Eli Almi
Eliyahu-Khayim Sheps, known primarily under the pseudonyms Eli Almi or A. Almi, was a Polish-born Jewish-American poet, journalist, essayist, and mystic, who wrote in both Yiddish and English. His work drew on philosophy, religion, occultism, satire, and lyric, and was often fantastical or dramatic in content and pathos.
On September 25, 1963, Sheps committed suicide.
He was celebrated by The Detroit Jewish News as "one of the most creative of the Yiddish writers." Isaac Bashevis Singer praised his mystic knowledge, comparing him to the likes of Hillel Zeitlin, who was also a friend.
Biography
Early life
Eliyahu-Khayim Sheps was born on January 2, 1892 in Warsaw to father Shloyme Zalmen and Reyzl-Gitl Sheps. He was part of a poor Jewish family. Until the age of 10, he was educated in a cheder. In 1908, he moved to Kraków. On New Year's Day in 1913, a day before his 21st birthday, he immigrated to New York with the assistance of his only brother, Leyzer.Career
In 1907, Sheps published his first poem in the literary magazine Roman-tsaytung in Warsaw at the age of 15, where his earliest literary sponsor was I. L. Peretz. In 1908, he moved to Kraków, where Avrom Reyzen published some of his poems. By the age of 18, he became the editorial secretary for the widely read Yiddish newspaper Der moment, where he first contributed. Upon arriving in the United States, he was also a frequent contributor to the Forverts, Literarishe bleter, Fraye arbeter shtime, Der morgn zshurnal, Der tog, among others.A spiritual study on the afterlife, his first book, Di tsveyte eksistents, was published in New York and Montreal in 1921. His first poetry collection, Bay di randn, was published in New York in 1923.
In 1962, a year before his death, a Festschrift on Sheps was published in Buenos Aires as part of a book series on Polish-Jewish life, featuring writings by Isaac Bashevis Singer, Avrom Reyzen, and other friends and writers.
In total, Sheps published 26 books: 13 volumes of essays comprising philosophical, scientific, artistic, and religious themes; six collections of poetry; three books of short stories and articles; two memoirs; one book of folktales in Polish; and one book of essays in Hebrew translation. He was drawn to works of, or on, Spinoza, Schopenhauer, Henri Bergson, Zionism, and Taoist and Buddhist philosophy.
Sheps was a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the American Philosophical Association, and the Spinoza Institute of America. He was also a fellow at the International Institute of Arts and Letters.
In 2020, an English translation of one of Sheps' satirical short stories was published in Jewish Currents.
Personal life
In 1929, Sheps' brother mysteriously disappeared from California.Sheps lived for a time in the Bronx with his wife, Fradl "Frida" Vaytman. On June 12, 1938, he arrived to their home and found her dead by eithre by heart attack or suicide.
One of his former love interests, Sarah Perle, also committed suicide due to the scandal of their illicit relationship.
Sheps, who suffered from hallucinations and loneliness, himself committed suicide at his apartment on the Upper West Side on September 25, 1963. He had no surviving family.
Among his writerly friends were Isaac Bashevis Singer, Avrom Reyzen, Itzik Manger, and Morris Rosenfeld.
Poetry collections
Bay di randn, New York, 1923.Far di likht: Lider, Warsaw, 1924.In Elyashs kinigraykh: Humoristishe libes-lider, Warsaw, 1924.Gezang un geveyn, New York, 1943.Letste gezangen, Buenos Aires, 1954.- * Shirot aharonot: Shirim u-fo'emot, Tel Aviv, 1966. Translated into the Hebrew by Shlomo Shenhod.
Essay and scholarly collections
Di tsveyte eksistents, New York, 1921.Di khinezishe filozofye un poezye, New York, 1925.Oyfn veg fun di geter: Heylike shriftn un mitologishe geshikhtn fun di Egipter, Hindusn, Yapaner un Indianer, Warsaw, 1929.Literarishe nesyes, Warsaw, 1931.Mentshn un ideyen, Warsaw, 1933.Kritik un polemik, Warsaw, 1939.In gerangl fun ideyen: Eseyen, Buenos Aires, 1957.Sholem Ash—a sakh-akl: Seperater opdruk fun zshurnal "Undzer veg", Chicago, 1959.Folktale collections
1863: Yidishe favstanye-mayselekh, Warsaw, 1927.- *, Warsaw, 1929.