YANKEV KENER

YANKEV KENER (October 10, 1884-October 24, 1951)

            He was born in the village of Kitsinivets, eastern Galicia.  He studied in religious elementary school and with private tutors.  He took up a variety of trades.  In 1901 he moved to Lemberg.  He was a leading Labor Zionist, later of the leftist wing.  In 1910 he was active in the campaign in the popular press in Austria that Jews should submit Yiddish as their spoken language.  For a number of years, he performed in Yiddish theater.  From 1923 he was living in Warsaw.  In 1941 the Jewish Labor Committee brought him to the United States, and in 1949 he settled in Israel.  He debuted in print in 1902 with a poem in Rohatin’s Yudishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper).  He went on to publish poems, humorous sketches, and mainly party political and ideological articles.  He contributed work to: Stanislaver nakhrikhten (Stanislaviv reports), Lemberg’s Togblat (Daily newspaper), Cracow’s Yudisher arbayter (Jewish worker) (1909, also its editor), Di yudishe arbayter-yugend (The Jewish working youth) (also editor), Gershom Bader’s Nayes lemberger togblat (New Lemberg daily newspaper) (1908), Y. Krepl’s Tog (Day) and Di yudishe ilustrirte tsaytung (The Jewish illustrated newspaper), Dos yudishe interesante blat (The Jewish interesting newspaper) (1913-1914, also editor), Warsaw’s Arbayter tsaytung (Workers’ newspaper), and Di fraye yugnt (Early youth), among others.  In America he wrote for Yidisher arbeter pinkes (Jewish laborers’ records) (1927) and edited the left Labor Zionist organs Proletarisher gedank (Proletarian idea) and later Undzer veg (Our way).

            In book form: a comedy in two acts entitled Der vrotner roshekool (The community leader of Wrotnów) and a booklet of poems—both self-typeset and self-published; In kirzhner-varshaft (In a furrier’s workshop) (Lemberg, 1919); Kvershnit, 1897-1947, fragmentn fun zikhroynes, epizodn, geshikhtlekhe momentn, gedenkverter vegn umgekumene kdoyshim, martirer un kemfer (Cross-section, 1897-1947, fragments of memoirs, episodes, historical moments, [and] words of remembrance for murdered martyrs and fighters) (New York: Central Committee of the Left Labor Zionists, 1947), 340 pp.  In brochure form: Arayn in di rayen fun der “yugent”! (Join the ranks of “Yugnt”!) (Warsaw, 1929), 32 pp.; Emanuel ringelblum, a held in legyon fun di giboyre yisroel in geto (Emanuel Ringelblum, a hero in the legion of the heroes of Israel in the ghetto) (New York: Jewish Labor Committee, 1945), 31 pp., second edition (Munich, 1948).  Kener wrote several plays in his youth, which were staged but not published: Hayntike vayber (Present wives) for the Broder Singers; A dyalog tsvishn yeytser-tov un yeytser-hore (A dialogue between the good inclination and the bad inclination); and a drama about Herzl’s death.  Among his many pen names: Ben Tsvi, Moyshe, Y. Zborover, Y. Zetser, Yk”r, Yirmiyahu, A Galitsyaner, Der Bal-Sod, Yankl der Royter, Ish Sade, and D. Feldman.  He died in Ramat Gan, Israel.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958); Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York) (1949), pp. 234-35; Yoysef-Leyb Tenenboym, Galitsye mayn alte heym (Galicia, my old home) (Buenos Aires, 1952), p. 168; L. Shpizman, Geshtaltn (Images) (Buenos Aires, 1962), pp. 199-202; Y. Tiberg, in Undzer veg (New York) (May 1967); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Yekhezkl Lifshits