PINKHES RUDOY

PINKHES RUDOY (July 7, 1888-August 2, 1966)

            He was born in Yuzefpol’ (Lyudvinka), Podolia.  He studied with itinerant schoolteachers; he later became an external student and was a free auditor at Odessa University.  In 1921 he arrived in New York where he worked as a teacher in Hebrew schools.  From 1953 he was living in California.  He debuted in print in 1905 in Hazman (The time) in Vilna.  He began writing in Yiddish with humorous stories in Odessa’s daily newspaper Gut-morgn (Good morning) and later in Id (Jew) in Odessa.  In the United States, he wrote humorous sketches, feature pieces, and stories in Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) and Tsayt (Times), and from 1928 he was a regular contributor to Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) and later to Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal).  He ran a weekly column in the latter entitled “Eltern un kinder” (Parents and children) and also published (initially in Morgn-zhurnal and from 1950 in Tog [Day]) the historical novel Moyshele (Little Moyshe) based on the life of the Rema (Rabbi Moses Isserles [1530-1572]).  In book form: the textbook Dos idishe kind (The Jewish child) (New York: N. Lin, 1929-1939), 2 vols. (vol. 2 published by Hebrew Publishing Co.); Unzer toyre un unzere shenste agodes far shul un hoyz (Our Torah and our most beautiful legends for school and home) (New York: Hebrew Publishing Co., 1931-1935), 5 vols.; Af amerikaner erd (On American soil) (Tel Aviv: Shmuel Zimzun, 1962), 477 pp., a novel of life in New York.  His pen names: Pini Bal-Loshn, P. Braun, P. Feygeles, P. Elison, P. Ben-Elye, A. Alyobi, and A. Ben-Khayim.  He died in San Jose, California.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Y. Varshavski (Yitskhok Bashevis), in Forverts (New York) (September 28, 1962); Froym Oyerbakh, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (February 17, 1963); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Yekhezkl Lifshits