SHLOYME YANOVSKI

SHLOYME YANOVSKI (1853-1924)

            He was born in Zelev (Zelów), Lodz district, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school and synagogue study hall.  After marrying he was a businessman in Lodz, Pyotrków, and Warsaw.  After losing his possessions in 1892, he became a preacher in Pyotrków, later in Warsaw, from whence in 1911 he moved to the United States.  For a time he worked as an elementary school teacher in New York, later becoming a personal servant to a rebbe in Chelsea, near Boston.  He wrote the following religious works: Zot neḥemati (This is my consolation), translations and commentaries on the scroll of Esther, Akdemut, and various liturgical hymns in Yiddish (Pyotrków, 1892), 116 pp.; Gan besamim (Garden of fragrances), a Yiddish commentary on several chapters of Psalms (Pyotrków, 1901), 256 pp.; Kabalat shabat (Friday evening service welcoming in the Sabbath), translated from prayers and hymns, with examples and stories (Pyotrków, 1909); Minha leyaakov (Offering to Jacob), translations from prayers and songs for the High Holidays (Pyotrków, 1910), 72 pp.; Akedat yitsḥak (The binding of Isaac), “wonderful explanation of the Torah portion about the binding [of Isaac] which we mentioned every day in our prayers” (Chelsea, 1912), 40 pp.  He was also the compiler of the prayer book Tefilat yisrael mikol hashana (Prayers of Israel for the entire year), with his stylized Yiddish explanation, examples, and tales) (Pyotrków, 1921).  He died in Chelsea, Massachusetts.

Sources: Sh. Viner, Kehilat moshe (Community of Moses) (St. Petersburg, 1893); Set eked sefarim; preface to Yanovski’s work, Kabalat shabat (Friday evening service welcoming in the Sabbath).

Khayim Leyb Fuks