Haimowitz, Morris Jonah
HAIMOWITZ, MORRIS JONAH
HAIMOWITZ, MORRIS JONAH (1881–1958), Yiddish writer. Born in Mir (Belorussia), where he studied at the yeshivah, he immigrated to the United States in 1902, spending the rest of his life in New York. He published his first story, "Blondzhendik" ("Erring," 1905) in the Fraye Arbeter Shtime, joined the literary group, Di *Yunge, and coedited their anthology Yugend (1907–8), in which he published his stories and essays. Later, he co-edited the miscellany Literatur (1910) and the almanac Di Naye Heym (1914). His novels about Jewish life in the U.S., and historical novels about Jesus and Shabbetai Ẓevi (Yor 1666/426: Shabtay Tsvi in Shtambul, "The Year 1666: Shabbetai Ẓevi in Istanbul," 1946), display a deep understanding of human nature and of historical events. In Arumdem Man fun Natseres ("Concerning the Man from Nazareth," 1924), he presented a novel interpretation and characterization of the early Christian movement and its leading personalities. He portrayed himself in the character of Levin in the novel Oyfn Veg ("En route," 1914).
bibliography:
Rejzen, Leksikon, 1 (1926), 1137–9; lnyl, 3 (1960), 717–9. add. bibliography: M. Krutikov, Yiddish Fiction and the Crisis of Modernity (2001), 145, 155–7.
[Elias Schulman /
Jerold C. Frakes (2nd ed.)]