Yankev Zoyermilkh (November 20, 1866 – August 18, 1945), better known by his adopted name Jacob Milch, was a Polish-born Jewish-American socialist, Yiddish writer, and chocolate manufacturer.

Life

Milch was born on November 20, 1866, in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, the son of Paltiel Zoyermilkh and Goldie Berman. Milch attended a religious elementary school. His father died when he was twelve, at which point he became an apprentice to a wood carver. When he was fifteen, he became a follower of the

Jewish Enlightenment The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

and befriended

Benjamin Feigenbaum Benjamin Feigenbaum (August 12, 1860 – November 10, 1932) was a Poland, Polish-born Jewish socialist, newspaper editor, translator, and satirist. Feigenbaum was an associate editor of the Yiddish language ''The Forward'', its predecessor ''Di A ...

. In 1886, he went to serve in the Russian army. After finishing his military service, he returned to Warsaw. Unable to find any employment, he immigrated to America in 1891 and stayed with his friend Feigenbaum. He initially worked as a carver and joined the carvers' union and the

Socialist Labor Party The Socialist Labor Party (SLP)"The name of this organization shall be Socialist Labor Party". Art. I, Sec. 1 of thadopted at the Eleventh National Convention (New York, July 1904; amended at the National Conventions 1908, 1912, 1916, 1920, 192 ...

. With Feigenbaum's encouragement, he began writing for the '' Arbayter Tsaytung'' (Workers’ Newspaper) in October 1891. He wrote mainly satirical-polemical articles and a weekly column called Gedanken fun a prostak” (Thoughts of a boor) that interpreted Marxism in a popular manner for the masses. During the

Panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States. It began in February 1893 and officially ended eight months later. The Panic of 1896 followed. It was the most serious economic depression in history until the Great Depression of ...

, he left his well-paying job in a furniture factory to become secretary of the

United Hebrew Trades The United Hebrew Trades (Yiddish: ''Fareynikte Yidishe Geverkshaftn'') was an association of Jewish labor unions in New York formed in the late 1880s. The organization was inspired by and modeled upon the United German Trades (German: ''Deutsche ...

and organize a relief action that fed hundreds of unemployed people daily. He also became a member of the ''Arbayter Tsaytung'' publishing association and sat on its executive board. Milch worked in the candy jobbing business from 1896 to 1899. In 1900, he became a member of the candy jobbers firm Levine Bros, Inc. The firm began manufacturing chocolate in 1906, and it was renamed Elbee Chocolate Co., Inc. He was vice-president of the firm by 1938. He served as treasurer of the Jewish Teachers Seminary from 1920 to 1930. He edited the Jewish scientific monthly ''Zukunft'' in 1907 and was editor and publisher of the quarterly ''Die Neue Welt'' in 1909. He wrote several works in Yiddish, including a three-volume set of books called Jewish Problems in 1920, Philosophic Chats in 1924, an essay comparing

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (24 November 163221 February 1677), also known under his Latinized pen name Benedictus de Spinoza, was a philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, who was born in the Dutch Republic. A forerunner of the Age of Enlightenmen ...

and

Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

in 1932, and a pamphlet on

Birobidzhan Birobidzhan ( rus, Биробиджан, p=bʲɪrəbʲɪˈdʐan; , ), also spelt Birobijan ( ), is a town and the administrative centre of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Russia, located on the Trans-Siberian Railway, near the China–Russia bord ...

in 1936. ''Zichronot'', his memoirs on the origin of ''

The Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'', was published in 1936. He translated works by Peretz Smolenskin and

Gerhart Hauptmann Gerhart Johann Robert Hauptmann (; 15 November 1862 – 6 June 1946) was a German dramatist and novelist. He is counted among the most important promoters of Naturalism (literature), literary naturalism, though he integrated other styles into h ...

into Yiddish, and in 1928 he published a Yiddish translation of Plato's ''Dialogues''''.'' He was also a collaborator on the ''

Morgen Freiheit ''Morgen Freiheit'' (original title: ; English: ''Morning Freedom'') was a New York City-based daily Yiddish language newspaper affiliated with the Communist Party, USA, founded by Moissaye Olgin in 1922. After the end of World War II the paper ...

''. Milch was a member of the Yiddish Scientific Institute. In 1895, he married Fannie Levine. Their children were Dr. Henry and Victor. Milch died at his home in 263

Eastern Parkway Eastern Parkway is a major east–west boulevard in the borough (New York City), New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was built between 1870 and 1874 and has been credited as the world's fir ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, following a brief illness on August 18, 1945. He was buried in

New Montefiore Cemetery New Montefiore Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in West Babylon, New York. History Montefiore Cemetery Corporation had been maintaining Montefiore Cemetery in Springfield Gardens, Queens since 1908. The corporation bought 250 acres from Pin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milch, Jacob 1866 births 1945 deaths Writers from Warsaw 19th-century Polish Jews American male non-fiction writers American people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish Polish writers Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States People from Warsaw Governorate Jews from the Russian Empire Jewish American trade unionists Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish socialists Members of the Socialist Labor Party of America New York (state) socialists Translators to Yiddish Yiddish-language writers 20th-century American translators 20th-century American male writers Writers from Brooklyn 20th-century American newspaper editors Editors of New York City newspapers American food industry business executives Burials at New Montefiore Cemetery