YOYSEF ZOMER

YOYSEF ZOMER (1900-1942)

            He was born in Paleniec, near Warsaw, into a Hassidic family.  He studied in religious primary school and in synagogue study hall.  In 1924 he was lured by Jewish missionaries who used his speaking talent for missionary agitation among Hassidic boys in Warsaw and Lodz.  In 1937 he escaped from the missionaries, returned to devout Judaism, and lived as a recluse among the “dead Hassidim” (followers of R. Nakhmen of Bratslav) in Warsaw.  He debuted in print with poetry in the missionary periodical Der veg (The way) in Warsaw.  He authored the pamphlets: Gegen fanatizm (Against fanaticism), “by a former yeshiva lad” (Warsaw, 1926), 16 pp.; Der korbn-peysekh un di geule (The Passover sacrifice and the redemption) (Warsaw, 1932), 19 pp.; Af der shvel (At the threshold), poetry (Warsaw, 1936), 92 pp.  He was confined in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he perished from hunger in the summer of 1942.

Sources: Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo (Bibliographic yearbooks from YIVO) (Warsaw, 1928), p. 206; Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (January 1, 1937).

Khayim Leyb Fuks