GERSHOM SHOFMAN

GERSHOM SHOFMAN (February 28, 1880-June 12, 1972)

            He was a Hebrew writer, born in Orshe (Orshi), Byelorussia.  He attended religious elementary school and yeshivas.  From age sixteen he began acquainting himself with Russian language and literature.  He lived in Warsaw, Lemberg, Vienna, and Wetzeldorf in Graz.  In 1938 he settled in Tel Aviv and later in Haifa.  He was a master of the miniature story in Hebrew and the author of a series of volumes of short stories.  He wrote little in Yiddish.  Many of Shofman’s works were published in: Shimins ilustrirte-literarishes sukes-blat (Shimin’s illustrated literary Succoth newspaper), Khanike-likht (Hanukkah candle) in Warsaw (1911), Dos bukh (The book) in Berlin (Tevet [December] 1911-[January] 1912), Zamlung (Collection), Lebens-funken (Life sparks) in Minsk (1918), Moment (Moment), and Tsukunft (Future)—but the great majority of these pieces were translated from Hebrew by others or by himself.[1]  A small collection, Fun yener zayt (From the far side) (Warsaw: B. Shimin, n.d.), 32 pp., was translated by Ber Karlinski; and longer collections, Liebe un andere novelen (Love and other stories) (Vienna: Max Hikel, 1919), 80 pp., was translated by M. Libshits, while Kleyne dertseylungen (Short stories) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1970), 160 pp., was translated by Yosef Falk  He died Gedera, Israel.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Merḥavya, 1967); D. Tidhar, in Entsiklopedyah leḥalutse hayishuv uvonav (Encyclopedia of the pioneers and builders of the yishuv), vol. 4 (Tel Aviv, 1950); Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 3 (Montreal, 1958); Joseph Klausner, Yotsrim vebonim (Creators and builders), vol. 2 (Tel Aviv: Devir, 1925), pp. 208-21; Heymish (Tel Aviv) (December 1960); Dov Sadan, Avne boḥan (Touchstones) (Tel Aviv, 1951); Sadan, Avne miftan, masot al sofre yidish (Milestones, essays on Yiddish writers) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1961).

Berl Cohen

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[1] According to: Zalmen Reyzen, in Kunst un lebn (Art and life) (1908); A. Beylin, in the anthology, Di idishe folkliteratur (Jewish folk-literature) (1909); Avrom Vevyorke, in Dos bukh (1912); and others.