Morris Rosenfeld
Morris Rosenfeld (Yiddish: מאָריס ראָסענפֿעלד; born as Moshe Yankev Chmielowski; December 28, 1862 in Stare Boksze in Russian Poland, government of Suwałki – June 22, 1923 in New York City) was a Yiddish poet. His work sheds light on the living circumstances of emigrants from Eastern Europe in New York's tailoring workshops, and he is considered one of a number of Yiddish "sweat shop poets". His parents gave him a third name “Alter” (Moshe Yankev Alter) after the cholera epidemic around 1870, during which all of his siblings died (he later had one younger brother).
Also recorded as Moshe Jacob Alter
Morris Rosenfeld

Hermann Struck · Public domain
- Birth Name
- Moshe Yankev
- Born
- December 28, 1862
- Birthplace
- Stare Boksze, Poland, Russian Empire
- Died
- 22 June 1923
- Place of death
- New York City, United States
- Occupation
- publisher, editor, poet
- Full name
- Mosze Jakub Alter.
- Nationality
- United States and Congress Poland.
- Languages
- Yiddish.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q126519 · wikipedia · Morris Rosenfeld
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
Upon his emmigration to the United States, he changed his family name to Rosenfeld. Morris was educated at Boksha, Suwałki, and Warsaw. He worked as a tailor in New York and London and as a diamond cutter in Amsterdam, and settled in New York in 1886, after which he was connected with the editorial staffs of several leading Jewish newspapers. During the 1890s he wrote song parodies for the Yehuda Katzenelenbogen Music Publishing Company in New York, including Nokhn ball (After the Ball), Di pawnshop (Faryomert farklogt) and Nem tsurik dayn gold (Take Back Your Gold) - all published in Di idishe bihne and Lider magazin. In 1904 he published a weekly entitled Der Ashmedai. In 1905 he was editor of the New Yorker Morgenblatt. He was a delegate to the Fourth Zionist Congress in London in 1900, and gave readings at Harvard University in 1898, the University of Chicago in 1900, and Wellesley and Radcliffe colleges in 1902. Rosenfeld was the author of Di Gloke [The bell] (New York, 1888), poems of a revolutionary character; later the author bought and destroyed all obtainable copies of this book. He wrote also Di Blumenkette [The chain of flowers] (New York, 1890) and Dos Lieder-Bukh (New York, 1897; English transl. By Leo Wiener, Songs from the Ghetto, Boston, 1899; German transl. By Berthold Feivel, Berlin, and by E. Fishin, Milwaukee, Wis, 1899; Rumanian transl. By M. Iaşi, 1899; Polish transl. By J. Feldman, Vienna, 1903; Hungarian transl. By A. Kiss, Budapest; Bohemian transl. By J. Vrchlický, Prague; Croatian transl. By Aleksandar Licht, Zagreb, 1906). His collected poems were published under the title Gezamelte Lieder, in New York, in 1904.
Documentary record
Morris Rosenfeld died in New York, according to the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.

From: The spirit of the Ghetto; studies of the Jewish quarter in New York
Jacob Epstein · Internet Archive identifier: spiritofghettost00hapg

Morris Rosenfeld
The Critic
Key facts
Key facts
• Birth Name — Moshe Yankev • Born — December 28, 1862 • Birthplace — Stare Boksze, Poland, Russian Empire • Died — 22 June 1923 • Place of death — New York City, United States • Occupation — publisher, editor, poet • Language — Yiddish
Documentary record
Morris Rosenfeld appears in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek as a writer and poet (1862 – 22 June 1923). The birth of Morris Rosenfeld is recorded in 1862, and the death on 22 June 1923. The birthplace of Morris Rosenfeld is recorded as Buksza (Pologne) by the Bibliothèque nationale de France and as Stare Boksze, Suwałki by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek.
Works
Works
• Illustration — Illustration by Lilien of the book (1903): Lieder des Ghetto of Morris Rosenfeld; translation from Yiddish to German by Berthold Feiwel • "Di gloke" (The Bell), Poetry collection, 1888 • "Di blumenkette" (The Chain of Flowers), Poetry collection, 1890 • "Lider-bukh", Poetry collection • First English edition: Songs from the Ghetto. Translated by Leo Wiener. New York, 1898 • First German edition: Lieder des Ghetto (songs from the ghetto). Translated by Berthold Feiwel. Calvary, Berlin, 1902 • "Shriftn", selected works in six volumes, New York, 1908–1910 • "Geveylte shriftn", New York, 1912 • "Dos bukh fun libe", 1914 • Songs of Labor and Other Poems. Translated by Rose Pastor Stokes and Helena Frank. Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1914.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1862
Morris Rosenfeld born at Stare Boksze.
1923
Morris Rosenfeld died at New York City.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Stare Boksze.
Birth place
New York City.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Morris Rosenfeld (1862–1923), Sing, Stranger, 2006
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2006
- Rosenfeld, Morris (1862-1923), poet, American National Biography Online, 2000
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2000
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q126519: Morris Rosenfeld
Reputable secondary · Wikidata
- “Morris Rosenfeld”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Morris Rosenfeld, revision 1371374639 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Morris Rosenfeld (1862–1923), Sing, Stranger, 2006Crossref registry
Institutional witnessscholarly publication
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Morris Rosenfeld was recorded at birth as Mosze Jakub Alter. The authorities additionally record the heading Moshe Jacob Alter. His recorded language was Yiddish. Recorded as poet and writer.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Morris BishopAuthor
- Morris BlythmanAuthor
- Morris DaviesAuthor
- Morris KyffinAuthor
- Morris WestAuthor
- Morris WilliamsAuthor
- Morris WinchevskyAuthor
- Morrison HeadyAuthor
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