Pincus Goodman

Pincus Goodman (Yiddish: פינחס גודמאן, 1881–1947), who published as P. Goodman (פּ. גודמאַן), was an American Yiddish-language poet active from the 1920s to the 1940s.[1] Because he worked as a silk weaver his whole life, he was known as the "weaver poet."[2][3][4]

Pincus Goodman, Yiddish-language poet

Biography

Goodman was born in April 1881 in Łowicz, Poland.[5][1][6][7] He had a traditional Jewish education and even considered studying to become a Rabbi before turning from religion to secular politics and becoming a freethinker.[8][3] His parents both died in the 1881–1896 cholera pandemic when he was eight years old, leaving him an orphan.[3][1][8] He became a weaver in Łódź, an important industrial centre in Poland which had a large Jewish silk-weaving industry.[1][9]

He emigrated to the United States in 1902 or possibly 1904, settling in Paterson, New Jersey and continuing to work as a silk weaver for the rest of his life.[10][7][11][12] Paterson was an important centre of Jewish weavers from Lodz and Bialystok who were known for their left-wing politics.[13] He and his family lived in extreme poverty and he never became rich from his silk weaving or his writing.[3] He soon became a member of the Arbeter Ring (worker's circle).[2]

While continuing to work as a weaver, Goodman wrote poetry prolifically, printing pieces in The Jewish Daily Forward, Der Tog, Arbeter, and Fraye arbeter shtime.[3][1] His works described themes of poverty, family, and work.[3] Some of his poems were set to music and became popular in worker's choirs, such as the Kultur-khor directed by Vladimir Heifetz.[3][14] It was only in 1922 that he managed to print his first book of poetry, Veber-lider (weaver songs). In it he made use of the rich Yiddish-language vocabulary of weaving and described the hard life of workers in the industry, two things which rarely appeared in literary works at the time.[15][16] The following year, he published In geshpan: lider un gedikhten ("In Harness: Songs and poems"), which he ended up expanding into a larger volume in a second printing and which grew to five volumes over the next two decades.[1][17] Although they were well regarded, he apparently published them at his own expense.[18][8]

He died on January 23, 1947.[7][2] He was buried in an Arbeter Ring cemetery in Saddle River, New Jersey.[2][4]

Family

He married his first wife Rebecca Pedlock in Łódź in 1902.[8][3][19] They had a number of children: Annie (born 1903), Louis (born 1904), Rose (born 1906), David (born 1910). His first wife died in around 1914 of Bright's disease.[3] He remarried in December 1919 to Rebecca (Becky) Diamond and they had a son Max (born 1921).[20][12][19] Goodman is also the great-grandfather of novelist Tama Janowitz.[8]

Publications
  • Veber-lider, also known as Der Ṿeber: balade ("The Weaver, Poems", 1922)[21][1]
  • In geshpan: lider un gedikhten volume 1 ("In Harness: Songs and poems" 1926)[1][22][23]
  • In geshpan: lider un gedikhten volume 2 (1932)[24][25]
  • In geshpan: lider un gedikhten volume 3 (1940)[26]
  • In geshpan: lider un gedikhten volume 4 (1945)[1]
  • In geshpan: lider un gedikhten volume 5 (1951)[1]

References
  1. Fogel, Joshua (28 July 2015). "Yiddish Leksikon: PINKHES GUDMAN (PINCUS GOODMAN)". Yiddish Leksikon. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  2. "GOODMAN SERVICES". The Record. Hackensack, New Jersey. January 27, 1947. p. 2.
  3. Wallerstein, Jane (2000). Voices from the Paterson silk mills. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia. pp. 35–43. ISBN 9780738501970.
  4. "Pinchus Goodman". The News. Paterson, New Jersey. January 27, 1947. p. 63.
  5. "Pincus Goodman in the U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918". Ancestry. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  6. "Pincus Goodman in the U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942". Ancestry. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  7. Mayzel, Nachman (1955). Ameriḳe in Yidishn ṿorṭ anṭologye (in Yiddish). New York: IKUF. p. 277.
  8. Pollak, Michael C. (October 24, 1983). "Forsaking her painting and memories". The Record.
  9. Goldberg, Halina (2016). "Family Picture at an Exhibition". In Veidlinger, Jeffrey (ed.). Going to the people : Jews and the ethnographic impulse. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 256–81. ISBN 9780253019165.
  10. "Peter Goodman. Census • New Jersey State Census, 1905". FamilySearch. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  11. "Pinkus Goodman. Census • United States Census, 1930". FamilySearch. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  12. "Pincus Goodman. Census • United States Census, 1940". FamilySearch. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  13. Golin, Steve (1988). The fragile bridge : Paterson Silk Strike, 1913. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. pp. 30–1. ISBN 9781566390057.
  14. Yardeini, Mordecai (1960). Leo Lyoṿ momenṭn fun zayn lebn un shafn : shṭrikhn tsu a porṭreṭ fun a barimṭer muziḳalisher perzenlekhḳayṭ bay Idn (in Yiddish). New York: Farlag Nigun. p. 145.
  15. Krul, Chaim; Radoshitzky, J. H. (1954). Ks̀ovim fun Ḥayim Ḳrul a liṭerarishe yerushe ... (in Yiddish). New York: Eygene. p. 122.
  16. "2. Dos Idishe bikh in Amerike". Dos Naye Lebn: Monaṭlakher Zshurnal Far Ḳulṭur Un Gezelshafṭlakhe Fragn. (in Yiddish). 1 (4): 60. 1923. hdl:2027/mdp.39015028572124.
  17. Lodzsher almanakh (in Yiddish). New York: Lodzsher brenṭsh. 1934. p. 110.
  18. Ḳarlin, Aharon (1953). Di Feder zaml-shrifṭ far liṭeraṭur, ḳunsṭ un ḳriṭiḳ (in Yiddish). New York. p. 283.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. "Peter Goodman in the 1910 United States Federal Census". Ancestry. Retrieved 18 September 2021.
  20. "Pencus Goodman in the New York, New York, U.S., Marriage License Indexes, 1907-2018". Ancestry. Retrieved 19 September 2021.
  21. Goodman, Pincus (1922). Ṿeber-lider. Paterson, N.J.: H.V. Mandel.
  22. Goodman, Pincus (1926). In geshpan lider un gedikhṭen 1. New York: P. Goodman.
  23. אין געשפאן: לידער און געדיכטען. OCLC 150605167. Retrieved 18 September 2021 – via WorldCat.
  24. Goodman, Pincus (1932). In geshpan lider un gedikhṭen 2. New York: P. Goodman.
  25. In geshpan. Bd 2. 1932. OCLC 924100600. Retrieved 18 September 2021 – via WorldCat.
  26. Goodman, Pincus (1945). In geshpan lider un gedikhṭen 3. New York: P. Goodman.
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