David Apotheker

{{Short description|Lithuanian-born humorist and writer (1855–1911)}}

{{Infobox writer

| name=David Apotheker

| image=דוד אפאטהעקער.jpg

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| pseudonym=Der hinkediger shlimazl ({{langx|yi|דער הינקעדיגער שלימזל}}){{r|bassin}}

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| birth_date={{birth date|1855|08|28|df=y}}

| birth_place=Ponevezh, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire

| death_date={{death date and age|1911|10|23|1855|08|28|df=y}}

| death_place=New York City, United States

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| language=Yiddish, Hebrew

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David Apotheker ({{Langx|yi|דוד אַפּאָטהעקער}}; 28 August 1855 – 23 October 1911) was a Lithuanian-born Yiddish and Hebrew humorist, poet, journalist, and printer.

Biography

Apotheker born in Ponevezh, Kovno Governorate, the son of a prominent Maskil, Jacob Apotheker.{{r|mfh}} He was orphaned at a young age, and in 1868 went to Vilkomir to study under the guidance of Moses Loeb Lilienblum. He later was an auditor at Kiev University.

In 1877 Apotheker became involved in the nihilist movement, and was arrested in Kiev in 1879 for revolutionary activities.{{r|ajyb}} He fled to Czernowitz, then the capital of Bukovina, where he opened a book store,{{r|gelber}} wrote for Hebrew and Yiddish papers, and published his first book, Ha-Nevel ('The Harp'), containing Hebrew and Yiddish poems (1881).{{r|ruth}}

He emigrated to the United States in 1888, where he unsuccessfully tried to found a communist colony.{{r|gelber}} He thereafter founded a women's clothing store in Brownsville, Brooklyn, joined the local anarchist movement, and became a prolific contributor to the Yiddish press. In 1895 he moved to Philadelphia, where he became a printer and edited Die Gegenwart, a short-lived Yiddish weekly.{{r|fogel}}{{r|boonin}}{{cite web |title=David Apotheker. Census • United States Census, 1900 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M37Z-MQN |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}}

He died in Brooklyn, New York on October 23, 1911.

Family

Apotheker married his wife Celia (nee Schoolman) in 1896 in Philadelphia.{{cite web |title=David Apotheker. Marriage • Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Marriage Indexes, 1885-1951 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJ8N-1MH |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}} They had a number of children: Engel (born 1891), Lizzy (born 1892), Anna (born 1895), Susana (born 1897), William (born 1900), and Lillian (born 1904).{{cite web |title=Engel Apotheker. Birth • New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W9M-Z4C |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}}{{cite web |title=Lillian Apothecker. Vital • Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HHKC-XQ6Z |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}}{{cite web |title=Wm. Apotherker. Vital • Pennsylvania Births and Christenings, 1709-1950 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HFZR-BJN2 |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}}{{cite web |title=Susana Apothecker. Birth • Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Births, 1860-1906 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VB1F-PRQ |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}}{{cite web |title=Annie Apothener. Birth • New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909 |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WSW-QG9 |website=FamilySearch |access-date=12 September 2021}}

Selected publications

{{cite book|title=Ha-nevel|trans-title=The Lyre|location=Czernowitz|publisher=Elias Heilpern|date=1881|language=he,yi}}
{{cite book|title=Humoristishe shriften|trans-title=Humorous Writings|language=yi|volume=1|date=1910|publisher=Hebrew Publishing Company|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/nybc200118/}}
{{cite book|title=Humoristishe shriften|trans-title=Humorous Writings|language=yi|volume=2|date=1912|publisher=Hebrew Publishing Company|location=New York|url=https://archive.org/details/humorisisheshrif01apotuoft}}

References

{{Jewish Encyclopedia|article=Apotheker, David|url=https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1663-apotheker-david|first1= Richard|last1=Gottheil|first2=Moses|last2=Beer|volume=2|page=22}}

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite book | last=Rubin | first=Ruth | title=Voices of a People: The Story of Yiddish Folksong | publisher=University of Illinois Press | year=2000 | isbn=978-0-252-06918-5 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gWJiUNy-jeUC&pg=PA261| page=261}}

{{cite book|first=N. M.|last=Gelber|translator-first=Jerome|translator-last=Silverbush|chapter=History of the Jews in Bukowina (1774–1914)|page=58|editor-first=Hugo|editor-last=Gold|title=Geschichte der Juden in der Bukowina|location=Tel Aviv|publisher=Olamenu|volume=1|date=1958|via=JewishGen|chapter-url=https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/Bukowinabook/buk1_058.html}}

{{cite encyclopedia|title=Apotheker, David|editor-first=Jacob Rader|editor-last=Marcus|editor-link=Jacob Rader Marcus|editor2-first=Judith M.|editor2-last=Daniels|page=19|encyclopedia=The Concise Dictionary of American Jewish Biography|url=http://media.americanjewisharchives.org/docs/concise/a.pdf|location=Brooklyn, NY|publisher=Carlson Publishing|date=1994}}

{{cite web |title=Dovid (David) Apotheker|url=http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2014/08/dovid-david-apotheker.html|first=Joshua|last=Fogel|author-link=Joshua A. Fogel|date=18 August 2014|website=Yiddish Leksikon|access-date=17 April 2021}}

{{cite web|title=David Apotheker|website=Lives in the Yiddish Theatre: Short Biographies of Those Involved in the Yiddish Theatre as Described in Zalmen Zylbercweig's "Leksikon fun Yidishn teater"|url=http://www.museumoffamilyhistory.com/yt/lex/A/apotheker-david.htm|access-date=17 April 2021}}

{{cite book | last=Boonin | first=Harry Davidow| title=The Jewish Quarter of Philadelphia: A History and Guide, 1881–1930 | publisher=Jewish Walking Tours of Philadelphia | publication-place=Philadelphia | year=1999 | isbn=978-0-9669884-0-6 |page=}}

{{cite book|title=Antologye: finf hundert yohr Idishe poezye|trans-title=Anthology: Five Hundred Years of Yiddish Poetry|editor-first=Moshe|editor-last=Bassin|year=1917|location= New York|publisher=Dos Idishe bukh|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:אמנטאלאגיע_פינף_הונדערט_יאהר_אידישע_פאעזיע.djvu&page=72|language=yi|page=228}}

}}

Category:1855 births

Category:1911 deaths

Category:19th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:19th-century American Jews

Category:19th-century American journalists

Category:19th-century American male writers

Category:19th-century American novelists

Category:19th-century American poets

Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:20th-century American journalists