The Denver Jewish news., 1923-11-08
Review and translations by A.
Wolftraub


are in blank free verse. Most of them
are sweetiy melodious. even musical
l.. Mates has a style of his own. lie
| follows nobody but his own Muse. HIS
| Yiddisll, which he masters perfectly. Is
rich in original word combinations and
phrase construction. also with fine
shades of expression. The spelling is
| simplified, modern.
Our author, in his modesty. didn't
name each poem individually Inc
poems are numbered with Hebrew let
ters. The "Ofene Toiern'' is technically
unpretending like a simple bottle con-
taining good wine. The book shines
with inner worth it contains much
literary gold. besides the gold of sun
shine 1t reflects the many -colored
beauty of life. as well as the sad out
| look of an invalid. 1t voices the sor-
| row, hopes and aspirations of our race,
as well as the ideals and visions OF
| the author himself. 1t vibrates with
the silvery laughter and voices of chill
dren at play.
| In conclusion. biographical and per-
senal sketch of l.. Mates will not be
out of place. As mentioned already
his birth place is Bialystok, Russia. He
GENES from middle class Jewish
family. The boyhood education of l..
! Mates consisted iof cheder and Sc
II cular elementary school. The father. u
Il faithful Jew. was absorbed with the
work of providing for the family. and
was mainly concerned with the re-
Il ligious trimming Of Mattes and his
| brothers But when l.. Mates speaks
Il Of his mother. Cne understands that
|| she was one of those Jewish mothers
Il whose love and sacrifice for their chill
4 dren is unlimited During the terrible
days of the Bialystok pogroms. l..
N Mates says. she nearly gave her own
H life to save the children. When dis
II courage.l by the hopeless chance of en-
A tering the gymnasia. because of anti
| Jewish limitations, Mates decided to
come to America, 1t brakes his moth
ers heart. but for the sake of her
child's future in the world. she cum
scnts to see him go--never to meet him
again. She passed away about two
years ago. As we have seen already
her love. her spirit is with the poet
4 during the sadder part of his future
years.
| Arrived in Chicago Mt the age of 16,
i Mnttes goes to work in cigar factory
and becomes in time full-fiedged
cigar maker. He attended night school.
! studies and reads--his main purpose
/ nf coming TO America. He Is inspired
1 and produced In his mother-tongue,
1 Yiddish his first poem. How happy
MATES felt when it appeared in the
Chicago Yhdish weekly Welt" 1t
( was in 1918. Since then his poems
have been published in the leading
Jewish publications Of this country
and Canada. Practically all of them
1 are included in the "Ofene Toiern."
Some translations of his poems will aI-
1 pear in the Colorado issue of the
american Poetry Magazine" this Fall.
H In the same year of 1918 l.. Mates
| failed in health. victim of Tpber-
/ culosis. He stayed in the Chicago
Municipal Sanatorium for some
months. then he left for Denver 10 en-
ter the j. c. X. $. where he developed
his gift of poetical self expression. his
love fer this city and state seems
| quite natural. even if Denver and Colo
RADIO would not fascinate him by
beautiful nature.
Il We may expect much more from L..
Mates in the future. He is full of
energy and plans for work. \ part Of
his plans is creative work in the field
j Of drama. A one act play by L..
Mates was recently published in the
Freie Arbeiter Stimhe of New York.
l.. Mates has Il charming personal
ity. Notwithstanding the serious part
in his biography, he is of II smiling
| nature For some time he has beeL
instructor in the Workmen's Circle
Sunday school. \ great lover of chill
dren He is an ideal teacher.
l.. Mates is very popular with the
patieuts AT the Sanatorium whose in
tellectual needs he serves intclligently
MS librarian. and is beloved by his nu-
merous friends in the city.
His friends of the Denver oryaniza-
| tions. by whom the book is published,
| are united in their effcrts. because by
| publishing the "Ofene TOiern," some
,l.h,g worth while from n cultural
view point is undertaken But I'M
| jloubetdly there was also the personal
motive of helping their beloved L.
Mnttes 10 have his spiritual children
| brought before the WORLD. l.. Mates