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• Ab. Cahan
     (Abraham Cahan)

     July 7, 1960 - Aug. 31, 1951

Abraham "Abe" Cahan was born on in Paberžė, Vilna Gubernia. His father was a pious Jew, a melamed and later a bookkeeper. Cahan learned in a cheder, in a yeshiva, and he learned Hebrew from his father. Later he went into a school of design and in a Russian-Jewish governmental school.

In 1877 he went into the Russian-Jewish Teachers' Institute and became active in a circle of Jewish revolutionaries. After completing the Institute in 1881, he became a teacher in a Jewish-Russian imperial school in Velizh, Vitebsk Gubernia.

Due to the revisions that the police had passed, and due to the danger of being arrested, he fled to Moliev, where he moved about with societal activists, and he became aware of the movement to America to establish there a communist collegium.  In the Spring of 1882 he left Russia, and in Brody he met the leader of an "es-oylem" group, and with them traveled to America.

In New York Cahan gave up on the idea of building a communist collegium and began to work with cigars and with sheet metal. He went on to learn English, and in 1883 he already had become a teacher and taught English to immigrants.

Cahan became active in the socialist movement, and in the first Jewish socialistic organization in America -- the "Propaganda Union" -- which led his work in Russian. Cahan suggested that they direct the propaganda among the Jewish workers in Yiddish, and by himself he gave the first socialistic speech in Yiddish in America. Cahan helped found the first Jewish union in America, "The Progressive Tailors' Union."

In June 1886 Cahan, together with Ch. Rayevsky, issued a socialist weekly page, "The New Times," of which three issues were published.

His many-sided journalistic and literary work began in 1890,when the weekly "Di arbayter tsaytung (The Workers’ Newspaper)," for which he was one of the main founders and contributors.

In the "Arbayter Tsaytung" Cahan wrote articles, stories, songs in a weekly sermon based on the Torah portion of the week. In these sermons — under the pen name “Proletarian Preacher” and with the articles dubbed “Fun a vort, a kvort (From a Word, a Quart)," Cahan treated a variety of problems and questions of the time. He popularized Marx and Darwin, and he translated Émile Zola’s "Germinal," stories by Victor Hugo, Thomas Hardy, Ivan Turgenev, William Howells, and Max Nordau.

In the "Arbayter Tsaytung" he also published his story, "Rifoel neritskh (Rafael Neritskh)" (1894). It is a story of a simple Jew, a carpenter, and as such how he adapts to his new life. He portrays Rafael, who struggles, and as a result of doing well for himself, he is transformed in America into a proletarian who works for himself. It was soaked with socialist propaganda.

He then also wrote "Di tsvey shidukhim (The Two Matches)" (1894) and "Yankl un yekl (Yankl and Yekl)" (1895), which he had previously written in English, and in 1900 he published "Di neshome yeseyre (Sabbath Festiveness)," where he combined genuine fiction with socialist propaganda.

At the same time Cahan wrote in English reports and stories that were published in important American journals. His novel, "Yekl," he wrote in English and published it in 1896. He drew the attention  of eh American critics, and from the American writers. A number of his stories then were translated into Russian and was published in a Russian journal in Peterburg.

Cahan was a contributor for the "Tsukunft," and in the years of 1893-1897 he was editor. There he published two other essays, also "Critical Study of a Jargon Masterpieces" (1896), where he pointed out his interest in literature. I.L. Peretz praised him for his Europeanness, and for  his ideas, and Mendl and Sholem Aleichem for his realism. , Cahan wrote Sholem Aleichem stories, possessing pearls, and they would have been even more artistic without perfection if the artist had been imbued with the ideas of socialism.

In 1891 he was a delegate to the congress of the socialist International, which was held in Brussels. There he proposed a resolution that the congress should denounce anti-Semitism After a struggle, the resolution was adopted, which condemned both anti-Semitism, as well as philo-Semitism.

In October 1894 the publishers of the "Arbayter tsaytung" began to put out a daily newspaper, "Dos abend-blat (The Evening Newspaper)."

The Sunday edition retained the old name, and Ab. Cahan became its editor.

Due to the struggle in the Socialist Party, which was chiefly over the dictatorial methods of the party leader Daniel de Leon, a split occurred. A group of fifty-two, lead by Ab. Cahan and Louie Miller, tore away and decided to issue their own newspaper under the name, "Forward." The first issue was published on April 22, 1897. Cahan became the editor-in-chief. His goal was to create a popular newspaper for the immigrant audience, and to propagandize socialism.

In the editing and management of the newspaper, conflicts occurred about the character and assignments of the Forward, and Cahan left the editorial office in August 1897 until March 1902. He went away a second time in the Fall of 1902 until October of 1903. From then on he remained as editor until his death.

Cahan participated with articles in the Forward, also in the time when he was not the editor of the newspaper.

Cahan, with his energy, wanted to build the Forward into the greatest, popular Yiddish newspaper, with a socialist orientation. The newspaper reflected and helped shape Jewish life in America and became an important factor, not only in the Jewish, but also in the general life in America.

The Forward also served as a bridge between the Jewish communities in America and the Jews in Europe, and it always mobilized the Jewish masses in America for the benefit of the Jews in Europe, and later for Israel. The Forward was one of the same, first newspapers in America that revealed the true face of the Bolshevism, and of the Soviet regime.

Under Ab. Cahan's editorship, the Forward helped build Jewish unions and the Jewish workers' movement in general.

Besides editing the Forward, Cahan published articles in the newspaper about actual problems, and about literature and theatre. He freed himself from his previous approach that literature needs to propagandize socialist ideas and demanded only realism. In his innumerable articles about literature, he praised those writers who had written in a realistic manner. He himself continued to write fiction. In 1913 he wrote a realistic story, "Fenni’s khasanim (Fannie’s Bridegrooms)." He also wrote two novels in English, "The Red Terror and the White (1907), and "The Rise of David Levinsky (1917). This Levinsky book became thought of as a classical work in American literature. Leon Kristol translated it into Yiddish, and it was published in sequels in the Forward.

From September 1905 until July 1908, the Forward published the weekly, "The New Spirit," which Cahan had edited. It was a most serious, social-societal and literary magazine.

Cahan attracted to the Forward the most important Yiddish publicists and fiction writers. He systematically published the works of Sholem Asch, I.L. Singer, Abraham Reisen, Zalmen Schneour, Yona Rozenfeld, Z. Libin, Z. Levin -- and a for a certain time Leon Kobrin, Jacob Gordin, Morris Rosenfeld, and David Bergelson.

Cahan had a strong personality, who strongly edited the Forverts according to his style and taste. He often had conflicts with writers, such as Jacob Gordin, Yona Rozenfeld, Morris Rosenfeld -- and additionally with Sholem Asch, when he brought into the editorial office his novel, "Der noytsri (The Nazarene)," which was the first of his works about Christology. Cahan maintained that a Yiddish newspaper should not publish such works.

In addition to writing fiction, Cahan devoted himself to various literary works. As such he wrote and published, "Di historye fun di fareynikte shtatn (The History of the United States)," two volumes, N.Y., 1910-1912; "Rashel, a byografye (Rachel, a Biography)," N.Y., 1938; "Sholem ash's nayer veg (Sholem Asch's New Path)," N.Y., 1941.

He also published a number of books fictional creations, among them: "Rifoel neritskh (Rafael Neritskh)," N.Y., 1890, larger edition, N.Y., 1912; "Di neshome yeseyre (Sabbath Festiveness)" and "Fenni's khasanim (Fannie's Bridegrooms)," (circa 1914).

Of great significance were his memoir, "Bleter fun mayn lebn (Pages of My Life)," five volumes, N.Y., 1926-1931 (the first four volumes also were published in Kletzkin's Publishing House, Vilna, 1926-1928. The first two volumes were published in a condensed form in an English translation, under the editorship of Leon Stein, Philadelphia, 1969).

In his memoirs, Cahan portrays his life and tells about his activities until about 1914. They give a full picture of his prior Jewish life in Europe, and then in America.

Cahan often visited Europe and published the writings about his trips in the Forward He visited Eretz Yisroel in 1925 and 1929, and he published his trip writings in book form --"Palestine, a Visit in the Years 1925 and 1929," N.Y., 1934.

Of his translations into Yiddish were: Leon Tolstoy's "Kreutzer Sonata," N.Y., 1911, reprinted in 1914, and increased circulation 1918, and Tolstoy's "Der toit fun ivan ilitsh (The Death of Ivan Ilych)," N.Y. 1918.

Ab. Cahan was a central figure in American Jewish life. He helped shape the American Jewish community. His influence was great in the Jewish workers' movement, Yiddish press, and in the evolution of Yiddish literature and theatre in America.

Ab. Cahan taught in the russified, Vilna Teachers' Institute, having left a lasting influence on it. The negative attitude toward Yiddish from the institute developed in him a not-too-friendly attitude to Jews. But often he had a positive attitude toward Yiddish. But in practical, day-to-day work, like an editor and writer, he raised a lot for Yiddish and for Yiddish literature.

"Ab. Cahan and the Forward were one, not because the Forward was "his," because he was the boss of the Forward, but because he convinced the true owners of the Forward, the Forward Association, that he possessed all of the qualities that they demanded from their editor, that he possessed both the spirit and the moral qualifications; that he was an upright, Social Democrat, a practical idealist, that he is honest in his opinions and actions, and that he is a prolific journalist and newspaper man. Ab. Cahan spent his entire life as the editor of the Forverts, only because he served the ideals and principles for which the Forward was founded, because he made the Forward the strongest force for progress and culture in the lives of the Jewish masses, whom he had served." (Hillel Rogoff)

-- From "Lexicon of Forward Writers and Contributors, Since 1897" by Dr. Elias Schulman.

Cahan wrote at least twenty-nine reviews of Yiddish theatre productions for the Forverts from 1926 to 1938.

• Hillel Rogoff
     (Harry Rogoff)

    Dec. 11, 1882 - Nov. 30, 1971

Rogoff was born in Berezin, White Russia. At the age of eight, in 1890, he came with his parents to America. He learned in the yeshiva of R' Yitzchak Elchanan, and in general schools, and he graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1906.

In 1905 he began his journalistic work in English, and a year later, in 1906, in Yiddish, when he was a contributor for the Forward. For a short time in 1908 he contributed to The Jewish Workers' World," Chicago, but he returned to the Forward.

Rogoff was active in the general and Jewish socialist movements, and he was a candidate on the socialist party ticket for congress in Washington.

When the split occurred in the Jewish Socialist Federation in 1921, Rogoff went away from the Left, but he did not leave the Left group. For a short time he contributed to the daily Poalei Zion newspaper for a time, and returned to the Forward.

Rogoff contributed to "Der veker," to the "Tsukunft," where for a short time he was co-editor.

But his life's work was connected to the Forward, where he was a news editor, managing editor, assistant editor, and after Ab. Cahan's passing, in 1951, he was the main editor and stayed at his post until 1962.

Rogoff was one of the most important publicists for the Forward. He wrote articles, and every Thursday he wrote an article under the regular heading "In the Present Moment," in which he treated and analyzed political problems beautifully, especially concerning America.

Every second Sunday for years he wrote an article about English books, but from time to time he also wrote about a Yiddish book, and once about a Hebrew one.

For the Forward Rogoff also wrote about his trips and visits to Europe and Israel.

With his accurate and thorough reports, he helped found the tailors' union, the "Amalgamated."

In addition to being a publicist and journalist, Rogoff was also a researcher and a historian. He wrote a number of important works about America, how America is being degraded, N.Y. 1918; about the history of the United States, in Yiddish, five volumes, 1925-1928; Meir London, "The Spirit of the Forward," N.Y., 1954. This is a work that gives a picture of the Forward, from character of the newspaper, and the politics of the time, to the great role that the Forward played in both Jewish and in general life, and on behalf of their employees. The spirit of the Forward serves as a fountain of information for those who are obsessed with history and the character of the newspaper.

Rogoff issued in English a small book about new Yiddish writers, in which he treated the following Yiddish writers; Morris Rosenthal, I.L. Peretz, A. Lyesin, Abraham Reisen, Lamed Shapiro, Z. Libin, Yona Rozenfeld, Sholem Asch, and Leon Kobrin, and a book about Meir London. He also issued a brochures: Twenty-Five Years of the Communist Movement in America, American Frayhayt, 1916; The Dictator of the proletariat, 1920; Hoover, Smith and Their Platforms, 1928; The Congress of the United States, 1930; The Political Situation in America and the edition for the socialistic movement, 1938; Important Problems of the Workers' Movement (with L. Hendin and N. Chanin), 1940. All were published in New York.

Rogoff was co-editor for Seventy-Five years of the Yiddish Press in America, 1870-1945, N.Y., and translated into Yiddish Morris Hillquit's history of the Socialist movement in the United States (N.Y., 1919).

The Forward released a special Rogoff department in the sixty-year jubilee issue, under the editing of Shimen Veber, May 19, 1957.

"He (Rogoff) was an excellent logician, and his Yiddish was as clear as his Yiddish. With this and with his thorough acquaintance with American history, and with American political life, to us he became an important contributor of serious articles."

-- From "Lexicon of Forward Writers and Contributors, Since 1897" by Dr. Elias Schulman. Written by Ab. Cahan, 1928.

Rogoff wrote at minimum fifty-five reviews of Yiddish theatre productions for the Forverts from 1925 to 1944.

     May 27, 1888 - Sept. 10, 1970

Fogelman adopted this name from Eliezer Feygelman.

He was born in Nesvizh, Minsk Gubernia.

He studied with his father, who had founded a mtukn cheder in the city. He studied as an extern, and in 1906 entered into the seventh grade of a gymnasium, which he completed in Warsaw in 1908 with a medal. He joined the law faculty of the Warsaw University and finished it in 1912. He studied then in Peterburg in the Psycho-Neurological Institute. Later he was a lecturer of elevated courses about Russian literature.

In the time of the Revolution, he was a teacher in general schools in Vitebsk, Slutsk, and in his hometown Nesvizh.

In 1921 he immigrated to America. He studied jurisprudence in Fordham University and graduated as a lawyer in 1927.

Fogelman was a teacher in the Workers'-Ring schools and contributed to the daily newspaper of the time. After this, as the newspaper had ceased to appear, he published in the Forward a long series of articles about his experiences in Russia under the regime of the Bolsheviks. The articles evoked an interest, and Ab. Cahan invited him to write often. In 1927 he became the most internal contributor of the newspaper.

In the Forward, Fogelman wrote about socio-political problems, about history, literature and theatre. He also published a series of more than fifty monographs about an entire series of famous figures in the history of America. He also published a series of travel writings, and a series of articles about his visit to Israel in 1951.

When Hillel Rogoff became editor in 1951, Fogelman became the managing editor of the Forward, and when Rogoff retired in 1962, Fogelman became the editor-in-chief. He stayed at this post until 1962, when Fogelman became the editor. He held the post until 1968, when he retired.

Fogelman also published articles in "Der veker," in "Tsukunft," and in 1939-1940 he was a co-editor of the "Tsukunft."

-- From "Lexicon of Forward Writers and Contributors, Since 1897" by Dr. Elias Schulman.

Fogelman published at minimum sixty-six reviews of Yiddish theatre productions from 1927 to 1947.

• Dan Kaplan

     1879 - November 15, 1958

Kaplan was born in Zelve Gubernia, Grodno region.

He was active in the organization of the Bund in Warsaw, where in 1898 he was arrested and sent to a prison in Moscow.

In 1900 he immigrated to America. He published songs under the name Tsadik HaCohen.

In 1908 he became a contributor to the Forverts, where he remained to almost the end of his life.

In the Forward he wrote news, popular scientific articles, theatre reviews and articles about political questions.

For a time he prepared the Sunday editions of the Forverts.

Between 1921 and 1923 he was editor and editorial secretary of the veker.

-- From "Lexicon of Forward Writers and Contributors, Since 1897" by Dr. Elias Schulman.

Kaplan published at minimum reviews of at least one hundred Yiddish theatre productions from 1929 to 1943.

 

• B. Levitin

   September 25, 1890 - August 3, 1943

Levitin was born in Patshep, Chernigover region, Ukraine.

He learned in cheders, yeshivas, and in a professional school.

In 1906 he came to America, graduated from engineering school at Ohio State University.

For a time he practiced his profession.

In 1916 he became a contributor to the Forverts, where he wrote articles about political problems.

In 1923-1929 he was the news editor, then the editor of the theatre department.

Levitin visited Russia, and he wrote a large number of articles about his trip, and he gave an estimate of the Soviet regime.

-- From "Lexicon of Forward Writers and Contributors, Since 1897" by Dr. Elias Schulman.

He published in the Forverts reviews for at least ten Yiddish theatre productions from 1939 to 1942.