Leksikon fun der Nayer Yidisher Literatur

לעקסיקאָן פֿון דער נײַער ייִדישער ליטעראַטור

He was born in Makov (Maków), Lomzhe district, Poland. His grandfather was a rabbi. He was renowned as a child prodigy. In addition to an assortment of modern languages, he also knew Latin and Greek, and he even studied Japanese and Arabic.

He also was involved with translating [into Hebrew?] scientific articles, which he published in:

Ḥavatselet (Daffodil),

Hatsfira (The Siren), and

Hamelits (The Advocate).

He also translated into Hebrew

a majority of Gustav Karpeles’s Toldot hasifrut haivrit (History of Jewish Literature [original: Geschichte der Jüdischen Literatur]),

Bremm’s Toldot baale-haḥaim (History of Humanity), and

volume 5 of Graetz’s history of the Jews.

In book form:

Mitsri Shaul (Saul the Egyptian) (Warsaw, 1889), 91 pp.;

Di Negerin (The Black Woman) “an interesting story of the Black revolution in Santo Domingo [modern-day Haiti]... freely worked from the famous German poet, Th. Kerner,” Newark: Hibru Poblishing Kompani, 1900, 24 pp. (See below);

The story was very popular and was published several times by different publishing houses. 

L.-D. Finkel reworked Th. Kerner's drama "Toni" (1812), based on the plot of Heinrich von Kleist's novel "Die Verlobung in St. Domingo" (Engagement in St. Domingo) (1811).

Körner, Carl Theodor (1791-1813)

Kleist, Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von (1777-1811)

Finkel translated Di Kamelyen-Dame (La Dame aux Camélias) by Alexandre Dumas, “a play in five acts” (Warsaw, 1911 and/or 1912), 134 pp.

He was the translator of two rare pamphlets:

Toldes Rashi (Biography of Rashi), “This is a description of the famed man.” (Warsaw, 1880), 11 pp.;

Der Khometsdiker Borkhu oder di Nayn Teg Peysekh (The Leavened Prayer or the Nine Days of Passover), “a lovely story that transpired in the great city of Prague” (Warsaw, 1880), 6 pp.

In 1904 he worked for

Hatsfira

and published fictional work in it until the newspaper closed down. With the founding of the

Warsaw-based Haynt (Today),

he contributed to it, primarily as a translator. He also translated into Yiddish works by Henri Bernstein, Émile Zola, Friedrich Schiller, and others. Many of his translations remained in manuscript.

He excelled with an encyclopedic knowledge and frequently turned his attention to philological research.