He was
born in Zhirardov (Żyrardów), Poland, into a rabbinical
family. In 1927 he received ordination
into the rabbinate and later the title of doctor of philosophy. He was active in Beys Yankev schools in
Poland. He helped organize religious
Jewish workers in Poland. From 1953 he
was a rabbi in San José, Costa Rica, and from 1961 he was in Panama. In 1929 he debuted in print in Moment (Moment) in Warsaw. He wrote about cultural historical, literary,
and pedagogical topics in: Dos yudishe
togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper), Beys
yankev (Beys Yankev), Der yudishe
arbayter (The Jewish worker) in Lodz (1928-1932), Yudishe arbayter shtime (Voice of Jewish labor) in Lodz
(1936-1939), and Haynt (Today) in
Riga, among other serials. His books
would include: Di prager shkhite (The
Prague massacre) (Warsaw: Togblat, 1934), 64 pp.; Rambam (Moses Maimonides) (Lodz: Beys Yankev, 1935), 80 pp.; Ekhos fun a farshvundener tsayt, 1929-1939,
eseyen (Echoes of a vanished time, 1929-1939, essays) (Tel Aviv: Veltrat
far Yidish, 1981), 450 pp.; Tsvishn di
tsvey velt-milkhomes, literarishe eseyen (Between the two world wars,
literary essays) (Tel Aviv: Veltrat far Yidish, 1982), 568 pp.; Dos vunder fun mizrekh-eyropeyishn yidntum
(The wonder of Eastern European Jewry) (Tel Aviv: Veltrat far Yidish, 1984),
405 pp. He also wrote in Hebrew and
Polish. He used such pen names as: H.
K., H. Zelmanovitsh, H. Brukhes, and H. Fish.
He died in Jerusalem.
Sources: M. Prager, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), pp. 487-88; A. Levinson, Toldot yehude varsha (History of the
Jews of Warsaw) (Tel Aviv, 1953), p. 304.
Berl Cohen
[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers
(Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 488.]
[1] In Yidishe
shriftn (Yiddish writings) (Lodz) (1946), it is erroneously stated that
Klepfish was among the dead.
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