Solomon Simon

Simon was born Shlomo Shimonovich in the summer of 1895 in what is now Belarus, in an isolated Jewish shtetl that had some hundreds of Jewish families, located near the Minsk swamps and a Russian railway hub called Kalinkavichy. His childhood, early years, and difficult experiences growing up in Czarist Russia, are vividly described in his two-volume autobiography, which has been translated from Yiddish into English: My Jewish Roots (1954) and In The Thicket (1963). His father, Eruchim Ben-Zion, was a simple shoemaker. The poverty stricken family lived in a small hut where his mother, Mere (Lifschitz), struggled to help make ends meet by baking bagels and rolls.[4]

Shimonovich was the fourth of eight children and, unlike the others, suffered from rickets. As a result, he was forced to crawl about, unable to walk, until he was nearly six.[5] The handicap led to a startlingly imaginative inner life as a child that was later reflected in many of his writings. At age 13 he was singled out for assignment to a Yeshiva in Kremenchuk, and then continued his advanced training at several additional Yeshivas in Poland. His Rabbinical studies were interrupted by his conscription into the Czarist army. Like so many other Jewish emigrants, he fled to America. In 1913 he arrived in New York City, penniless and not knowing a word of English.[6]

The transition from the world of the shtetl changed him forever. He anglicized his name to Solomon Simon' (Shlomo Simon in Yiddish), worked initially as a house painter, served in the U.S. Army in 1918, became a U.S. citizen, graduated from Dental College at New York University (1924), and commenced practicing dentistry. His real love, however, was writing, and from the 1920s on he devoted himself to it, while resorting to dentistry in order to earn a living and support his wife, Lena, and three children, David, Judith (Judith Simon Bloch) and Miriam.[1]

Although he had become fully secular, he felt it essential to assure the survival of Jewish values, culture and traditions in the new generation of Jews growing up in America.[7] To that end, he became a devoted "yiddishist," viewing the Yiddish language as the singular instrument that could succeed in perpetuating Jewish ideals among secular Jews and their children.[8] He became active in the Sholem Aleichem Folk Institute based in New York City, a secular Jewish organization focused on maintaining evening children's schools for teaching Yiddish, as well as Jewish culture and history. He served as President of the Institute from 1939 to 1943, 1945–49 and 1952-3; he also played an active role in its Yiddish summer camp, Boiberik, as well as its Yiddish magazine for children and its Yiddish publishing arm.[9][10]

Toward the end of his life he perceived that his Yiddish language crusade was not working out with the new generation of American Jews.[11] The Institute's schools languished and the numbers of his Yiddish readers declined. His religious beliefs also changed. He once again described himself as a believer, but only in his own unorthodox theistic style, which in many ways mirrored the revisionist proposals of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan. For his last 28 years, until his death in 1970, he was teaching a group of devoted adult followers regarding the application of the Scriptures and Talmud to modern Jewish life.[11]

In 1971 the noted Yiddish linguist, Maurice Samuel, gratefully acknowledged the help he had received from the late Dr. Solomon Simon, an "outstanding scholar ...whose command of Bible, Talmud and Jewish-Yiddish tradition helped me through many knotty passages.[12]

With the furtherance of his "Yiddishist" goal in mind, his early works were written in Yiddish for children, in a series of books focused on Jewish legends and themes, such as: "Shmerl Nar" (later translated as The Wandering Beggar), about a Jewish simpleton accomplishing accidental "miracles" as he wandered about Russian towns; and "Helden Fun Khelm" (later translated as The Wise Men of Helm and supplemented by More Wise Men of Helm), about a mythical town of Jewish fools and their comic foolishness.

Paradoxically it is these English translations of his early books, first published in English in the 1940s, that have remained in print.[13] They received critical acclaim when they appeared in English. The New York Times described The Wise Men of Helm as "a delightful little book" and "almost a classic of its kind" (NY Times 2/24/48). Earlier the Times had commented favorably on The Wandering Beggar: "Artfully shaped…these stories deserve to be known by readers of all faiths" (NY Times 18 October 1942).

As for his Yiddish books, they too were popular at the time they first appeared.[14] They were published and distributed in Argentina – with its substantial Yiddish-speaking readers – as well as in the United States, Mexico and Canada. In recognition of his literary achievements, he received Mexico's Kessel award[15] and Argentina's Mordecai Stoller award.[15]

In later years, his Yiddish writings turned to serious topics. Thus "Medines Isroel Un Erets Israel" (1950) set forth the ethical conflict between the dual concept of Israel as a nation state and as a religious home; "In De Teg Fun De Ershter Nevyim" (1959) focused on the ethical demands of the early prophets; "Oyf Eigene Drokhim" (1962) described his own searching path in Yiddish life; and "Emune Fun a Dor" (1970), published in the year he died, set forth his last legacy. Along with a number of his early Yiddish children stories, none of these later works have as yet been translated.

His final years were devoted to a special project dear to his heart: a revised English translation of the early Jewish Scriptures, accompanied by Talmudic footnotes and Teacher's Resource Books that amplified and explained the Talmudic sources. These – which he co-authored – were the only books originally written by him in English: The Rabbi's Bible Vol. 1: Torah (1966); Volume Two: Early Prophets (1969); and Volume Three:: The Later Prophets (1974) (published posthumously). Like his early children's books in English, these too are still in print today.

"Kluge Hent" (Clever Hands) was his first and only novel. It was published by his widow, Lena, in 1973 in response to what she describes as his dying wish that it be printed at last in book form.[16] It has only now been translated into English as "The Boy With The Golden Hands". It is an adventure tale that focuses on Jewish life in Moravia in the early 19th century.

• Encyclopedic Dictionary of Judaica (Keter Publ. House Jerusalem 1974) p. 556 (Shlomo Simon)
• New York Times Obituary, Nov. 10, 1970
• Two-volume autobiography, My Jewish Roots and In The Thicket
• David Simon, I'm Writing, Poppa (privately publ. 2006) p. 12-14, 16-35, 41-5, 52-3, 59, 61, 71, 212-13