SHIMEN FEDERBUSH (SIMON FEDERBUSCH)

SHIMEN FEDERBUSH (SIMON FEDERBUSCH) (February 15, 1892-August 20, 1969)

            He was born in Narol, eastern Galicia.  At age nineteen, he received ordination into the rabbinate, and later he studied at the Universities of Vienna, Cracow, and Lemberg, before receiving his doctor of philosophy degree.  From 1918 he was active in community life.  He was cofounder and chairman of “Tseire Mizraḥi” (Mizrachi youth) in Poland and a member of the executive of the Jewish World Congress and the Zionist Action Committee, among other groups.  From 1918 he contributed to the Herew, Yiddish, and Polish Jewish press, including: Hamitspe (The watchtower) in Cracow; Bat-kol (Heavenly voice), Yudishe bleter (Jewish pages), Gilyonot (Tablets), and Hamesila (The roadway)—he served as co-editor of the last two—in Lemberg; Hatsfira (The siren), Hayom (Today), Haynt (Today), Hamizraḥi (The Mizrachi), Dos yidishe lebn (The Jewish life), and Unzer shtime (Our voice) for which he was co-editor in Warsaw.  In the United States, he contributed work to: Hadoar (The mail) and Bitsaron (Fortress), among others.  He was editor of a trilingual anthology from the World Federation of Polish Jews, Yorbukh (Annual) (New York, 1964), 374 pp.  His other writings include: Tora umelukha (Torah and the state) (Jerusalem, 1961), 256 pp.; Haḥasidut vetsiyon (Hassidism and Zion) (Jerusalem, 1963), 298 pp.; Ḥokhmat yisrael bemaarav eropa (Jewish studies in Western Europe) (Jerusalem, 1965).  He authored a series of works in the field of Jewish studies, Talmud, and Jewish rights, among them: Shelemut hayahadut (The perfection of Judaism) (Jerusalem: 1926/1927), 44 pp.; Mishpat hamelukha beyisrael (Judgment of state in Israel) (Jerusalem, 1954), 255 pp.; Benetivot hatalmud (Along the paths of Talmud) (Jerusalem, 1958), 230 pp.—for the last two of these, he was awarded the Lamed Prize; and Ḥikre yahadut (Jewish studies) (Jerusalem, 1965); among others.  On his seventieth birthday, there was published Sefer hayovel harav shimon federbush (Jubilee volume for Rabbi Shimon Federbush) (Jerusalem, 1961).

            Federbush was among the leaders of the American Mizrachi movement and the Hebrew cultural organization “Histadrut haivrit beamerika” (Hebrew federation in America).  He often visited the state of Israel as a Mizrachi leader and as a member of the Zionist Action Committee.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Dr. Shloyme Bikl, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (March 30, 1958); M. Ḥizkuni (Moyshe Shtarkman), in Hadoar (New York) (Kislev 16 [December 10], 1965); Shtarkman, in Folk un velt (New York) (July-July 1964; October 1964); Dr. Elye (Elias) Shulman, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (July 30, 1961); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog (New York) (September 26, 1964); M. V. Bernshteyn, in Folk un velt (May 1966).

Khayim Leyb Fuks