SHMUEL RUBINSHTEYN (SZ. RUBINSZTEJN) (b. February 1885)
He was a
folklorist and humorist, born in Drimer (?), Kiev district, the descendant of a
Hassidic family. From 1903 he was a
member of the Bund and was exiled to Siberia.
He lived in Kiev, later in Otwock.
He was a collector of Jewish folklore, primarily sayings, erotic and
rustic, jokes, folktales, and the like.
He wrote for the Bundist Folks-tsaytung
(People’s newspaper) in Kiev and edited its humor supplement Der tsingl (The trigger) using the pen
name Sh. R-n. He published the humor newspapers:
Der fledervish (The feather duster)
in Kiev, for humor and satire (1918); and A
kush in dr’erd arayn (To hell with a kiss) in Kiev (1921). He also contributed to Yoysef Tunkl’s magazines
of humor: Akdomes (Hymn recited by
Ashenazim on the first day of Shavuot) and Ashmeday
(Asmodeus, king of the demons), using such pen names as Royte Yakne’z,
Shmuelik, and A Vunderkind. From time to
time, he wrote literary articles in: Komfon
(Communist banner), Royte shtern (Red
star), Veker (Alarm), Horepashnik (Toiler), Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), Milgroym (Pomegranate) in Berlin, and Tsukunft (Future) in New York, among
others. A fragment of his folkloric work
appeared in: Berdichev’s Folksshtime
(Voice of the people); his collection Royter
gelekhter (Red laughter)—“Editor: None of your business” (Warsaw, 1925), 74
pp.; and Landoy-bukh (Landau book)
(YIVO, 1926), a longer treatment of Yiddish sayings. In book form: Tsvishn fayer un shverd, bletlakh zikhroynes vegn birger-krig in uḳraine,
1918-1925 (Between fire and sword, pages of memoirs of the civil war in
Ukraine, 1918-1925) (Warsaw: Emes, 1923), 66 pp.; Shriftn fun a yidishn folklorist (Writings of a Jewish folklorist)
(Vilna: Yoyvl-komitet, 1937), 120 pp., later edition (1938).
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).
Berl Cohen
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