Magidov, Jacob
MAGIDOV, JACOB
MAGIDOV, JACOB (1869–1943), Yiddish writer and editor. Born in Odessa, he received both a traditional and a secular education. Immigrating to the United States in 1886, he worked in a shirt factory and studied law at night, passing the bar examination in 1904 and for a time practicing law. Active in the Jewish labor movement from his arrival, he played an important role in 1888 in the founding of the United Hebrew Trades, an important institution devoted to organizing Jewish workers into unions. He was also active in the Socialist Labor Party. Magidov began his career as a writer and editor in the Jewish socialist press in 1894. He wrote for Di Arbeter Tsaytung on American politics and became city editor of the Dos Abend Blat at the end of the 1890s. After writing for the Forverts for a short time he joined Der Morgn-Zhurnal in 1901 and remained associated with it for the rest of his life. His book Der Shpigl fun der Ist Side ("The Mirror of the East Side," 1923) contains valuable insights into Jewish personalities of his generation. Magidov was one of the many immigrant intellectuals who felt it their duty to bridge the gap between the Yiddish-speaking masses and their new environment. Especially as the city editor of Der Morgn-Zhurnal, he served them as an interpreter of events in the new homeland.
bibliography:
lnyl, 5 (1963), 389ff.
[Henry J. Tobias]