Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-12-16

ana member OF the edftOrfnl stan OF
the "Jewish Daily News died on
Saturday night of pneumonia, fol-
lowing short illness. Professor
Zelikovitch, who suffered from dia-
betes, was taken Ill with pneumonia
last Tuesday and was brought to
Mount Sinai Hospital. He is sur
vived by his two sons, William and
Arthur.
With the death of Professor Zelik-
ovitch, Jewish letters and the Yid-
dish press of this country lost a
notable figure.
ColOrful Career
The late Professor Zelikovitch had
a stormy and colorful career. He
was born May 23, 1868, in Rytowa,
government of Kovno, Lithuania.
Getzil, as he was known to his
friends, distinguished himself in his
early youth for his exceptional abil-
ity in Talmudic studies and soon
gained reputation as the "Illui
(genius) of Rytowa." At the age of
16 he had committed to memory five
hundred pages of the Talmud. In
1879, just when he was about TO
complete his rabbinical studies, he
left for Paris, where he became .
teacher of Hebrew in the home Of
the then well known philanthropist,
Michael Erlanger. In Paris he stud
led Oriental languages, including old
Egyptirn. Ethiopian, Arabic and
Sanskrit.
1885 found him attached to the
headquarters of the English military
expedition in Egypt to release Cen
eral Gordon from Chartum. His con-
nections with the force was in the
capacity of Arabic English interpre-
ter, with the title of Honorary Lieu
tenant. Due to the accusation OF
Lord Kitchener directed against Eel
ikovitch, that he was in sympathy
with the Africans, he left the Brit
ish force and went to Abyssmia,
from where he later returned to
Paris. On his second sojourn in
Paris, he successfully completed his
examinations at the Sorbonne, where
he received his diploma as an Egypt
ologist.
During all this time he vast q con-
tributor to the Hebrew dailies, "Ha'-
maggid" and "Ha'meilitz and the
Arab newspaper, Gel Aram."
Widely Travelled
After Journeys which took him to
Constantinople, Smyrna, Athens,
Rome, Tunis, Algiers and Morocco,
attached to scientific expeditions, he
arrived IN the United States in
1887. At that time he was appoint
ed instructor of Egyptology at the
University of Pennsylvania. Follow
short connection with the Univer-
sity, he became one of the pioneers
of the fiddish press in the United
States, being one of the first to
adopt the popular style of writing
Yiddish, making the press and lit
erature accessible to the larger
masses.
Digniied Yiddish
He was one of a small group
,,,L;,h ;,troJu,od tho yorpaculor inf n
journalism, opposing the German
izing influences on the Yiddish Ian
guage. He became the editor of the
"Volks Advocate" and held this post
for two years. In 1890 he Joined the
editorial staff of the Orthodox "Tage-
blatt" and the "Yiddishe iGazeten.'
During his connection with the
"Tageblatt" and number of Yid-
dish periodicals, Professor Zeliko-
witch wrote great number of ar
ticles on scientific subjects, editorial
comments on current events, short
stories and humorous sketches. He
became popular under the pen names
of "the Lithuanian philosopher,
''Raron Nek,Im Purkom" and "Aes-
theticus," under which he wrote fol
the woman's page. He conducted
the Department of Literature and
Scholarship in the "Tageblstt' for
u great number of years. Here he
reviewed books appearing in all Ian
guages on Jewish history and jew
ish research work.
The Speaker"
There also appeared under his
editorship "The Yiddish-
Speaker" which constituted of a col
lection of 52l speeches in iiddish,
Hebrew and English. intended for
the use Of boys on becoming Bar
M;tzvah. These speeches became very
popular among the American Jewish
masses and are feature of many
Jewish households.
Great renown came to Professor
Zelikovitch when he translated the