NOSN ZILBERTSVAYG

NOSN ZILBERTSVAYG (b. May 25, 1899)

            The brother of Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, he was born in Lodz, Poland.  He studied in Yarotshinski’s Talmud Torah, also graduating from the Lodz commercial school.  He was a cofounder of the Lodz organization of Hitaḥdut (the “union” of young Zionists) in 1922.  From 1924 he was living in Israel.  For a time he was chairman of the union of municipal employees in Tel Aviv.  He was for many years a contributor to Lodzer tageblat (Lodz daily newspaper), in which in 1917 he wrote his impressions of his first trip with pioneers to Israel.  He also published in Haynt (Today) in Warsaw.  He dramatized for the theater (together with his brother) L. Shrayber’s novel Di shreklekhe soydes (The frightening secrets) and the one-act play Di tsvey toybe (The two deaf men).  He translated from the Russian: Lermontov’s tragedy Ispantsy (Spaniards) under the title Yidish blut (Jewish blood); F. Lintser’s one-act play Der erlekher ganef (The honest thief) (Warsaw: Gitlin, 1922), 30 pp; and Viktor Rishkov’s one-acter Der draysikster fevral (February 30) (Warsaw: Yidish, 1920), 32 pp.; Leonid Andreyev’s Der gedank (The idea [original: Mysl’]) (Warsaw: Di tsayt, 1923), 78 pp.  He later was editor of Shearim (Entryways), the organ of the municipal workers of Tel Aviv.

Sources: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol.1; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopediya leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 5 (Tel Aviv, 1952), pp. 2359-60; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), p. 258.