MOYSHE FEYGENBOYM

MOYSHE FEYGENBOYM (1893-February 24, 1921)

            He was born in Mezritsh (Międzyrzecz), Poland, into a very poor family.  He attended yeshivas and acquired a name as a prodigy.  In the years of WWI, he settled in Demblin (Dęblin) and supported himself with a small shop.  He was a cofounder of the young Orthodox Jewish writers’ group and was considered among the promising Jewish prose writers in Poland.  He debuted in print with a lyrical work of mood and impression in Dos yudishe vort (The Yiddish word) in Warsaw (1916).  Later, until his death, he was a contributor to Der yud (The Jew), in which he published sketches, stories, and scenes of Jewish town life, including “A shtetl” (A town), a poem in prose about Jews of the Torah.  He was seized in early 1921 by followers of Bałachowicz and from the experience became ill.  He died of tuberculosis in Dęblin.  In Di antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (The anthology of religious poetry and stories), ed. Moyshe Prager (New York, 1955), pp. 231-312, several of his stories and one-act plays appear in print.  A selection of his stories was published in Hebrew (translated by A. Broyner) under the title Bishvili polan (For Poland) (Jerusalem, 1955), 117 pp.

Sources: Y. Y. Trunk, Antologye fun der yidisher proze in poyln tsvishn di tsvey velt-milkhomes (Anthology of Yiddish prose in Poland between the two world wars) (New York, 1946), p. 12; Arn Tsaytlin, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (October 15, 1954; March 25, 1955); Pinkhes Bizberg, Kunst-album (Art album) (Buenos Aires, 1947); Moyshe Prager, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), pp. 455-56; Prager, ed., Di antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (The anthology of religious poetry and stories) (New York, 1955), pp. 231-312.

Khayim Leyb Fuks