ZALMEN LEVIN

ZALMEN LEVIN (b. ca. 1870)

            Originally from Romania, he was a friend of Avrom Goldfaden, with whom he began to act in Yiddish theater.  In 1890 he moved to Argentina.  In 1899 he was lured by the Yiddish newspaper publisher V. Tsaytlin to edit the weekly newspaper Der poyk (The drum)—published with interruptions from October 31, 1899 to September 16, 1900 (issue no 31)—in which he led a fight against A. Vermont for his wishy-washy attitude toward the issue of Jewish ritual impurities in Argentina.  Levin was also the editor of Di blum (The flower) in Buenos Aires (sixteen issues, 1899) and Folks-blat (People’s newspaper) in Buenos Ares (thirteen issues, 1908).  He authored the pamphlets: Vermont un di tomes (Vermont and ritual impurities) (Buenos Aires, 1901), 12 pp.; Di alte make fun a zidleray fun a verimdiger redaktor fun a folksshmate (The old curse of an invective of a wormy editor of a popular rag), meaning Vermont’s “popular rag” (Buenos Aires, 1901), 10 pp. (lithographed); using the pen name “A yidisher aktyor” (A Yiddish actor), Vermonts mishpet afn oylem haemes (Vermont’s judgment in the real world), a comedy in three acts, which Levin directed and acted in himself in the role of Vermont (Buenos Aires, 1901); the three-act play Vermont af der katre (Vermont on the Katra River); Vermont afn himl (Vermont in heaven), a pamphlet of revue performances that Levin staged with amateurs in Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century.  In 1908 Levin departed for Brazil and became involved in medicine, though he had not graduated from any medical school and had no medical degree.  From that point no further information is available.

Sources: Y. Botoshanski, Argentine (Argentina), a publication of Di prese (Buenos Aires, 1938), p. 68; Botoshanski, Mame yidish (Mother Yiddish) (Buenos Aires, 1949), p. 170; Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort in argentina (The published Yiddish word in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1941), pp. 26, 27, 46, 47, 115, 116, 217; Volf Bresler, Antologye fun der yidisher literatur in argentine (Anthology of Jewish literature in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1944), pp. 931, 934; Mikhl Hakoyen Sinai, Yorbukh tshy”d fun der yidisher kehile (Yearbook 1953/1954 of the Jewish community) (Buenos Aires, 1954), pp. 138-39; Borekh Tshubinski, “Avrom Vermont,” in Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur (Biographical dictionary of modern Jewish literature) (New York, 1960) [see: http://yleksikon.blogspot.ca/2016/06/avrom-vermont.html].

Khayim Leyb Fuks