SIMKHE-BUNIM PYETRUSHKA (SYMCHA BUNIM PETRUSHKA)

SIMKHE-BUNIM PYETRUSHKA (SYMCHA BUNIM PETRUSHKA) (October 1893-April 10, 1950)

            He was born in Praga, near Warsaw, Poland.  Until age sixteen he studied in yeshivas and gained a reputation as “the Praga prodigy.”  He acquired secular knowledge and foreign languages with private tutors and on his own.  In 1917 he graduated from Sh. A. Poznanski’s rabbinical seminary.  For a time he worked as an educator and librarian in the institutions of Warsaw’s Great Synagogue and revised for Warsaw University library its immense bio-bibliographic catalogue.  He spent 1926-1927 in the land of Israel.  He visited the United States for a short time in 1927 and then returned to Poland.  He lived there until the summer of 1939, several weeks before the outbreak of WWII.  From July 1939 until the summer of 1940, he resided in New York, later settling in Montreal where he continued his studies.  In 1945 he received his doctoral degree from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York.  His journalistic activities began with the daily newspaper Nayes (News) in Warsaw in 1912 (published by the assimilationists during the elections for the fourth Duma).  Aside from editorial articles on politics, as well as community and contemporary Jewish topics, he also published there translations from Polish literature and a series of popular science essays (some of which were included without his name in Familyen-biblyotek [Family library], published by “Yehuda”).  In 1916 he was among the main contributors to the Aguda’s Dos yudishe vort (The Jewish word) and later to Der yud (The Jew) in Warsaw.  Although his entire life he was a Zionist in spirit, in 1922 he came out in opposition to the “Zionist bloc with the ethnic minorities” and published with Hillel Tsaytlin the political weekly newspaper Der blits (The flash) in Warsaw.  From 1923 he was connected to Haynt (Today) in Warsaw.  At the time of the fourth aliya and rising Jewish destitution in Poland, he made a name for himself with his letters from the land of Israel which exposed the prevailing conditions and brought help to thousands of Jews emigrating from Poland.  Petrushka contributed to and co-edited a number of publications for Haynt, among them Velt-shpigl (World mirror), Altnayland (Old-new land), Handels-tsaytung (Business newspaper), and Hayntike nayes (Today’s news).  Over the years 1926-1939, he served as the Warsaw correspondent for: Tog (Day) in New York; Di tsayt (The times) in London; and other serials.  He published essays on historical and scientific topics, mainly concerned with Jewish learning.  He translated and elucidated in a traditional manner all six orders of the Mishnah.  His books include: Erets-yisroel, algemeyne beshraybung fun heyligen land in historisher belaykhtung (The land of Israel, a general description of the Holy Land in a historical light) (Warsaw, 1921), 64 pp.; Yudishe geshikhte (Jewish history), adapted from a German publication by Dr. A. Kotek (Warsaw, 1921), 390 pp., which appeared in a number of editions, the last in Warsaw (1935); Yudishe entsiklopedye, far yudishe geshikhte, kultur, religye, filozofye, literatur, biografye, bibliografye un andere yudishe inyonim (Jewish encyclopedia, for Jewish history, culture, religion, philosophy, literature, biography, bibliography, and other Jewish matters) (Warsaw, 1932-1935), four volumes, later published in two volumes as Yidishe folks-entsiklopedye (Jewish people’s encyclopedia) (Montreal, 1943), each volume 968 pp., revised edition (1949); Mishnayes, mit iberzetsung un peyrush in yidish (The Mishnah, with translation and commentary in Yiddish), six volumes (Montreal, 1945-1949), the most basic and most popular explanation of the six orders of the Mishnah in Yiddish.  For this last work, he was awarded the Y. Lamed Prize for 1950 (when the second edition appeared).  He was editor of: Der emigrant (The emigrant), a weekly newspaper dedicated to issues of Jewish emigration (Warsaw, 1920-1921); and Tevuna (Wisdom), a Jewish studies journal (Warsaw, 1920-1922).  He translated into Yiddish: Dr. Lehman, Rabi yozelman (Rabbi Yozelman), a novel (Warsaw, 1924); V. Soloviev, Dertseylungen (Stories) (Warsaw, 1925); Dr. Kotek’s history of the Jews (see above).  He also wrote under such pen names as: Plony-Almony, Sh. Prager, Petrushkin, Ish Yehudi, Yurist, Bankovyets, and Kalif.  He died in Montreal, Canada.

            “In Montreal,” wrote Moyshe Shtarkman, “Petrushka realized his dream of publishing a ‘Jewish People’s Encyclopedia,’ a handbook that would give the Jewish people in a short and popular form the most important information concerning everything connected to Jewish life and creations of the past and present.  The two volumes…are a magnificent feat, and one can only marvel at how one man under the most difficult of circumstances accomplished something which in other instances only an entire staff of writers and researchers could have time for….  His own mastery of Jewish history, culture, and scholarship withstood the test.  His journalistic experience carried him further to the point that he might relay all of this in less difficult language….  Petrushka undertook to provide not only the Yiddish translation of the Mishnaic text, but also to accompany it both with the original and the translation with a comprehensive commentary, just as exacting as a scholar, such that intelligent people can not only read the translation but also study the Mishnah itself.  Petrushka’s commentary is itself an independent scholarly accomplishment….  Many of the Jewish laws…may be clear to contemporary readers and students only when placed in their historical setting; that meant making historical and social excursions, and describing the living situation, the customs, and folklore of the past in ancient Israel and in neighboring countries.  And, this is just what Petrushka has done.  For each individual tractate Petrushka provides an appropriate preface which introduces the reader to the main matters under consideration….  Where there is more than one version of the Mishnaic text, he mentions this in the commentary….  Petrushka provides the source text in the most exacting translation possible.”

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Kh. M. Kayzerman, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (May 24, 1942); Y. Y. Segal, in Keneder odler (November 22, 1943); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Der tog (New York) (February 20, 1944; May 12, 1946; October 12, 1947; January 8, 1948; December 12, 1948; May 8, 1949); Shtarkman, in Congress Weekly (New York) (May 27, 1946); Rabbi F. Hirshprung, in Der tog (December 3, 1945); Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 2 (Montreal, 1947); Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (April 17, 1950); M. Ginzburg, in Keneder odler (December 3, 1945; April 12, 1950; October 17, 1955); Shimshn Dunski, in Keneder odler (February 3, 1947); Sh. Miler, in Keneder odler (April 16, 1947); Y. L. Volman, in Hadoar (New York) (March 26, 1948); Dr. Shloyme Bikl, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (September 16, 1949); B. Y. Byalostotski, in Yorbukh (New York, 1948/1949); Yisroel Rabinovitsh, in Keneder odler (April 13, 1950; November 5, 1959); G. Shtutsiger, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (May 1950); B. Kutsher, Geven amol varshe (As Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955), see index; Yankev Glatshteyn, Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence), vol. 1 (New York, 1956), pp. 220-30; Kh. Finkelshteyn, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), pp. 207, 213.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

MOYSHE PETRUSHKA

MOYSHE PETRUSHKA (December 7, 1898-February 25, 1983)

            He was born in Praga, Poland.  In the 1920s he immigrated to the United States and settled in New York where he worked in sweatshops.  He was active in the Jewish socialist union.  For fifteen years he prepared for publication all the materials for the journal Der veker (The alarm) in New York.  He wrote a monthly column for it called “Bekitser” (In short).  He used the pen name: M. Karpas.  He died in New York.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 432.

MOYSHE-MEYER YASHAR

MOYSHE-MEYER YASHAR (November 23, 1896-March 14 [February 16?], 1978)

            He was born in Ostrów-Mazowiecka (Ostrov, Mazovyetsk), Poland.  He studied in the yeshivas of Lomzhe and Radin, with the Khofets-Khayim (Chofets-Chaim), from whom he received rabbinical ordination.  For a time he served as rabbi in Lomzhe and Volkovisk (Wołkowysk).  From 1921 he was living in the United States.  He graduated from City College of New York.  He contributor to the Yiddish and Hebrew Orthodox press in America.  In 1935 he published serially in Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York the first portion of his work on the life of the Chofets-Chaim, which later appeared in print under the title Dos lebn un shafn fun khofets-khayim, yisroel meyer hakoyen (The life and work of the Chofets-Chaim, Israel Meir Hakohen) (New York, 1937), 334 pp.; it would later appear in an enlarged edition in two parts (New York, 1946-1947), 670 pp., and in Hebrew under the title Heḥafets ḥayim (Chofets-Chaim) (New York, 1958/1959), vol. 1.[1]  He authored the introduction to a new edition of Symcha Petrushka’s Mishnayes, mit iberzetsung un peyrush in yidish (The Mishna with translation and commentary in Yiddish), and he penned an afterword to the first “order” of the Mishna on the emergence of the Mishna (New York: Gilead, 1945/1946).

Sources: Who’s Who in American Jewry (New York, 1938-1939), p. 1164; A. Horai, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (Ḥeshvan 17 [= October 27], 1961).

Khayim Leyb Fuks

---

[1] Translator’s note. English translation by Charles Wengrov, The Chafetz Chaim: The Life and Works of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin (Brooklyn, NY, 1984), 2 volumes. (JAF)

YANKEV (JACOB) FISHMAN

YANKEV (JACOB) FISHMAN (April 10, 1878-December 20, 1946)

            He was born in Radziłów, Lomzhe district, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school and yeshiva.  In 1890 he came to the United States.  From the years of his youth, he was active in Jewish community, political, and cultural life in America.  For many years he was a member of the central committee of the Zionist Organization in America and a member of the Zionist Action Committee.  He was cofounder and for many years vice-chairman of the Y. L. Perets writers’ association.  He was also active in other institutions.  He was a delegate to Zionist congresses.  In 1927 he took part in the conference for Jewish national rights in Zurich, Switzerland.  Although he was a leading Zionist, he left the conference in protest against those who ignored the Yiddish language and the Yiddish school, which he considered the sole means of warding off assimilation.  He began writing with reportage pieces in Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York, later as an editorial board member, and from 1901 until 1914 editor of the news division (and later news editor) for Varhayt (Truth), 1914-1916.  From late 1916 he was managing editor of Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal) in New York.  From 1936, after the death of P. Vyernik, he became editor-in-chief of this newspaper.  He introduced the daily heading “Fun tog tsu tog” (From day to day) which was concerned with Jewish and general issues.  He was the first to publish Herzl’s diary and the memoirs of Rabbi Mazeh in Yiddish.  He also contributed to Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) in Philadelphia, as well as in the Yiddish press in Poland.  In book form he published: Der emes vegn di ekonomishe krizisn un vi azoy zikh tsu bafrayen fun zey (The truth about the economic crises and how to be freed from them) (New York, 1934), 95 pp.  He was one of the founders of the world association of Jewish journalists, a leading member of the American Zionist Organization, and among the central figures of American Jewish journalists.  In December 1946 he was among the speakers at the Zionist congress in Basel, and after hearing reports on the Jewish destruction in Poland, he had a heart attack and died on the spot.  He was buried in the land of Israel.

            “Although he was a leading Zionist,” wrote Moyshe Shtarkman, “on Jewish problems, just as on other issues of the day, Fishman comments as an independent journalist, acutely and to the point, in his daily column ‘Fun tog tsu tog,’ published daily on page one.”

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3; Froym Oyerbakh, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 30, 1931); Dr. Sh. Bernshteyn, in Tog (New York) (January 14, 1932); Dr. Sh. Margoshes, in Tog (June 4, 1932); Sh. Petrushka, in Tog (October 8, 1932); B. Ts. Goldberg, in Tog (May 9, 1933); Y. Khaykin, Yidishe bleter in amerike, a tsushteyer tsu der 75-yoriker geshikhte fun der yidisher prese in di fareynikte shtatn un kanade (Yiddish letters in America, a contribution to the seventy-five year history of the Yiddish press in the United States and Canada) (New York, 1946), see index; Dr. A. Mukdoni, In varshe un in lodzh (In Warsaw and in Lodz) (Buenos Aires, 1955), p. 44; Talush, Yidishe shrayber (Yiddish writers) (New York, 1955), pp. 121-22; M. Shushani, in Hadoar (New York) (Nisan 2 [= April 3], 1946); Moyshe Shtarkman, in Hadoar (Sivan 4 [= May 23], 1947); Dovid Shub, in Forverts (New York) (March 20, 1966).

Khayim Leyb Fuks