Dr. Hayim Fineman. professor emeritus of English Literature at Temple University, and one of the founders of the Poale Zionist movement in this country, died here yesterday. He was 73.
Born in Russia, he was brought to this country when he was 4 years old. He studied at the University of Pennsylvania, and received his doctorate there in 1917. He began teaching English literature at Temple in 1910, later becoming head of the English department. He was an authority on Shakespeare and Milton; at his death, he was completing his major work on Milton. He retired from the Temple faculty three years ago.
In 1904, Dr. Fineman helped establish the Poale Zionist movement in the United States. From 1906 on, he attended every World Zionist Congress. In 1921, Dr. Fineman was a member of a special commission that drew up a program for the development of the labor cooperative movement in Palestine. Serving on that commission with him were Itzhak Ben Zvi and David Ben Gurion, now President and Prime Minister, respectively, of Israel.
He had been at various times national secretary and president of the Poale Zion Organization of America, and in 1946 helped merge the Poale Zion and the League for Labor Palestine into the Labor Zionist Organization of America. He had also been a member of the presidium of the Zionist Actions Committee, and was active in the American Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress. One of Dr. Fineman’s survivors, a son, Daniel, is a professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is survived also by his widow and two other sons.
A statement by the Jewish Agency executive in New York, issued over the names of Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president, and Mrs. Rose L. Halprin, acting chairman, declared. “The Jewish Agency executive in New York learned with deep sorrow of the passing of our esteemed colleague, Hayim Fineman. The Zionist movement shall always remember his pioneering role in United States Labor Zionism, and his many long years of steadfast devotion and dedication to our cause. His leadership, gentleness of spirit and intellectual integrity will be sorely missed by the entire Zionist movement.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
