SHMUEL VAYNTROYB (VAYNTROB)

SHMUEL VAYNTROYB (VAYNTROB) (b. 1859)

            He was born in Mstislav, Byelorussia.  He studied in religious elementary school and synagogue study hall.  He worked for a time as a merchant.  He was living in Grodno, later in Minsk, from whence he moved to Warsaw in 1886.  Unable to find any means of making a living, he became an itinerant school teacher and later a wedding entertainer.  He was able to present himself as a variety of types, particularly as women, whom he portrayed with their gestures and language.  He was the author of books of poetry and humor, among them: Yenteles keyver-oves (Graves of Yentele’s parents), a monologue of a Jewish woman with two poems (Warsaw, 1901), 24 pp., with a preface in which he described his own life; Vayberishe slikhes (Women’s penitential prayers) (Warsaw, 1902), 24 pp.; Parnes hamisgoe, oder der dozer-shpil (The proud parnas, or that very game) (Warsaw, 1888), 32 pp.  Further details about him remain unknown.  It may be that he was the same person as Shmuel Vayntroyb (Anav of Warsaw), author of a letter-writing manual, published in Warsaw in 1889, which was mentioned in Dr. Y. Shatski’s Geshikhte fun yidn in varshe (History of Jews in Warsaw), vol. 3 (New York, 1954), p. 268.

Khayim Leyb Fuks