SHIYE RAKER

SHIYE RAKER (Shevat [= January] 1864-1943)

            He was born in Gorlits (Gorlice), Galicia.  His father was a yeshiva headmaster and preacher in Sandz (Sącz).  He studied in religious elementary schools and in Hungarian yeshivas.  In 1891 he made his way to Cleveland.  He was a journalist, Zionist, and follower of the Jewish Enlightenment.  In the early 1890s he began literary work for Chicago’s Hapisga (The summit) and Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), among others.  In 1898 he was editing Cleveland’s weekly newspaper Der shtern (The star).  In 1908 he brought out the first Yiddish daily newspaper in Cleveland, entitled Di idishe teglikhe prese The Jewish daily press), which merged in 1913 with the local weekly Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) under the name of the latter, and it was for three decades edited by Raker.  In book form: Der sanzer tsadek r’ khayim halbershtam (The sage of Sącz, Rabbi Khayim Halbershtam) (Vienna, 1927), 225 pp., later editions (New York, 1927, 1961); Geoynim un tsadikim (Geniuses and sages) (Cleveland, 1938/1939), 215 pp.  He died in Cleveland.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Y. Khaykin, Yidishe bleter in amerike (Yiddish newspapers in America) (New York, 1946), p. 202; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen