Wortsman, Yecheskiel Charles
WORTSMAN, YECHESKIEL CHARLES
WORTSMAN, YECHESKIEL CHARLES (1878–1938), Zionist journalist. Born in Zvonets, Podolia, Wortsman completed his studies in chemistry at Basle University. During his student days he was active in the Zionist Movement and, together with Chaim *Weizmann, Nachman *Syrkin, and others established the first Zionist society in Berne. He also participated in the First Zionist Congress in Basle (1897). Wortsman began his journalistic activities at an early age and contributed articles to the Yiddish press on current affairs which were devoted principally to promoting Zionism. He also wrote one of the first Zionist propaganda pamphlets in Yiddish, Vos Vilen di Tsionistn (1901), and a booklet on the Jewish National Fund (1903). In 1904 he began to publish a Yiddish journal in London entitled Di Yidishe Tsukunft. From 1907 Wortsman lived in the United States, and for the rest of his life played a role in the Yiddish press there and in Canada, both as an editor and a regular contributor.
[Getzel Kressel]