YEKHEZKL FAYERSHTEYN

YEKHEZKL FAYERSHTEYN (b. June 11, 1901)

            He was born in Soroki (Soroca), Bessarabia.  His father Yoyne Fayershteyn was the author of Shire sefat ever (Poetry in Hebrew) and a contributor to Hamelits (The advocate) and Hatsfira (The siren).  Yekhezkl studied in the Slonim Yeshiva, the Kishinev high school, the “Bet-midrash lemorim” (Teachers’ seminary) in Vienna, and the philology department at the University of Vienna.  In 1920 he was editor of the Zionist weekly Hateḥiya (The revival) in Soroki; for a time he also contributed to the Kishinev newspaper Der id (The Jew).  In 1923 he emigrated to Argentina.  He wrote for the humorous weekly newspaper Penemer un penemlekh (Appearances, big and small), as well as Di yidishe velt (The Jewish world), and in Hebrew to Atidenu (Our future), all in Buenos Aires.  Over the years 1934-1935, he served as editor in Mozesville of a biweekly children’s magazine Kinder fraynt (Children’s friend), four issues.  He also contributed work to: Voliner lebn (Volhynian life) in Rovno; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; Der afrikaner (The African) in Johannesburg; Der amerikaner (The American) and Froyen magazin (Women’s magazine) in New York.  He worked as a teacher in the Herzl Talmud-Torah in Bahia Blanca.

Source: V. Bresler, Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Jewish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), p. 935.

Benyomen Elis

MIRIAM FAYERMAN (FIREMAN-LEVIN)

MIRIAM FAYERMAN (FIREMAN-LEVIN) (February 25, 1904-June 15, 1982)

            She was born in Shnitkov, Podolia, Ukraine.  In 1922 she came to the United States, graduated as a teacher from the Jewish labor university in New York, and worked in Jewish schools in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Paterson, and Passaic.  In 1929 she debuted in print in Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom) with a story.  She also published in Fray yisroel (Free Israel) in Tel Aviv and elsewhere.  She additionally wrote poetry and children’s tales.  She performed in Maurice Schwartz’s Yiddish Art Theater.  She was a member of the Yiddish folk theater in Los Angeles.  In book form: Af a zamdikn bodn (On sandy terrain), poems and stories (Chicago: M. Olgin Branch 107, 1936), 65 pp.; Tsit a shnidl zikh fun zeydn tsum tatn un tsu mir, dertseylungen (Draw a cord from grandfather to father and to me, stories) (Los Angeles, 1972), 174 pp.  She died in Los Angeles.

Leyb Vaserman

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 441.]

ARN FAYERMAN

ARN FAYERMAN (October 18, 1896-August 25, 1975)

            He was born in Felshtin, Podolia district, Ukraine.  He studied in religious primary school, in an Odessa yeshiva, and in a high school as well.  He began writing at age twelve.  He debuted in print with a story entitled “Aleyn” (Alone) in Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in October 1920.  In 1922 he emigrated to Argentina.  He contributed to: Di prese (The press), Far groys un kleyn (For big and small), and Der shpigl (The mirror), among others.  In Córdoba he edited a weekly newspaper Kordober lebn (Córdoba life) (May-December 1928).  In book form: Iz gekumen a yid in vald, idish-argentinisher roman (A Jew came to the forest, an Argentinian Jewish novel) (Buenos Aires, 1945), 146 pp.; and Tsvey shtromen, dertseylungen (Two streams, stories) (Buenos Aires: H. D. Nomberg Writers’ Association, 1954), 167 pp.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentine (The published Yiddish word in Argentina), vol. 1 (Buenos Aires, 1941), pp. 136, 166; Maylekh Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (August 20, 1941); Y. Botoshanski, in Di prese (Buenos Aires) (January 21, 1956); Botoshanski, in Folk un velt (New York) (September 1961).

Leyb Vaserman

DANIEL FAYNSHTEYN

DANIEL FAYNSHTEYN (1901-1944)

            He was born in Vilna, Lithuania.  He studied in Kagan’s Russian Jewish high school.  In 1915 he was evacuated to Odessa and in 1919 graduated from a state high school there.  Over the years 1928-1932, he studied ethnography, philosophy, and anthropology at Vilna University.  His doctoral dissertation was an ethnological piece of research on the “Fantastic Monster in the Beliefs and Myths of Peoples,” published by the educational society of Vilna.  In 1937 Faynshteyn was a candidate to be a YIVO research student.  He published several essays in the scholarly literary journal Etyudn (Studies) in Vilna in 1935.  He turned his attention to mnemonics and published a special “Mnemonics Course” to strengthen memory in ten short lessons in Polish and in Yiddish with an introductory pamphlet of eighteen pages.  He was confined in the Vilna ghetto, during the Nazi occupation of WWII, and he worked sorting books for the Rosenberg staff.  He was part of scholarly circles in the ghetto and gave several speeches on ethnographic and ethnological themes.  He wrote a long work on the history of Jews in Asian lands.  He died two days before the liberation (July 1944) in forced labor camp HKP (Heereskraftfahrpark).  His wife and children were murdered in 1941 in Ponar.

Sources: Autobiographical notes, “A yid bakumen a doctor-titl” (A Jew receives his doctoral degree), Tsayt (Vilna) (1937); Shmerke Katsherginski, Khurbn vilne (The Holocaust in Vilna) (New York, 1947), p. 205; Leyzer Ran, 25 yor yung vilne (Twenty-five years of Young Vilna) (New York, 1955).

Leyzer Ran

SHLOYME-BER FAYNKIND

SHLOYME-BER FAYNKIND (May 26, 1891-early July 1942)

            The son of Moyshe Faynkind and younger brother of Nosn Faynkind, he was born in Petrikov (Pietrykaŭ), Lodz district, Poland.  He studied in a “cheder metukan” (improved religious elementary school) and in a Russian-Polish high school.  Over the years 1909-1914, he lived in Lodz.  He contributed to Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper).  During WWI he was a reporter for: Varshever tageblat (Warsaw daily newspaper) and Dos yudishe vort (The Jewish word) in Warsaw; and Der yud (The Jew); among others.  Through the years 1924-1939, he placed work with: Naye folkstsaytung (New people’s newspaper), the Polish Jewish Nasz Przegląd (Our overview), and the morning newspaper in Warsaw, Piąta rano (5 a.m.) (1937-1939).  For a time he served as a correspondent for: Tog (Day) in New York; Di tsayt (The times) in London; Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires; and Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal.  During the Nazi occupation during the years of WWII, until early 1942, he was confined in the Warsaw Ghetto, later for a short time in the Aryan section of the city.  The Gestapo seized him and sent him to the Skarżysko Concentration Camp; there he died.  A portion of his reportage pieces and images, written in the Warsaw Ghetto—discovered in the buried Ringelblum archive—were published in the collection Tsvishn lebn un toyt (Between life and death) (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1955).

Sources: M. Mozes, in Der poylisher yid (The Polish Jew), anthology (1944); Yidish shriftn (Lodz, 1946); Z. Segalovitsh, Tlomatske 13, fun farbrente nekhtn (13 Tłomackie St., of zealous nights) (Buenos Aires: Central Association of Polish Jews in Argentina, 1946), pp. 27-28; P. Shvarts, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), p. 428; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index; Dr. M. Vaykhert, Yidishe aleynhilf (Jewish self-help) (Tel Aviv, 1962), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

NOSN FAYNKIND

NOSN FAYNKIND (1888-March 4, 1912)

            The eldest son of Moyshe Faynkind and brother of Shloyme-Ber Faynkind, he was born in Lodz, Poland.  He studied at Warsaw University.  He was a poet and storyteller, initially in Polish.  Under the influence of Y. L. Perets, he switched to Yiddish.  He published poems, stories, and articles in: Der fraynd (The friend) in St. Petersburg; Romantsaytung (Fiction newspaper), Der shtrahl (The beam [of light]), and Di naye velt (The new world) in Warsaw; and Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper); among others.  He also authored a drama.  He died in Warsaw.

Source: Based on Moyshe Faynkind’s materials in Kalmen Marmor’s archive at YIVO (New York).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

MOYSHE FAYNKIND

MOYSHE FAYNKIND (December 28, 1864-June 14, 1935)

            The father of Nosn and Shloyme-Ber Faynkind, he was born in Turek, Kalish (Kalisz) district, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school and yeshivas, as well as with private tutors.  In 1883 he moved to Berlin.  He studied history, philosophy, and Jewish studies at Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary.  In 1886 he was expelled for organizing a demonstration against the Russian ambassador.  He went on to live in Turek, Lodz, and later Petrikov (Pietrykaŭ).  For a time he worked as a private tutor and later as a private lawyer.  He was active in the Zionist movement and served as a city councilor on the Pietrykaŭ city council and Jewish community council.  He led a struggle there for the rights of the Yiddish language and culture.  He began his literary activities with translations into Hebrew of works by the German classic writers.  From 1884 he contributed historical, scholarly, and journalistic articles, folktales, legends of the Jews in Poland, feature pieces, and descriptions to: Hatsfira (The siren), Tsien (Zion), Unzer lebn (Our life), Dos folk (The people), Shul un dertsiung (School and education), and the like in Warsaw; Yivo bleter (Pages from YIVO) in Vilna; and Der fraynd (The friend) in St. Petersburg.  In 1912 he became a regular contributor to Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper).  From 1916 until his death, he wrote for: Lodzher folksblat (Lodz people’s newspaper), Unzer togblat (Our daily newspaper), and Nayer folksblat (New people’s newspaper), among others, in Lodz; and Lemberger togblat (Lemberg daily newspaper), of which he also was editor (1916-1918).  He also wrote for German Jewish and Polish Jewish journals.  He prepared for Zvi Hirsh Grets (Heinrich Graetz) a German translation of materials for the history of Jews in Poland and Russia.  He was editor of the daily Di petrikover shtime (The voice of Pietrykaŭ) in 1914 and of the weekly paper Di yudishe velt (The Jewish world) in 1924, as well as Di tsayt (The times), Naye tsayt (New times), and Głos żydowski (Jewish voice) in 1917—all in Pietrykaŭ.  In book form: Di kuzrim (The Khazars), a poem (1910), 24 pp.; the series in booklets, “Af poylishe felder” (On Polish fields), (a) Perele di kozhenitser rebetsin (Perele, the wife of the rabbi of Kozienice), (b) Ger-tsedek fun vilne (The holy convert of Vilna), and (c) Henele di kale fun kenig zigmunt (Henele, wife of King Sigmund), each 16 pp.  He authored a constitution for the Jewish community of Poland (now held in the YIVO archives in New York).  He died in Pietrykaŭ.  After his death, his children published a portion of his literary heritage: Gute yidn in poyln (Good Jews of Poland) (Warsaw, 1936), 399 pp.; Froyen rabonim un barimte perzenlekhkeytn in poyln (Women rabbis and celebrated personalities in Poland) (Warsaw, 1937), 397 pp.; Der poylisher yid (The Polish Jew) (Warsaw, 1938), 395 pp.; Yidn fun amol un haynt (Jews then and now) (Warsaw, 1939), 400 pp.; and in Visnshaftlekhe shriftn (Scholarly writings) (Lodz, 1938), a long work of his appears.  Throughout the years of WWII, works of his prepared for publication by Shloyme-Ber did not appear in print: “Zikhroynes fun der milkhome 1914-1918” (Memoirs of the war, 1914-1918), the war drama based on events of the time; “Der Spion” (The spy), a treatment in German on espionage; and his major work “Di geshikhte fun yidn in petrikov” (The history of Jews in Pietrykaŭ).  He also wrote under such pen names as: A. Rotman, Servus, Iks, and Moyshe Pinkuszon.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Y. F. in Vokhnshrift far literatur (Warsaw) (February 7, 1934); R. Y. Goldshteyn, in Tog (New York) (November 6, 1934); Arn Eynhorn, in Haynt (Warsaw) (September 27, 1935); Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), see index; L. Shpiglman, in Pinkes bendin (Records of Będzin) (Tel Aviv, 1962), see index; Yankev Glatshteyn, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (November 12, 1965).

Khayim Leyb Fuks