Sorezon (Sarasohn), Kasriel-Tsvi (Kasriel-Hirsch)
Kasriel-Hirsch
KASRIEL-TSVI SOREZON (KASRIEL-HIRSH SARASOHN) December 12, 1834-January 12, 1905)[1]
He was a newspaper publisher, born in Poyzer, near Suvalk (Suwałki), Poland. His father had been a rabbi and preacher in Polish towns. In 1869 he emigrated to the United States but soon returned home. In 1871 he again made the trip, settled in New York, and there opened a Yiddish print shop. In 1872 he brought out (in printing partnership with E. Shrentsl and with the editorial help of his brother-in-law Mortkhe Yohalemshteyn) the weekly newspaper Di nyu-yorker yudishe Tsaytung (The New York Jewish newspaper), which appeared in print for five months. In 1874 he brought out a new weekly Di yudishe gazetten (The Jewish gazette), which from June 18, 1981 came out five times each week under the title Teglikhe gazetten (Daily gazette), and after two months again became a weekly. From April 6, 1883, the Teglikhe gazette was again published but only for three months. In January 1885 Sorezon founded Yidishes Tageblat (Jewish Daily Newspaper). Which remained in existence as a daily for forty-three years. As the first Yiddish Daily Newspaper in America (and in the world), Teglikhe gazetten—together with Yidishes Tageblat—played a pioneering and highly influential role in the development of the Yiddish press in the United States. For years Yidishes Tageblat sold more than 70,000 copies each day—a huge number for that time. The newspaper—under the editorship of M. Yohalemshteyn, later that of Yohan Paley and Gedalye Bublik—was the organ of Orthodox Jewry in America, and in April 1928 it was purchased by a second Orthodox daily, Morgn Zhurnal (Morning Journal). Sorezon also set up divisions of his newspapers in Chicago (Yudishe gazetten fun der vest [Yudishes gazetten of the West], 1894-1895), Philadelphia, and elsewhere. He also published a small newspaper called Yidishes vokhenblat (Jewish weekly paper), which lasted for four months in New York (first issue: October 12, 1887). He was active in Zionist and philanthropic organizations—cofounder of HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), the first Talmud Torah in New York, and president of the Orthodox “Central Relief for War Victims,” and the like. He died in New York., and some 50,000 were in attendance.
Yekhezkl Lifshits
[1] Zalmen Reyzen gives a birth year of 1831.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; A. R. Malachi, in Prese-zamlung, 1886-1936 (Press collection, 1886-1936) (New York, 1937), pp. 175-96; Moyshe Shtarkman, Moyshe Shtarkman, in Yorbukh fun amopteyl fun YIVO (Yearbook of the American division of YIVO), vol. 1 (New York, 1938), reprinted with notes in Shtarkman, Geklibene shriftn (Selected writings) (Tel Aviv, 1979), pp. 77-161; Kalmen Marmor, Der onhoyb fun der yidisher literatur in amerike, 1870-1890 (The start of Yiddish literature in America, 1870-1890) (New York: Writers’ Section of IKUF, 1944); Yoysef Khaykin, Yidishe Bleter in amerike, a tsushteyer tsu der 75-yoriker geshikhte fun der yidisher prese in di fareynikte shtatn un kanade (Yiddish letters in America, a contribution to the seventy-five-year history of the Yiddish press in the United States and Canada) (New York, 1946), see index; Yisroel-Ber Beylin, in Morgn frayhayt (New York) (January 22, 1956); Yekhezkl Lifshits, in Tsukunft (New York) (May-June 1974); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).