DOVID MEYEROVITSH

DOVID MEYEROVITSH (b. April 12, 1867)

            He was born in Dinaburg (Dvinsk, Daugavpils), Latvia, into a very poor home.  When he was first in the United States, as a grown young man, in the evenings after work he taught himself to read and write Yiddish and English.  He collected some poems while young, before he had so much as held a book in his hands.  His poem “Vu nemt men amolike yorn” (Where did years past go?) was a big hit with the public, and he began writing songs for the Yiddish theater.  He went on to become an actor, performed in various theaters, and sang his own songs.  Some of them—such as “Got un zayn mishpet iz gerekht” (God and his judgment is correct), “Kum, yisroelike, aheym” (Come home, Yisroelike), “Kol yisroel khaverim” (All Jewish friends), and others—became well known.  His songs were also published in separate editions and were recorded on albums.  He also composed lighter theatrical pieces, and with his wife Tesi performed them in the leading roles.

Sources: Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 2 (New York, 1934); M. Aronson, in Morgn-zhurnal (New York) (May 28, 1950); Sh. Perlmuter, Yidishe dramaturgn un teater-compozitors (Yiddish playwrights and theatrical composers) (New York, 1952).

Yankev Kahan