Benzion Hoffman (; 1 May 1874 – 14 October 1954), best known by the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Zivion (, ''Tsivyen''), was a

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

writer, journalist, and political activist.

Biography

Hoffman was born in the village of Krug, near Boysk, in the

Courland Governorate Courland Governorate, also known as the Province of Courland or Governorate of Kurland, and known from 1795 to 1796 as the Viceroyalty of Courland, was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the ...

. He studied at various ''

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

s'' in the region, meanwhile becoming acquainted with Maskilic literature, before moving to

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

at the age of sixteen. There, he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a rabbi by '' av beis din'' Rabbi Shlomo ha-Kohen. He later studied at the Universities of Karlsruhe,

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, and obtained a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in engineering. Hoffman published under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true meaning ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individual's o ...

s Zivion (, a near-anagram of ), Tz. (), Ish Tikva (, 'Man of Hope'), Afna, and Rozman. His first articles appeared in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

in ''

Ha-Melitz ''HaMelitz'' (Hebrew: ) was the first Hebrew newspaper in the Russian Empire. It was founded by Alexander Zederbaum in Odessa in 1860. History ''HaMelitz'' first appeared as a weekly, and it began to appear daily in 1886. From 1871, it was publis ...

'' in 1895; he would go on to contribute to ', '' Forverts'', '' Di tsukunft'', '' Der yidisher arbeyter'', '' Folkstsaytung'', and ''Fraynd'', among other periodicals. The following year, he co-founded a socialist Zionist circle in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

and joined the Bundist movement. He attended the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 as a correspondent for ''Forverts'', and later took part in the

5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The 5th (London) Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was held in London between May 13 and June 1, 1907. The 5th Congress had the largest attendance of the Congresses of the unified RSDLP.Thatcher, Ian D. Trotsky'. Routledge Hist ...

. He emigrated to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 1908, where he became a central figure in American Jewish journalism. In the years that followed, Hoffman edited and contributed to the Hebrew daily ''Ha-Yom'', the Yiddish periodicals ''Der fraynd'', ''Di naye post'', ''Di tsukunft'', '' Der tog'', ''Di naye velt'', and ''Gerekhtikeyt'', and the Yiddish section of the English-Yiddish Encyclopedic Dictionary. He died at his home in New York City on 14 October 1954.

Selected bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *

References

{{authority control 1874 births 1954 deaths 20th-century American essayists American male essayists American people of Latvian-Jewish descent Bundists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Essayists from the Russian Empire Hebrew-language writers Jewish American journalists Journalists from New York City Labor Zionists People from Courland Governorate Yiddish-language journalists 20th-century American male writers 19th-century pseudonymous writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers