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His real name was Bentsion Novakhovitch and he was born in Yanova, near Kaunas, Lithuania. He was going to be a rabbi but started to write poetry in Hebrew, then became active in the evolving Jewish socialist movement and spent some months in a German prison for his role. He settled in London and became the leader of the Jewish socialist press there. He helped found the first socialist Jewish periodical in 1884, "Der poylisher yidl" [The Polish Jew] later called "Tsukunft" [Future]. In 1894, he immigrated to America, and was eventually called "the grandfather of Jewish socialism." He was the first "proletarian" Yiddish poet and his poems and songs were sung and declaimed throughout the world. One example is "Di dray shvester" [The three sisters]. |