BENYOMEN FLAYSHER (BENJAMIN FLEISCHER)

BENYOMEN FLAYSHER (BENJAMIN FLEISCHER) (June 7, 1885-December 28, 1952)

            He was born in Zezmer (Žiežmariai), Lithuania.  He studied in yeshivas.  In 1903 he came to the United States.  In 1906 he received ordination into the rabbinate at the Yeshiva of Rabbi Yitskhok Elchonon.  He studied law at La Salle University and at New York University.  He served as a rabbi in Brooklyn, Paterson, and Bayonne (New Jersey), and from 1924 until his death he was rabbi of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol at 60 Norfolk St. in the heart of New York’s Lower East Side.  He published articles in: Dos yidishe likht (The Jewish light), Yidishe tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), among others.  He also authored religious texts in Hebrew, Yiddish, and English, among them: Shiva binyanim (Seven edifices) (1934); Revolutsye (Revolution), nineteen essays on Jewish philosophy (New York, 1938), 132 pp.; Revii bakodesh (Fourth in holiness) (1940); Masoes benyomen, droshes un lektshurs (The burden of Benjamin, sermons and lectures) (New York, 1947), 112 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Ben-Tsien Ayzenshtadt, Dorot haaḥronim (The last generations) (New York, 1913), p. 388; obituary notices in the Jewish press; Who’s Who in American Jewry (New York, 1926).

Khayim Leyb Fuks