Memory Lane: Aaron Dovid Egoz, Prominent Yiddish Writer and Editor

In researching our shtetl of Boro Park over the years, we came across more than one Yiddish article on the development of this town with the byline ‘Aaron D. Egoz.’ It took his obituary on his learned and pious father-in-law for us to discover that he was a literary genius who resided at 1542 45th Street in Boro Park of yesteryear. 

R’ Aaron Dovid made his mark on a wide range of genres in the Yiddish language in those early days, as you will read here. 

Kartuz-Bereza

The entry in the Yizkor book for the town of Kartuz-Bereza, Poland, in the Grodno region of what is today Belarus, writes about a pride of the hometown, “Aaron Dovid Egoz, Yiddish-translator of the Chovos Halevovos.” 

He was born in the summer of 1864 to his father, Reb Gedalyahu, and spent his early years learning in the cheder in nearby Pruzhany. He writes about that time in his introduction to one of his books. “When I was a young boy, I learned in the town of Pruzhany, not far from my hometown of Kartuz Bereze, Grodno region. There I learned in the small yeshiva, under ‘Rav Itche Note’ who would also deliver a shiur in Chovos Halevovos in the town’s beis medrash. “One time, I had occasion to hear this shiur, and it left a great impression on me. Although my childish mind could not properly grasp the intricacies of Rabbeinu Bachya, still, I felt a great spiritual pleasure… and I began to gravitate to Rav Itche Note’s Chovos Halevovos shiur” he later related. 

He later recalled in “memories of a Togg-Esser (one who ate the proverbial tegg in the homes of townspeople)” how his mother made the rounds to different people in the shtetl to ensure that her son would have where to eat. From Pruzhany, he trekked to the great yeshiva in Slonim. However, not receiving tegg in that town, he left for Zhetel, and later wandered to Warsaw and Rovna.  

He married Esther Elman of his hometown around 1889, and three children were born to them in Kartuz-Bereze. They emigrated to America in 1896, but his road to success in the literary world took quite a detour. He began working as a peddler, and later as a window-installer. Finally, in 1901, he began submitting humorous columns to be published in Der Teglicher Herald, and from there his career began to flourish. He later began to publish in di Varheit, and later in Der Morgen Zhournal, where he remained for many years.  

Literary Works 

As noted above Reb Aaron Dovid had his hand in a wide range of literary works.  

He translated the Chovos Halevovos into Yiddish in the year 1925, and regularly published stories and books, including “Oneg Yom Tov maiselech.,” and a number of other memoirs and titles. He also published “Kitzur Moreh Nevuchim,” the Rambam’s mussar classic, in 1935. 

He was the editor and author of techinos… including a techinah for Jewish women to implore Hashem that their family should not engage in chillul Shabbos. “Special for America,” it says, and it is filled with heartrending words from the depths of a Yiddishe woman’s heart trapped in most spiritually-challenging times. Among the moving words contained therein are, “Spare me, my children, and my husband, from chilul Shabbos and Yom Tov… I beg of you, beloved G-d, that my husband and children should never be missing from the Shabbos table.   

Reb Aaron Dovid passed away in the year 1943, and his Levaya passed by Temple Beth El. He was interred in Beth David Elmont Cemetery following decades of living and writing in Boro Park of yore.