LIPSON, MORDEKHAI

LIPSON, MORDEKHAI (1885–1958), Hebrew writer and folklorist. Born in Bialystok, he was ordained as a rabbi in 1903. After teaching for several years, he immigrated to the United States in 1913. There he wrote for the Hebrew and Yiddish press and edited the Hebrew weekly Ha-Ivri (1916–21). He founded and edited the New York Hebrew daily Hadoar (1921–23), which was the only modern Hebrew daily to appear in the U.S. When the newspaper was taken over by the Histadrut Ivrit and turned into a weekly, Lipson served for a period as editor. He immigrated to Ereẓ Israel in 1930 and edited the religious daily Ha-Ẓofeh from its inception, in 1937, until 1944. For more than a generation he collected Jewish folklore which appeared in Mi-Dor-Dor (3 vols., 1928–29), Anshei Middot (5 vols., 1927–34), Midrash Zuta (1951), and Emshol Lekha Mashal (1956). He also translated many books from Hebrew to Yiddish and from Yiddish to Hebrew, including works by I.J. Singer\>\> , I. Bashevis Singer\>\> , and J. Opatoshu\>\> . (Getzel Kressel)