Hersch, Benzion S

1929 Yearbook 

HERSCH, Benzion S., J.P. Born in Janishky (near Schavli, Lithuania) in 5645 [1884/5]. Second son of Meyer Hersch (one of the first Chovevei Zion in Russia). Educated in Schavli and Warsaw. Founded the first Junior Zionist Society (Pirchei Zion) in Warsaw in 1896. Arrived in South Africa in December, 1902. Married Balbina Kornblum (of Warsaw) in Johannesburg; has two children. One of the builders of the a Zionist organisation in South Africa and a member of the Executive Council of the South African Zionist Federation since 1910; one of the founders and prominent member of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies; first Immigration Officer of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies of Cape Town up to the Great War; Hon. Censor in several languages, having offered his services, during the Great War; has rendered distinguished services to the community in matters of immigration and naturalisation, and effectively championed the cause of Russian Jewry during the days of the Kishineff and subsequent pogroms and of the Beilis Blood Libel trial. Sub-editor of the Hakochov (1903/5) and Jewish Free Press (1907/8); Editor and Publisher of Die Yiddishe Fohn ("The Jewish Standard"), Johannesburg, 1909-1913. Correspondent of Der Fraind (Petrograd), Der Tog (Petrograd), Ha'Tzofeh (Warsaw), Yiddishe Volkszeitung (Warsaw) and Yiddische Gazetten (New York). Translated works of Shalom Aleichem and others into English for S.A. newspapers, notably the Transvaal Leader, contributed short stories, sketches and other articles to numerous periodicals, mainly the Zionist Record (Johannesburg); Hon. Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Zionist Record. A Justice of the Peace for the district of Johannesburg since 1910. Sworn Translator of the Supreme Court of South Africa (in Hebrew, Yiddish, English, German, Russian and Polish). Postal Address: P.O. Box 7286, Johannesburg.