Viner, Shmuel
April 23, 1889–
He was born in Khelm (Chelm), Poland, into a merchant household. In his youth he was a Zionist. In 1904 he founded the first Jewish library in Chelm. In 1905 he was an active leader of the Zionist Socialists in Warsaw and was arrested on several occasions (1908-1912).
He moved to the United States in December 1912. There he became a proofreader and worked from 1914 for Tog (Day) in New York. He was also active in the Jewish typesetters’ union.
He wrote articles and longer works on scholarly topics: in Yidishe Kultur (Jewish Culture) in New York—among other items, in issue 5 in 1947 and in 1949, “Hundert Yor Marksizm” (A Century of Marxism); in the April-March 1951 issue, “Etik, di Tsentrale Problem inem Velt-Krizes” (Ethics, the Central Issue in the Work Crisis); in Shpinoza-Bukh (Spinoza Volume), of which he was also co-editor (New York, 1932), pp. 185-228—a Yiddish translation, with Y. Yudkov, of “Tractatus on the Improvement of Understanding”; in Yizker-bukh khelm (Remembrance volume for Chelm) (Johannesburg, 1954); and elsewhere.
His books include: Individuele un Sotsyale Faryhayt (Individual and Social Freedom) (New York, 1952), 32 pp.; Rambam, der Groyser Yidisher Filosof un Humanist inem Mitlalter (Rambam, the Great Jewish Philosopher and Humanist of the Middle Ages) (New York, 1956), 32 pp.; Shpinoza der Gebentsher, Tsum 300stn Yor Funem Kheyrem Oyfn Groysn Yidishen Denker 1656-1956 (The Blessed Shpinoza, on the 300Th Anniversary of the Excommunication of the Great Jewish Thinker, 1656-1956) (New York, 1957), 64 pp.
He also translated Friedrich Engels’s Ludvig Feyerbakh Under Oysloyz fun der Klasiker Daytshisher Filosofye (Ludwig Feuerbach and the Outcome of Classical German Philosophy [original: Ludwig Feuerbach und der Ausgang der Klassischen Deutschen Philosophie]) (New York, 1943), 96 pp.
He was last living in New York [a/o 1960].
Sources: Khane Vilder-Viner, in Yizker-Bukh Khelm (Remembrance Volume for Chelm) (Johannesburg, 1954), pp. 221-324; A. Bik, in Morgn-Frayhayt (New York) (November 3, 1957); B. Ts. Goldberg, Tog- Morgn Zhurnal (New York) (March 2, 1958); A. Almi, in Fraye Arbeter Shtime (New York) (May 1, 1958).