Wednesday, 14 November 2018

KHANEKH (HENEKH) FLAKSER


KHANEKH (HENEKH) FLAKSER (1888-1960)
            He was born in Vlotslavek (Włocławek), Poland, into a Hassidic and scholarly family.  In his youth he gained fame as a prodigy and a master of the Talmud.  At the same time, he demonstrated an extraordinary interest in the Jewish Enlightenment and ibat Tsiyon” (Love of Zion).  Stealthily, he read “enlightened” books and newspapers, which were considered heretical at the time.  He also published at the time correspondence pieces in Warsaw’s Hatsfira (The siren) and Haynt (Today).  In 1926 he founded Vlotslavek vokhenblat (Włocławek weekly newspaper), organ of the retailers’ association, and he edited it with Dovid Geyer and M. Miedzhinski.  When the newspaper ceased publication, he contributed to all the Jewish newspapers published in Włocławek until 1937 when he made aliya to the land of Israel.  He died in Jerusalem.  His son Yekhiel-Fishl Flakser was known as a religious writer in Israel and a member of the secretariat of the Knesset.

Sources: Vlotslavker shtime (Włocławek) (June 1937); Dr. Y. Biderman, “Yidishe prese in vlotslavek” (The Jewish press in Włocławek), in Biderman, ed., Seyfer vlotslavek (Volume for Włocławek) (New York, 1967), pp. 314-15.
Dr. Y. M. Biderman


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