Eliyahu-Khayim Sheps (Yiddish: אליהו־חײם שעפּס; January 2, 1892 – September 25, 1963), known primarily under the pseudonymsEli Almi or A. Almi, was a Polish-born Jewish-AmericanYiddish poet, journalist, essayist, and mystic. His work drew on philosophy, religion, occultism, satire, and lyric, and was often fantastical or dramatic in content and pathos.
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 (Yiddish: ראָמאַן־צײַטונג, lit. 'Novel Newspaper') in Warsaw at the age of 15, where his earliest literary sponsor was I. L. Peretz.[3] 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 (Yiddish: דער מאָמענט, lit. 'The Moment'), where he first contributed. Upon arriving in the United States, he was also a frequent contributor to the Forverts (Yiddish: פֿאָרװערטס, lit. 'Forward'), Literarishe bleter (Yiddish: ליטעראַרישע בלעטער, lit. 'Literary Pages'), Fraye arbeter shtime (Yiddish: פֿרײַע אַרבעטער שטימע, lit. 'Free Voice of Labor'), Der morgn zshurnal (Yiddish: דער מאָרגן זשורנאַל, lit. 'The Morning Journal'), Der tog (Yiddish: דער טאָג, lit. 'The Day'), among others.[4]
A spiritual study on the afterlife, his first book, Di tsveyte eksistents (Yiddish: די צװײטע עקסיסטענץ, lit. 'The Second Existence'), was published in New York and Montreal in 1921. His first poetry collection, Bay di randn (Yiddish: בײַ די ראַנדן, lit. 'On the Edges'), was published in New York in 1923.
Eli Almi in 1913, after his arrival in New York
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.[5]
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.
In 2020, an English translation of one of Sheps' satirical short stories was published in Jewish Currents.[7]
Personal life
In 1929, Sheps' brother mysteriously disappeared from California.[3][4]
Sheps lived for a time in the Bronx with his wife, Fradl "Frida" Vaytman (Yiddish: פֿראַדל „פֿרידאַ“ װײַטמאַן). On June 12, 1938, he arrived to their home and found her dead by suicide.[8]
One of his former love interests, Sarah Perle, also committed suicide due to the scandal of their illicit relationship.[3]
Sheps, who suffered from hallucinations and loneliness, himself died by suicide at his apartment on the Upper West Side on September 25, 1963. He had no surviving family.[4][6][9]
Shirot aharonot: Shirim u-fo'emot (Hebrew: שירות אחרונות: שירים ופואימות, lit. 'Final Verses: Songs and Poetry'), Tel Aviv, 1966. Translated into the Hebrew by Shlomo Shenhod.
Essay and scholarly collections
Di tsveyte eksistents (Yiddish: די צװײטע עקסיסטענץ, lit. 'The Second Existence'), New York, 1921.
Di khinezishe filozofye un poezye (Yiddish: די כינעזישע פֿילאָזאָפֿיע און פּאָעזיע, lit. 'Chinese Philosophy and Poetry'), New York, 1925.
Oyfn veg fun di geter: Heylike shriftn un mitologishe geshikhtn fun di Egipter, Hindusn, Yapaner un Indianer (Yiddish: אױפֿן װעג פֿון די געטער: הײליקע שריפֿטן און מיטאָלאָגישע געשיכטן פֿון די עגיפּטער, הינדוסן, יאַפּאַנער און אינדיאַנער, lit. 'Along the Way of the Gods: Holy Writings and Mythological Histories of the Egyptians, Hindus, Japanese and Indians'), Warsaw, 1929.
(Polish: Legendy żydowskie o powstaniu 1863 r., lit. 'Jewish Legends About the 1863 Uprising'), Warsaw, 1929.
Memoirs
Momentn fun a lebn: Zikhroynes, bilder un epizodn (Yiddish: מאָמענטן פֿון אַ לעבן: זכרונות, בילדער און עפּיזאָדן, lit. 'Moments from a Life: Memories, Scenes and Episodes'), Buenos Aires, 1948.
Kheshbn un sakh-akl: Kapitlen fun mayn Seyfer HaKhayim (zikhroynes un makhshoves) (Yiddish: חשבון און סך־הכּל: קאַפּיטלען פֿון מײַן ספֿר החײם (זכרונות און מחשבֿות), lit. 'Checks and Balances: Chapters from My Book of Life (Memories and Thoughts)'), Buenos Aires, 1958.
