BENYOMEN KATS (BENJAMIN KATZ)

BENYOMEN KATS (BENJAMIN KATZ) (b. August 10, 1905)

            He was born in Horodnitse (Horodnytsya), Ukraine, the husband of Brokhe Kopshteyn (Bracha Kopstein).  He studied in a Hebrew public school and a Russian high school.  In 1920 he emigrated to Canada and in 1937 to the United States.  He taught in Workmen’s Circle schools in Windsor, Boston, Detroit, and New York.  He later became a typesetter.  From 1949 he was living in Israel.  From 1924 he was writing poems of a proletarian strain for: Hamayan (The source) in Hebrew; Toronto’s Idisher zhurnal (Jewish journal), Onzog (Promise), Der kamf (The struggle); New York’s Frayhayt (Freedom), Morgn frayhayt (Morning freedom), Hamer (Hammer), Signal (Signal), Yungvarg (Youth), and Yidish amerike (Jewish America); among others.  His work appeared in: V. Abrams and Kalmen Marmor’s Revolutsyonerer deklamator, zamlung fun lider, poemes, dertseylungen, eynakters, tsum farleyenen, shipln un zingen bay arbeter-farveylung (Revolutionary declamation, collection of songs, poems, stories, [and] one-act plays to read aloud, enact, and sing for workers’ entertainment) (New York, 1933); and Moyshe Kats and Leon Faynberg’s Khurbn daytshland (The destruction of Germany) (New York, 1938).  He founded the publisher “Oyfgang” (Rise) in Toronto and “Sholem” (Peace) in Tel Aviv and New York.  His work includes: Hunger, eynakter (Hunger, one-act play) (Toronto: Oyfgang, 1926), 19 pp.; Run, dertseylung (Run, a story) (Toronto, 1928), 35 pp.; Der hoz, eynakter (The hare, one-act play) (Toronto, 1928), 34 pp.; Baginen, lider-zamlung (Dawn, a poetry collection), including other poets (Toronto, 1928), 98 pp.; Spetsayne (?) and other poems (Toronto, 1930), 50 pp.; Shikhelekh in kholem (Shoes in a dream), children’s poems (Toronto, 1940), 32 pp.; Tsen lider mit notn (Ten songs with musical notation) (New York, 1940), 15 pp.; Sheyfers kinder-yorn (Shafer’s childhood) (New York, 1943?), 8 pp.; Der kholem fun brider, lider (The dream of brothers, poetry) (New York: Landslayt, 1947), 112 pp.; edited (with B. Kopshteyn) the anthology Unter yankeles vigele (Under Yankele’s cradle) (Tel Aviv-New York: Sholem, 1976), 180 pp.

Sources: Sh. L. Shneyderman, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) 24 (1929); H. Bloshteyn, in Der kamf (Toronto) (1930); L. Malekh, in Proletarisher gedank (Toronto) (1931); Kh. M. Kayzerman, Idishe dikhter in kanade (Yiddish poets in Canada) (Montreal, 1934), pp. 93-94.

Ruvn Goldberg