MOYSHE TSESHINSKI

MOYSHE TSESHINSKI (October 17,1889-December 20, 1967)

            He was born in Tshenstokhov (Częstochowa), Poland.  He attended religious elementary school and graduated from a Russian-Polish public school.  He went on to become a laborer.  He was active in the Labor Zionist party in Częstochowa, in the Literary Society, and in the cultural society “Lira” there.  He spent some time in 1913 in the Częstochowa prison.  In 1914 he came to the United States.  He worked as a traveling agent for Yiddish newspapers and Yiddish book publishers.  In 1922 he settled in Chicago.  There he was cofounder of Jewish schools, of the Society for Jewish Culture, of YIVO, and of other institutions.  He owned a bookshop and publishing house well-known as the “Moyshe Tseshinski Book Publisher in Chicago,” which over the years became a meeting point for Yiddish writers, poets, Jewish intellectuals, and Jewish community leaders.  He began writing in 1905 with correspondence pieces in Der veg (The way), later in Unzer lebn (Our life) and Moment (Moment) in Warsaw, and he was a cofounder of and contributor (1912) to Reklame blat (Advertising newspaper) in Częstochowa.  He published articles on political, social, and literary matters in: Idishe velt (Jewish world) in Philadelphia; Idisher zhurnal (Jewish journal) in Toronto; Keneder older (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Di idishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires; Kultur-zhurnal (Culture magazine), Idisher kuryer (Jewish courier), Unzer lebn, and Ineynem (Altogether) in Chicago; and he contributed to the remembrance volume Tshenstokhover yidn (Częstochowa Jews) (New York, 1947).  In book form: Turme erinerungen (Prison experiences) (New York, 1915), 38 pp.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; E. Khrablovski, in Tshenstokhover yidn (Częstochowa Jews) (New York, 1947); Unzer veg (Chicago) (April 1960).

Benyomen Elis