Kislev 9 [= November 28], 1960); Yoanan Tverski, in Hapoal hatsair (Tel Aviv) (July 7, 1964); Dr. N. B. Sarver, in Idishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (July 10, 1964); Arye Strizhinski, in Hapoal hatsair (July 21, 1964); E. Ben-Ezra, in Hadoar (Av 15 [= July 24], 1964); Ben-Ezra, in Forverts (New York) (July 26, 1964); Al. Safra, in Yediot aaranot (Tel Aviv) (Av 22 [= July 31], 1964); Sh. Zayen, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (August 8, 1964); . Lif, in Bitsaron (New York) (Tishre-eshvan [= September-November] 1964); contents to Di goldene keyt 50 (1964).
Yankev Birnboym


Tuesday 20 March 2018

MESHULEM SURKIN


MESHULEM SURKIN (December 21, 1899-April 26, 1976)
            He was born in Behomet, Bukovina.  He was a journalist and theater enthusiast.  He studied in religious elementary school and yeshiva.  As a youth he moved to Czernowitz.  From 1920 he performed in drama circles and directed.  During WWII he lived in Tashkent.  In 1945 he returned to Czernowitz, and in 1972 he made aliya to Israel.  In the 1930s he began writing theater reviews and polemical articles in: Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz pages), Vilner tog (Vilna day), Di frayhayt (Freedom), Folks-shtime (Voice of the people) in Warsaw, Naye prese (New press) in Paris, Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture) in New York, Yisroel shtime (Voice of Israel), and Folksblat (People’s news) in Tel Aviv, among others.  In his memory was published the anthology Mesholem surkin, (Meshulem Surkin), edited by Y. Rudnitski (Tel Aviv, 1978).  He died in Bnei-Brak, Israel.
Ruvn Goldberg

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 402.


GERSHON STAVSKI


GERSHON STAVSKI
            He was born in or near Bendin (Będzin).  He was a regular contributor to the Zaglembyer tsaytung (Zagłębie newspaper).  He wrote about N. Sokolov, Ḥ. N. Bialik, and other great Jewish writers.  He was active in the Zionist movement.  In 1936 he published in Zaglembyer tsaytung a monograph entitled “Zikhroynes fun di ershte tsienistn in zaglembye” (Memories of the first Zionists from Zagłębie).  According to various sources, the Germans shot him in the first days of their occupation of the Bendin region during WWII.

Sources: “Hotsaat irgun yotsei bendin beyisrael” (Organization of those from Bendin in Israel), in Pinkas bendin (Records of Bendin) (Tel Aviv, 1959), see index.


YANKEV-BETSALEL STODOLSKI (JACOB STODOLSKY)


YANKEV-BETSALEL STODOLSKI (JACOB STODOLSKY) (March 17, 1890-January 20, 1962)
            He was born in Parisov, Shedlets (Siedlce) district, Poland, into a poor and very devout home.  He received a traditional Jewish education, although early on he began reading secular books.  Because of his fervent quarrels with his Hassidic father, he left for Warsaw when still quite young, and there worked in a filthy factory; he developed class consciousness at a young age and organized strikes.  It was there as well that he exchanged blows with someone.  Later, when he was a soldier in the Russian army, his friends dressed him in civilian clothes and smuggled him into Lemberg.  Stodolski did anarchist work there and even created there a small anarchist group in his name.  His ideological comrades called him: “Prince Stodolski”—an allusion to the great anarchist, Prince Kropotkin.  From Lemberg he traveled to Paris, and he was active there as well in the anarchist movement.  He mastered French so as to be able to read French poetry, and in the course of time absorbed the Parisian mood and became a fervent lover of French culture.  In 1912 he came to the United States still full of anarchist ideas, but under the influence of Dr. Chaim Zhitlovsky, he became a Jewish nationalist.  In New York he was a partner in the publisher “Grohar-Stodolski” and later, several years before his death, he was the owner of a Yiddish book company on the Lower East Side of New York.  He began writing poetry in Paris and debuted in print with Parizer nokturn (Parian nocturne) in a German translation in the German-language journal Neue Menschen (New people).  In 1919, when he was already in the United States, he joined the Inzikh (Introspectivist) group and contributed to their publications, such as: the journal Inzikh, the anthology In zikh (a collection of introspective poetry, published in 1920), the journal Kern (Nucleus), and other periodicals.  He was one of the Introspectivists who battled the group “Di yunge” (The young ones)—including Mani Leib, Moyshe-leyb Halpern, Zishe Landau, Ruvn Ayzland (Ruben Iceland), and Dovid Ignatov, among others.  In 1944 he published (together with Meynke Kats and William Abrams) the journal Mir (We)—three issues appeared.  Over the course of years, he was a member of the editorial board of Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper).  He also published the journal Undzer horizont (Our horizon), which ceased publication several times and then returned to print, once Stodolski saved up a little more money.  Two years before his death, he again revived the journal and brought out four issues, the fifth—after a long break—appeared in December 1961.  Much of the journal was filled with his own poetry, of a mostly extreme modernist style.  In book form, he published: Irlikht (Jack-o’-lantern), poetry (New York: Gov, 1933), 128 pp.; Likht far di lodns (Light by the shutters), poetry (New York: Biderman, 1938), 34 pp.; D”r khayeim zhitlovski (Dr. Chaim Zhitlovsky), a poem (New York, 1941), 45 pp.  He died in New York.
            “Over Stodolski’s better poems,” wrote Yankev Glatshteyn, “shines the sun of the accumulated merit of our ancestors.  This is the way back the fighting Jew of Kotsk, of Ger, of Makov, whose sun through all the lost lights became the poet Yankev Stodolski, who has left behind an unassuming legacy of fine lyrical poetry.”  “Stodolski’s endeavor, his pains in carving out a poetic idea,” noted N. B. Minkov, “he created alone, but not sedately, a poem, a style, but an intense poem which carried with it all the signs of an entreaty, a prayer.”

Sources: N. B. Minkov, in Bodn (New York) (Summer 1934); Sh. Tenenboym, in Nyu yorker vokhnblat (New York) (March 15, 1940); Tenenboym, in Di shtime (Mexico City) (February 28, 1942); A. Leyeles, in Inzikh (New York) 54 (April 1940); Leyeles, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (January 3, 1962); Moyshe Shtarkman, ed., Hamshekh-antologye (Hamshekh anthology) (New York, 1945), pp. 104-9, with a bibliography; Mikhl Likht, Af di randn (At the margins) (Buenos Aires, 1956), pp. 8, 53, 58; Der Lebediker, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (December 15, 1957); A. Potovro, in Undzer horizont (New York) (December 1961); A. Goldberg, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York) (February 1962); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (March 25, 1962); Glatshteyn, Mit mayne fartog-bikher (With my daybreak books) (Tel Aviv, 1963), pp. 511-17.
Leyb Vaserman