Z. F. (ZEV) FINKELSHTEYN

Z. F. (ZEV) FINKELSHTEYN (February 13, 1886-1959)

            He was born in Lemberg, Galicia.  He studied in religious elementary school, in a Polish public school and high school, and at Lemberg University.  In 1913 he received the title of doctor of laws.  He was active in the Zionist student organization “Hashomer” (The guard).  He began his literary activities in Polish and published poems in the Polish-Zionist monthly periodical Morija (Moriah), and he later contributed work to: Gershom Bader’s Folks-kalendar (People’s calendar) and Tageblat (Daily newspaper) in Lemberg, and for a time was editor of Lemberg’s Yidishe ilustrirte vokhnblat (Jewish illustrated weekly newspaper).  Over the years 1914-1938, he lived in Vienna and there contributed to Jewish weeklies in German.  He took part in relief work for Jewish refugees during WWI.  He was the Vienna representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (ITA).  He served as president, 1936-1938, of the Jewish journalists’ association in Vienna.  Together with Adolf Stand, he published a volume in Polish on Herzl in 1913, which was translated into other languages.  He also brought out in German Stürmer des Ghetto (Striker of the ghetto) (Vienna, 1924), 184 pp., including essays on Sholem-Aleichem, Perets, Bialik, Frug, Linietski, and others.  He was living in Israel from 1938.  He wrote for: Haolam (The world), Haarets (The land), Haboker (This morning), and Hapoel hatsair (The young worker).  He was a correspondent for the London-based Yidishe shtime (Jewish voice) and also contributed to the Jüdisches Lexikon (Jewish biographical dictionary) in German.  He died in Israel.  Among his pen names: Z. F. Pinot.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 7 (Tel Aviv, 1956), pp. 2805-6; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958), p. 483; Meyer Hanish, in Hapoel hatsir (Tel Aviv) (September 22, 1959), p. 23.

Benyomen Elis