SHOLEM PROG

SHOLEM PROG

            He was born in of Zakrotshim (Zakroczym), Warsaw district.  He was popular as a fine wedding entertainer, a wit, and an author of pamphlets.  In 1870 he settled in Warsaw.  The greatest portion of his pamphlets are unavailable, but from the two that are available one can see his writerly pathway.  They are: Eyne naye geshikhte fun zakrotshim (A new tale from Zakroczym) (Warsaw, 1879), 28 pp.; and Eyne naye geshikhte fun vinter, der groyser frost (A new tale of winter, the great frost) (Warsaw, 1879), 24 pp. (in his preface, he says a bit about himself).  The latter—forty short chapters in twelve-line verses—relays a dialogue between winter and the river Narew, an allegory of Jewish poverty in Poland and the better Jewish lot on the other side of the Narew, in Russia.  Biographical details remain unknown.

Sources: Dr. Y. Shatski, Geshikhte fun yidn in varshe (History of Jews in Warsaw), vol. 3 (New York: YIVO, 1953), pp. 266-70; M. Viner, in Zamlung (Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts [?]).

Khayim Leyb Fuks