FALK HEYLPERIN (HALPERIN)

FALK HEYLPERIN (HALPERIN) (December 5, 1876-March 8, 1945)

            He was born in Nesvizh (Nesvyžius), Byelorussia.  His father was a gardener and the son-in-law of a wealthy shoemaker, with whom Heylperin was raised.  He studied in religious primary school, yeshivas, and for a time in the small tailors’ synagogue in Minsk.  He later turned his attention to secular subjects, was a conditional teacher, later took the examination for teachers, worked in Minsk for a year in a school under the administration of the celebrated Grigori Gershoni, and thereafter worked as a teacher of Hebrew in the local Talmud-Torah, from which in 1905 he was fired for teaching Yiddish as a subject in the Talmud-Torah classroom and for trying to organize the teachers to fight for reforms in their neglected educational institutions.  He then left for Vilna where he worked in the Hebrew middle school, “Yehudiya”; in 1908 he moved to St. Petersburg where he was a teacher in the school run by “Khevre mefitse haskole” (Society for the promotion of enlightenment [among the Jews of Russia]), and was then fired by the trustee for his efforts to organize a club to study Yiddish literature.  After leaving St. Petersburg, he was active as a Hebrew-Yiddish teacher in Jewish schools in Simperopol, Warsaw, and once again in Vilna.  During WWI he organized and ran (in 1916), as plenipotentiary for the Moscow division of Mefitse haskole, a Jewish school for was refugees in Tambov—as a specially designed school.  He was one of the organizers of the first conference of Yiddishist teachers in Tambov in 1916, and secretary of the “Yiddish School league” (later, Kultur-lige or Culture League) in Kiev (1917).  In 1918 he was the school instructor from the Jewish Ministry in Ukraine, later a teacher in the Ekaterinoslav High School in Bron, in which the language of instruction was Yiddish.  In 1921 he returned to Vilna where he was active as a teacher of Hebrew and Yiddish in the high school run by Sofye Gurevitsh and in the Jewish teachers’ seminary of the Central Educational Committee, among other things.

            His literary activity began in Hebrew around 1900 in Hatsfira (The siren), and later he contributed to the Hebrew-language serials: Hatsofe (The spectator), Hazman (The times), Luaḥ aḥiasef, and Hashelaḥ (The weapon), among others.  He also wrote for Russian Jewish serials: Voskhod (Sunrise) and Evreiskaia zhizn′ (Jewish life).  In Yiddish he began writings stories around 1906 and published them in: Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper) in Vilna, Dos yudishe folk (The Jewish people), Di folks-shtime (The voice of the people), and later he placed pieces in various and sundry newspapers and magazines in Warsaw and Vilna, such as: Fraynd (Friend), Haynt (Today), Di vokh (The week), Vilner tog (Vilna day), Di naye shul (The new school), Bikher-velt (Book world), and Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), in which he published current events articles, critical and pedagogical articles, as well as stories and features.  He edited the first Yiddish children’s magazine, Grininke beymelekh (Little green trees) from the time of its founding by Kletskin Publishers during WWI until 1923; he was also a member of the editorial board of the monthly Lebn un visnshaft (Life and science).  Among his books: Ertseylungen (Stories), vol. 1 (Vilna: Shreberk, 1910), 168 pp.; Yudishe mayselekh (Yiddish stories) (Moscow-Petrograd: Kletskin, 1917), 2 booklets, 23 and 14 pp.; Afn shvel, ertseylungen (At the threshold, stories) (Ekaterinoslav: Di velt, 1918), 78 pp.; Lamed vovnik (One of the 36 good men in the world), a play (Ekaterinoslav: Natur un mensh, 1919), 24 pp.; Mayselekh far shul-kinder (Stories for school children) (New York: Star Hebrew Book Co., 1927); Mayses fun fartsaytn (Stories from long ago) (Vilna: Kletskin, 1929), 120 pp.; Bay opgruntn (By precipices), vol. 1 (Vilna, 1930), 250 pp.—including: (1) Tfiles (Prayers), a miniature play in three scenes, initially published in Yudishe velt (Jewish world) 1 (1915), staged in Kiev’s Jewish state theater and in Vilna; (2) Yoysef dele rene (Joseph Della Reina), a poem in six pieces; (3) Kinign miryam (Queen Miriam), a tragedy from the time of King Herod, translated by Arn Mark into Polish and staged in the Reduta Theater in Poland, later translated into Hebrew by Avigdor Hameiri and staged in the Hebrew theater in Tel Aviv.  Additionally, in 1918 Heylperin cofounded (with A. Vilter) in Ekaterinoslav a children’s publishing house—“Natur un mensh” (Nature and man)—which brought out booklets for children, such as: Lamed vovnik, a children’s play; Holand un belgye (Holland and Belgium), Loyfndike feygl (Flying bird), and a children’s anthology entitled Vinter (Winter).  He also published a series of children’s stories with the publishing house of the Yiddish literary association in Vilna, including: Mitn tatn in vald (With Father in the woods), A mame (A mother), Mitsraim (Egypt), Der nitsokhn (The victory), Regndl (Drizzle), Bloyer mai (Blue May), Der kleyner kishefmakherin (The little sorceress), Zhako (Jocko), and Dem khans ring (The khan’s ring), among others.  He also translated the following works into Yiddish: Nikolai Rubakin, Groyse gesheenishn fun farsheydene tsaytn un felker (Great events from various times and peoples) (Vilna, 1923), 205 pp.; Lev Levanda, Der poylisher magnat (The Polish magnate) (Warsaw, 1923), 63 pp.; Pyotr Kogan, Geshikhte fun di mayrev-eyropeishe literaturn (History of Western European writers [original: Ocherki po istorii zapadno-evropeiskikh literatur]), vol. 1 (Vilna, 1924), 360 pp., vol. 2 (Vilna, 1925), 360 pp.; Kogan, Di geshikhte fun der grikhisher literatur (The history of Greek literature [original: Grekheskaia literatura]) (Vilna, 1927), 291 pp.; B. Disraeli-Beaconsonsfield, Dovid alroi (David Alroy) (Vilna, 1924), 149 pp.; Knut Hamsun, Roza (Rosa) (Warsaw, 1926), 239 pp.; Hamsun, Dos letste kapitl (The last chapter [original: Siste Kapitel]) (Vilna, 1928), 536 pp.; Hamsun, Benoni (Vilna, 1928), 292 pp.; Lev Tolstoy, Dekabristn (The Decembrists [original: Dekabristy] (Vilna, 1930), 236 pp.; Nikolai Gogol, Shriftn (Writings) (Vilna, 1926), 335 pp.; Gustav Karpeles, Geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur (History of Jewish literature [original: Geschichte der jüdischen literatur]) (Vilna, 1927), 421 pp.; Friedrich Schiller, Vilhelm tel (Wilhelm Tell) (Vilna, 1929), 196 pp.; Schiller, Di yungfroy fun orleon (The maid of Orleans [original: Die Jungfrau von Orleans) (Vilna, 1929), 234 pp.; Schiller, Intrige un libe (Intrigue and love [original: Kabale und Liebe) (Vilna, 1929), 200 pp. Schiller, Farshverung fun fyesko in genua (Fiesco’s conspiracy at Genoa [original: Die Verschwörung des Fiesko zu Genua]) (Vilna, 1929), 244 pp.; G. V. Plekhanov, Fun utopye tsu visnshaft (From Utopia to science) (Vilna, 1936), 288 pp.  He also translated stories by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and others.  Heylperin devoted a significant part of his energies to the Yiddish and Hebrew school, both as a teacher and as the author of a large number of Yiddish and Hebrew schoolbooks, such as: the basic alphabet book, Dos vort (The word) (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1923), 74 pp.; Ershte trit, khrestomatye firn tsveytn lernyor (First step, reader for the second year of school) (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1930), 182 pp.; Feste trit, khrestomatye firn 3tn lernyor (Firm step, reader for the third year of school) (Vilna, 1930), 255 pp.; Praktishe gramatik fun der yidisher shprakh (Practical grammar of the Yiddish language), with Max Weinreich (Vilna: Kletskin, 1928-1929), 2 vols.  In Hebrew: Ivrit, ḥelek 3 ḥeristomatiya lishenat halimudim hareviit im temunot vetsiyurim veim avodat atsmit letalmidim (Hebrew, reader for the fourth year with photos and paintings and independent study for students) (Warsaw, 1920), 304 pp.; Prozdor lesifrut (Corridor to literature) (Vilna, 1922), 430 pp.; Haseyfer, lernbukh fun hebreyish far di yidishe shuln (The book, Hebrew textbook for Jewish schools) (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1929).

            Heylperin collaborated as well with the writers of the “Young Vilna” group.  For a time he was president of the Yiddish Pen Club.  In 1938 he moved to Israel, where he continued his pedagogical and writing activities, and among other things he wrote his book Shimshon hagibor beyalduto (Samson the great in his youth) (Tel Aviv, 1938), 139 pp.  He died in Israel.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1, cols. 829-32; Y. Rapaport, in Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (April 1, 1927; January 17, 1934); Y. Tsinberg, in Bikher-velt (Warsaw) (August 1928); D. Tsharni (Charney), in Tsukunft (New York) (January 1929; October 1935; December 1935); A. Mark, in Literarishe bleter (January 16, 1931); Vilne tog (Vilna) (February 20, 1931); N. Gros, in Tog (New York) (July 19, 1931); A. Abtshuk, Etyudn un materialn tsu der geshikhte fun der yidisher literatur bavegung in FSRR (Studies and material for the history of the Yiddish literature movement in the Soviet Union) (Kharkov, 1934), p. 25; B. Mark, in Literarishe bleter (October 30, 1936); “A por gezunt,” Vilner tog (February 4, 1938); M. Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 1 (Montreal, 1945) and vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958), p. 474; E. Shulman, in Getseltn (New York) (May-June 1945), pp. 88-89; A. Golomb, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 21 (1955); Z. Doyer, in Davar (Tel Aviv) (March 18, 1955); Y. Likhtboym, Hasipiur haivri (Hebrew literature) (Tel Aviv, 1955), biography on p. 517; Kh. Sh. Kazdan, Fun kheyder un shkoles biz tsisho (From religious and secular primary schools to Tsisho) (Mexico, 1956), see index.  Obituaries in: Sefer hashana shel haitonaim (Journalists' yearbook) (Tel Aviv, 1946), p. 345; Nayvelt (Tel Aviv) (March 11, 1945); Keneder odler (Montreal) (May 11, 1945); Yidishe kultur (New York) (July 1945); and elsewhere.

Borekh Tshubinski

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 218.]