BEN ELIEZER, MOSHE

BEN ELIEZER, MOSHE (1882–1944), Hebrew editor, author, and translator. Ben Eliezer, who was born in Shchuchin, near Vilna, became attracted to the Haskalah while studying at Mir yeshivah, and joined the staff of the Hebrew daily Ha-Zeman. From 1906 to 1910 he lived in the United States, where he established Shibbolim (1909), a journal devoted to modern Hebrew literature. Returning to Poland he edited several Hebrew journals for young people, and spent some time after World War I in Kovno as press officer for the Lithuanian Ministry for Jewish Affairs. Immigrating to Palestine in 1925, he joined the editorial staff of the newspaper Haaretz. His stories, feuilletons, and translations appeared in the Hebrew press of various countries and he also wrote and edited several series of books for children. His works include the historical novels Yerovam u-Reḥavam ("Jeroboam and Rehoboam," 1939) and Don Yosef Nasi (1945), the novel Gavri'el (1945), and translations of works by Scott, Dickens, Conrad, Hawthorne, and others. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Goren, Demuyyot be-Sifrutenu (1953), 69–74; H. Weiner, Pirkei Ḥayyim ve-Sifrut (1960), 94–95; F. Lachower, Shirah u-Maḥashavah (1953), 236–8; Rabbi Binyamin, Mishpeḥot Soferim (1960), 312–3. (Getzel Kressel)