AVROM PAT

AVROM PAT (b. August 18, 1903)

            He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He attended religious elementary school, yeshiva, and a commercial school.  In 1920 he immigrated to Chicago where he graduated from middle school and the Jewish teachers’ seminary.  He worked as a Yiddish teacher in Chicago, Boston, and Paterson.  He began writing in his youth and debuted in print with an essay in Oyfsnay (Afresh) in New York in 1954.  He went on to publish poetry, stories, and essays on Yiddish and American poetry for Oyfsnay (1954-1960), among them a long piece on H. Leivick.  He also published in: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Der veg (The path) in Mexico City; Americaner (American), and Unzer horizont (Our horizon) in New York.  In book form: Likht un shotn (Light and shadow), essays (New York, 1967), 167 pp.

Sources: Der Lebediker, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (June 12, 1955); Berl Boym, in Oyfnay (New York) (1958).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

WILLIAM POKHOTSKI

WILLIAM POKHOTSKI (May 23, 1881-August 1, 1945)

            He was born in Tomsk, Siberia; his father, from Suwalk, was deported there for taking part in the Polish Uprising of 1863.  In 1896 he returned with his family to Suwalk.  In Poland William Pokhotski joined the revolutionary movement and became a member of the Bund.  He wrote revolutionary poems in Russian.  He was arrested in Suwalk and in Warsaw.  In 1905 he made his way to the United States and there contributed to the Jewish trade union and socialist movement.  His journalistic activities in Yiddish began in Tsaytgayst (Spirit of the times) in New York (1908) with articles on labor issues.  He also penned stories and feature pieces for a variety of periodicals, among them: Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor), Tsukunft (Future), and Vokhntsaytung (Weekly newspaper) in New York.  He published and edited Lustige bleter (Joyous pages) in New York.  From 1915 he was regular contributor to Morgn zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York (later, the labor editor).  He mainly wrote news and articles on industry problems and labor issues, from time to time also sketches and features, occasionally under the pen name Graf Pototski.  He Americanized his name to William Post.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Tsukunft (New York) (September 1945); Hadoar (New York) (August 10, 1945); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Hadoar (May 23, 1949); Harry L. Schneiderman, in Jewish Book Annual V (1946-1947), p. 103.

Yankev Kahan

RIFOEL POZNER (RAPHAEL POSNER)

RIFOEL POZNER (RAPHAEL POSNER) (b. February 25, 1897)

            He was born in Lutomiersk, near Lodz.  He was raised in Lodz.  During WWI he went to work in Germany.  Afterward he immigrated to North America.  He lived in Cuba and Mexico, and from 1926 in various cities in the United States; from 1947 he was in Los Angeles.  He debuted in print in 1927 in Frayhayt (Freedom) in New York, later contributing to: Signal (Signal) and Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture) in New York; and Landsmanshaftn (Native-place associations) in Buenos Aires.  In book form: A mentsh in veg (A man on the road), memoirs (New York: IKUF, 1954), 281 pp.; Heym un velt (Home and world), fiction and essays (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1966), 360 pp.; Vegn felker un lender (On peoples and countries) (Los Angeles: Bukh-komitet, 1971), 235 pp.  He was last living in Los Angeles.

Source: Y. Mestl, in Yidishe kultur (New York) (May 1954).

Leyb Vaserman

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 423.]

SOLOMON POZNER

SOLOMON POZNER (1876-1945)

            He was born in Minsk, Byelorussia.  He was a well-known historian and biographer.  Until 1903 he lived in St. Petersburg, thereafter in Paris.  He placed work in Novyi voskhod (New sunrise) in St. Petersburg, and later in French historical periodicals.  In Yiddish he published important historical works in: Tsukunft (Future) in New York (starting in 1925); and Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) and Historishe shriftn (Historical writings)—both in Vilna.  He also contributed to the Yiddish-language Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia) in Paris.  His biographical monograph on Adolphe Crémieux elicited numerous responses in Jewish historical research.  During the Nazi occupation of France, he hid out in Nîmes.

Sources: Sh. Dubnov, in Yivo bleter (Vilna) 8.1 (1935); M. Weinreich, in Forverts (New York) (January 13, 1935); Russian Jewry, 1860-1917 (New York, 1966), pp. 265, 274.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

NOKHUM POZNER

NOKHUM POZNER (March 3, 1882-October 25, 1961)

            He was born in Starosel’ye, near Shklov (Szkłów), Byelorussia.  He attended religious elementary school and later yeshiva and studied secular subject matter with a private tutor.  In 1905 he came to the United States, where he studied and graduated as a dentist.  He debuted in print in 1929 in Vokh (Week).  He went on to contribute to: Studyo (Studio), Tsuzamen (Together), Oyfkum (Arise), Yidish (Yiddish), Inzikh (Introspective), Kinder zhurnal (Children’s magazine), Yidish lebn (Jewish life), and Vokh, among others, in New York.  In book form: Lider un poemes (Poetry) (Mexico City, 1949), 186 pp., second edition (Mexico City, 1952).  He died in Brooklyn, New York.

Source: Moyshe Shtarkman, in Hamshekh anthology (New York, 1945).

Benyomen Elis

YEKHIEL-MEYER POZNER (MEYER POSNER)

YEKHIEL-MEYER POZNER (MEYER POSNER) (November 6, 1890-February 8, 1931)

            He was born in Plotsk (Płock), Poland.  At six years of age, he moved with his parents to Lodz, where he studied with the local rabbi.  At fifteen he immigrated with his parents to London, where he studied music with a private teacher.  At eighteen he became conductor at one of the large London synagogues.  In 1910 he composed music to M. Rozenfeld’s “Herbst-bleter” (Autumn leaves) and to the poems of Avrom Reyzen, Bovshover, Edelshtat, and others.  In 1914 he became conductor and director of the Rothschild Synagogue.  In the summer of 1919 he came to the United States where he became conductor of the choir at the Workmen’s Circle.  In March 1920 he arranged the first concert of Yiddish folksongs at Carnegie Hall.  He later became conductor of the Synagogue Choral Alliance and professor of music at the Master Institute of United Arts.  In 1925 he published in Der tog (The day) in New York a series of articles on Jewish music and in particular on the cantorial art.  In book form: Harmonye, teoretiker un pratisher muzik-lehrer (Harmony, theoretical and practical music teacher) (New York: Levant, 1924), 148 pp.; and Elementarer music-lerer, an ophandlung vegn muzik-teorye far onfanger (Elementary music teacher, a treatment of music theory for beginners) (New York: Harmonye, 1928), 157 pp.  He died suddenly of a heart attack in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959), pp. 1512-13; Kh. Ehrenraykh, in Forverts (New York) (January 28, 1927); S. Meidzher, in Forverts (October 20, 1929); V. Edlin, in Tog (New York) (April 3, 1930); Y. P. Kats, in Der fraynd (New York) (March-April 1931).

Leyb Vaserman

SHMUEL-AVROM POZNANSKI (SAMUEL ABRAHAM POZNAŃSKI)

SHMUEL-AVROM POZNANSKI (SAMUEL ABRAHAM POZNAŃSKI) (October 13, 1864-December 5, 1921)

            He was born in Lubraniec, near Włocławek, Poland.  He studied in Warsaw, Berlin, and Heidelberg where in 1895 he received his doctorate in philosophy for a work of research on Moshe Ibn Gikatila.  From 1897 he was the rabbi and preacher at Warsaw’s Great Synagogue.  He acquired great merit in the realm of Jewish studies in Poland.  He authored a number of scholar works in a variety of languages, primarily from the era of Geonim and on the Karaite movement.  In addition he published 784 articles in various encyclopedias and periodicals, including a small number in Hebrew in Hatsfira (The siren) (from 1889) and in Yiddish in Haynt (Today) and Dos idishe folk (The Jewish people) in Warsaw (1919, 1921).  He died in Warsaw.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Z. Tigel, Geshtaltn (Images) (New York, 1928), pp. 6-7, 19-34.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

KHAYIM LEYB POZNANSKI

KHAYIM LEYB POZNANSKI (June 3, 1879-autumn 1939)

            He was born in Kamenets-Podolsk, Ukraine.  He received a Jewish and a general education.  From his youth he was linked to the revolutionary workers’ movement in Russia.  From 1902 he was an active leader in the Bund.  In Kiev, Berdichev, Lodz, and other cities, he engaged in Bundist work.  From 1910 until his arrest, he was living in Lodz, where he was chairman of the union of commercial employees.  He founded the “school and popular education association.”  During WWI he established the first secular Jewish school in Lodz, and he served as both a teacher and director there.  He was a member of the presidium of Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization) in Poland.  His literary initiation was writing proclamations during the years of the first Russian Revolution.  He later became a contributor to: Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Vilna (1905-1906); Di tsayt (The times) in St. Petersburg; Lebns-fragn (Life issues) (1915-1919), Tsayt-fragn (Problems of the times), Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper), and Foroys (Onward) in Warsaw; and other Bundist publications.  He served as editor of Lodzher veker (Lodz alarm) (1921-1934).  In book form, he published: Memuarn fun a bundist (Memoirs of a Bundist) (Warsaw, 1938), 314 pp.  Among his pen names: -ron and Aba Ben Moyshe.  In the first days of September 1939, he was arrested by the Gestapo.  He was killed in an area of a glass factory in Radogoszcz, near Lodz. 

Sources: L. Berman, in Foroys (Warsaw) (June 10, 1938); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Tog (New York) (August 2, 1938); Shmuel Niger, Kidesh hashem (Sanctification of the name) (New York, 1947), pp. 304-6; F. Kurski, Gezamlte shriftn (Collected writings) (New York, 1952); Sh. Milman, in Doyres bundistn (Generations of Bundists), vol. 1 (New York, 1956), p. 431; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index; Menaḥem Poznanski, Demuyot melavot, sipurim (Compulsory figures, stories) (Tel Aviv, 1958); Kh. Sh. Kazdan, Mentshn fun gayst un mut (Men of spirit and courage) (Buenos Aires, 1962), pp. 367-89.

Khayim Leyb Fuls

KHAYKE POZNANSKI

KHAYKE POZNANSKI (b. ca. 1928)

            She came from Vilna.  She was in the Koshedar (Kaišiadorys) concentration camp.  Her poem “A mame” (A mother), which she would have written after the Germans murdered her mother, appears in Shmerke Katsherginski’s Lider fun di getos un lagern (Songs from the ghettos and camps) (New York, 1948).  She was killed by the Nazis.

Source: Shmerke Katsherginski, Lider fun di getos un lagern (Songs from the ghettos and camps) (New York, 1948), p. 255,

Benyomen Elis

ITSHE-MEYER POZNANSKI

ITSHE-MEYER POZNANSKI (1889-February 27, 1937)

            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  He served as director of a commercial school in Lodz.  In 1924 he left Poland and settled in Philadelphia.  There he directed the Jewish Zhitlovsky schools.  He was a journalist and storyteller.  He co-edited: Lodzer nakhrikhten (Lodz notices) in 1906; and Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper) over the period 1907-1924.  For a time he served as the Lodz correspondent for Haynt (Today) in Warsaw, Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York, and Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia.  He published a series of articles on pedagogy and education.  He died in an automobile collision on the way from Montreal to New York.

Sources: Di idishe velt (Philadelphia) (March 3, 1937); Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (March 11, 1937); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

(YISROEL-)ARYE POZI (ARNOLD POSY)

(YISROEL-)ARYE POZI (ARNOLD POSY) (March 21, 1893-January 29, 1986)

            He was born Yisroel-Arye Pozikov in the village of Tshigrinovke (Chigrinovka), Mohilev Province, Byelorussia.  He attended yeshiva and a technical school run by YIKO (Jewish Cultural Organization), and he passed the senior high school examinations as an external student.  In 1914 he immigrated to London and in 1920 to the United States.  He was a teacher in the Chicago Sholem-Aleichem schools and later ran a print shop in New York.  He was: co-editor of Idisher ekspres (Jewish express) in London; editor of Oyfbroyz (Spurt), a quarterly journal of literature, art, and cultural matters in Chicago (1928); and editor of the weekly Milvoker idishe shtime (Jewish voice of Milwaukee) (1930-1932).  He published correspondence pieces, articles, stories, dramas, and essays in: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Di tribune (The tribune) in Copenhagen; Grininke beymelekh (Little green trees) in Vilna; Unzer bukh (Our book), Di feder (The pen), Oyfkum (Arise), Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings), and Kinder zhurnal (Children’s magazine), among others, in New York; and Idisher ekspres in London.  In English he wrote for (and was editor, 1949-1950) of the monthly The Jewish Home and was editor from 1950 of American Jewish Life which appeared six times each year.  He also edited the Yiddish-English weekly Kosher butsher shtime (Voice of the Kosher butcher).  In book form: Di milkhome un yidn frage (The war and the Jewish problem), with a foreword by Y. M. Zalkind (London, 1916), 32 pp.; Der binshtok, a shpil in tsvey stsenes (The beehive, a play in two scenes) (Chicago: L. M. Shteyn, 1927), 36 pp., also translated into Russian; Shalit un tamare, roman (Shalit and Tamara, a novel) (Vilna: Goldbeyl, 1929), 248 pp.; Der oyfshtand fun di kinder, a shpil in finf bilder (The uprising of the children, a play in five scenes) (Vilna: Naye yidish folksshul, 1930), 28 pp.; Yoyesh, a shpil in zibn bilder (Yehoash, a play in seven scenes) (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1931), 160 pp.; Trukene beyner, a purim-shpil in eyn akt, fun di fir zin fun der hagode (Dry bones, a Purim play in one act, from the four sons of the Haggadah) (New York: Max Janowitz, 1932), 56 pp.; Haknkrayts, a drame in eyn un tsvantsik bilder un a forshpil (Swastika, a drama in twenty-one scenes with a prologue) (New York: Signal, 1935), 255 pp.; Yoysef, a dramatishe poeme in dray aktn mit a prolog (Joseph, a dramatic poem in three acts with a prologue) (Chicago: Tsheshinski, 1939), 199 pp.; Der nes, a folkstimlekhe geshikhte in eyn akt (The miracle, a people’s play in one act) (New York: Yidishe shriftn, 1943), 32 pp.; Baginen (Dawn) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1981), 335 pp.  He also published a number of pamphlets in English.  Among his pen names: A. Izraeli, Ben Mortkhe, Abu Menakhem, Y. A. Gingold, and Arnold Lazarev.  He died in Los Angeles, where he had been editor of the journal Kheshbn (The score).

Sources: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959), with a bibliography; Shmuel Niger, in Der tog (New York) (April 30, 1928; November 1, 1936); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York) (May 1928); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (March 11, 1931); Zalmen Reyzen, in Morgn zhurnal (New York) (October 5, 1931); P. Vyernik, in Morgn zhurnal (February 7, 1932); Z. Vaynper, in Oyfkum (New York) (November-December 1935); Herman Gold, in Byu-yorker vokhnbkat (New York) (January 3, 1936); A. Mukdoni, in Morgn zhurnal (January 24, 1936); L. Zhitnitski, in Di prese (April 1, 1936); D. Tsharni (Daniel Charney), in Khodesh byuletin fun alveltlekhn yidishn kultur farband (Paris) (March-April 1938); Kh. Liberman, Di shtime fun tol, zamlbukh fun briv un artiklen fun rabonim, shriftshteler, dikhter, kinstler, lerer, klal-tuer un mentshn fun folk vegn der idisher frage un der hayntiker tsayt, geshribn in shaykhes mitn bikhl “In tol fun toyt”, tsuzamengeshtelt mit bamerkungen fun khayim liberman (The voice of the valley, a collection of letters and articles from rabbis, writers, poets, artists, teachers, community leaders, and ordinary folks on the Jewish question and contemporary times, written in conjunction with the pamphlet In tol fun toyt, compiled with observations by Khayim Liberman) (New York, 1940), p. 105; Leye Mishkin, in Pinkes shikago (1951/1952).

Benyomen Elis

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 423, 548.]

PAULA R.

PAULA R. (September 1876-October 1941)

            The pen name of Perl Prilutski (Prylucki), wife of Noyekh Prylucki, she was born in Warsaw, into a well-to-do family.  She received an assimilated education, graduating from high school while at the same time studying music for two years in special courses offered at the Warsaw Conservatory.  After marrying her first husband, she ran a wide-open home and an artistic salon.  She befriended Ester-Rokhl Kaminska who would later appear in stage in a play written by her.  She began writing in 1904 in Polish, and under the influence of Noyekh Prylucki, whom she married in 1908, she switched to Yiddish and debuted in print with a poem in prose form entitled “Dos kvelekhl” (The little spring) in the literary supplement of Veg (Path) in Warsaw (spring 1906).  She went on to published several dozen poems and prose works there, sometimes in blank verse, and she also wrote poems, stories, dramas, and satires in: the anthology Goldene funken (Golden sparks), Moment (Moment), and other publications.  Her plays Di yerushe (The inheritance), Eyne fun yene (One of those), and Di trayhayt (Devotion) were produced in Warsaw, St. Petersburg, and New York.  Di yerushe was also performed in a Russian translation.  In book format: Trayhayt, a drama in one act (Warsaw), 28 pp.; Der malekh un der sotn, poeme (The angel and the devil, a poem) (Warsaw, 1908), 16 pp.; Dramen (Plays) (Warsaw: Nayer, 1912), 78 pp.; Dramen (Warsaw: Nayer, 1913), 17 pp.; Eyne fun yene, drame in fir aktn (One of them, a drama in four acts) (Warsaw: Nayer, 1914), 104 pp.  She translated In’m groysen tumel (In a great racket) by Aage Madelung (Warsaw: M. Gitlin, 1918), 188 pp.  When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, she and her husband escaped to Vilna.  She was later confined in the Vilna ghetto and was murdered at Ponar in October 1941.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959); Lilyen Aba (B. Rivkin), in Tsayt (New York) (December 16, 1921); Y. Entin, in Idishe poetn (Yiddish poets), part 1 (New York, 1927), p. 295; Ezra Korman, Yidishe dikhterins (Yiddish poetesses) (Chicago: L. M. Shteyn, pp. 59-61; E. Almi, in Poylishe yid, annual (New York, 1944); M. Balberishki, in Dos naye lebn (Warsaw) 9 (1945); Avrom Sutzkever, Fun vilner geto (From the Vilna ghetto) (Paris, 1946); “Yizker” (Remembrance), Yidishe shriftn (Lodz) (1946); Shmerke Katsherginski, in Tsukunft (New York) (September 1946); Katsherginski, Khurbn vilne (The destruction of Vilna) (New York, 1947), p. 204; B. Kutsher, Geven amol varshe (As Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955), see index; Dr. A. Mukdoni, In varshe un in lodzh (In Warsaw and in Lodz) (Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 235; Pinkes varshe (Buenos Aires) 1 (1955), p. 830.

Leyb Vaserman

ELIEZER PAVIR

ELIEZER PAVIR (d. ca. 1812)

            According to some sources, his surname was Paver or Favir.  He was born in Tarnopol, Galicia, and lived in Lemberg and Zholkiev (Żółkiew) where he worked as secretary for the Jewish community council.  He was a pioneer of popular literature in Yiddish in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.  He wrote in a pure, folkish, Hassidic Yiddish.  He wrote no original works himself, but he exerted considerable influence on his readers at the time through his Yiddish translations.  His Sefer sipure hapelaot, oder gerimte geshikhte (Tales of wonder, or illustrious history) (Żółkiew, 1801), 106 pp., which he in his own language “retold” as a version of the Old Yiddish Mayse-bukh (Story book), contains forty stories from the roughly 250 in the Mayse bukh, and it appeared in print in numerous copies in editions from Żółkiew, Józefów, Vilna, and Warsaw.  His reworking of the Jewish Enlightenment drama by the Mohilever Maggid (Khayim Avrom), Milḥama beshalom (War in peace), under the title Gdules yoysef (The grandeur of Joseph), was completed, according to the Hebrew preface, in on Tevet 18 [= January 9], 1795.  Pavir also authored a number of storybooks that he published anonymously and distributed in Galicia early in the Enlightenment movement.  His reworking of Beḥinat olam (Examination of the world) into Yiddish, based on Y. A. Auerbach’s translation (Sulzbach, 1744), possessed immense value and Yiddish-language riches—published under the title Safa berura (Clear language) together with the original in Żółkiew (1805).  He also translated into a popular Yiddish style Shivḥe baal-shem-tov (Praises for the Baal-Shem-Tov) (Lemberg- Żółkiew, 1812), and we know from the preface that he completed this work in 1811.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3 (under the name “Favir”); Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959), p. 2200, with a bibliography; Noyekh Prylucki, in Yivo-bleter (Vilna) 1 (1931), pp. 408-14; Dr. Y. Shatski, Arkhiv tsu der geshikhte fun yidishn teater un drame (Archive for the history of Yiddish theater and drama) (Vilna, 1930), pp. 151-58; A. Yeri, in Kiryat sefer (Jerusalem) 8 (1931), pp. 80-81; L. Zamet, in Yidishe shprakh (New York) 15.3 (December 1965).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

P. PAVIN

P. PAVIN

            He was a playwright and journalist, born in Poland.  He was a leather worker who took part in the illegal revolutionary movement.  In 1930 he departed for the Soviet Union.  He wrote journalistic articles and was the author of a one-act play, Farn toyer (For the goal), “dedicated to the thousands of revolutionaries languishing in Polish prisons” (Moscow: Emes, 1932), 16 pp.  Further information remains unknown.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 276-77.]

SHLOYME PAV

SHLOYME PAV (1911-summer 1943)

            He was born in Balut, the poor section of Lodz, Poland.  He graduated from a secular Jewish school and went on to work as a tailor.  In 1937 he was coopted onto the central committee of the socialist organization “Tsukunft” (Future) of the Youth Bund.  At the time of the Nazi occupation during the years of WWII, he left for Warsaw.  He was active in the underground resistance movement of the Warsaw Ghetto.  He published articles and poems in: Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm) in Warsaw; and Lodzher veker (Lodz alarm).  He was an editorial board member of the underground Yugnt-shtime (Voice of youth) in Warsaw.  He was killed during the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

Sources: B. Goldshteyn, Finf yor in varshever geto (Five years in the Warsaw Ghetto) (New York: Unzer tsayt, 1947); Unzer tsayt (New York) (November-December 1949); Yoysef Kermish, in Goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 27 (1957).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

LEYZER PODRYATSHIK (ELIEZER PODRIACHIK)

LEYZER PODRYATSHIK (ELIEZER PODRIACHIK) (September 23, 1914-April 10, 2000)

            He was a literary scholar, born in the village of Komerov, near Sekuren (Sokyryany), Bessarabia (now, Ukraine). He studied in religious elementary schools and yeshivas. He graduated from the Hebrew teachers’ seminary in Czernowitz. In the early 1930s he worked in a colony for school children together with Leyzer Shteynbarg; he was later a teacher in Jewish schools in Romania. His first works were articles and scholarly research pieces, published in Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz sheets)—among them, “Der historiker un folklorist fun di romenishe yidn” (The historian and folklorist among Romanian Jewry) about Moyshe Shvartsman; “Shoyel Ginzburg un di historyografye fun di yidn in rusland” (Saul Ginzburg and the historiography of Jews in Russia); and “Literatur un geshikhte” (Literature and history); as well as poems and critical treatments—and other serials. Over the war years 1941-1944, he lived as a refugee in Soviet Central Asia. Later, for a time he worked as pedagogical director in the Moscow Yiddish Theater Studio, where he gave lectures for students on the Yiddish language and Yiddish literature. He also wrote on literature for the newspaper Eynikeyt (Unity) in Moscow. From 1951 he was living in Riga, Latvia. He was regular contributor to Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland), from when it commenced publication in 1961, in which he had charge of the sections, “Notitsn afn kalendar” (Notes on the calendar) and “Notitsn fun a yidishn bukonist” (Notes from a Jewish second-hand bookseller) concerned with writers and works. From 1965 he published longer essays on the history of Yiddish literature and language. He also penned a preface and prepared to have published Der Nister’s unpublished manuscript Fun finftn yor (From the year 1905); the preface appeared in Sovetish heymland (January-February 1964); in Sovetish heymland 8 (1965), he published an important work entitled: “Tsu der frage vegn der geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur” (On a question concerning the history of Yiddish literature). In 1971 made aliya to the state of Israel, and from 1972 he was a lecturer on Yiddish literature at Tel Aviv University. He placed a major piece of scholarship on the writings of Yehuda-Leyb Gamzu in Pinkes far der forshung fun der yidisher literatur un prese (Records of research on Yiddish literature and the press) (New York, 1974) and annotations with bio-bibliographic lists to Gamzu’s Yetsirot genuzot (Concealed writings) (Tel Aviv, 1977). His books would include: Itsik manger, der dikhter vos iz dergangen fun gro biz blo (Itsik Manger, the poet who went from gray to blue) (Ramat-Gan: Biblus, 1977), 23 pp.; In profil fun tsaytn (In profile of the times) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1978), 354 pp.; Shmuesn mit andere un mit zikh, zikhroynes un rayoynes (Chats with others and with myself, memoirs and thoughts) (Tel Aviv: H. Leivick Publ., 1984), 247 pp.; Bilder fun der yidisher literatur (Images from Yiddish literature) (Tel Aviv: H. Leivick Publ., 1987), 121 pp.; Lid un tfile (Poem and prayer) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1989), 182 pp. He received the Manger Prize for 1984; and he was a member of the jury for the Hofshteyn Prize, and a recipient of it in 1989. Among his pen names: L. Dinesman, L. Yitskhaki, A. Basarabyer, A. Tshernovitser, A. Yisroel, A. Sekurener, A. Poda, Leyzer Nekhes, and Der Bukinist.

Sources: Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 44 (1962), p. 208; Y. Burg, in Folks-shtime (Warsaw) (October 6, 1964); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (October 30, 1964); Elye (Elias) Shulman, in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1965), pp. 34-46; Y. Radinov, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (April 5, 1965); F. Lerner, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (October 15, 1965).

Benyomen Elis

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 422-23; and Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), p. 276.]

SHIYE PODRUZHNIK

SHIYE PODRUZHNIK (August 10, 1894-December 31, 1962)

            He was born in Tshekhanov (Ciechanów), Poland.  He studied Jewish subject matter with his father.  At age thirteen he settled in Antwerp and graduated from middle school there.  His journalistic activities began at sixteen as a correspondent for Fraynd (Friend).  He contributed to Avrom Reyzen’s periodical Nayer zhurnal (New journal) and the Vilna-based Yidishe velt (Jewish world) in 1913.  He co-edited the journal Der yidisher student (The Jewish student).  Together with M. Lipson and Yankev Klepfish, he published the first Yiddish periodical in Belgium, Der mayrev (The West), four issues (1913).  With the outbreak of WWI, he spent one year in London and from there wrote pieces for: Tog (Day), Tsukunft (Future), and Vayhayt (Truth) in New York, in which he published a lengthy work entitled “A tog-bukh fun der milkhome” (A diary from the war).  He also published feature pieces in Groyser kundes (Great prankster).  He joined the Jewish Legion, which helped liberated the land of Israel from the Turkish regime, and after the war he returned to London.  He wrote for a time for Di tsayt (The times) and Renesans (Renaissance), edited by Leo Kenig.  In 1920 he withdrew from professional journalism and founded an office for newspaper clippings.  He wrote from time to time and was a frequent contributor to Dos vort (The word), 1935-1937, in Warsaw.  He translated into Yiddish: Anatole France, Di royte lilye, roman (The red lily, a novel [original: Lys rouge]) (New York: Yidish, 1918), 331 pp.  In pamphlet form, he published: Dov ber borokhov (Dov Ber Borokhov) (London, 1947), 16 pp.  Under the name Y. Podro, he published in English: Nuremberg: The Unholy City (London: Anscombe, 1937), 127 pp.; and The Last Pharisee: The Life and Times of Rabbi Joshua Ben Hananya, a First-Century Idealist (London: Vallentine, Mitchell, 1959), 128 pp.  Together with the English poet Robert Graves, he wrote: The Nazarene Gospel Restored (London: Cassell, 1953), 1021 pp.  He died in London.

On the left with Robert Graves

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Meylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (December 20, 1956); Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 319; Yoysef Leftvitsh, in Loshn un lebn (London) (January 1963); Yidishe shtime (London) (January 1963); Khayim Shoshkes, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 24, 1963); Y. Sheyn, Bibliografye fun oysgabes aroysgegebn durkh di arbeter-parteyen in poyln in di yorn 1918-1939 (Bibliography of publications brought out by the workers’ parties in Poland in the years 1919-1939) (Warsaw: Yidish-bukh, 1963).

Elye (Elias) Shulman

AVROM PODLISHEVSKI

AVROM PODLISHEVSKI (December 30, 1863-July 18, 1930)

            He was born in Ostrov, near Minsk, Byelorussia.  In 1877 he settled in Warsaw.  He was a well-known Zionist and community leader in Russia of old, and later in Poland he was a close friend of Y. L. Perets.  In 1902 he began writing (under the pen name Moaḥ) for Hatsfira (The siren) in Warsaw—he was co-editor 1912-1915.  In Yiddish he published articles, stories, and memoirs in Perets’s Yudishe biblyotek (Yiddish library) in 1894 and in Der yud (The Jew) in Warsaw-Cracow in 1905.  He wrote a long story entitled “Moyshe der alter meshores” (Moyshe the old servant), under the name Avrom Volfzon.  Over the years 1912-1930, he contributed work to Haynt (Today) in Warsaw.  He died in Otwock, near Warsaw.  His book Memuarn (Memoirs) was published in Warsaw in 1931 (198 pp.), with articles about him written by Chaim Weitzman, Nokhum Sokolov, Yitskhok Grinboym, and others.

Sources: N. Mayzil, Perets, lebn un shafn (Perets, life and work) (Vilna, 1931), p. 125; Y. Shatski, in Yivo-bleter (New York) 38 (1946), p. 174; Yitskhok Grinboym, Fun mayn dor (Of my generation) (Tel Aviv, 1959), pp. 237-42; Grinboym, Pene hador (The face of the generation) (Tel Aviv, 1959), pp. 187-92.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

SHLOYME PODOLEVSKI (SOL PODOLEFSKY)

SHLOYME PODOLEVSKI (SOL PODOLEFSKY) (1895-1974)

            He was born in Horodets (Haradzets), Grodno district.  He studied natural science and astronomy in Warsaw and in New York.  From 1927 he was living in the United States.  He began publishing scientific articles and translations in Dos yudishe folk (The Jewish people) in Warsaw (1917), and he contributed work to: Arbeter-tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper), Arbeter vort (Workers’ word), and Dos vort (The word) in Warsaw; Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Bialystok; Frayhayt (Freedom) and Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture) in New York); Fray yisroel (Free Israel) in Tel Aviv; Di naye prese (The new press) in Paris; and in the remembrance volume Horodek (Haradok) (Tel Aviv, 1949); among others.  He translated from Russian Nikolai Gogol’s Toyte nefashes (Dead souls [original: Myortvye dushi]).  His books include: Di velt fun visnshaft un visnshaftlekhe teoryes (The world of science and scientific theories) (New York: Rakhman, 1965), 260 pp.; Di geshikhte fun di khazarn un zeyer idishe melukhe in tsentral-eyrope (The history of the Khazars and their Jewish state in Central Europe) (New York: Rakhman Publishing Co., 1971), 284 pp.  He also signed his name: Sh. Podolyefski and Sol Libers.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 422.]

SHLOYME PODOLEANU

SHLOYME PODOLEANU (b. May 9, 1908)

            He was born in Bucharest, Romania.  Over the years 1946-1949, he was living in camps for Holocaust survivors in Germany.  Thereafter, he lived in Paris.  He published in the Romanian Jewish press.  In Yiddish he placed work in Rikhtike idishe tsukunft (Proper Jewish future) in Galați.  He contributed articles on Jewish cultural life in Romania and portions of his “100 yor yidish teater” (100 years of Yiddish theater) to: Unzer shtime (Our voice), Unzer vort (Our word), and Kiem (Existence) in Paris; and Ilustrirte literarishe bleter (Illustrated literary leaves) in Buenos Aires.  He was the author of several books in Romanian with Jewish content.  He was last living in Paris.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

SH. PODOLSKI

SH. PODOLSKI (b. ca. 1905)

            He was a Soviet poet who had graduated from the Kiev pedagogical technicum.  He was later a teacher in a Jewish school in Hornastaypol (Gornostaipil’), near Kiev, Ukraine.  His first lyrical poems appeared in Der odeser arbeter (The Odessa laborer) in 1923, and they gained recognition from the critics and especially from the Dovid Hofshteyn, under whose influence he had fallen.  He also contributed to the literary almanac Ukraine (Ukraine) (Kiev, 1926), and to the serials: Der shtern (The star), Di royte velt (The red world), Yunge gvardye (Young guard), and Yunger boy-klang (The young sound of reconstruction) in Kharkov; and Pyoner (Pioneer), Yungvald (Young forest), Zay greyt (Be ready), and Emes (Truth) in Moscow.  Further details about him remain unknown.

Sources: Avrom Abtshuk, Etyudn un materialn tsu der geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur bavegung in FSRR (Studies and material for the history of the Yiddish literature movement in the Soviet Union) (Kharkov, 1934), p. 254; Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), no. 1111.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

MOYSHE PODOLSKI

MOYSHE PODOLSKI

            He was born in Yuzefov (Yosypivka), Ukraine.  After WWI he moved to Belgium.  He was a businessman and community leader in Antwerp.  In 1942, during the Nazi occupation, he was sent to German concentration camps: Auschwitz, Buchenwald, and Gros-Rosen.  He was liberated in 1945.  His book Zikhroynes fun a katsetnik (Memoirs of a concentration camp inmate) was published serially, starting in July 1965, in Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Tel Aviv.  He was last living in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Source: Idishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (April 22, 1965).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

PEYSEKH PODOLAK

PEYSEKH PODOLAK (1900-1974)

            He was born in Ladzin, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school and a Jewish public school.  In 1921 he immigrated to Toronto, Canada.  He was a teacher of singing in the schools run by the International Labor Order.  He authored Dos folk zingt (The people sing) (Toronto, 1964), 69 pp.  He died in Toronto.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 422.

BERL PADOVITSH

BERL PADOVITSH (1899-February 29, 1972)

            He hailed from Lithuania.  In 1915 when Lithuanian Jews were expelled during WWI, he found himself dragged off to Kremenchuk.  He graduated from high school and studied at Kiev University as well as in a drama school.  From 1916 he was an actor and director in the Yiddish theater.  He lived in Russia until 1922 and contributed to public education.  He debuted in print in 1916 with a monologue, Der groyl fun der milkhome (The horror of the war).  In 1918 he wrote the play, Der yosem (The orphan), which was staged in Kremenchuk.  He also authored the drama Der kantonist (The Jewish lad pressed into long-term military service in Russia) (Kovno, 1923), 62 pp.  He published theater reviews in Nayes (News) in Kovno and in other serials.  In 1927 he settled in South Africa and wrote there for Der afrikaner (The African) and Dorem-afrike (South Africa), among other venues.  He owned a bookshop in Johannesburg, where he died.

Sources: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 3 (New York, 1959), p. 1601; information from Yudel Mark in New York.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 422.]

YOKHONEN POGREBINSKI

YOKHONEN POGREBINSKI (April 22, 1894-December 15, 1959)

            He was born in Nemirov (Nemyriv), Ukraine.  He studied in religious elementary school and privately Hebrew and secular subjects.  He was active in local community life, in the Zionist movement, and in self-defense.  In late 1931 he settled in the land of Israel.  For a time he served as secretary to Aḥad-Haam and Ḥaim Nachman Bialik.  He contributed to the Hebrew press articles on writers and books as well as bibliographical studies.  He published a number of articles in Yiddish in: Der moment (The moment) and Undzer velt (Our world) in Kovno; and Der nayer veg (The new path) in Odessa.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 2 (Tel Aviv, 1947), pp. 589-90; Gdalye Shtutsiner, in Der amerikaner (New York) (February 12, 1960); Avraham Shpayzhendler, in Hadoar (New York) (Tevet 15 [= January 15], 1960.

Elye (Elias) Shulman

MORTKHE POGORELSKI

MORTKHE POGORELSKI (September 1884-June 3, 1961)

            He was born in Bialystok and attended a “cheder metukan” (improved religious elementary school).  He also became active there in “Pirḥe Tsiyon” (Flowers of Zion), Labor Zionism, and the Socialist Territorialist Party.  He was a cofounder of a library, reading room, and Perets Children’s Home.  In late 1916 he immigrated to the United States and settled in New York.  In 1933 he became a resident of Los Angeles.  In both cities, he remained active in the community, often contributing to New York’s Byalistoker shtime (Voice of Bialystok).  Among other items, he published in it: “Zikhroynes fun a byalistoker esesovets” (Memoirs of a Bialystok Zionist socialist) (1941).  In Byalistoker fraynd (Bialystok friend), he published: “Di poyle-tsien minsker rikhtung in byalistok” (The Labor Zionist Minsk direction in Bialystok) (March 1950).  He published articles in Der idisher kemfer (The Jewish fighter) and Afn shvel (At the threshold).  He was commended by YIVO for his autobiographical descriptions in “Far vos ikh bin avek fun der alter heym un vos hob ikh dergreykht in amerike” (Why I left the old home and what I have accomplished in America), Byalistoker shtime (1948).  He was awarded by YIVO in 1954 for “Additional autobiography, 1942-1952.”  He left in manuscript: “Vegn byalistoker zelbshuts” (On self-defense in Bialystok) and “Geshikhte fun tsienistish-sotsyalistishe bavegungen in byalistok” (History of the Zionist-socialist movements in Bialystok).  He died in Los Angeles.

Source: Byalistoker shtime (New York) (September 1961), pp. 45-46.

Elye (Elias) Shulman

BERL ERKES

BERL ERKES (1902-December 1, 1933)

            He was a prose author, born in Chernobyl, Kiev district, Ukraine. During the Civil War in Soviet Russia, he served in the Red Army and participated in the fighting. He fell into the hands of a band of Petliura’s followers, who tortured him severely and crushed his lungs. Over the course of his short life, he suffered for many years from tuberculosis. In the first half of the 1920s, he served in the first security organs of state, the Cheka and later in the G.P.U. [both agencies of the Soviet secret police]. He then moved into journalistic work. For a short time, he was secretary for the Kharkov daily newspaper Der shtern (The star), and from 1925 he wrote feature pieces and stories for it. The main topic of his stories and journalistic work was the fight against bandits during the civil war, as well as Soviet construction and anti-religious subject matter. He also published in the Kharkov serial, Shlakhtn (Battles). He died of tuberculosis in Yalta in the Crimea where he had gone to recuperate.

His books include: Faynt (Hate), stories (Kharkov: State Publ., 1930), 236 pp.; Der 16ter partey-tsuzamenfor un di ratn-boyung (The sixteenth Party congress and Soviet construction) (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk: Central Publishers, 1930), 14 pp.; Fun hinter dem paroykhes, di kontr-revolyutsyonere tetikayt fun di yidishe klerikaln (From behind the curtains, the counter-revolutionary activities of the Jewish clerics) (Moscow: Central Publishers, 1930), 46 pp.; Shedikers (Destroyers), stories (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932), 56 pp.; In shpinvebs (In cobweb), stories (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932), 46 pp.; Ven dos dorf shloft, dertseylung (When the village sleeps, a story) (Minsk: Byelorussian State Publishers, 1932), 26 pp.; Frontn, roman (Fronts, a novel) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932), 224 pp.; Der partsef fun klasn-soyne (The face of a class enemy) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932), 51 pp.; Banakht af der grenets (At the border at night) (Moscow: Emes, 1933), 172 pp.; Dertseylungen (Stories) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1934), 141 pp.; Yugnt in kamf (Young people in the struggle), stories for children (Kharkov-Kiev, 1934), 88 pp.; Kamf (Fight), stories (Kharkov: Literatur un kunst, 1934), 129 pp.; Der kamf doyert (The fight goes on), a novel (Moscow: Emes, 1937), 310 pp. From Russian he also translated works of Lenin and others. He wrote under such pen names as B. Lifshes.

Sources: Arn Makagon, in Prolit (August-September 1930); obituary, in Der shtern (Kharkov) (December 14, 1933); A. Hindes, in Der shtern (December 15, 1933); Sh. Klitenik, Verk un shrayber (Works and writers) (Moscow, 1935); Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index.

Benyomen Elis

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 421; and Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), p. 275.]

YOYSEF ERENKRANTS

YOYSEF ERENKRANTS (ca. 1905-ca. 1958)

            He was born in the town of Vasilkovits (Vasyl’kivtsi), eastern Galicia.  His father was a Hebrew teacher.  On his mother’s side he was related to Velvl Zbarzher.  After graduating in Bucharest as a medical doctor, he soon went to the Soviet Union, before returning to Romania.  During WWII he contributed to Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz sheets) and Ikuf-bleter (IKUF sheets).  He died of tuberculosis in Romania.

Sources: Shloyme Bikl, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (Passover, 1961); Bikl, Rumenye (Romania) (Buenos Aires, 1961), pp. 114-15.

Leyb Vaserman

MOSHE EREM

MOSHE EREM (July 7, 1896-October 14, 1978)

           The adopted name of Moyshe Kazarnovski, he was born in Lyady, Mohilev (Mogilev) province, Russia (now, Belarus), to a father who was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment and a scholar, as well as among the first Ḥoveve-tsiyon (Lovers of Zion).  He studied Torah with his father and Hassidism with his grandfather.  He spent only two years at “cheder metukan” (improved religious elementary school).  In 1912 he entered Ratner’s Jewish high school in Homel (Gomel) and graduated in 1916.  He studied at the psycho-neurological institute in St. Petersburg and in 1918 moved to Moscow and the law faculty.  He stood with the left Labor Zionists and was a delegate from Tsaritsyn to the party conference in Kiev.  He was there coopted onto the central committee of the party.  He conducted illegal work in Poland and Lithuania.  In 1919 he was in Bialystok.  Later, in Kovno (Lithuania), he managed a Jewish middle school.  He was a member of the central committee of the “Kultur-lige” (Culture league).  In early 1922 he was arrested by the Lithuanian government and expelled to Germany.  He worked (1922-1923) in the Soviet embassy in Berlin.

            In 1924 he made aliya to the land of Israel, became a construction worker, and every year until 1935 was the representative of the left Labor Zionists in the workers’ council of Jaffa and Tel Aviv.  In 1926 he was elected onto the city council of Tel Aviv.

            In 1931 he was a delegate and speaker at the congress of laboring Israel in Berlin.  Over the years 1935-1937 he was on party assignment in the United States.  In 1937 he was invited to Spain by the Republican government.  He took part in the 21^st (1939) and 22^nd (1946) Zionist congresses, and he was selected onto the Zionist action committee.  In 1947 he was a delegate of the left Labor Zionists to the European Zionist conference in Karlsbad.

            From 1940 he was a member of the action committee of Histadruth.  He served as a member of the Knesset, of the Knesset Commission, of the secretariat and political commission of Mapam (United Workers’ Party), of the world association of Labor Zionism (left), Hashomer Hatsair (Young guard), and Aḥdut Avoda (Unity of labor), and a member of Agudat Haitonim, the association of Hebrew journalists.  He was also a member of the last Asefat Hanivḥarim (Assembly of Representatives) in the land of Israel and of the provisional Israeli government in 1948.  He published articles in: Davar (Word), Al hamishmar (On guard), and Arbeter-tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper) in Warsaw; Arbeter-vort (Workers’ word) in Kovno; Unzer vort (Our word) in Buenos Aires; Unzer veg (Our path) in New York; Arbeter vort in Paris; and Nay-velt (New world) in Israel.  His book-length works include: Di blutike lere fun di palestinishe gesheenishn (The bloody teaching of the Palestinian events) (Warsaw: Kultur, 1929), 47 pp.; Front kegn front (From contra front) (Warsaw, 1930), 32 pp.; Der tsienizm farn internatsyonaln forum (Zionism before the international forum) (Tel Aviv, 1947), 104 pp.; Idishe un arabishe arbet in erets-yisroel (Jewish and Arab labor in the land of Israel) (Chicago: Friends of Workers’ Palestine, 1934), 19 pp.; and several books in Hebrew.  He also translated into Yiddish Alexander Manor’s Fertsik yor histadrut, 1920-1960 (Forty years of Histadruth, 1920-1960) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1960), 315 pp.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950), pp. 1955-56; Y. Boaz, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (June 19, 1953); Keneder odler (Montreal) (August 17, 1956); Y. Aba-Shmuel, “Beshule sefarim beyidish” (In the margins of books in Yiddish), Hatsofe (Tel Aviv) (Adar 19 [= March 7], 1961); Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958), p. 481; B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 16, 1960; January 22, 1961); Y. T., in Unzer veg (New York) (December 1962); Who’s Who in Israel (1955), p. 42.

Yankev Kahan