YANKEV (JACOB) PAT (July 19, 1890-April 25, 1966)
The father of Emanuel Pat, he was
born in Bialystok, Poland, into a working class family. He studied until age fourteen—first in
religious elementary school and later in the Musar yeshivas of Slobodka and
Slutsk. He acquired a reputation as a
prodigy. Under the influence of the
revolutionary movement, he forsook “Derekh hayashar” (The path of
righteousness), left the yeshiva, and returned to his hometown of Bialystok
where he became a laborer. For a time he
worked in spinning. He read irreligious
books, thoroughly learned the books that people were reading in schools, and
then successfully passed the examinations for high school as an external
student. In 1905 he joined a group of
Labor Zionists and then moved on to the Zionist Socialist Party. A born speaker to the masses, the stunning
political events in Russia brought forth in him the prayed-for, people’s
tribune. He traveled through the cities
of Poland and “spoke”: at workers’ assemblies, at picnics in the woods, at the
lectern in the synagogue study hall. He
became the alarm, the summoner, and the leader of the Bontshe Shvaygs.[1] He was arrested and thrown in Tsarist jails
on several occasions. At the time he
tied his personal fate to three main directions in Jewish life: the Jewish
labor movement, Yiddish literature, and Yiddish-language schools. From 1915 he was one of the creators of
schools and children’s homes run in Yiddish.
During WWI, while under German occupation, he established the first Yiddish
children’s home, later a Perets School (of which he was also director) in
Bialystok; he described this period of the establishment of Yiddish schools in
his book Di lererin ester (Teacher
Esther). He was selected in 1918 by the
United (socialist) Party as a council member on the Jewish community council of
Bialystok, and until 1919 he served as secretary. After the Russo-Polish war, he lived for a
short while in Vilna. He was active in
the realm of secular Jewish school curriculum, director of the Perets School,
secretary of the Vilna Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization), and its
delegate to the first Jewish school conference.
Over the years 1922-1938, he lived in Warsaw. He was one of the main leaders of Tsisho and
secretary of its executive committee.
From the early 1920s until his death, he was a member of the Bund, in
which he assumed leading positions on its central committee and its other
institutions. He represented the Bund at
the presidium of the Warsaw Jewish community council, at the literary
association, and elsewhere. In 1925 he
visited the land of Israel and Western Europe, and in 1935 the Soviet
Union—which he described in his book A
rayze (A voyage), which the Polish censor confiscated. He served on Tsisho missions to the United
States, administering a campaign through America and Canada. The last time he came to the United States
was in 1938 as a member of a delegation of the Jewish labor movement. Due to the outbreak of war, he remained in
New York. He and the other members of
the same delegation joined the Jewish Labor Committee in New York in 1941. Until 1963 Pat was the general secretary of
this institution. In his new position,
Pat earned great merit in his campaign to rescue Jewish community leaders,
personalities, and labor leaders from Nazi-occupied Europe to safe terrain,
mainly in the United States. He helped
in the struggle for the state of Israel through the organization of the United
Nations. Through all these years, he
worked in and for Yiddish schools: he was a teacher in the middle school of the
Workmen’s Circle, and he wrote and edited publications for the Workmen’s
Circle; and he was a member of the Workmen’s Circle’s Education Committee. He published a series of articles about
Jewish children in the ghettos and prepared the texts for dramatic
productions. In 1945 he was among the
first Jewish community leaders to visit liberated Poland and the camps of the
survivors in Germany. He gave speeches
in Western Europe, Israel, South America, and Australia. A speaker before masses with a deep ethnic
sensibility, his appearances encouraged a new Jewish cultural continuity after
the recent destruction in Poland. In
1948, as a founder and principal leader of the international Jewish culture
conference which created the Jewish Culture Congress, he served as chairman of its
administrative committee until his death.
He was among the main initiators of the Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur (Biographical dictionary
of modern Yiddish literature) and of the volumes “Yidn” (Jews) for the Yiddish
encyclopedia. He began writing with
stories in Hebrew in 1905 and debuted in print in Hatsfira (The siren) in Warsaw in 1907 and with stories for
children in Hashaḥar
(The morning) in Warsaw the same year.
He then switched entirely to Yiddish and became one of the builders and
establishers of Yiddish literature. He
published hundreds of stories, children’s tales, articles, dramas, novels,
children’s plays, travel narratives, polemics, literary criticism, essays,
feature pieces, journalistic essays, and textbooks, among other works, in
virtually all of the Yiddish periodical publications throughout the world. His critical articles in Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) and other periodicals always
aroused heated debates. He contributed
work to: Romantsaytung (Fiction
newspaper), Eyropeishe literatur
(European literature), Teater velt
(Theater world), Unzer lebn (Our
life), the anthology Naye tsayt (New
times), and Fraynd (Friend), among
others. For a time he served as the Bialystok
correspondent to Haynt (Today) in
Warsaw. He was a member of the editorial
board of party publications of the Zionist socialists in Poland; Der veg (The path) and Unzer veg (Our way) (Vilna-Warsaw,
1907-1919); and over the years 1921-1939, an editorial board member and later a
member of the management committee of Naye
folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper).
He was also on the editorial boards of: Foroys (Onward), Vokhnshrift
far literatur (Weekly writing for literature), Bikher-velt (Book world), Shul-vegn
(School ways), and Di naye shul (The
new school). Over the years 1926-1938,
he edited Kleyne folkstaytung (Little
people’s newspaper) in Warsaw, while also contributing to: Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), Varshever almanakh (Warsaw almanac), Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm), Kegn
shtrom (Against the current), and Unzer
tsayt, among other serials, in Warsaw; and Vilner tog (Vilna day), Grininke
beymelekh (Little green trees), and Der
khaver (The friend) of which he was also co-editor, in Vilna. For years he wrote correspondence pieces for:
Frayhayt (Freedom), Forverts (Forward), and Di prese (The press). In 1922 he published a novel of war and
revolution in Frayhayt in New York,
and in 1926 he received for his story “A tsuzamenshtoys” (A crash) first prize
in a literary competition run by Tog
(Day) in New York. In 1948 he won first
prize in a literary contest run by Tsukunft
(Future) for his story “In di berg fun saskatshevan” (In the mountains of
Saskatchewan). From 1938 he was placing
work in: Forverts, Der veker (The alarm), Tsukunft (also its co-editor), Unzer tsayt, and Faktn un meynungen (Facts and opinions), among other serials in New
York. He contributed to: Lerer yizker-bukh (Remembrance volume
for teachers) (New York, 1954) and Almanakh
yidish (Almanac of Yiddish) (New York, 1961); and he edited four volumes of
Fun noentn over (From the recent
past) (New York, 1955-1958). For many
years he was a contributor to: Di prese
in Buenos Aires and Unzer shtime (Our
voice) in {Paris. He published as well
in: Di goldene keyt (The golden
chain), Heymish (Familiar), Lebns-fragn (Life issues), and Letste nayes (Latest news), among other
serials, in Tel Aviv. Portions of his
writings appeared in a variety of Yiddish textbooks and were used in the
Yiddish schools throughout the world.
His published books would include: Ertsehlungen (Stories) (Warsaw: Progres,
1910), 100 pp.; Moyshe (Moses)
(Bialystok, 1918; Warsaw, 1920), 93 pp., Yerikhe
(Jericho) (Bialystok, 1918), 17 pp., Gideon
(Gideon) (Bialystok, 1920), 22 pp., Yiftokh
(Yiftaḥ)
(Bialystok, 1920), 16 pp., Shimshn
(Samson) (Bialystok, 1920), 29 pp.—all published together as: Moyshe, shimshn, yiftokh, gideon, yerikhe,
dertseylt far kinder (Moses, Samson, Yiftaḥ, Gideon, Jericho, recounted for children)
(Bialystok: Dos bukh, 1920)—A krants
blumen (A wreath of flowers), a history, description and images from life
of the new Yiddish schools (Warsaw, 1920), 144 pp.; Far di kleyne kindersvegn (For the ways of little children),
twenty-five miniature stories, originals and adaptations on the motifs of
Werfel, Tagore, the brothers Grimm, Tolstoy, and others (Warsaw, 1921), 93
pp. He published a series of children’s
stories: Bay der shney malke (The
snow queen), Bay der stolyer (The
carpenter), Der frumer noged un der
erlekher shames (The devout rich man and the virtuous synagogue beadle), Der rov un der leyb (The rabbi and the
lion), Er iz avek (He’s gone), An alte mayse (An old tale), In shenstn yonteg (On a beautiful
holiday), and In der liber kolonye
(In the beloved colony) (Bialystok and Warsaw, 1918-1921), between 16 to 40 pp.
each; Shloymeles kholem, kinder-opere in
dray bilder (Little Shloyme’s dream, a children’s opera in three scenes)
(Vilna, 1921), 29 pp.; Tsum vaytn land,
kinder-shpil in tsvey aktn (To a distant land, a children’s play in two
acts) (Vilna, 1921), 18 pp.; Leyenen un
shraybn far kleyninke kinder (Reading and writings for little children), a
short textbook for teaching Yiddish (Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1923), 8 pp.; Leyenen un shraybn in ershtn lernyor,
metodishe onvayzungen (Reading and writing in the first school year,
methodical instructions), a short textbook (Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1923), 19 pp.;
Mayn yidish bukh (My Yiddish book),
written with Kh. Sh. Kazdan, a reader for the second and third school years,
including his adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson
Crusoe (Warsaw: Kultur-lige, 1925), 196 pp.; Keyn amerike, geshikhten vegen di vos vandern (To America, stories
of those who roamed there) (Warsaw: A. Gitlin, 1920), 118 pp.; three volumes of
Bundistn (Bundists), silhouettes and
images of popular Jewish revolutionaries, vol. 1 with a foreword by Noyekh
Portnoy (Warsaw, 1926), 127 pp., vol. 2, Af
kidesh hashem (Martyrdom) (Warsaw, 1928), 174 pp.;
Af di vegn fun baginen (On the roads of
dawn) (Warsaw, 1930), 319 pp.; Mayn
yidish bikhl, leyenen un shraybn far der ershter opteylung (My little
Yiddish book, reading and writing for the first division) (Warsaw, 1928), 79
pp.; Hirsh lekert, tsum finf un
tsvantsiktn yortsayt fun zayn martire toyt, loyt di materyaln fun bundishn
arkhiv (Hirsh Lekert, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the martyr’s
death, according to materials in the Bund’s archives) (Warsaw, 1927), 48 pp.; Iber nakht groy gevorn, vegn beynish
mikhalevitsh (Turning gray overnight, on Beynish Mikhalevitsh) (Vilna,
1929), 8 pp.; A rayze (Warsaw, 1936),
318 pp., earlier published serially in Folkstsaytung
(October 1935-April 1936); Beynish mikhalevitsh,
a biografye (Beynish Mikhalevitsh, a biography) (New York, 1941), 55 pp.; Ash un fayer, iber di khurves fun poyln
(Ash and fire, on the ruins of Poland) (New York, 1946), 391 pp., written
during a visit to the former towns of Jewish residence—Warsaw, Lodz, Bialystok,
and elsewhere and in the death camps of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and elsewhere,
evoking the senses and moods of the remaining, surviving Jews in Poland, also
in English—Henekh, a yidish kind vos is
aroys fun geto (Henekh, a Jewish child who gets out of the ghetto) (Buenos
Aires, 1948), 159 pp.; Shmuesn mit
yidishe shrayber (Conversations with Yiddish
writers) (New York, 1954), 290 pp., “recording for all time the thoughts and
opinions of great Yiddish writers in America concerning existence and continuity
and concerning Yiddish culture and literature of our time,” Hebrew translation
by Shimshon Meltser as Siḥot im sofrim yehudiim (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1959), 294 pp.; Di lererin ester (Buenos Aires, 1956),
472 pp., on the emergence of the struggle for Yiddish schools in Poland—“Esther”
is the prototype drawn from his own sister; Shmuesn mit shrayber in yisroel (Conversations with writers in Israel) (New York,
1960), 277 pp.; Khaneke, di tokhter
fun der lererin sheyne (Little Hannah, the daughter of teacher Sheyne), the
final chapter of Di lererin ester (Buenos
Aires: Yidbukh, 1964), 120 pp., in which is described the pain and fortitude of
Jewish children in the ghettos, their stories between life and death over the
years 1939-1943 in Poland. Of his
dramatic work, the following were staged: Laydn
un shafn (Suffering and creating), directed by Mark Ornshteyn (Bialystok,
1907); In goldn land (In the golden
land), popular play in three acts, directed by Zigmunt Turkov (Warsaw,
1926). He also published under such pen
names as: Y. Vilner, Vili, Yavi, Y. P., Y. V., and A”A. He died in New York.
“Pious people,” wrote Ab. Cahan, “cannot
speak about what is holy without a certain melody. Pat does not write ‘on sheet music’; he writes
completely naturally, but in the naturalness itself lies a certain something
that makes you feel like his pen would speak with some sort of tune or accent
which you cannot determine. Inasmuch as
this all comes from deep in his heart, the reader senses it instinctively.”
“Literature is for Yankev Pat,”
noted Shaye Shpigl, “only the frame for that wordless melody that is searching
first for its embodiment in life. He carries
in himself, as a writer, not only the fine flame of creativity. In it ceaselessly glows the fire of tangible
deeda, of the fight and the struggle for something pure, exalted, sanctified.
“There is in Yankev Pat’s simple
writing—I have in mind his prose works—a rare feature: the trait of great
compassion, of mercy for men. Something like
(in a certain sense) the warm simplicity of Dickens’s humanism. There is also in Yankev Pat’s descriptions
something of our own, familiar Yankev Dinenzon’s Jewish sorrow. Two Jacobs wrestling hard with angels from heaven,
while their heads rest on hard, rough stone.
“The authenticity of Yankev Pat’s
creations, you will find in their full artistic expression and justification in
the moral heroism of the ages. Yankev
Pat located the sources of this authenticity in the struggle of generations of
Judaism, the Judaism that created the psyche of the secular Jew.”
Sources:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2, with
a bibliography; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish
theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959), with a bibliography; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Lodzher veker (Lodz) (May 15, 1927); Fuks,
in Der veker (New York) (October 1,
1960); Dr. A. Mukdoni, in Morgn-zhurnal
(New York) (May 22, 1935; March 30, 1947); Ab. Cahan, in Forverts (New York) (February 21, 1947); Dr. Y. Kisman, in Der veker (February 25, 1947); H.
Abramovitsh, in Fraye arbeter-shtime
(New York) (May 1947); Meylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder
odler (Montreal) (June 23, 1947); Ravitsh, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 22 (1955); Ravitsh, in Tsukunft (New York) (July 1960); A. M.
Fuks, in Di tsayt (London) (July 20,
1947); A. Sh. Hershberg, in Pinkes
byalistok (New York) 1 (1949) and 2 (1950), see index; Nakhmen Mayzil, Geven amol a lebn, dos yidishe
kultur-lebn in poyln tsvishn beyde velt-milkhomes (There was once a life, Jewish cultural life in Poland
between the two world wars) (Buenos Aires, 1951); Y. Freylikh, in Unzer veg (New York) (June 1954); Itsik
Manger, in Der veker (March 1, 1955);
A. Leyeles, in Tog (New York) (May
14, 1955; May 4, 1966); Leyeles, Velt un
vort, literarishe un andere eseyen (World and word, literary and other
essays) (New York, 1958); M. Osherovitsh, in Forverts (May 15, 1955); Shmuel Niger, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (July 10, 1955); Dr. E. Pat, in Tsukunft (November 1955); Elye (Elias)
Shulman, in Der veker (September 1,
1955); Pinkhes Shvarts, in Fun noentn
over (New York) 2 (1956), p. 427; M. Grosman, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), p. 42; Grosman, in Heymish (Tel Aviv) (June 1961); A. Zak,
in Tsukunft (September 1955); Zak, In onheyb fun a friling, kapitlekh
zikhroynes (At the start of spring, chapters of memoirs) (Buenos Aires:
Farband fun poylishe yidn, 1962), see index; Zak, in Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (May 15, 1966); B. Shefner, Novolipye 7, zikhroynes un eseyen
(Nowolipie 7, memoirs and essays) (Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 77; Shloyme Bikl, in
Tsukunft (July-August 1955); Bikl, in
Tog-morgn-zhurnal (June 23, 1957;
March 13, 1960); M. Bernshteyn, in Der
veker (May 1, 1956); Hillel Rogof, in Forverts
(August 12, 19556); Nakhmen Blumental, in Di
goldene keyt 24 (1957); Sh. D. Zinger, Dikhter un prozaiker (Poet and prose writer) (New York, 1959), pp.
313-17; Mortkhe Yofe, in Der veg
(Mexico City) (September 26, 1959); Yankev Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence), vol. 2 (Buenos Aires, 1960), pp.
209-14; Glatshetyn, Mit mayne fartogbikher
(With my journals) (Tel Aviv: Peretz Publ., 1963), pp. 39-43; Yehoshua Gilboa,
in Maariv (Tel Aviv) (Tevet 1 [= January
1], 1960); P. Shteynvaks, in Amerikaner
(New York) (March 4, 1960); D. Naymark, in Forverts
(March 20, 1960); Yankev Botoshanski, in Di
prese (Buenos Aires) (May 20, 1960); Sol Liptzin, in Jewish Bookland (New York) (May 1960); Aba Gordin, in Di goldene keyt 39 (1961); Mikhl
Vaykhert, Varshe (Warsaw) (Tel Aviv,
1961), see index; Solomon Kahan, Literarishe un zhurnalistishe
fartsaykhenungen
(Literary and journalistic notes) (Mexico City, 1961), pp. 125-26; Y. Emyot, in
Keneder odler (September 13, 1962); Y.
Gar and F. Fridman, Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn
un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and
heroism) (New York, 1962), see index; B. Pik, in Di prese (January 14, 1965); Y. Mlotek, in Tsukunft (July-August 1965); Y. Shmulevitsh, in Forverts (April 28, 1966); A. V. Yasni,
in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (May 5,
1966); Mendl Man, in Unzer vort
(Paris) (May 14, 1966); F. L. Goldman, in Unzer
veg (May 1966); Moyshe Krishtol, in Tsukunft
(May-June 1966); Dr. Shmuel Margoshes, in Tog
(July 16, 1966); Y. Rotenberg, in Foroys
(Mexico City) (June 1966); Yitskhok Kahan, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Junly 15, 1966); Khayim Bez, in Kultur un dertsiung (New York)
(September 1966); Y. Yeshurin, 100 yor
moderne yidishe literatur, biblyografisher tsushteyer (100 years of modern
Yiddish literature, bibliographical contribution) (New York, 1966), see index; In gerangl, yankev pat un zayn dor (In
the struggle: Yankev Pat and his generation) (New York, 1971), xii and 639 pp.
Khayim Leyb Fuks
[Additional
information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon
fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New
York, 1986), col. 423.]
[1] Translator’s note. This is a reference to the story
of the same name (meaning: Bontshe the Silent) by Y. L. Perets about a
thoroughly downtrodden worker who is utterly unconscious of just how subjugated
he truly is. (JAF)
