SHOLEM Y. KUPERSHMID

SHOLEM Y. KUPERSHMID (1881-1968)[1]

            He was a folklorist and literary scholar, born in Belatserkov (Bila Tserkva), Ukraine.  He worked as a teacher in the 1920s in the Jewish schools of his hometown.  He was engaged his entire life in the collection of Jewish folklore, especially folksongs, and he participated in the work of the “ethnography section” of the Institute of Jewish Culture. Together with M. Beregovski, he published Yiddish folksongs, melodies, aphorisms, and witticisms.  He wrote articles for: Tsaytshrift (Periodical) in Minsk, Ratnbildung (Soviet education), Afn shprakhfront (On the language front), Yidishe shprakh (Yiddish language) in Kiev, the anthology Folklor-lider, naye materyaln zamlung (Folkloric poetry, new material collection), vol. 2 (Moscow: Emes, 1936)—forty-six of the folksongs included were ones he transcribed for the “ethnography section” in Belatserkov and other Ukrainian towns—and Sovetish literatur (Soviet literature), among others.  In book form: Folkslider fun der foterlenderisher milkhome (Folksongs from the war of the fatherland) (Moscow: Emes, 1944), 30 pp.  He died in Belatserkov.

Sources: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index; Nokhum Oyslender, in Eynikeyt (Moscow) (January 18, 1945); Sovetish heymland (Moscow) 4 (1966).

Berl Cohen

[Additional information from: Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), p. 332.]

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[1] Translator’s note.  The Leksikon gives a birth year of 1889. (JAF)