FROYM-FISHL NAYMAN (FISHEL NEUMAN)

FROYM-FISHL NAYMAN (FISHEL NEUMAN) (1882-1952)

            He was born in Makov (Maków), Lomzhe district, Poland.  He was the son of the local rabbi who descended from the Maharshal [Shlomo Luria, 1510-1573].  He studied with his father and in yeshivas, and he received ordination into the rabbinate.  In 1920 he came to the United States and until 1950 served as rabbi of the Makover Synagogue in New York; he was also a member of the executive of Agudat Harabanim (Union of Orthodox Rabbis).  His first essays on topics of Jewish history and issues in Jewish education were published in Dos yudishe vort (The Jewish word) in Warsaw (1916-1917), later contributing to: Der sod (The secret) and Dos yudishe togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper) in Warsaw; Dos vort (The word) in Vilna; and Beys-yankev-zhurnal (Beys-Yankev journal) in Lodz; among others.  In America he placed work in: Dos idishe likht (The Jewish light), Idishe shtime (Jewish voice), Di ortodoksishe tribune (The Orthodox tribune), and Shuhl-lebn (Synagogue life), and in Hebrew in Hapardas (The orchard), Hayehudi (The Jew), Hamaor (The light), and elsewhere—in New York.  He was the author of such works in Yiddish as: Beys froym, droshes (The house of Ephraim, sermons) (New York, 1923), 47 pp.; Beys yankev (The house of Jacob), articles and essays on Jewish community issues (New York, 1936), 96 pp.; Shem un yafes (Shem and Yaphet), essays on topics in Jewish history (such as: dating the Targumim [early translations] of the written Torah; moral and ethical doctrines; the teachings of Kabbalah and Hassidism; Jews in Rome; Solomon Molcho [1500-1532] and his time and the series of “converts to Judaism who were killed as martyrs”) (New York, 1941), 199 pp.  In Hebrew, he published: Darkhe ḥayim (Ways of life), on the customs and practices of gentiles (New York, 1948), 64 pp.; Shiyure komets haminḥa (The residue of the grain offering) (New York, 1943), 128 pp.  In 1949 he left the United States and settled in the state of Israel, where he served as rabbi in Ḥolon.  In the summer of 1952, he was paying a visit to the America and died suddenly in New York.  He was buried in Israel.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), see index; Asher Z. Rand, Toldot anshe shem (Stories of famous people) (New York, 1950), p. 80.

Khayim Leyb Fuks