Dan Pines, editor of the popular Hebrew daily newspaper “Omer” and author of many books, died last night at Rehovot where he was resting after suffering a heart ailment. He was 61 years old.
Born in Astrakhan, Russia, he received a basic Jewish education in the famous yeshiva in Slonim. His general education he received in the universities of Kharkov, Ekaterinoslav and Moscow. He was the head of the Hechalutz movement in the Soviet Union which was liquidated by the Soviet authorities in 1930. He then reached Palestine, where he joined the editorial staff of the Davar, leading daily newspaper of which he later became co-editor.
As one of the leaders of the Histadrut, Israel’s Federation of Labor, he was sent in 1941 to the United States to represent the Histadrut. In this capacity he spent four years during which he also lectured on literature, education and economic problems in the Middle East at New York University and Roosevelt College in Chicago.
He was president of the Israel Journalists Association till recently and also served as chairman of the Israeli Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. He developed a new system for Hebrew verbs and grammar and a dictionary of foreign words in Hebrew. He also compiled the Popular Encyclopedia which was issued in three volumes in 1956.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
