ARN VAYTSMAN

ARN VAYTSMAN (b. April 2, 1884)

            He was born in Belz (Bełz), Bessarabia.  He was an external student in Zhitomir and Odessa, and in 1920 he attended the Tarbut course of study in Kishinev, later opening a school in Belz.  In 1930 he moved to Argentina.  He was a teacher and school director initially in an YIKO (Jewish Cultural Organization) colony of Baron Hirsch, later in Buenos Aires.  He debuted in print with a one-act place entitled Dankbare oremelayt (The thankful poor), which appeared in Penemer un penemlekh (Appearances, big and small) in Buenos Aires in 1933.  From that point forward, he published stories, monologues, and one-act plays in: Idishe tsaytung (Jewish newspaper), Argentiner magazin (Argentinian magazine), Idishe velt (Jewish world), Mizrakhi-shtime (Voice of Mizrachi), and Far shul un heym (For school and home), among others, in Buenos Aires.  Among his books: Di akht likhtlekh, khanike poeme far shul kinder (The eight little candles, a Hanukkah poem for school children) (Buenos Aires, 1944), 30 pp., a second edition appeared in 1945; Shloyme hameylekh un zayn lere, dos lebn un shafn in ṭifn altertum fun klugstn fun ale mentshn (King Solomon and his teachings, the life and work from high antiquity of the wisest of all men) (Buenos Aires, 1946), 56 pp.  In 1949 he made aliya to Israel.  He worked as a state official in the “Training Branch” of the office of the prime minister.  He published his writings in Letste nayes (Latest news) in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Sh. Rozhanski, Dos yidishe gedrukte vort un teater in argentine (The published Yiddish word and theater in Argentina), vol. 1 (Buenos Aires, 1941), p. 174; Idishe tsaytung (Buenos Aires) (September 28, 1944); Idishe velt (Buenos Aires) (November 30, 1944; September 3, 1946); Unzer tsayt (Buenos Aires) (July 6, 1945); Der moment (Montevideo) (July 6, 1945; November 8, 1946).

Zaynvl Diamant