TSVI TSEPLYOVITSH (GRIGORII TSEPLIOVICH)

TSVI TSEPLYOVITSH (GRIGORII TSEPLIOVICH) (b. November 6, 1908)

            He was born in Luga, near St. Petersburg.  In 1919 he moved with his family to Rezhitse (Rēzekne), Latvia.  He graduated from high school and studied philosophy in Riga, where he settled in 1933.  He served in the Red Army during WWII.  He later studied theatrical arts in Moscow.  He took up directorial work in Riga and from 1966 in Israel.  He began literary work in 1926 with a children’s operetta entitled Pinkhes kayen (Pinkhes Kohen), performed in Jewish schools.  His plays, Men tor nit fargesn (One mustn’t forget) and Rozn un derner (Roses and thorns), were performed in Israeli theaters.  He wrote features for: Dos folk (The people), Frimorgn (Morning), and Der veg (The way) in Riga; Letste nayes (latest news), Yidishe tsaytung (Yiddish newspaper), and Nasha strana (Our country) in Tel Aviv.  In book form: Oysgetrakhter emes, dertseylungen (Imaginary truth, stories) (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1974), 107 pp.—it also appeared in the author’s own Russian translation: Vydumannaia pravda, izbrannye rasskazy (Tel Aviv, 1976), 124 pp.

Sources: Letishe entsiklopedye (Latvian encyclopedia) (Riga, 1962); A. Baraban, in Yidishe tsaytung (Tel Aviv) (May 3, 1974); Z. Berebitshes, in Der veg (Mexico City) (July 26, 1974); Avrom Lis, In der mekhitse fun shafer (In the partition of creators) (Tel Aviv, 1978), pp. 241-43.

Ruvn Goldberg

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 466.