LEYBL KUPERSHMID

LEYBL KUPERSHMID (b. September 23, 1910)

            He was poet, born in Byale-Ravske (Biała Rawska), Poland.  He studied in a religious elementary school and in the synagogue of the Gerer Hassidim.  From 1923 he spent several years in Lodz and worked there in a bakery.  He then returned to his hometown and studied carpentry.  He spent WWII in the Soviet Union.  He returned to Lodz in 1947, and from 1957 he was living in Israel, where he worked his trade.  He began literary work in the mid-1930s.  After the war he published poems in: Yidishe shriftn (Yiddish writings) in Lodz; Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Lodz-Warsaw; Di goldene keyt (The golden chain), Letste nayes (Latest news), and Bay zikh (On one’s own) in Tel Aviv; and Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris.  His work also appeared in: Almanakh fun di yidishe shrayber in yisroel (Almanac of Yiddish writers in Israel) (Tel Aviv, 1967); and M. Knapheys and Shmuel Rozhanski, Antologye, vidershtand un oyfshtand, lider, proze, drame, muzik tsu 2 lider (Anthology, resistance and insurrection, poems, prose, drama, music to two poems) (Buenos Aires, 1970).  His work includes: Tsiter-fayerlekh (Trembling fires), poetry (Lodz: Grinverml, 1937), 32 pp.; Der shney-mentsh, kinder-shpil in fir akten (The snowman, a children’s play in four acts) (Lodz, 1939), 19 pp.; Flemelekh in der nakht, lider (Flames in the night, poetry) (Lodz: Yidish-bukh, 1949), 47 pp.; Toybn in denkmeler (Doves on monuments), poetry (Warsaw: Yidish-bukh, 1953), 35 pp.; In lebn farlibt (In love with life), poetry (Warsaw: Yidish-bukh, 1955), 58 pp.; Eli, eli, drame in zibn bilder fun lebn in geto under der natsi-hershaft (My God, my God, a drama in seven scenes of life in the ghetto under Nazi domination) (Tel Aviv, 1960), 54 pp.; Farrundikte legende, dramatishe poeme (Fine legend, a dramatic poem) (Tel Aviv, 1966), 219 pp.; Mit opgebrite finger (With a scalded finder), poetry (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1975), 155 pp.; Kuntres byale-poshet (byale-ravske) (Commentary on Biała Rawska), memoirs (Tel Aviv, 1976), 190 pp.; Peysekhdike koyselekh, lider un poemes (Passover drinks, poetry) (Tel Aviv, 1978), 141 pp.; Gaz un vayroykh, shaylok un dzhesike, dramatishe poeme (Gas and incense, Shylock and Jessica, a dramatic poem) (Tel Aviv, 1979), 134 pp.  “The facts that have inspired the poet,” noted Y. Yanasovitsh, “are actually well known, but the images through which he expresses his pain breathe with horror as if for the first time.”  He was last living in Ḥolon, Israel.  It was there that he co-edited the literary journal Funken (Sparks) in 1967.

Sources: Foroys (Warsaw) 4 (1938); B. Mark, in Yidishe shriftn (Lodz-Warsaw) (June 1949); Daniel Leybl, in Nayvelt (Tel Aviv) (December 2, 1949); Ḥol veruaḥ (Sand and wind) (Holon, 1964), pp. 187-89; V. Yasni, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (July 22, 1966); D. Sfard, in Di goldene keyt (Tel Aviv) 75 (1975); A. Karpinovitsh, in Letste nayes (June 30, 1975); Y. Yanasovitsh, in Yisroel shtime (Tel Aviv) (June 23, 1976); Khayim Leyb Fuks, Lodzh shel mayle, dos yidishe gaystiḳe un derhoybene lodzh, 100 yor yidishe un oykh hebreishe literatur un kultur in lodzh un in di arumiḳe shtet un shtetlekh (Lodz on high, the Jewish spiritual and elevated Lodz, 100 years of Yiddish and also Hebrew literature and culture in Lodz and in the surrounding cities and towns) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1972), see index.

Ruvn Goldberg