Friday 28 April 2017

ZALMEN LIFSHITS

ZALMEN LIFSHITS (1900-1941)
            He was born in Kovno, Lithuania.  He graduated as an electrical engineer from Kovno University.  He was an active leader of the Jewish Folks-partey (People’s party) in Lithuania.  He served as secretary of the central administration of the Jewish artisans’ union in Kovno.  From 1925 he was a contributor to the Yiddish press in Lithuania.  He published articles on Jewish artisans’ issues in: Der bal-melokhe (The craftsman) (1925-1926), Folksblat (People’s newspaper) (1930-1938), and Yidisher hantverker (Jewish craftsman) (1938-1940), of which he was also secretary of the editorial board—all in Kovno.  He was among the first Jewish victims of the Nazis, when they occupied Kovno.

Source: Information from Yudel Mark in New York.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


DOVID LIFSHITS

DOVID LIFSHITS (b. September 9, 1878)
            He was born in Voznesensk, Kherson district, southern Russia, where his father was a lawyer.  He received his education in Voznesensk and Odessa.  He worked with a notary, for a time dealt in grain, and later made his way to London where he worked as a proofreader and typesetter in various Russian publishing houses.  With the founding of Der tsayt (The times), edited by Morris Meyer, he was a regular contributor, news editor, and editorial board secretary, and he translated and adapted a string of novels for the newspaper, such as: Di levone fun yisroel (The moon of Israel),[1] Di tokhter fun yude (Judah’s daughter),[2] and Der yidisher funk (The Jewish spark), about Jewish and Arab life in Palestine—these were later republished in Yidishe tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York and in Frimorgn (Morning) in Riga.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2.




[1] Translator’s note. Possibly a translation of H. Rider Haggard’s Moon of Israel (JAF).
[2] Translator’s note. Maybe: From Lament of the Daughter of Judah, by Leyba Nevakhovich.

FROYM-DOV LIFSHITS (LIPSHITS)

FROYM-DOV LIFSHITS (LIPSHITS) (June 3, 1868-February 1925)
            He was born in Pinsk, into a prominent family.  He received a religious education, later acquiring a secular education on his own.  He debuted in print in 1890 with a poem “Harokhel haivri” (The Jewish peddler), which appeared in the collection Kneset hagedola (The great assembly).  In 1897 Hamelits (The advocate) published his stories: “Bashefel hamadrega” (At the bottom of the scale) and “Meḥayil el ḥayil” (From strength to strength).  In 1893 Ben-Avigdor brought out his story “Nekudat hakesef” (The point of money).  That very year, there appeared in Vilna Lifshits’s translation of Max Bodenheimer’s German pamphlet concerning the Jewish Colonial Trust (bank) in London.  Hi lullaby, “Shir haeresh” (Song of the cradle), published in Luaḥ aḥiasef (1893), was sung in public and was very popular.  His Taares hamishpokhe (Marital fidelity) (Riga, 1935/1936), 24 pp., was translated from other languages into Hebrew.  He edited and published in 1900 Pinsker shtot-luekh (Pinsk city calendar), with articles in Yiddish and Hebrew.  He was an important Zionist leader in Pinsk.  During WWI he lived in Russia, and on his way back to Pinsk (after the armistice) he died unexpectedly in Danzig.

Sources: Ts. H. Maslyanski, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (June 9, 1932); Toyznt yor pinsk (1000 years of Pinsk) (New York, 1941), see index.
Yankev Kahan


A. L. LIFSHITS

A. L. LIFSHITS
            The younger brother of Shiye-Mortkhe Lifshits, he completed rabbinical training in Zhitomir and took up teaching.  He was close to the Socialist-Revolutionary circles.  Arrested several times, he led a struggle against the anti-democratic conduct of the “philistine rule” (a form of self-management in Tsarist Russia) in Berdichev, and in general he displayed a temperament of a community leader, though he did not have the appropriate surroundings or favorable circumstances.  Probably under the influence and perhaps also with the assistance of his older brother, he published Di risishe gramatike oyf yudesh (Russian grammar in Yiddish) (Zhitomir: Y. M. Baksht, 1875), 58 pp., written in a pure language, with an interesting, occasionally quite successful, terminology and a well thought out orthography, according to his brother’s system.  He also left in manuscript a dictionary entitled Erklerung af yudesh fun di fremde verter vos vern banitst in der russishe shprakhe aroysgigeben nokh mikhelzohn (Explanation in Yiddish of the foreign words used in the Russian language published by Mikhelzohn), located in the Strashun Library in Vilna, mentioned by Zalmen Reyzen.  In his late years, he was thought to have supported assimilation.  He died before WWI in Kiev.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2 (under the biography of Y. M. Lifshits).


SHLOYME LIPSHITS (SAM LIPSCHITZ)

SHLOYME LIPSHITS (SAM LIPSCHITZ) (February 10, 1910-September 14, 2000)
            He was born in Radom, Poland.  His father ran a “cheder metukan” (improved religious elementary school).  He studied with his father, in a Polish high school, and privately, before becoming a laborer.  In 1927 he immigrated to Canada.  He first years there he worked as an assistant librarian in the Montreal Jewish Public Library, while at the same time studying at university.  Until 1956 he was a prominent leader in the Jewish and general Communist movement in Canada.  He was also (1944-1953) a leading activist in the Canadian Jewish Congress.  After the war he visited Poland, the state of Israel, the Communist satellite countries, and Western Europe.  In 1956 he visited the Soviet Union and returned from there disappointed in Communist politics and withdrew from the Communist Party of Canada; he wrote about this in the Yiddish and English press in Canada and the United States.  He debuted in print in Rademer-keltser lebn (Radom-Kielce life) in 1926; and until 1933 he published articles in: Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal, Der idisher zhurnal (The Jewish journal) in Toronto, and elsewhere.  From 1933 he wrote for and edited: Der kamf (The struggle), Der veg (The way), and later for Vokhnblat (Weekly newspaper) in Toronto (1943-1956).  He also contributed to: Hamer (Hammer), Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom), Yidishe kultur (Jewish culture), and Eynikeyt (Unity)—in New York; Naye prese (New press) in Paris; and Folks-shtime (Voice of the people) in Warsaw.  He was editor of the English-language New Voice (1947-1949) in Toronto and an active contributor to Canadian Tribune—in Montreal.  After his split with the Communist movement, he went on to write for Keneder odler and Der idisher zhurnal, as well as Rademer shtime (Voice of Radom) in Toronto.  He was active in the printers’ union, in the association of those from Radom, and in the campaign for Histadrut.  He died in Toronto.


Lipshits, front row, right end

Source: Der idisher zhurnal (Toronto) (June 9, 1958).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


SH. LIPSHITS

SH. LIPSHITS
            He came from Ukraine.  Until 1937 he lived in Kharkov and Kiev.  He was a leader in the Komerd (Committee for Land Settlement of Jewish Laborers [Komzet in Russian]) and Gezerd (All-Union Association for the Agricultural Settlement of Jewish Workers in the USSR) movements.  He was also a manager in the social-economic section of the Institute for Jewish Proletarian Culture at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and he traveled around with its brigade researching the condition of the Jewish town after the Revolution.  He wrote for: Der shtern (The star) and Royte velt (Red world) in Kharkov; and Proletarishe fon (Red banner) in Kiev (1930-1936); as well as Radians׳ka Ukraïna (Red Ukraine) in Kiev, in which he published articles on socio-economic questions.  He penned a series of anonymous pamphlets of Gezerd agitation literature in Yiddish and in Russian—see, for example, Proletarishe fon (January 29, 1932).  His book, Vegn shtetl (On the town) (Kharkov-Kiev, 1932), 69 pp., was a polemic on the transformed structure of the Jewish town after the October Revolution, including such authors as: I. I. Vaytsblit, “Vegn altn un nayem shtetl” (On the old and new town); A. Skuditski, “Dos ekonomishe lebn in yidishn shtetl” (The economic life in the Jewish town); and M. Kiper, “Dos yidishe shtetl in ukraine” (The Jewish town in Ukraine); among others.  In 1937 he was arrested for “Jewish nationalism” and thereafter no one heard anything about him.

Sources: Y. Liberberg, in Proletarishe fon (Kiev) (January 18, 1932); N. Rubinshteyn, Dos yidishe bukh in sovetn-farband 1932 (The Yiddish book in the Soviet Union, 1932) (Minsk, 1933), see index; Yivo-bleter (Vilna) 6.1 (1934); Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index.
Khayim Leyb Fuks



RUVN LIPSHITS (R. LIPSZYC)

RUVN LIPSHITS (R. LIPSZYC) (May 15, 1918-May 1, 1975)
            He was born in Warsaw, Poland.  He studied music in the Warsaw Conservatory.  He was a writer for Polish revue theaters.  During WWII he was confined in the Warsaw Ghetto and in German camps.  He was liberated by the American army, and he lived thereafter in survivors’ (displaced persons’) camps in Germany, where he was a cofounder of a revue theater “Di goldene pave” (The golden peacock) for which he wrote a series of numbers and prepared (together with Vera Haken) the program “Az men lebt, derlebt men” (If you live long enough, you’ll see everything [freely translated]).  From 1950 he was in the United States.  At first, he wrote satirical poems in Polish and published them in Szpilki (Pins) and other Polish satirical magazines.  In the Warsaw Ghetto, he switched to Yiddish and wrote song which were sung as folk tunes of anonymous writers; a number of them were later included in his book Tsu zingen un tsu zogn (To sing and to speak) (Munich, 1949).  He published his first songs in Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Bergen-Belsen (1946), and from that point he contributed to: Unzer veg (Our way), Dos vort (The word), and Yidishe bilder (Jewish images) in Munich.  In book form: Lebedik amkho, a zamlung lider (Ordinary living Jews, a collection of songs) (Bergen-Belsen, 1946), 32 pp.; Tsu zingen un tsu zogn (To sing and to speak), “ghetto, folk, and Israeli songs” (Munich, 1949), 80 pp.  From 1963 he was living in Chicago, where he died.

Sources: B. Groybard, in Dos vort (Munich) (May 12, 1948); N. Horovitz, in Fun noentn over (New York) 1 (1955), pp. 136, 138, 146, 159, 166, 175; Jacob Robinson and Philip Friedman, Guide to Jewish History under Nazi Impact (New York, 1960), no. 3556.
Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 338.]


Thursday 27 April 2017

NOTE HALEVI LIPSHITS (NOTELIS LIPŠICAS)

NOTE HALEVI LIPSHITS (NOTELIS LIPŠICAS) (1887-late June 1941)
            The son of Yankev Halevi Lipshits, he was born in Vilyampolye (Vilijampole), near Kovno, Lithuania.  He attended religious elementary school and studied with his father and in yeshivas.  He acquired secular knowledge with private tutors.  He later supported himself by running a small dry-goods store and by selling his own and his father’s religious texts.  He was a leader in the Orthodox Agudat Yisrael and Aḥdut (Unity) in Lithuania.  He published essays and assembled sayings from the Talmud and Midrashim in Orthodox publications out of Kovno: Idisher lebn (Jewish life) (1922-1926, 1933), Der ortodoksisher idisher lebn (The Orthodox Jewish life) (1934), Di idishe velt (The Jewish world) (1934), and Haneeman (The faithful) in Telz, among others.  In Kovno’s Folksblat (People’s newspaper), he ran (until 1937) a daily column entitled “Mir gefelt es” (I like it).  He also contributed work to: Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice) in Kovno; Dos vort (The word) in Vilna; Dos idishe togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper) in Warsaw; and Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal) in Lodz; among others.  His books include: Interesant un balerndik, a zamlung fun talmudishe maymorim, aforizmen fun gdoyle-hador (Interesting and instructive, a collection of Talmudic essays and aphorisms from giants of the era) (Kovno, 1934), 96 pp.; Der gaystiker prozhektor, a likht un vegvayzer in lebn (The spiritual searchlight, a light and guide in life), four parts (Kovno, 1935-1938), each 84 pp.; Der lebediker shas (The living Mishna), on the genius of Rogachov and other articles (Kovno, 1937), 88 pp., second edition (1938), 104 pp.; Lebens-geshikhte fun ṿelt-goen rabi yitskhok elkhonen un fun zayn zun hagoen rabi tsvi-hirsch rabinovits (Biography of the brilliant Rabbi Yitskhok Elkhonen and of his son, the brilliant Rabbi Tsvi-Hirsh Rabinovits) (Kovno, 1939), 105 pp.; Arikhes yomim, der veg fun lebn un glik far eltern un kinder (Long life, the guide to life and happiness for parents and children), published under the Lithuanian regime (Kaunus, 1940), 32 pp.  He published his father’s three-volume Zikhron yaakov (The memory of Jacob) in Kovno from 1924; it also appeared in his German translation (Frankfurt, 1925-1931), three parts.  He was murdered in the first Nazi mass murders of Slobodka Jews.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2 (under the biography of his father, Yankev Lipshits); information from his grandson, Rabbi Lifshits in Fall River, Massachusetts; Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 10, pp. 997-98.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


NEKHEMYE LIPSHITS (NECHEMIA LIPSCHUTZ)

NEKHEMYE LIPSHITS (NECHEMIA LIPSCHUTZ) (January 20, 1889-January 8, 1954)
            He was born in Pinsk, Byelorussia.  He attended religious primary school, later graduating from the Pinsk senior high school.  In 1906 he immigrated to the United States, living for a time in New York and Philadelphia.  In 1910 he returned to Pinsk and served for four years in the Russian military.  In WWI he was on the Russo-German front and fell into German captivity.  In late 1918 he returned to Pinsk and in 1935 made his way to Canada.  He lived in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and it was there that he died.  He debuted in print with a poem entitled “Idilye” (Idyll) in Fraye arbeter-shtime (Free voice of labor) in New York (1917); he later published poetry, stories, and reportage pieces in: Forverts (Forward) until 1910, Der amerikaner (The American) from 1935 until his death, and Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal)—in New York; Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal; and other serials.  He was the chief contributor and actual editor of: Pinsker lebn (Pinsk life) (1921-1922); Pinsker vort (Pinsk word) (1923-1924); Pinsker tribune (Pinsk tribune) (from 1925); Pinsker shtime (Voice of Pinsk) (1928-1930); and Pinsker vokh (Pinsk week) (1931-1933).  Among other items, he published: “Memuarn fun a pinsker krigs-gefangenem” (Memoirs of a Pinsk prisoner of war); “Durkh farmaterte vegn” (Along weary ways)—characters, images, and scenes from WWI; the series, “Romantishe geshikhtes” (Romantic stories) which he reworked from English and American literature.  He also published under such pen names as: Ben-Porat, Fidele, N. Idelson, and Der Lerer.  He published articles and a collection of Jewish humor in the English-language Cape Breton Mirror (1951-1953.  Posthumously: Kheshbn hanefesh, lider (Accounting of the soul, poems) (New York and Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, 1981), 149 pp.

Sources: Y. Ayznberg, in Pinsker vokh (September 16, 1932); M. Alpern, in Yidishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (October 14, 1953); Noah Lifshits, a volume in English (New York, 1960), p. 22.
Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 337.]


Wednesday 26 April 2017

MOYSHE LIPSHITS

MOYSHE LIPSHITS (1896-April 27, 1940)
            He was born in a town near Kovno, Lithuania.  In 1931 he arrived in Israel, where he was a painter and a carpenter, and he published poetry in Nayvelt (New world), Davar (Word), and Haarets (The land).  He also contributed to: Folksblat (People’s newspaper) in Kovno and Frimorgn (Morning) in Riga, among others.  His Balade fun umbakantn soldat (Ballad of an unknown soldier) was staged under his supervision by a workers’ troupe in Tel Aviv.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Y. Shtol, Unzers (Ours) (Tel Aviv, 1940), p. 37; American Jewish Yearbook 5701 (Philadelphia, 1940).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


YANKEV HALEVI LIPSHITS

YANKEV HALEVI LIPSHITS (January 2, 1838-October 2, 1921)
            He was born in Vilkomir (Ukmergė), Lithuania, son of the Vilkomir preacher Leyzer-Lipman Lipshits.  He attended yeshiva in Keydan (Kėdainiai).  His pious articles in the style of Orthodox essayists in opposition to the Jewish Enlightenment appeared in Halevanon (The Lebanon), Maḥzike hadat (Supporters of the faith), and other serials earned him a reputation in Lithuania, especially in devout circles.  In 1870 he became an elementary school teacher in the Kovno Talmud Torah, later secretary to the Kovno rabbi, Yitskhok-Elkhonen Spektor, and over the course of twenty-six years he served as the rabbi’s right-hand man.  With a string feeling for community matters, he was an important leader in the Orthodox world and led the struggle against followers of the Jewish Enlightenment, the adherents of the “Tikunim bedat” (Religious reformers), and later also against the modern Jewish movements.  As one of the leaders of the “Halishka hasheḥora” (The black bureau), he contributed to all the rabbinical assemblies and conferences in Russia and Europe.  Aside from articles in the Orthodox press—such as: Hakerem (The vineyard), Hapeles (The balance), and Hatsfira (The siren), among others—he also published scholarly texts, translated into Hebrew Samson-Raphael Hirsch’s Neunzehn Briefe über Judentum (Nineteen letters on Judaism) as Igrot tsafon.  In Yiddish he published the religious text, Goen-yitskhok, di tolade (lebns-geshikhte) fun rebeynu hagoen hagodl… (The brilliant Isaac, the story [life history] of our rabbi, the brilliant, great… [Yitskhok-Elkhonen Spektor]) (Vilna: Romm, 1899), 191 pp.  After being expelled from Kovno, he lived in Ukraine.  In the late summer of 1921, he returned to Kovno where he soon thereafter died.  He left behind in Hebrew-language manuscript his memoirs, which covered over fifty years of his activity and is of immense cultural historical interest.  These memoirs, Zikhron yaakov (The memory of Jacob), were published in three parts (Frankfurt-Kovno, 1924-1930).  His son Note Lipshits published the first part in Kovno-Slobodka (1924), 242 + 31 pp.  It carries approbations from many rabbis.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 337.]


YUDE-LEYB LIPSHITS (LIPHSHITZ)

YUDE-LEYB LIPSHITS (LIPHSHITZ) (b. November 12, 1882)
            He was born in the village of Pukhovitsh (Pukhavichy), Minsk district, Byelorussia.  He attended religious elementary school and yeshivas in Bobruisk, Slutsk, and Mir.  He later worked as a private Hebrew teacher in Minsk.  In 1904 he moved to the United States and settled in New York.  He was a teacher there, a director of a yeshiva in Brooklyn, and a merchant.  He traveled for several years through the United States, giving speeches on behalf of the settlement in the land of Israel.  He wrote articles for Hamelits (The advocate) in Odessa, and he later contributed to Hatsfira (The siren) and Der yud (The Jew) in Warsaw-Cracow.  In America he wrote for the New York-based: Yidishe gazetten (Jewish gazette), Tog (Day), Morgn-zhurnal (Morning journal), and Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in which he was in charge of a column entitled “Shtiklakh un breklakh” (Bits and crumbs).  He edited Brukliner naye tsaytung (Brooklyn’s new newspaper) in 1911.  He co-edited (together with H. Royzenblat) Detroyter vokhenblat (Detroit weekly newspaper) (1916-1917), and (together with Dr. Y. Elfenbeyn) the weekly periodical Di shtime fun folk (The voice of the people) in New York (1932).  In book form: Zikh gefunen, origineler roman fun der idisher nayer tkufe (Found, an original novel of the new Jewish era) (New York, 1927), vol. 1, 352 pp., vol. 2, 357 pp.  The novel is concerned with Jewish life in America and in Tsarist and Bolshevik Russia, as well as in Israel of the pioneers.

Sources: Hadoar (New York) (April 30, 1927); Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; Dr. Sh. Melamed, in Di idishe velt (Philadelphia) (June 5, 1927); Dr. B. Gitlin, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (June 28, 1927); P. Vyernik, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 22, 1932).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


HERMAN LIPSHITS

HERMAN LIPSHITS
            He was born in Bialystok to a father who was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment.  He graduated from the Darmstadt Polytechnic and practiced as an engineer abroad.  In 1923 he returned to Bialystok, where in 1927 he was chosen to be a member of the city council and became a leader of the technical division at city hall.  He wrote articles on municipal and community matter for local Yiddish newspapers.  He was killed during the Nazi occupation of Bialystok.

Source: Byalistoker leksikon (Bialystok handbook) (Bialystok, 1935).
Yankev Kahan


SAM LIPTZIN (SHEPSL, SEM LIPTSIN)

SAM LIPTZIN (SHEPSL, SEM LIPTSIN) (March 13, 1893-September 22, 1980)
            He was born in Lipsk, Suwalk district, Russian Poland.  At age nine he began working with his father in tailoring.  He moved to New York in 1909, worked in a sweatshop, and in his free hours he pursued self-study.  At age sixteen, he became active in the Socialist Party.  He began literary work for Der kundes (The prankster) and Di varheyt (The truth), as well as in trade union newspapers.  Together with A. Ayzen and H. Garvin, he published (1920) the monthly Der humorist (The humorist).  From 1922 he was a regular contributor to Frayhayt (Freedom), later Morgn-frayhayt (Morning freedom), in which he published humorous sketches, poems, and stories from the sweatshop, and ran the column “A vort far a vort” (A word for a word).  He also placed pieces in the journals: Yidish kultur (Jewish culture) and Zamlungen (Collections) in New York; Naye prese (New press) in Paris; Folks-shtime (Voice of the people) in Warsaw; and various publications of IKUF (Jewish cultural association) in South Africa and the state of Israel.  His books include: Af laytish gelekhter (The laughing stock), humorous pieces, poetry, aphorisms (New York, 1923), 160 pp.; Royte feferlekh (Little red peppers) (New York, 1926), 160 pp.; Ikh lakh fun der velt (I laugh at the world), monologues (New York, 1927), 36 pp.; Lomir zingen, in kemp un kamf (Let’s sing, in camp and in struggle) (New York, 1930), 32 pp.; Far royte ovntn (For red evenings) (New York, 1932), 125 pp.; Gekemft un felakht (Fought and laughed) (New York, 1933), 32 pp.; Lebedik un lustik (Living and cheerful) (New York, 1933), 16 pp.; Nitgedaiget (Carefree) (New York, 1934), 208 pp.; Gut morgn (Good morning) (New York, 1935), 96 pp.; Kamflustik (Joy of the struggle) (Los Angeles, 1936), 176 pp.; A freylekhs (A cheerful tune) (New York, 1938), 128 pp.; A gut-yontev (Happy holidays) (New York, 1940), 64 pp.; Krig un zig (War and victory) (New York, 1942), 80 pp.; Mit gezang in kamf (With song in battle) (New York, 1942), 32 pp.; Tselokhes di trern (In spite of tears) (New York, 1943), 48 pp. (English translation by S. P. Rudens as In Spite of Tears [New York, 1946]); Kvekzilbers penshtiferayen (Quicksilver’s mischievous pranks with his pen) (New York, 1944), 64 pp.; Hert a mayse (Listen to a story) (New York, 1945), 72 pp.; Shpil tsum tsil, humoreskes, monologn, retsitatsyes un kinder-lidlakh (Play to the goal, humorous sketches, monologues, recitations, and children’s songs) (New York, 1949), 144 pp.; Zingen mir, lider un parodyes af populare melodyes (We’re singing, songs and parodies of popular melodies) (New York, 1949), 46 pp.; Amol iz geven, epizodn fun svet-shop, bilder fun di grine yorn, kamf far treyd-yunyonizm in amerike (The past happened, episodes from a sweatshop, images from the green [i.e., first] years, the struggle for trade unionism in America) (New york, 1951), 264 pp.; Far freyd un fridn (For happiness and peace) (New York, 1953), 160 pp.; A vort far a vort (A word for a word) (New York, 1955), 178 pp.; Af vakatsye, humoristishe dertseylungen, monologn, retsitatsyes un aforizmen (On vacation, humorous stories, monologues, recitations, and aphorisms) (New York, 1957), 128 pp.; Far kleyn un groys, humoristishe lider (For small and large [young and old], humorous songs) (New York, 1957), 64 pp.; Vi zogt der feter (What did uncle say?) (New York, 1960), 208 pp.; Zingen mir, hundert un tsvantsik arbeter humoristishe un folks-lider (We’re singing, 120 workers’ humorous and popular songs) (New York, 1961), 64 pp.; Mit a freylekh ponim (With a happy face) (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1963), 235 pp.; Zingen mir far sholem, 150 lider tsum zingen (We’re singing for peace, 150 songs to sing) (New York, 1965), 96 pp.; Mayn gortn (My garden), stories, humorous sketches, songs of struggle (New York: IKUF, 1969), 378 pp.  He died in New York.



Sources: Shmuel Niger, in Tog (New York) (March 24, 1935); M. Kats, in Morgn-frayhayt (New York) (May 2, 1942); M. Kligsberg, Dos yidishe bukh in 1943 (The Yiddish book in 1943), annual (New York, 1945); Y. B. Beylin, in Morgn-frayhayt (May 13, 1944; November 5, 1946; October 16, 1955); Y. Mestel, in Yidishe kultur (New York) (March 1949); Mestel, in Zamlungen (New York) 12 (1957); Z. Vaynper, in Yidish kultur (October 1951); M. Goldin, in Naye prese (Paris) (June 7, 1952); R. Yuklson, in Zamlungen (April-June 1954); Yuklson, in Yidishe kultur (January 1958); D. Karpinovitsh, in Folks-shtime (Warsaw) (February 25, 1956).
Benyomen Elis.

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 337.]


SOL (SHLOYME) LIPTZIN

SOL (SHLOYME) LIPTZIN (July 27, 1901-November 15, 1995)
            His was born in Satanov (Sataniv), Podolia.  In 1910 he moved to the United States and received a traditional Jewish education together with his secular education.  He studied at the City University of New York (1918-1921) and Columbia University (1922), at the University of Berlin (1923), and in 1924 he received his doctoral degree from Columbia.  He served as professor of comparative literature and head of the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages at City College in New York.  He published his writings in academic journals and in encyclopedias in English and German.  His published books include: The Weavers in German Literature (Baltimore, 1926), 108 pp.; Lyric Pioneers of Modern Germany: Studies in German Social Poetry (New York, 1928), 187 pp.; Heine (New York, 1928), 310 pp.; From Novalis to Nietzsche: Anthology of Nineteenth Century German Literature (New York, 1929), 607 pp.; Arthur Schnitzler (New York, 1932), 275 pp.; Historical Survey of German Literature (New York, 1936), 300 pp.; Richard Beer-Hofmann (New York, 1936), 111 pp.; Germany’s Stepchildren (Philadelphia, 1944), 297 pp.; The English Legend of Heinrich Heine (New York, 1954), 191 pp.  In the mid-1940s he submitted a memorandum to the Council on Higher Education in New York concerning the introduction of Yiddish courses at City College, and Yiddish for the first time in the history of American universities became a fully recognized subject for which students received academic credit.  Later, other New York colleges and universities also introduced Yiddish courses.  Liptzin contributed to YIVO publications: Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO), Yidishe shprakh (Yiddish language), and Yivo Annual of Social Science.  He also wrote for the monthly Tsukunft (Future), the English-language In Jewish Bookland, and other serials.  In book form, he wrote the following works in English: Peretz (New York: YIVO, 1947), 379 pp., in which he provided Perets’s text in Yiddish parallel to Liptzin’s translation; Eliakum Zunser: Poet of His People (New Yor, 1950), 243 pp., also in a Hebrew translation by Yaakov Adini (Tel Aviv, 1953), 200 pp.; Generation for Decision: Jewish Rejuvenation in America (New York, 1958), 300 pp., a cross-section of Jewish cultural history in America.  Over the years 1953-1956, he served as editor of Jewish Book Annual in New York.  He was president (1936-1937) of the American organization of “Judenstaat Zionism”; president (1952-1954) of the Jewish book council; chairman (1960) of the commission for Yiddish matters at the American Jewish Congress; chairman (1959) of the managing committee of the “Great Yiddish Dictionary”; member of the academic council and directors’ council of YIVO; and a delegate to the second conference of World Jewish Culture Congress in 1959.  In 1962 he moved to Israel and settled in Jerusalem.  Until 1964 he was professor at the Haifa Technion, and at the American College in Jerusalem (1968-1974).  He later wrote a series of books about Yiddish literature: The Flowering of Yiddish Literature (New York, 1963), 246 pp.; The Maturing of Yiddish Literature (New York, 1970), 282 pp.; A History of Yiddish Literature (New York, 1972), 521 pp.; Einführung in die Jiddische Literatur (Introduction to Yiddish literature) (Stuttgart, 1978), 180 pp.  He died in Jerusalem.



Sources: Dr. N. Glatser, in Yivo-bleter (New York) 25.3 (May-June 1945); M. Unger, in Tog (New York) (February 6, 1947); S. Kahan, Meksikaner viderklangen (Mexican echoes) (Mexico, 1951), pp. 181-84; Ascher Penn, Idishkayt in amerike (Jewishness in America) (New York, 1958), pp. 540, 542, 547; Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, vol. 7, pp. 80-81; Who’s Who in World Jewry (1955); Who’s Who in Education (1959-1960); Who’s Who in American Jewry; Who Knows—and What among Authorities, Experts, and the Specially Informed; Yivo-biblyografye (YIVO bibliography) (1925-1941, 1941-1950).
Zaynvl Diamant

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 337.]


Tuesday 25 April 2017

VOLF-ZEV LIPSKER

VOLF-ZEV LIPSKER (1902-1943)
            He was born in Warsaw, Poland, into a family that drew its pedigree back to Yeḥezkel Landau [1713-1793], the Noda Beyehuda (“known in Judah”).  He studied in religious elementary school, a small Hassidic synagogue, and the Ger yeshiva—and through self-study he acquired secular knowledge.  From his early youth he was an active leader of “Agudat Shelume Emune Yisrael” (Organization of the peaceful and faithful of Israel) and one of the directors of “Tseire Emune Yisrael” (Young believers in Israel) and of Poale Agudat-Yisrael (Workers of Agudat Yisrael) in Poland.  He began his writing works with lyrical poetry in Hebrew and published in the monthly Deglanu (Our banner) in Warsaw (1920), which he was then co-editing, and from that time he went on to publish poems, Hassidic tales, historical novels, and journalistic articles in: Der yud (The Jew), Dos yudishe togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper), Ortodoksishe yugend-bleter (Orthodox youth sheets), Darkhenu (Our path), Der flaker (The flare), Yugend-kreftn (Talents of youth) which he also edited in 1926, Hayom (Today), and Moment (Moment)—in Warsaw; Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal), Der idisher arbayter (The Jewish worker), and Idishe arbayter-shtime (Voice of Jewish labor)—in Lodz; Unzer veg (Our way) in Shedlets; Der idisher veg (The Jewish path) in Cracow; Dos vort (The word) in Vilna; and Bendiner vokhnblat (Będzin weekly newspaper); among other serials.  In 1925 when B. Yushzon moved from Moment to Haynt (Today), for a time he wrote for Moment (using the name “Lukus”) feature pieces and political-polemical essays in Yushzon’s style.  He later became a polemicist in Yudishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) and reacted in his daily features and articles to Jewish and world politics with a distinctive style.  He also published there the historical stories: Don yitskhok abarbanel, shpanende historishe ertseylung (Don Isaac Abarbanel, a thrilling historical story); Bay di bregen fun rhayn (On the banks of the Rhine)—which appeared in book form in Hebrew as Al gadot harhayn (On the banks of the Rhine) (Jerusalem, 1958/1959), two parts, 110 pp.—Tsvishn tsvey heymen (Between two homes); and the monographs Noda Beyehuda (later published in Hebrew [Jerusalem, 1960], 136 pp.) and Khasam soyfer (Chatam Sofer), among others.  He was the author of the hymn of Poale Agudat Yisrael, “Nisht fartsveyflen” (Don’t despair), and other songs, which were used in the Beys Yankev schools in Poland.  During the Nazi occupation of Poland, he was confined in the Warsaw Ghetto.  He worked in the ghetto mail (1941), continuing his writing and remaining active in “Jewish self-help.”  According to one source, on September 10, 1942, during the pass expulsion from the ghetto, he was sent from Umschlagplatz (the collection point in Warsaw for deportation) to Treblinka and killed there.  Others claim that he died in the Warsaw Ghetto the next year.  He also wrote under such pseudonyms as: Lukus, Lupus, Lamed-Vov, L. Zev, Politikus, Vel, Velvele, and Yekusiel.  His poetry and stories were republished in Udim (Firebrands) (Jerusalem, 1960), pp. 193-95, 330-35.

Sources: R. Feldshuh, Yidisher gezelshaftlekher leksikon (Jewish communal handbook) (Warsaw, 1939), p. 745; Z. Segalovitsh, Tlomatske 13, fun farbrentn nekhtn (13 Tłomackie St., of scorched yesterdays) (Buenos Aires, 1946), p. 154; Dr. H. Zaydman, Tog-bukh fun varshever geto (Diary of the Warsaw Ghetto) (Buenos Aires, 1947), pp. 50, 110, 139; Ele ezkara (These we remember), vol. 3 (New York, 1959), pp. 232-35; M. Prager, Antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (Anthology of religious poems and stories) (New York, 1955), p. 406; Prager, in Fun noentn over (New York) 2 (1956), pp. 473, 482, 513, 514; Biblyografye fun yidishe bikher vegn khurbn un gvure (Bibliography of Yiddish books concerning the Holocaust and heroism) (New York, 1962), see index; information from Rabbi Meyer Shvartsman in Winnipeg.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


YISROEL HAKOHEN LIPSKI

YISROEL HAKOHEN LIPSKI
            He was born in Kuznitse (Kurenets), Poland.  He attended religious primary schools and yeshivas, later becoming a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment; he founded a private children’s school in Kovel (Kovle), and he later moved it to Bialystok.  He was the teller of jokes and aphorisms.  He was a member of the Bialystok Jewish literary circle.  He published in Hebrew: Mikhtavim veḥidudim (Letters and jokes) (Warsaw, 1901/1902), 64 pp.; Ezrat yisrael (Israel’s help) (Bialystok, 1929/1930), 158 + 70 pp.; Sipure shaashuim (Entertainment stories) (Warsaw, 1898), 122 pp., popular stories and anecdotes.  In Yiddish: A bukh mit glaykhvertlekh (A book with aphorisms).  He wrote articles and humorous sketches for: Byalistoker shtime (Voice of Bialystok), Dos naye lebn (The new life), and Undzer lebn (Our life).  Further information about him remains unknown.

Sources: Byalistoker shtime (New York) (October 1924); Byalistoker leksikon (Bialystok handbook) (Bialystok, 1935); P. Vyernik, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (January 15, 1935); A. Sh. Hershberg, in Pinkes byalistok (Records of Bialystok), vol. 1 (New York, 1949).
Yankev Kahan


YITSKHOK LIPSKI

YITSKHOK LIPSKI (December 2, 1912-ca. April-May 1981)
            He was born in Lodz, Poland.  He attended religious elementary school and later graduated from a seven-class Medem School in Lodz.  In his youth he became a laborer.  He was a member of the drama studio “Baginen” (Dawn).  In 1939 when the Germans seized Lodz, he left for Bialystok; he was arrested in 1940 by the Soviet authorities and deported to labor camps.  In 1946 he returned to Lodz, and from the late 1940s he was living in Buenos Aires.  He was active in the Perets School, YIVO, the Bund, and the publishing house of Yidbukh.  He first wrote for the school journal Onzog (Message) in Lodz (1927) and from that point published in: Kleyne folkstsaytung (Little people’s newspaper) and Yugnt-veker (Youth alarm) in Warsaw; Lodzer veker (Lodz alarm) and Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Lodz; and Di prese (The press) and Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires; among others.  He also contributed work to Unzer gedank (Our idea) in Buenos Aires, in which he was in charge of a column entitled “Gehert, geleyent, fartseykhnt” (Heard, read, noted).  From 1946 he served as the Argentinian correspondent for Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris.  He received an award for a piece on the young people at a YIVO conference in Vilna in 1932.  He also wrote under such pen names as: Y. Lival, Y. El-ski, Yitskhok Rivkes, and Oyran Moiseevitsh.  He died in Buenos Aires.

Sources: Dr. M. Weinreich, Der veg tsu undzer yugnṭ, yesoydes, metodn, problemen fun yidisher yugnṭ-forshung (The way to our youth: foundations, methods, and problems of research on Jewish youth) (Vilna, 1935), p. 157; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 245; Y. Shmulevitsh, in Forverts (New York) (June 16, 1960).
Khayim Leyb Fuks


H. LIPSET

H. LIPSET (1876-1921)
            The adopted name of H. Lifshits, he came from Lithuania.  At the end of the nineteenth century, he moved to the United States.  For many years he was news editor and feature writer for Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper) in New York.  He also published under such pseudonyms as: H. Litvak and Gamliel.  He was thought to have died in Florida.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Psevdonimen in der yidisher literatur (Pseudonyms in Yiddish literature) (Vilna, 1939), p. 22; information from Y. Y. Fridman in New York.


MORTKHE LIPSON

MORTKHE LIPSON (April 24, 1885-January 14, 1958)
            The adopted name of Mortkhe Yanodovski, he was born in Bialystok, Russian Poland.  He attended modernized religious primary schools and later the Radun yeshiva of the Chofets Chaim.  He was a fierce follower of the Musar movement.  In 1903 he received a permit to officiate as a rabbi.  From a desire to pursue his education, he left in 1905 for Antwerp, Belgium, where he initially worked as a Hebrew teacher and later as an employee in the diamond industry.  From 1907 he was publishing correspondence pieces, articles, and features in: Hazman (The time), Hatsfira (The siren), Hamevaser (The herald), Hayehudi (The Jew), and Haolam (The world).  In 1912 he published in Belgium a humorous sheet entitled Der antverpener lets (The Antwerp clown).  Together with Sh. Cohen, Y. Kreplyak, and Y. Podruzhnik, in 1913 he founded the first Yiddish newspaper in Belgium, the weekly Der mayrev (The West), which was to be the organ of the Jewish communities in Belgium, Holland, French, and Switzerland and for technical difficulties was published in Copenhagen, Denmark (only four issues appeared in print).  In the fall of 1913 he traveled to the United States, and he contributed there to Hayom (Today) and Kundes (Prankster), for which he wrote the humorous editorials “Zalts un fefer” (Salt and pepper), as well as feature pieces under the pen name Motele.  From 1914 he was assistant editor of the Zionist organ Dos yidishe folk (The Jewish people), in which, aside from features, he published a translation of Moshe Smilansky’s novel Toldot ahava aḥat (Story of one love).  He was later active primarily in Hebrew.  He co-edited Hatoran (The duty officer), edited Haivri (The Jew) (1916-1922), and published translations of Dovid Bergelson’s Arum vokzal (At the depot), Yitskhok-Meyer Vaysenberg’s Dos shtetl (The town), and Yoysef Opatoshu’s Hibru (Hebrew).  In separate editions, he translated: Knut Hamsun’s Pan, mireshimotav shel haletenant tomas glan (Pan, from the papers of Lieutenant Thomas Glahn [original: Pan]) (New York, 1919), 169 pp.; and Opatoshu’s Beyaarot polin, roman (In the Polish woods, a novel [original: Poylishe velder]) (New York, 1921), 268 pp.  He also edited Luaḥ aḥiever, vol. 2 (New York, 1921).  In September 1921 he founded and edited the Hebrew-language daily Hadoar (The mail), later published as a weekly, and he went on to become a regular writer for Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), in which, aside from journalistic articles and feature pieces, he published a translation of Chaim Chemerinsky’s autobiographical work Mayn shtetl motele (My town of Motele) and published a large collection of sayings and jokes entitled Yidishe gedolim, vi zey vertlen zikh (Jewish giants, how they joked).  In book form the latter appeared under the title: Di velt dertseylt, mayselakh un vertlakh, hanhoges un mides fun anshey-shem bay idn (The world recounts, stories and sayings, behaviors and habits of famous people among the Jews), 2 vols. (New York: Doyres, 1928); published in four volumes in Hebrew as Midor dor (New York, 1937).  In 1922 he published in Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves) in Warsaw a fragment of a drama in two scenes, entitled “Der sagi nehor” (The blind man).  In 1930 he moved to Israel and edited Bustenai (Bustenai) (1931-1932).  For several months in 1933 he edited Doar hayom (Today’s mail).  Over the years 1938-1944, he served as editor of the Mizrachi daily newspaper Hatsofe (The spectator).  In book form: a literary reworking of the Dubner preacher’s proverbs; translation into Hebrew of Y. Y. Zinger’s Mishpokhe karnovski (The family Carnovsky) as Bet karnovski (Tel Aviv, 1945/1946), 479 pp.; of Opatoshu’s volume of stories Ven poyln iz gefaln (When Poland fell) as Ḥurbn polin (The destruction of Poland) (New York, 1947), 214 pp.; and of a book by Rudyard Kipling.  In 1945 he worked as editor at the publishing house Omanut, where he published a collection Moed (Holiday), which included chapters on the holidays from Midor dor.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934); H. L. Gordon, Sefer hayovel shel hadoar (Anniversary volume for Hadoar) (New York, 1926/1927), pp. 64-67; Yude Elzet, in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1930); P. Vyernik, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (April 19, 1931); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv, 1949), p. 268; A. Sh. Hershberg, in Pinkes byalistok (Records of Bialystok), vol. 1 (New York, 1949), p. 419; D. Perski, in Hadoar (New York) (Shevat [=January-February] 1959).
Yankev Kahan


A. Y. LIPMANOVITSH

A. Y. LIPMANOVITSH (1910-1943)
            The literary name of Leybush Heler, he was born in Kolomaye, Galicia, the son of Lipo Heler, a manufacturer of prayer shawls.  He published sketches and miniatures in Lodz’s Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal).  He also wrote in Hebrew for Warsaw’s Deglanu (Our banner).  For a long time he lived in Lemberg, where he was engaged in business and was an Orthodox leader.  He was confined in the Lemberg ghetto, from which he was deported (summer 1942) to the Bełżec death camp and murdered there.

Source: M. Prager, Antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (Anthology of religious poems and stories) (New York, 1955), see index.
Yankev Kahan


NOSN LIPMAN

NOSN LIPMAN (b. 1904)

            He was a prose author and documentarist, born in a town in Ukraine. After WWI he moved to Moscow where he worked as a printer of the newspaper and publishing house of Der emes (The truth). Over the years 1928-1929, he served in the Red Army in the Far East and took part in battles against the Japanese military on the front in Manchuria. He wrote up his impressions from these experiences in documentary stories which were published in Der emes (1929), and they were later included in his book Afn mandzhurishn front, fartseykhnungen fun a roytarmeyer fun der vaytmizrekhdiker roytfoniker armey (On the Manchurian front, notes of a Red Army soldier from the Far Eastern red-banner army) (Moscow-Kharkov-Minsk: Central People’s Publisher, USSR, 1930), 149 pp., with a foreword by M. Kats and M. Kivertsev.

Sources: M. Kats, foreword to Afn mandzhurishn front (On the Manchuria front), pp. 3-5; Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index.

Khayim Leyb Fuks

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), p. 208.]

DOVID-MATESYOHU LIPMAN

DOVID-MATESYOHU LIPMAN (1899-1941)
            He was born in Nemoksht (Nemakščiai), Kovno district, Lithuania, into a rabbinical family.  He was a descendant of the brilliant scholar Yom Tov Lipman.  He was a young Jewish scholar dedicated to research on the history of Jews in Lithuania.  Until 1920 he lived in Nemoksht, Tsaykishok (Čekiškė), and Kovno (Kaunus).  He was a regular contributor to Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice) in Kovno, in which he published essays on Lithuanian Jewry, descriptions of earlier ways of life, and characterizations of Jewish personalities.  He was a contributor and editor of record for the biweekly newspaper Had lita (Echo of Lithuania) in Kovno (1924-1933).  He edited a series of monographs under the title “Nusaḥ lita” (Lithuanian style), which also published his own works: Letoldot hayehudim belita-zamot, 1400-1915 (History of the Jews in Lithuania and Zamot, 1400-1934) (Kaidan, 1934), 81 pp.; Letoldot hayehudim bekovna uveslobodka min haet hakhi keduma ad hamilḥama haolamit (To the history of the Jews in Kovno and Slobodka from the earliest period until the world war) (Kaidan, 1934), 224 pp.  He had in a completed manuscript, “Geshikhte fun yidishe kehiles in lite” (History of Jewish communities in Lithuania), and a handbook on Lithuania which were, unfortunately, never published because of WWII.  He was murdered by the Nazis in the first months of their rule in Lithuania.

Sources: Yudel Mark, in Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsveyhundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese, 1686-1936 (Anthology in honor of the 250th jubilee of the Yiddish press, 1686-1936), ed. Dr. Y. Shatski (New York, 1937); Nosn Grinblat, in the anthology Lite (Lithuania), vol. 1 (New York, 1951), pp. 1114, 1118; Y. Berlzon, in Lite, p. 1156.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


YITSKHOK B״R MORTKHE LIPYETS (ISAAC LIPETZ)

YITSKHOK B״R MORTKHE LIPYETS (ISAAC LIPETZ) (1830-1913)
            The grandfather of Sholem Yelin, he was born in Shedlets (Siedlce), Poland.  He attended religious elementary school and yeshivas, acquired the reputation of a prodigy, and prepared to become a rabbi.  After the traditional period of support from his father-in-law, he became a bookseller and worked at it until he was quite old.  He was the founder of the first Jewish lending library in his city, and although a religious man himself, he nevertheless influenced youngsters in the spirit of the Jewish Enlightenment.  His first published religious works were: Ḥanukat haḥashmonaim (Maccabees’ Hanukkah), adapted from various sources (Warsaw, 1864), 48 pp.; and Paḥ hashemen (The jug of oil) (Warsaw, 1866), 48 pp.—both written in Hebrew with a Yiddish commentary.  In both of these volumes he also published his own first proverbs in stylized Yiddish, which later, with a greater many more of them, appeared in a number of holiday prayer books published in 1870s and 1880s in Warsaw.  These were the proverbs known as “Proverbs of Jacob” and “Star of Jacob.”  He was also the author of Mishley oves (Proverbs of the fathers), “Ethics of the Fathers” with a homiletic Yiddish translation (Warsaw, 1872), 102 pp.; Midrash pelia (The midrash of Peliah) (Warsaw, 1895), 184 pp.; Vehaya mishna (Warsaw, 1876), 64 pp.; Am lemikra velemasoret (People of the text and tradition) (Warsaw, 1882), 96 pp.; Binat nevonim (Understanding of the sagacious) (Warsaw, 1885), 120 pp.; Sefer matamim (Book of delicacies) (Warsaw, 1889), 144 pp.; Shivḥe kneset yisrael (Praise for the congregation of Israel) (Warsaw, 1890), 290 pp., in Hebrew-Aramaic and Yiddish; Sukot shalom (Tabernacles of peace) (Warsaw, 1891), 108 pp., explanation in stylized Yiddish of the prayers and customs of Sukkot, the “ushpizim” [guests], and some of the religious laws); Sefer matamim heḥadash (New book of delicacies) (Warsaw, 1894), 108 pp.; Lekhay oylem (To the life of the world) (Warsaw, 1900), 162 pp., a shortened version in Yiddish of Maavar yabok (Fording of the Yabok); Meein haberakha (From the fountain of blessing) (Pyotrkov, 1911), many other editions as well.  He also published (either without the name of the author or under the pen name Y. M’s) prayers in Yiddish primarily for women, among others: Di tkhine fun resh khoydesh benshin (The prayer for the new month); and Tkhine tsu di heylige teg (The prayer for the holy days) (Warsaw, 1872), 13 pp.  He translated into stylized Yiddish Gedulat moshe (The greatness of Moses [Gedules moyshe]) in verse (Warsaw, 1876) and Di mesholim fun dubner magid (The proverbs of the Dubner preacher) (Lublin, 1893), 138 pp.  For many years he contributed work to: Hamagid (The preacher), Hamelits (The advocate), and Kol mevaser (Herald), among others.  He published correspondence pieces from Shedlets, poetry, puzzles, and liturgical poems (under such pen names as: Yitskhok, M’s, and Y’mishedlets).  He was dubbed in his town “the raffleman,” because to everyone to whom he sold a book he would also give a ticket which might win something valuable.  He thus procured buyers and also readers for his little library.  He died in Shedlets.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; Bet eked sefarim; Y. Goldberg, in Tsum 25 yorikn yubiley fun der biblyotek bay der gezelshaft yidishe kunst in shedlets (On the twenty-fifth anniversary of the library of the society of Jewish art in Shedlets) (Shedlets, 1926), pp. 20-22; Goldberg, in Sefer shedlets (Shedlets volume) (Buenos Aires, 1956), pp. 582-84; Y. Kaspi, in Sefer shedlets, pp. 56, 74-76; information from Y. H. Fishman in New York.
Khayim Leyb Fuks


ELYE (ELIAS) LIPINER

ELYE (ELIAS) LIPINER (February 23, 1916-April 26, 1998)
            He was born in Khotin (Khotyn), Bessarabia.  He studied with his father, an itinerant elementary school teacher, and with other such teachers, and he studied secular subjects as well.  While young he worked in a publishing house.  He made his way to Brazil in 1935, where a sister of his was living.  For a time he worked as a peddler but he had no success with it.  He went on to serve as editor of San pauler yidishe tsaytung (São Paolo Yiddish newspaper).  He then became a teacher of Yiddish and Hebrew at the school “Hateḥiya” (The revival).  When the government of Getúlio Vargas published a decree that teachers at Jewish schools had to possess a diploma from a general middle school, Lipiner learned Portuguese and passed the examination.  In 1941 his book Oysyes dertseyln (The letters explain) appeared with the subtitle: “Vor un legende in der geshikhte fun yidishn alef-beys” (Reality and legend in the history of the Jewish alphabet) (São Paolo, 119 pp., with drawings by Lazar Segal), an overview of the history of square script, its origins, development, symbolic meaning, the legends around the letters according to the Kabbala and Talmud, and more.  Expanded and deepened, it was reprinted under the title Di geshikhte fun a fargetert ksav (The history of an idolized writing) (Buenos Aires: YIVO, 1956), 331 pp.  Around 1944 when Yiddish was forbidden in Brazil, for a time he was the unofficial editor of the Portuguese Jewish weekly (Where will we go).  He also wrote for the journal Ineynem (Altogether) in Buenos Aires, a publication of the Culture Congress, and elsewhere.  He studied law in Rio de Janeiro and graduated as a lawyer.  After acquiring a thorough knowledge of Old Portuguese, he began researching Old Portuguese documents concerning Jews in Portugal and Brazil in the past, and the result was a book: Bay di taykhn fun portugal (By the rivers of Portugal) (Buenos Aires: YIVO, 1949), 331 pp., a rare contribution to Yiddish literature and to Jewish cultural and historical research.  “Elye Lipiner,” wrote Dr. Shimen Bernshteyn, “has enriched us with a gift, which will again warm the hearts of the Jewish research and reader….  With his scholarly erudition, with his lovely, fluid Yiddish, and fine, literary style, and with his rich bibliography and his numerous notes, he has presented us with a text that is truth, crisp and clean.”  This work was awarded the Louis Lamed Prize for 1949.  In 1950 Lipiner founded in São Paolo the newspaper Der nayer moment (The new moment), published at first twice weekly and later as a weekly, for which he served (1950-1952) as editor.  He also contributed the essay, “Yidn in brazil” (Jews in Brazil) for the Algemeyne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), "Yidn H" (pp. 385-98), was a contributor to the publications of YIVO in Argentina, and contributed a piece in the collection Undzer baytrog (Our contribution) (Rio de Janeiro, 1956).  By 1968 he was living in Israel, and in 1969 he graduated as a lawyer in Israel as well.  He published works of research in: Bay zikh (On one’s own), Goldene keyt (Golden chain), and Gesher (Bridge), among others, in Israel.  His books include: Ideologye fun yidishn alef-beys (The ideology of the Jewish alphabet) (Buenos Aires: YIVO, 1967), 596 pp.; Tsvishn maranentum un shmad (Between Marrano-hood and conversion to Christianity) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1973), 491 pp.  In Portuguese: Breve história dos judeus no Brasil (Short history of the Jews in Brazil) (Rio de Janeiro, 1962), 151 pp.; Os judaizantes nas capitanias de Cima (On Judaizers in the captaincies of Cima) (São Paolo, 1969), 223 pp.; Santa Inquisição, terror e linguagem (Holy Inquisition, terror and language) (Rio de Janeiro, 1977), 147 pp.; O tempo dos Judeus, segundo as Ordenações do Reino (The epoch of the Jews according to the king’s decrees) (São Paolo, 1982), 248 pp.; Gaspar da Gama, um converso na frota de Cabral (Gaspar da Gama, a convert in Cabral’s fleet) (Rio de Janeiro, 1987), 276 pp.; Izaque de Castro, o mancebo que veio preso do Brasil (Izaque de Castro, the young man who came to Brazil) (Recife, 1992), 321 pp.; As Letras Do Alfabeto Na Criacao Do Mundo : Contribuicao e pesquisa da natureza la linguagem (The letters of the alphabet in the creation of the world, contribution and research on the nature of language) (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), 133 pp.; O sapateiro de Trancoso e o alfaiate de Setúbal (The shoemaker of Trancoso and the tailor of Setúbal) (Rio de Janeiro, 1993), 363 pp.; Gonçalo Anes Bandarra e os cristãos-novos (Gonçalo Anes Bandarra and the New Christians) (Trancoso and Lisbon, 1996), 245 pp.; Two Portuguese Exiles in Castile: Dom David Negro and Dom Isaac Abravanel, translated from Portuguese by Menahem Pariente (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1997), 173 pp.; Os baptizados em pé, estudos acerca da origem e da luta dos Cristãos-novos em Portugal (The baptized on foot, studies on the origin and struggle of New Christians in Portugal) (Lisbon, 1998), 492 pp.  And, a posthumous Festschrift: Em nome da fé, estudos in memoriam de Elias Lipiner (In the name of faith, studies in memory of Elias Lipiner), eds. Nachman Falbel, Avraham Milgram, and Alberto Dines (São Paolo, 1999), 279 pp.  He was a recipient of the Manger Prize.  He died in Israel.




Sources: Avrom Reyzen, in Di feder (New York, 1942); Dr. Shimen Bernshteyn, in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1950); M. Kutshinski, in Argentiner yivo-shriftn (Buenos Aires) 3 (1945); Kutshinski, in Der shpigl (Buenos Aires) (November 1950); Yankev Glatshteyn, in Idisher kemfer (New York) (August 12, 1949); Glatshteyn, In tokh genumen (In essence), vol. 1 (New York, 1960), pp. 158-64; Dr. Y. Shatski, in Yivo-bleter (New York) 35 (1951), pp. 252-59; Y. Rayzman, in Fraye arbeter-shtime (New York) (September 26, 1952); D. Segal and Y. Varshavski (Y. Bashevis), in Forverts (New York) (October 23, 1957; February 23, 1958); A. Oyerbakh, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (New York) (March 30, 1959); A. Glants, in Tog-morgn-zhurnal (August 3, 1960).
Zaynvl Diamant

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 336-37.]


Monday 24 April 2017

NOKHUM LIPOVSKI

NOKHUM LIPOVSKI (1874-December 24, 1928)
            He was born in Nyesvizh (Niasviž), Byelorussia.  He attended Vilna Talmud-Torahs and yeshivas.  After acquiring secular subject matter, he left for Moscow, and he studied in the drama course of the Philharmonia and later became an extra at the “Little Theater” in Moscow.  In 1891 he became a member of a wandering Yiddish theater troupe, later becoming a Russian actor.  In 1904 he departed for Germany, initially an auditor at Darmstadt’s polytechnicum where through experimentation he developed his phenomenal memory and made stage appearances demonstrating his feats.  After returning to Russia, he organized the Vilna “Jewish People’s Theater” which continued in existence until WWI.  After the war he was a member of the diplomatic corps of independent Lithuania.  He worked out a plan for a perpetual calendar—his calendar for 200 years, 1826-2025, was published in the illustrated supplement to the Forverts (Forward) in New York (December 28, 1924).  He appeared with his phenomenal memory experiments in a string of European and American universities.  In 1924 he restarted the Vilna “Jewish People’s Theater.”  He often translated plays from other languages into Yiddish.  In separate publications, he brought out the one-act plays: Zi hot bazigt (She conquered), Di damen-shpilke (The ladies’ pin), Der damen-shnayder (The women’s tailor), An advokat af a halbe sho (A lawyer for half an hour), and Mit a gelegnheyt (With an opportunity)—all published in Vilna, no dates of publication given.  He died in Vilna.

Sources: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934); B. Kutsher, Geven amol varshe (As Warsaw once was) (Paris, 1955), p. 228.
Yankev Kahan


SHAYE LIPOVSKI

SHAYE LIPOVSKI (1874-August 1942)
            He was born in Mohilev (Mogilev), Byelorussia.  In his youth he moved with his parents to a village near Warsaw.  He attended religious primary school, later turning his attention to self-study.  He served in the Tsarist army, became ill with tuberculosis, went to treat it at a foreign sanitarium, and at the same time continued his studies and received his doctoral degree in economic science from the University of Berne in Switzerland.  From late 1913 he was living in Warsaw, and he was active in the Bund, in the society to combat illiteracy, and later in Tsisho (Central Jewish School Organization).  In 1916 he began contributing work to the Bundist Lebens-fragen (Life issues) in Warsaw.  In the anthology Karl marks (Karl Marx) (Warsaw, 1918), he published two pieces entitled “Karl marks als ekonomist” (Karl Marx as economist) and “Di geshikhte-filosofye fun karl marks” (The philosophy of history of Karl Marx).  He also placed work in the collections of Unzer shtime (Our voice) (Warsaw, August-November 1918) and in the yearbooks Arbeter-luekh (Workers’ calendar) (Warsaw, 1920-1926).  Lipovski was the main statistician in carrying out the Joint Distribution Committee’s questionnaire about Jewish industry in Poland in 1921—the work resulting from the questionnaire was published in three volumes: Yidishe industryele unternemungen in poyln (Jewish industrial undertakings in Poland) (Warsaw, 1922-1924).  He also was a regular contributor to: Virtshaft un lebn (Economy and life) (1920-1931) and Bleter far yidisher demografye, statistik un ekonomye (Jewish demography, statistics, and economics) (1923-1925)—both in Berlin; Di kooperative bavegung (The cooperative movement) (1928-1939), Folks-hilf (People’s aid) (1931-1939), and Dos virtshaftlekhe lebn (The economic life) (1934-1935)—all in Warsaw; and Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO) (1934-1939) and Di yidishe ekonomye (The Jewish economy) (1937-1939)—both in Vilna; among others.  In the Warsaw Ghetto he carried out various studies for the Joint concerning Jewish life in the ghetto, among them the refugees who wandered from villages to Warsaw during the German occupation.  He was also among the leadership of the Jewish underground cultural club known by the acronym “YIKOR” in the ghetto.  At the end of July 1942, he was taken to Treblinka and murdered there.  As Dr. E. Ringelblum wrote, Dr. Lipovski “left behind him in the ghetto an entire series of scholarly writings in the field of the Jewish economy in Poland.”  Unfortunately, these writings were not found.  He also wrote under such pen names as: A. Lindeman and A Zokn.

Sources: Yivo-bleter (New York) 26.1 (1945); A. Bloshteyn, in Unzer tsayt (New York) (January-February 1947); H. Vaser, in Dos naye lebn (Lodz) (August 4, 1947); Dr. E. Ringelblum, Notitsn fun varshever geto (Notices from the Warsaw Ghetto) (Warsaw, 1952), pp. 308, 313, 314; Y. Sh. Herts, ed., Doyres bundistn (Generations of Bundists), vol. 2 (New York, 1956), pp. 70, 72; Khayim Leyb Fuks, biography of Leyzer Heler, in Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur, vol. 3: http://yleksikon.blogspot.ca/2016/03/leyzer-heler.html
Khayim Leyb Fuks