TSVI-HIRSH ZILBERTSVAYG

TSVI-HIRSH ZILBERTSVAYG (March 31, 1870-November 18, 1948)

            The father of Zalmen and Nosn Zilbertsvayg, he was born in Ozorków, near Lodz, Poland, into a wealthy family which drew its lineage back to the Malbim [Meyer Leybush ben Yekhiel Mikhl Wisser, 1809-1879] and to Leyvi-Yitskhok of Berdichev.  He studied in religious primary school, synagogue study hall, and with private tutors.  From early in life he was a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment, but at the same time very religiously observant.  He dealt in textiles and also maintained a business in religious books.  He played a major role in the Ḥibat-Tsiyon (Love of Zion) movement, and he was a cofounder and later the Lodz secretary of Mizraḥi in Poland.  In 1926 he moved to Israel and worked himself on his “Garden and Neighborhood of Montefiore” near Tel Aviv.  He was a cofounder (with Aba Kasman, Avrom Tenenboym, and Y. Unger) of Lodzer nakhrikhten (Lodz notices) (1907), in which he ran the regular section entitled “Bakol mikol kol” (In all, from all, all).  He was also for many years the Lodz correspondent for Hamelits (The advocate) in Odessa, later for Hatsfira (The siren) in Warsaw, and others.  He also placed pieces in Der telegraf (The telegraph) in Warsaw.  In Israel he published such religious works as: Anfe tsvi (Tsvi’s branches), Et asher shamanu vanedaem (What we heard and knew), Bemaabrot haḥayim (The transit points in life), and Hani mele mea’aliyuta (Here with full advantage), in which he treated various issues of Jewish tradition and Jewish life in the Diaspora and in Israel.  He published as well under the pen name: Tsviya.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Zalmen zilbertsvayg, yoyvl bukh (Jubilee volume for Zalmen Zilbertsvayg) (New York, 1941), pp. 6-8; D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopediya leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 3 (Tel Aviv, 1949), p. 1437; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York) 3 (1957), pp. 199, 258.