Tuesday 3 June 2014

BEN-TSIEN AYZENSHTADT (BENZION EISENSTADT)

BEN-TSIEN AYZENSHTADT (BENZION EISENSTADT) (March 13, 1873-1951)
Born in Kletsk (Klieck), Byelorussia.  He was living in New York from 1903, a Hebrew writer.  In Yiddish, he wrote: Di yudishe biografishe biblyotek, rabi ayzel kharif un zayne vitsen (The Jewish biographical library, Rabbi Ayzel Kharif [Khorif] and his jokes), “the life description of famed gaon, R. Joshua-Isaac Shapiro” (New York, 1904), 19 pp.; Rabi kalonimus zev visotski (Rabbi Kalonymus Zev Wissotzky) (New York, 1904), 18 pp.  Among his books in Hebrew: Rabane minsk vechakhameha (The rabbis and scholars of Minsk) (Vilna, 1898), 72 pp.; Dor rabanav vesofrav (A generation of rabbis and authors), a history of the rabbis and gaonim (Vilna, 1895), 72 pp.; Ḥakhame yisrael beamerika (Wise men of Israel in America) (New York, 1903), 112 pp.; Dorot haaaronim (Generations of the later rabbis), vol. 1 (New York, 1913), no. 138-243 (zayen-mem), vol. 2 (Brooklyn, 1933), no. 247-351 (nun-taf); Dema enai, maamre hasefer (Tears in my eyes, articles for a book) (Brooklyn-New York, 1935); Sefer letoldot yisrael beamerika (History of Jews in America) (New York, 1917), 58 pp.; Sefer dabru al lev (Spoken from the heart), sermons for the holidays (New York, 1927), published by the “Supporters of Torah in Brownsville”; Sefer anshe hashem beartsot habrit, sefer zikaron (Famous people in the United States, a memoir) (St, Louis, 1933), 70 pp.; Sefer kol bichi (A voice crying) (New York, 1934-1935); Beleshoni mila, arbaa veesrim neumim hagionim (Word on my tongue, twenty-four commonsensical speeches) (St. Louis, 1934), 39 pp.  These judicious books constituted a kind of biographical dictionary under various titles.  Aside from these, he published Otsar hatemunot (Treasury of photos), a collection of 150 images of great men of the previous century (1909).

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1; Algemayne entsiklopedye (General encyclopedia), vol. 2; Mordechai Dantsis, in Tog (May 20, 1932); Perets Vyernik, in Morgn-zhurnal (April 23, 1933)


No comments:

Post a Comment