LEYZER (LOUIS) VAYSBER

LEYZER (LOUIS) VAYSBER (b. July 4, 1886)

            He was born in Kalush (Kalish), Galicia.  He studied in religious elementary schools and on his own in a small house of study.  After his father’s death, he also went on to study secular subjects in a private school in Vienna, bookkeeping and stenography.  He served in the Austrian military, and after demobilization he was a teacher of Hebrew, English, and commercial subjects in Kalush, Stryj, Stanislav, and Perhinski (near Kalush).  He was also active in the Hitaḥdut (the “union” of young Zionists) party, Brit Heḥayil (Soldier’s covenant [a Revisionist group of former soldiers]), and a circle of collectors for YIVO.  He wrote articles for Lemberger togblat (Lemberg daily newspaper), in which he also placed the story “A yidisher tsigayner” (A Jewish Gypsy).  Using the pen name “A. Levandor,” he published poetry, couplets, and popular songs—“Der intervyu” (The interview), “Der shiker” (The drunkard), “Fir badkhonim” (Four wedding entertainers), “M’get nit” (Not going), “Lekoved simkhes-toyre” (In honor of Simchat Torah), and “Libes-lid” (Lover’s song), among others—which spread in thousands of copies.  He also published a pamphlet for autodidacts: Di poezye un ir tekhnik (Poetry and its technique) (Sanok, 1935), 24 pp., comprised of two chapters from a longer work—an attempt at a handbook with basic principles of verse and metrics.  He died during WWII.

Leyzer Ran