(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.]