Prof. G. Zelikovitch Man of Letters and Publicist, Dies at 63

Professor G. Zelikovitch, well known Jewish writer, Egyptologist and member of the editorial staff of the “Jewish Daily News,” died on Saturday night of pneumonia, following a short illness. Professor Zelikovitch, who suffered from diabetes, was taken ill with pneumonia last Tuesday and was brought to Mount Sinai Hospital. He is survived by his two sons, William and Arthur.

With the death of Professor Zelikovitch, Jewish letters and the Yiddish press of this country lost a notable figure.

The late Professor Zelikovitch had a stormy and colorful career. He was born May 23, 1863 in Rytowa, government of Kovno, Lithuania. Getzil, as he was known to his friends, distinguished himself in his early youth for his exceptional ability in Talmudic studies and soon gained a reputation as the “Illui (genius) of Rytowa.” At the age of 16 he had committed to memory five hundred pages of the Talmud. In 1897, just when he was about to complete his rabbinical studies, he left for Paris, where he became a teacher of Hebrew in the home of the then wll known philanthropist, Michael Erlanger. In Paris he studied Oriental languages, including old Egyptian, Ethiopian, Arabic and Sanskrit. 1885 found him attached to the headquarters of the English military expedition in Egypt to release General Gordon from Chartum. His connection with the force was in the capacity of Arabic-English interpreter, with the title of Honorary Lieutenant. Dui to the accusation of Lord Kitchener directed against Zelikovitch that he was in sympathy with the Africans, he left the British force and went to Abyssinia, 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 Egyptologist.

During all this time he was a contributor to the Hebrew dailies, “Ha’maggid” and “Ha’meilitz” and the Arab newspaper, “El Aram.”

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 appointed instructor of Egyptology at the University of Pennsylvania. Following a short connection with the University, he became one of the pioneers of the Yiddish press in the United States, being one of the first to adopt the popular style of writing Yiddish, making the press and literature accessible to the larger masses. He was one of a small group which introduced the vernacular into journalism, opposing the Germanizing influences on the Yiddish language. 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 “Tageblatt” and the “Yiddishe Gazeten.” During his connection with the “Tageblatt” and a number of Yiddish periodicals, Professor Zelikovitch wrote a great number of articles on scientific subjects, editorial comments on current events, short stories and humorous sketches. He became popular under the pen names, of “the Lithuanian philosopher,” “Baron Yekum Purkom” and “Aestheticus,” under which he wrote for the woman’s page. He conducted the Department of Literature and Scholarship in the “Tageblatt” for a great number of years. Here he reviewed books appearing in all languages on Jewish history and Jewish research work.

There also appeared under his editorship “The Yiddish-American Speaker,” which constituted of a collection of 521 speeches in Yiddish, Hebrew and English, intended for the use of boys on becoming Bar Mitzvah. These speeches became very popular among the American Jewish masses and are a feature of many Jewish households.

Great renown came to Professor Zelikovitch when he translated the “Teachings of Buddha” from Sanskrit into Hebrew. This work, which was published in periodicals and appeared in book form in 1922, is considered a classic in Hebrew literature. He also translated “The Book of the Dead” from old Egyptian into Hebrew. Professor Zelikovitch, who gained a wide reputation as a linguist, prepared in 1918 a Yiddish textbook for the instruction of Arabic. His work on the immortality of the soul published in French in the eighties was commented upon by his friend, Ernest Renan, in his report before the Asiatic Society. His work on the origin of the Egyptian civilization was published in English in Philadelphia, 1887. In 1913, on the occasion of the celebration of his fiftieth birthday, a collection of his works in Yiddish were published under the title, “Schriften.” During his life Professor Zelikovitch contributed to almost every Hebrew periodical in the world.

In his last few years, Professor Zelikovitch was working on an anthology of the ancient Hittite literature and on a translation from the Babylonian into Hebrew of the Epic of Gilgamsh.

The funeral will be held at 9 o’clock this morning from Schwartz’s Funeral Parlor, 312 East 5th Street, New York City. The body will be taken to the Broadway Central Hotel, where he lived, and then to the editorial offices of the “Jewish Daily News.” At 10:30 services will be held at the hall of the Jewish Educational Alliance on East Broadway. Interment will be in the family plot at Union Field Cemetery, Brooklyn.

JEWISH WELFARE BOARD TO HOLD THIRD BIENNIAL CONVENTION IN BOSTON

The Third Biennial Convention of the Jewish Welfare Board will be held on December 19th at the Elysium Club, Boston, Mass.

At the national parent body of the Jewish Community Centers and Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Associations, the Jewish Welfare Board is calling together representatives of these local associations, which number more than 300, in cities in all parts of the country, for a consideration of problems in the Jewish Center field. It is expected that important decisions will be reached affecting the entire movement.

Judge Irving Lehman of New York City, president of the Jewish Welfare Board, will preside at the sessions and present his report. Other reports will be presented by Dr. Cyrus Adler, chairman of the Army and Navy Committee, Edward S. Steinam, treasurer of the Board, and Harry L. Glucksman, executive director of the Board.

The sessions will be featured by addresses by Felix Fuld, of Newark, N. J. Sol M. Stroock, of New York City, Louis E. Kirstein, of Boston, Mass, who is chairman of the local committee on arrangements, and other prominent Jewish leaders.