YEFROYKIN, ISRAEL

YEFROYKIN, ISRAEL (1884–1954), socialist and communal leader, born in Vieksniai, Lithuania. In 1904 he became active in the Zionist socialist group vozrozhdenie . He was among the founders in Russia of the monthly Yidishe Velt in 1912 with S. Dubnow , I. Zinberg , and others. After the February 1917 Revolution he organized with S. Dubnow, N. Shtif , and others the Yidishe folkspartei . In 1920 he went to Paris with a delegation of the yekopo (Jewish Relief Committee), and directed its central office there until its liquidation in 1925. He was one of the founders of the world jewish congress in 1936. With E. Tcherikower he published Oyfn Sheydweg ("On the crossroads," Paris 1939), a literary anthology. During World War II he took refuge in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he was coeditor of the review Shriftn and joined the Po'alei Zion – Hitaḥadut party. He subsequently returned to Paris, where between 1948 and 1952 he edited the review Kiem. His writings include In Kholem un oyf der Vor ("In Dream and Reality," 1944); A Kheshbn Hanefesh ("Introspection," 1948); and Kedushe un Gevure bay Yidn Amol un Haynt ("Self-Sacrifice and Heroism by Jews in the Past and Today," 1949). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Dvoretsky, in: Di Goldene Keyt, no. 20 (1954), 199–211; Halpern, in: Zukunft, 59 (1954), 269–71; Y. Gruenbaum, Penei ha-Dor (1957), 245–9.