YITSKHOK ALTSHULER (b. October 5, 1888)
Born in Malatitshi, Byelorussia. His father was a rabbi. He studied in yeshivas and worked as a ritual slaughterer in
Ostrogozhsk (Voronezh region). In
1912 he made his way to Argentina where he became a Yiddish and Hebrew teacher
in the YIKO (Jewish Cultural Organization) schools, later
becoming director of the Jewish elementary school. He completed the musical conservatory there and
served for over twenty years as a cantor.
He was one of the founders of Vaad Hachinuch ([Orthodox] board of
education) for the Jewish community of Buenos Aires. In 1914 he published the first story in Di
yidishe tsaytung (The Jewish newspaper) in Buenos Aires. He also published treatises on pedagogical
topics. He translated A. I. Kuprin’s Shulamis
(Shulamit); Kh. N. Bialik’s Der kurtser fraytog (The short Friday, Yom
shishi hakatsar); Jaroslav Hašek,
Der braver soldat shvayk (The good solder Schweik, Osudy dobrého vojáka
Švejka);
and various works by the Hebrew writers: Asher Barash, Yaakov Cohen, and Sh. Y.
Agnon. He also published in the journal Penemer
un penemlekh (Faces), Di yidishe velt (The Jewish world), Rozaryer
vokhnblat (Rosario’s weekly), and in pedagogical journals, such as Di
tribune (The tribune). Among his
books: Dertseylungen fun yidishn lebn in argentine (Stories of Jewish
life in Argentina) (Buenos Aires: Bikher fun yedn, 1919). He was on the editorial board of the Hebrew
monthly Habima haivrit (The Jewish platform) and contributed to the
monthly Atidenu (Our future). He
used the pseudonym: Avrom (Avraham) Sinitskin.
Source:
Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 1.
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