N. PERLMAN (PERELMAN)

N. PERLMAN (PERELMAN) (b.ca. 1897)

            He came from Russia, studied in religious elementary school, received a higher education, and was knowledgeable of foreign languages.  He came to the United States around 1910-1912.  There he served for several years as secretary for Sholem Asch.  He debuted in print in the 1920s, writing articles and fictional works.  For a lengthy period of time, he was a contributor to Forverts (Forward), in which he published stories—both original works and translations.  Later, for a short time, he was connected to Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom) in New York.  He was mainly known as a translator of fiction and scholarly writings.  His published translations in book form include: Jack London, Far odemen (Before Adam) (New York: Naye Tsayt, 1920), 194 pp.; Pyotr Kropotkin, Di parizer komune, di natsyonale frage (The Paris Commune, the nationality question) (New York: Kropotkin Literary Society, 1923), 63 pp.; Baruch Spinoza, Der teologish-politisher traktat (Theological-political tractatus [original: Tractatus Theologico-Politicus]) (New York, 1923), 375 pp., with Dr. Farnberg; Anatole France, Der oyfshtand fun di malokhim (The revolt of the angels [original: Revolte des anges]) (New York, 1920s), 303 pp.; Arthur Schopenhauer, Di khokhme fun lebn un andere eseyen (Knowledge of life and other essays [original: Aphorismen zur Lebensweisheit (Aphorisms on the wisdom of life)]) (New York, 1920s), 302 pp.; Romain Rolland, Muter un zun (Mother and son [original: Mère et fils]) (New York, 1920), 400 pp.; Thomas Paine, Di tsayt fun farshtand, di epokhe fun ratsyonalizm, a shtudye vegen dem emes un ligen fun religye (Time for understanding, the age of reason, a study of the truth and falsities of religion [original: The Age of Reason]) (New York, 1920s), 230 pp.  He was last living in Israel.

Sources: Dr. A. Ginzburg, in Tsukunft (New York) (February 1924); Y. Rabinovitsh, in Yoyvl-bukh keneder odler (Jubilee volume for Keneder odler) (Montreal, 1932); Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (August 1933).

Leyb Vaserman