Political and public figure, publicist. He taught in Jewish schools in Odessa, and at the beginning of the 20th century was a supporter of Zionism; however, in 1917 he joined BUND and campaigned actively against Zionism. He took part in the Civil War in the Ukraine. In 1919 he was one of the founders of KOMBUND. From 1920 he was one of the leaders of the Central Bureau of Evsektsia in the Central Committee of the Communist Party. In this post he pursued an active policy of "Yiddishisation" and of opposition to Hebrew and Russian-Jewish culture. In the 1920s he was one of the leaders of OZET. He was an ideological campaigner for the creation of a Jewish autonomous region in the Far East. He perished in the Stalinist repressions.