Background
Opatoshu was born in 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to a Hasidic family, in Mława, Congress Poland. His father was a Jewish Maskil, who sent Yosef to best Polish schools in the country.
Opatoshu was born in 1886 as Yosef Meir Opatowski to a Hasidic family, in Mława, Congress Poland. His father was a Jewish Maskil, who sent Yosef to best Polish schools in the country.
At the age of 19 he went to study engineering in Nancy, France. However, privation sent him to the United States of America in 1907, where he settled in New York City, where his name became Joseph Opatovsky, and he later took the professional name of Joseph Opatoshu.