YUDE-LEYB TOYBMAN

YUDE-LEYB TOYBMAN (October 23, 1894-December 4, 1960)

           He was born in Proskurov, Ukraine, into a rabbinical family.  He studied in religious primary school, yeshivas, and later at Kiev University.  He was active in the Zionist movement.  Over the years 1918-1920, he lived in Odessa, later decamping for Bucharest.  In 1921 he moved to Israel.  On several occasions he traveled from there to Europe and the United States on behalf of immigration to Israel.  He began writing for Unzer lebn (Our life) in Odessa in 1916, and in Hebrew for the periodical Barkai (Morning star) in 1918 in Odessa.  In Romania he was co-editor of the Zionist weekly in Romanian, Hateḥiya (Revival [its Hebrew title]), and he was a regular contributor to Der id (The Jew) in Czernowitz (1920-1921).  He contributed articles on a variety of issues, among them Jewish humor, to: Hashiloaḥ (The shiloah), in Jerusalem; and Haarets (The land) and Davar (Word) in Tel Aviv; among others.  From 1940 he was an internal contributor to Hatsofe (The spectator), in which he published, among other items, reportage pieces concerned with Jewish life behind the Iron Curtain.  He also wrote under the pen name: Y. L. Yonasn.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the founders and builders of Israel), vol. 1 (Tel Aviv, 1947), pp. 2511-12; E. Davidzon, Seḥok pinu (Laughter from the mouth) (Tel Aviv, 1951), p. 414; A. Fridman, in Lemerḥav (Tel Aviv) (January 3, 1961); G. Svet, in Hadoar (New York) (Tevet 18 [= January 6,] 1961).

Khayim Leyb Fuks