ELIEZER SHINDLER

ELIEZER SHINDLER ( LEYZER, LAZAR SCHINDLER) (April 28, 1892-September 22, 1957)

            He was a religious poet, born in Titshin (Tyczyn), Galicia.  At age three he started attending religious elementary school, and at nine he studied for a term in the municipal school.  Around 1901 he left with his parents for Munich, studied at an electro-technical institute and took up self-education.  There he founded the first Yiddishist association “Bene Yehuda.”  In WWI he fell into Russian captivity as an Austrian soldier.  He worked for two years in agriculture for the Tatars and went on to live in Saratov, later leaving for the Jewish converts in the Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn (later, Stalingrad; now, Volgograd) region and agitated for the Jewish faith.  In 1919 he returned to Munich.  Dr. Nosn Birnboym (Nathan Birnbaum) had a major influence on him, and Shindler became one of his closest disciples.  He drew close to the Beys-Yankev schools and created a textbook for them.  In 1938 he emigrated to the United States, two years later becoming a farmer near Lakewood, New Jersey, and he died in Lakewood.

            He wrote poetry, stories, legends, and did translations.  He debuted in print with poetry and essays in: Yudish-religyezer arbayter (Jewish religious worker) in Cracow.  He contributed work to: Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal), Kindergortn (Kindergarten), Frishinke blimelekh (Fresh flowers), Dos yudishe togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper), and Ortodoksishe yugend-bleter (Orthodox youth sheets) in Warsaw; Vokhentsaytung (Weekly newspaper) in London; Grininke beymelekh (Little green trees) and Khaver (Friend) in Vilna; Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz pages); Idisher kuryer (Jewish courier) in Chicago; Argentiner beymelekh (Little Argentinian trees) in Buenos Aires; Unzer leben (Our life) in Leipzig; Nyu-yorker vokhnblat (New York weekly newspaper) (1942); and Di feder (The pen) in New York (1943); among others.  His work also appeared in: Shmuel Rozhanski, Yidish in lid, antologye (Yiddish in poetry, anthology) (Buenos Aires, 1967); and Dos kind in yidisher poezye (The child in Yiddish poetry) (Buenos Aires, 1971).

            His own works include: Derner (Thorns), poetry (Berlin: Las, 1912), under the pen name Ben-Gole, in roman lettering; Fun step un yishev, gidikhtn (From the steppe and community, poems [Fyn sstep yn jischew: Gedichte in jiddischer Sprache]) (Leipzig: A. Pries, 1922), 71 pp.; A kval zikh zingt, shirim (A fountain sings, poems) (Antwerp: Sh. Hertsog, 1924), 61 pp.; Shirim un iberzetsungen (Poems and translations) (Berlin: L. Abramson, 1927), 64 pp.; Lider (Poetry) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1929), 61 pp.; Vos felker dertseyln, mayselekh (What people recount, stories) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1936), 47 pp.; D”r nosn birnboym un zayn milkhome far alie (Dr. Nathan Birnbaum and his war on behalf of aliya) (Lodz: Beys-Yankev, 1930), 12 pp.; Fremde mayselekh far yidishe kinder (Foreign stories for Jewish children) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1930), 47 pp.; Di yidishe neshome (The Jewish soul) (Lodz: Beys-Yankev, 1931), 111 pp.; Unzer gezang (Our song) (Lodz: Beys-Yankev, 1931); Vos di velt dertseyln, mayselekh fun umetum (What the world recounts, stories from everywhere) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1936), 47 pp.; Vos in vald iz geshen, mayselekh fun nont un vayt (What happened in the forest, stories from near and far) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1936), 47 pp.; Yidishe legendes (Jewish legends) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1936), 48 pp.; Iber lender un yamen, mayselekh fun gorer velt (Over lands and seas, stories from the whole world) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 47 pp.; In shtile farnakhtn, mayselekh fun mizrekh un mayrev (On quiet evenings, stories from East and West) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 48 pp.; Der mizrekh shmeykhlt, persishe, khinezishe, indishe un andere mayselekh (The East smiles: Persian, Chinese, Indian, and other stories) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 47 pp.; Milgroym, maysehlekh fun farsheydene felḳer (Pomegranate, stories of various peoples) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 47 pp.; Mayselekh fun arbe pines haoylem (Stories from four corners of the world) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 47 pp.; Tsvishn khidekl un ganges, oryentalishe mayselekh (Between the Tigris and the Ganges, Oriental stories) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 47 pp.; Tsvishn tog un nakht, mayselekh fun farsheydene felker un shvotim (Between day and night, stories from various peoples and tribes) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 44 pp.; Af zunike pleyner, mayselekh fun umetum (On sunny plains, stories from everywhere) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1937), 47 pp.; Fun der eybiker shefe, mayselekh fun farshidene felker (From perpetual abundance, stories of various peoples) (Vilna: Grininke beymelekh, 1938), 47 pp.; Yidish un khsidish, lider (Yiddish and Hassidic, poems) (New York: Shulzinger Brider, 1950), 243 pp.  He edited (with Mendl Naygreshl): Kleyne antologye fun der yidisher lirik in galitsye, 1897-1935 (A short anthology of the Yiddish lyric in Galicia, 1897-1935) (Vienna: A. B. Tserata, 1936), 47 pp.  His pen names include: Ben-Gole, Eshel, L. Rednish, and Sadye Abramson.

            “Eliezer Shindler is a pious Jew…,” wrote Arn Leyeles, and “his piety can be dressed up in poetry….  For his mood he has found words that I embrace both as experience and as poetic expression.”

            “The folk poet (one might say: the Yiddish troubadour),” noted Yankev Glatshteyn, “…was deeply religious and his enthusiastic poetry primarily found redress in the devout mouths of the pupils in Aguda schools….  In the American solitude, [he]…often got lost in the folkish tone….  With his death, one more string of the popular Jewish fiddle was ripped out, for although people hardly heard it, it is now gone.”

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Nosn Birnboym, in Der Aufstieg (Berlin) (1930); Arn Leyeles, in Tog (New York) (June 24, 1950); Meyer Shvartsman, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (December 3, 1950); Mendl Naygreshl, in Fun noentn over (New York) 1 (1955), pp. 352-53; Yankev Glatshteyn, Idisher kemfer (New York) (February 14, 1958); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen

MOYSHE SHIMSHELEVITSH

MOYSHE SHIMSHELEVITSH (ca. 1892-winter 1973)

            He was a printer by profession, born in Minsk.  After 1917 he became a cultural leader.  In the 1930s he worked as a bookkeeper for the daily newspaper Oktyabr (October).  He was the author of: Minsker shokhtim-trest, muzikalishe satire in 5 bilder (Minsk ritual slaughterers’ trust, a musical satire in five scenes) (Minsk: Central Council of the Trade Unions of Byelorussia, 1925), 61 pp.; and Nye godyen, komedye in 3 aktn (Unfit, a comedy in three acts) (Minsk, 1925), 62 pp.  He died in Minsk.

Source: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1962), see index.

Khayim Maltinski

YUDE SHIMELEVITSH

YUDE SHIMELEVITSH (1880-January 2, 1919)

            He was born in Dvinsk (Daugavpils), Latvia.  Initially a Bundist, he was later an active Communist with important functions in the Jewish section of the Communist Party.  In Vilna he founded the daily newspaper Der komunist (The Communist) on December 27, 1918.  His undercover names were Yulyus and Reysin.  He was the main hero of M. Danyel’s play Yulyus (Julius) and of his story “Fir teg” (Four days).  He died in Vilna.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4, who states he was born in Riga in 1888; Yankl Gutkovitsh, Af ale teg fun a gants yor, literarish-historisher kalendar (Every day for a full year, literary historical calendar) (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1966), p. 11.

Berl Cohen

MOYSHE SHIMEL (MAURYCY SZYMEL)

MOYSHE SHIMEL (MAURYCY SZYMEL) (1903-1942[1])

            He was a Yiddish and Polish poet, born in Lemberg.  In 1930 he moved to Warsaw.  He was confined in the Lemberg ghetto and possibly thereafter in Warsaw.  For many years he published poetry solely in Polish and was embraced in Polish literature.  In 1931, 1932, and 1935, he published three volume of poems in Polish.  In 1930 he began writing in Yiddish as well and published poetry in Globus (Globe) and other Yiddish periodicals in Poland.  Two of his poems were published in Sovetishe literatur (Soviet literature) (Kiev) 3 (1940).  His work also appeared in Binem Heler, Dos lid iz geblibn, lider fun yidishe dikhter in poyln, umgekumene beys der hitlerisher okupatsye, antologye (The poem remains, poems by Jewish poets in Poland, murdered during the Hitler occupation, anthology) (Warsaw, 1951); Yitskhok Paner and Leyzer Frenkel, Naye yidishe dikhtung (Modern Yiddish poetry) (Iași: Jewish cultural circle in Romania, 1947); Shimshon Meltser, Al naharot, tisha maḥazore shira misifrut yidish (By the rivers, nine cycles of poetry from Yiddish literature) (Jerusalem, 1956); Moshe Basok, Mivḥar shirat yidish (Selection of Yiddish poetry) (Tel Aviv, 1963); and Hubert Witt, Der Fiedler vom Getto: Jiddische Dichtung aus Polen (The fiddler of the ghetto, Yiddish poetry from Poland) (Leipzig, 1966).  His works include: Mir iz umetik (I’m sad) (Warsaw: A. B. Tserata, 1937), 93 pp.; Mir kenen zikh nisht, oder neplen iber london (We’re unacquainted, or fog over London), a comedy (in manuscript).

            “Many of his poems in Yiddish,” wrote Meylekh Ravitsh, “were on motifs of mother.  A mother complex characterized him from childhood, and his return to Yiddish was a return to his mother.”

Sources: Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 1 (Montreal, 1945); Ravitsh, in Keneder odler (Montreal) (April 21, 1967); Shiye Tenenboym, in Idishe zhurnal (Toronto) (June 30, 1957); Yoysef Papyernikov, Heymishe un noente, demonungen (Familiar and close at hand, remembrances) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1958), pp. 260-62; A. Slutski, in Letste nayes (Tel Aviv) (October 3, 1969); Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York); Perlmuter archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen

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[1] This date according to Shimshn Meltser in Al naharot.  Meylekh Ravitsh (Mayn leksikon, vol. 1) writes that Shimel fled to Byelorussia in 1941 and died there somewhere.  In Ber Mark’s Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), p. 205, it is noted that Shimel was in the Lemberg ghetto, but no mention is made of the Warsaw Ghetto.

BENYOMEN SHIMIN

BENYOMEN SHIMIN (1880-summer 1942)

            He was a publisher, born in Shlov (Shklow), Byelorussia.  Until age fourteen, he attended religious elementary school and synagogue study chamber, later moving with his parents to Warsaw.  In 1907 he began his publishing work, initially bringing out political pamphlets. In 1908 he made at effort at a short “Universal Library” (Several volumes appeared in print, works by: Knut Hamsun, Guy de Maupassant, and Gershom Shofman).  The next year (1909), he began to publish “Shimins groyse velt-biblyotek” (Shimin’s great world library), which lasted for three years and constituted a major achievement in Yiddish publishing with sixty-six original and translated volumes, including works by: Z. Y. Anokhi, Yitskhok-Meyer Vaysenberg, Moyshe Stavski, Yoyne Rozenfeld, Yoyel Mastboym, Hillel Tsaytlin, Mortkhe-Zev Fayerberg, Zalmen Shneur, Avrom Reyzen, Yude Shteynberg, Yankev Shteynberg, Shloyme Gorelik, Shmuel Rozenfeld, Heinrich Heine, Max Nordau, Arthur Schnitzler, Leo Tolstoy, Rudyard Kipling, and others.  In 1911 he entered into a partnership with “Tsentral” (Central) Publishers.  In 1917 he founded a major newspaper in Kiev, Der telegraf (The telegraph), edited by Nokhum-Moyshe Sirkin.  In 1919 he returned to Warsaw and published Di yugnt-biblyotek (The young library) and Historishe yugnt-biblyotek (Historical youth library).  He died in the Otwock ghetto.

Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4.

Berl Cohen

SORE SHIMANOVITSH

SORE SHIMANOVITSH (b. March 19, 1910)

            She was rabbi’s wife, born in Dokshits (Dokshytsy), Byelorussia.  Until 1939 she lived in Kharkov, and from 1957 she was in Canada.  She was a leader of yeshivas and charitable organizations in Montreal.  In book form: A gezang fun a idn (A song by a Jew) (Kfar-Hasidim and Tel Aviv, 1973), 110 pp.

Berl Cohen

SHLOYME SHILER

SHLOYME SHILER (1870-October 31, 1925)

            He was born in Mikhalove (Michałowo), near Bialystok, with the original surname Blankshteyn.  He lived in Bialystok, Lemberg, and from 1920 the land of Israel.  He wrote theoretical articles on Zionism and labor Zionism.  He was very active in “Hapoel hatsayir” (The young worker).  He mostly wrote Hebrew and Yiddish articles in: B. Gorin’s Yudishe folks calendar (Jewish people’s calendar) and Folk un land (People and land), among others.  He also brought out a pamphlet: Di gruntprintsipn funem arbets-tsienizm (The basic principle of labor Zionism) (Warsaw-Lemberg: Histadruth, 1925), 23 pp.  He died in Jerusalem.

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); Natan-Mikhal Gelber, Toldot hatenua hatsiyonit begalitsiya (History of the Zionist movement in Galicia) (Jerusalem, 1958), see index; Shmuel Ayzenshadt, Pyonerishe geshtaltn (Pioneer images) (Tel Aviv: Oyfkum, 1970), pp. 293-304.

Berl Cohen

SHIYE SHILONI

SHIYE SHILONI (February 12, 1894[1]-May 26, 1965)

            He was a journalist, translator, and author of stories, born in Druzhkopol’, Volhynia.  His surname was a Hebraized form of Shlayen.  He studied in religious elementary school and in the yeshivas of Kishinev and Slabodka.  In 1920 he moved to Lemberg.  He worked as a Hebrew teacher in the cities of Galicia.  He survived the world war in a Ukrainian village disguised as a priest’s assistant.  Over the years 1945-1949, he was in Lodz and refugee camps in Germany, before moving to Israel.  From 1920 he began writing articles and stories for: Lemberg’s Togblat (Daily newspaper) and Morgn (Morning); Unzer ekspres (Our express) in Warsaw; Dos naye lebn (The new life) in Lodz-Warsaw; Tsienistishe shriftn (Zionist writings) in Munich (1947-1948); and Haynt (Today) and Letste nayes (Latest news) in Israel; among others.  He also published in Polish and Hebrew.  He translated a great deal from Yiddish into Hebrew and from Hebrew into Yiddish, including: Yitskhok Grinboym, Pene hador (Faces of the generation) Jerusalem, 1957-1960), 2 vols., as Fun mayn dor (Of my generation) (Tel Aviv: Makor, 1959), 518 pp.; Anne Frank, Togbukh fun a meydl (Diary of a young girl) (Tel Aviv: Hamenorah, 1958), 322 pp.  He also published a volume about his experiences during the Holocaust: Eyner hot zikh geratevet (One escaped) (Tel Aviv: Makor, 1959), 189 pp., published earlier in Hebrew as Eḥad shenimlat (One who escaped) (Tel Aviv, 1955), 158 pp.  His pen names included: Yehoshua Cohen, Sh. L. Ayin, Y. Sheni, and Antoni Pavlovitsh.  He died in Tel Aviv.

Sources: Getzel Kressel, Leksikon hasifrut haivrit (Handbook of Hebrew literature), vol. 2 (Merḥavya, 1967); Yoysef Gar, in Fun nonentn over (New York) 3 (1957), pp. 173-75.

Ruvn Goldberg

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[1] According to his autobiography; Kressel give his birth year as 1899.

SHAYE SHIKHATOV (SZAJE SZECHATOW)

SHAYE SHIKHATOV (SZAJE SZECHATOW) (b. February 1, 1896)

            He was born in Rovne (Rovno), Volhynia.  He attended religious elementary school until age eight and later graduated from a Russian middle school.  From 1917 he was active in the Bund.  He survived the war years in Uzbekistan.  He returned to Poland in 1945; in 1948 he moved to Sweden, in 1951 to Montreal, and in 1957 he settled in Los Angeles.  He began writing frequently from 1948 in: Unzer tsayt (Our time), Tsukunft (Future), Veker (Alarm), and Folk un velt (People and world)—in New York; Foroys (Arise) in Mexico City; Lebns-fragn (Life issues) in Tel Aviv; Unzer gedank (Our idea) in Buenos Aires; Unzer shtime (Our voice) in Paris; and Tsayt-fragn (Issues of the day) in Montevideo.  In book form: Yorn fun kamf un gerangl (Years of fighting and struggling) (Tel Aviv: Lior, 1973), 706 pp.

Berl Cohen

ZOZA SHAYKOVSKI (ZOSA SZAJKOWSKI)

ZOZA SHAYKOVSKI (ZOSA SZAJKOWSKI) (January 10, 1910-September 26, 1978)

            The adopted name of Shayke Fridman (Frydman), he was historian and researcher, born in Zaromb (Zaręby Kościelne), Lomzhe district, Poland.  He attended religious elementary school and a Polish Jewish public school.  In May 1927 he emigrated to Paris and became active in the Communist movement, which he abandoned in 1938.  He served in the French army during WWII.  In 1941 he came to the United States and was drafted into the American army.  From 1945 he was connected to YIVO as a scholarly contributor.  He was a member of the American Academy for Jewish Research.  He began writing in the Parisian Communist press under the pen names of Shakovski, Sh. Feld, and Tshaptshinski, but he later turned completely to historical research in Jewish history (especially in France), emigration, the Yiddish press, and other fields.  He wrote a series of lengthy historical essays: “Yidn in der nokhnapoleonisher restavratsye in frankraykh” (Jewish in the post-Napoleonic restoration), in Yidn in frankraykh, shtudyes un materyaln (Jews in France, studies and materials), ed. A. Tsherikover, vol. 1 (New York: YIVO, 1942); “Di revolutsye fun 1848 un di ineveynikste kamfn in frantseyzishn yidntum” (The Revolution of 1848 and the internal struggles among French Jewry), in Yidn in frankraykh; “150 yor yidishe prese in frankraykh” (150 years of the Yiddish press in France), in Yidn in frankraykh; “Yidn in der parizer komune fun 1871” (Jews in the Paris Commune of 1871), in Yidn in frankraykh, vol. 2 (New York: YIVO, 1942); “Dos yidishe gezelshaftlekhe lebn in pariz tsum yor 1939” (Jewish community life in Paris in 1939), in Yidn in frankraykh, vol. 2.  In Yivo-bleter (Pages from YIVO), he placed a variety of studies and reviews, such as: “Di umlegale yidishe prese in belgye beys der okupatsye” (The illegal Yiddish press in Belgium during the occupation); “Di yidishe prese in belgye” (The Yiddish press in Belgium); “Di yidishe prese in frankraykh, 1940-1946” (The Yiddish press in France, 1940-1946); “A bukh vegn teater in karpentras” (A book about theater in Carpentras); “Materyaln vegn der yidisher emigratsye keyn amerike in 1881-1882” (Materials on Jewish emigration to America in 1881-1882).

            In book form: Etyudn tsu der geshikhte fun yidishn ayngevandertn yishev in frankraykh (Studies in the history of the immigrant Jewish community in France), vol. 1 (Paris, 1936), 190 pp.; Di profesyonele bavegung tsvishn di yidishe arbeter in frankraykh biz 1914 (The trade union movement among Jewish workers in France until 1914) (Paris, 1937), 261 pp.; Antisemitizm in der frantseyzisher arbeter-bavegung, fun der furyerizm bizn sof drayfus afere, 1845-1906 (Anti-Semitism in the French labor movement from Fourierism until the end of the Dreyfus case, 1845-1906) (New York, 1948), 156 pp.; Dos loshn fun di yidn in di arbe kehiles fun komte venesen (The language of the Jews in the four communities of Comtat Venaissin) (New York, 1948), 78 pp.; Di onheybn fun der yidisher kolonizatsye in argentine (The beginnings of Jewish colonization in Argentina) (Buenos Aires, 1957), 54 pp.  Shaykovski also published long works in the English-language Jewish history journal and brought out many books in English, such as: Franco-Judaica, an Analytical Bibliography of Books, Pamphlets, Decrees, Briefs and Other Printed Documents Pertaining to the Jews in France, 1500-1788 (New York: American Academy for Jewish Research, 1962), 160 pp.; Analytical Franco-Jewish Gazetteer, 1939-1945, with an Introduction to some Problems in Writing the History of the Jews in France during World War II (New York, 1966), 349 pp.; Jews and the French Revolutions of 1789, 1830 and 1848 (New York, 1970), 1161 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Yivo-biblyografye (YIVO bibliography), part 2, 1942-1950 (New York, 1950), see index; B. Vaynraykh (Weinreich), in Historia Judaica (New York) (April 1960); Elye (Elias) Shulman, in Tsukunft (New York) (November 1966); Yoysef Gar, Biblyografye fun artiklen vegn khurbn un gvure in yidisher peryodike (Bibliography of articles on the catastrophe and heroism in Yiddish periodicals), vol. 2 (New York: Yad Vashem and YIVO, 1969), see index.

Elye (Elias) Shulman

YANKEV SHEYFER (JACOB SCHAEFER)

YANKEV SHEYFER (JACOB SCHAEFER) (October 13, 1888-December 1, 1936)

            He was a composer, born (original family name: Soyfer) in Kremenits, Volhynia.  He sang with various cantors.  In 1910 he arrived in the United States and studied at the Chicago Musical College.  He lived in Chicago for several years and longer still in New York.  He worked as a singing teacher in Jewish schools and directed choruses primarily for leftist Jewish circles.  He composed music to the poetry of a series of Yiddish poets: Dovid Edelshtat, Avrom Reyzen, Sh. An-ski, Morris Rozenfeld, Arn Liessin, Perets Hirshbeyn, Yoyel Slonim, Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, Yehoash, Y. L. Perets (“Tsvey brider” [Two brothers]), and Beynush Shteyman, among others.  He also wrote about music in: Frayhayt (Freedom), Hamer (Hammer), and the anthology Gezang un kamf (Song and struggle) (New York, 1926-1928).  In book form: Mit gezang tsum kamf, lider far gezang un pyane (With song to the struggle, songs for singing and piano) (New York: International Labor Order, 1932), 16 pp. and 74 pp.; Ikh her a kol, 22 geklibene lider fun yankev shefer (I hear a voice, twenty-two selected songs by Yankev Sheyfer) (New York: Jewish Music Alliance, 1952), 163 pp.  In 1962 there was published a remembrance volume: Jacob Schaefer, a Tribute to His Memory (New York: Jewish Music Alliance), 190 pp.  He died in New York.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Zalmen Zilbertsvayg, Leksikon fun yidishn teater (Handbook of the Yiddish theater), vol. 6 (Mexico City, 1969); Yisroel-Ber Beylin, Yankev shefer, zayn leybn un shafn (Jacob Schaefer, his life and work) (New York: Jewish Musical Labor Alliance, 1937).

Berl Cohen

SHLOYME SHEYNKER

SHLOYME SHEYNKER (1903-1954)

            He was a poet, born in the Jewish colony of Yefingar (now, Plyushchivka), Ukraine, into a family of an agricultural laborer. In 1917 he began to work as a shepherd among the local peasants. Over the years 1918-1928, he was a cobbler in the colony and in Nikolaev. He studied (1929-1931) in a school for administrative and Party workers in Odessa, and upon graduation he became a manager of a Party school in Nikolaev. He worked on the editorial board (1933-1934) of the newspaper Odeser arbeter (Odessa worker), and when the paper was discontinued, he moved to Kalinindorf (center of the first Jewish ethnic region), where he worked in the political section of the machine-tractor station. From 1935 until 1941, he was editor of the Kalinindorf regional newspaper, Kolvirt emes (Collective farm truth). At the beginning of the war, he left for the front, was demobilized in 1945 as an invalid, and worked for a certain time as an instructor for the Kalinindorf district Party committee. He debuted in print in the late 1920s, publishing poems in the journals Prolit (Proletarian literature) and Di royte velt (The red world) in Kharkov, and the newspapers Odeser arbeter, Der shtern (The star), and Der emes (The truth). Several of them were included in the collective volumes: Deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Declaimer of Soviet Yiddish literature) (Moscow: Emes, 1934); and Shlakhtn (Battles) (Kharkov-Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1932) which was dedicated to the fifteenth anniversary of the October Revolution.

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), pp. 386-87.

SH. SHEYNKINDER

SH. SHEYNKINDER (d. January 1943)

            He was a journalist.  In 1939 he returned from a German prison of war camp for Polish soldiers.  He worked in the Warsaw Ghetto archive.  He placed work in: Moment (Moment), Varshever radyo (Warsaw radio), and other serials.  His poetry appeared in: Shmerke Katsherginski, Lider fun getos and lagern (Songs of the ghettos and camps) (New York, 1948).  He died in the Warsaw Ghetto (according to Shmerke Katsherginski, it was in Treblinka in the summer of 1942).

Sources: Arn Ayzenbakh, Visnshaftlekhe forshungen in varshever geto (Scholarly research work in the Warsaw Ghetto) (New York: YIVO, 1948); Ber Mark, Umgekumene shrayber fun di getos un lagern (Murdered writers from the ghettos and camps) (Warsaw, 1954), pp. 51, 60, 61.

Berl Cohen

MENAKHEM-MENDL SHEYNKIN (SHEINKIN)

MENAKHEM-MENDL SHEYNKIN (SHEINKIN) (1871-December 10, 1924)

            He was born in Ula, Vitebsk Province, Belarus.  He attended religious elementary school and yeshiva.  In 1892 he moved to Odessa where he was an external student and studied at the local university.  For a short time served as rabbi in Balte (Blata), Podolia.  He was active in the “Ḥibat Tsiyon” (Love of Zion) movement and later the Zionist movement.  While a Zionist emissary in the United States, he was killed in an automobile accident in Chicago and was buried in Tel Aviv.  He wrote mainly about the land of Israel and Zionist matters in Yiddish and Hebrew publications, such as: Yidishes tageblat (Jewish daily newspaper), Di varhayt (The truth), Tog (Day), Hatoran (The duty officer), and Haivri (The Jew).  His pamphlets include: Informatsyons byuro yafo (Information Bureau, Yafo) (Vilna, 1908); Di bale-melokhe un di arbeter in der alie fun erets-yisroel (The tradesmen and the laborers in aliya to Israel) (Berlin, n.d.), 15 pp.; Kolonizatsyons-meglikhkeyten in erets-yisroel, a kurtser iberblik (Colonization possibilities in the land of Israel, a brief overview) (New York: Palestine Bureau, American Zionist Organization, 1917), 31 pp.; Erets yisroel in milkhome-tsayt, fakten fun dem dortigen leben (The land of Israel in wartime, facts from local life) (New York: Zionist Federation in America, 1916/1917), 64 pp.; Di tsien komonṿelth (aḥuzat tsiyon) in der tsienistisher program (The Zion Commonwealth [Aḥuzat Tsiyon] in the Zionist program) (Chicago, 1917), 12 pp., new printing (New York, 1918), 24 pp.; Der idisher legyon, zayn fargangenheyt, gegenvart un tsuḳunft (The Jewish Legion, its past, present, and future) (New York: Alpha Press, 1918), 24 pp.  In 1935 there was published: Kitve menaḥem sheinkin (The writings of Menaḥem Sheinkin) (Jerusalem: Reuben Mass), 350 pp.

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).

Ruvn Goldberg

SHMUEL-PINKHES SHEYNFELD

SHMUEL-PINKHES SHEYNFELD (b. January 13, 1875)

            He studied in religious elementary school.  In 1891 he emigrated to the United States.  He was active in the Jewish typesetters’ union in New York.  He authored: Zikhroynes fun a shriftzetser (Memoirs of a typesetter) (New York: YIVO, 1940), 120 pp.

Berl Cohen

AVROM SHEYNFELD

AVROM SHEYNFELD (February 11, 1904-August 1972)

            He was born in Bucharest.  His father was a community rabbi in Romania.  In 1948 he departed for Paris and in 1951 for New York.  He wrote a great deal for Romanian newspapers.  In 1922 he began translating revue plays for the Yiddish theater in Bucharest; he wrote for the Romanian Jewish humorist Ion Fribeagn (Itsik Lazarovitsh).  Such plays include: Bay undz in bukaresht (With us in Bucharest), Men lebt un men lakht (People live and laugh), Okum fakus (?), and others.  He also published articles in: the daily newspaper Unzer vort (Our word) in Paris; and Tog (Day) and Amerikaner (American) in New York, on Hassidic life in Romania in the past.  He died in New York.

Y. Kara

YITSKHOK SHEYNER

YITSKHOK SHEYNER (August 8, 1904-February 20, 1976)

            He was a journalist, born in Vilna.  In 1924 he moved to Montevideo.  He worked in various trades.  He edited Unzer lebn (Our life) in 1926, and he contributed work to the dailies: Der tog (The day), Morgntsaytung (Monring newspaper), and from 1935 Unzer fraynt (Our friend).  His pen names included: Itshele, Ayzkrem, and Bezha.  He died in Montevideo.

Sh. Starozhevski

LAZĂR ȘĂINEANU

LAZĂR ȘĂINEANU (April 23, 1859-May 11, 1934)

            He was a Romanian philologist, born in Ploiești, Romania.  To received citizen’s rights and be able better to do scholarly work, he converted to Christianity and Romanianized his name from Eliezer Schein.  Thanks to his first-rate studies of Yiddish, he became one of the foundational figures in Yiddish philology.  His main work concerning Yiddish, Studiu dialectologic asupra graiului evreo-german (A dialectological study of Judeo-German speech), was published in 1889 (Bucharest), and it was subsequently expanded and translated from Romanian into French (Paris, 1902).  Pieces of this work were published in Chaim Zhitlovsky’s Dos naye leben (The new life) 7-9 (1911).  “This work,” wrote Zalmen Reyzen, “is the first effort at a scholarly Yiddish grammar and one of the best and most basic of works in the field of Yiddish linguistics….  Aside from a treatment of Yiddish phonetics, word formation, and the various elements of a Yiddish dictionary, Șăineanu dealt with the history of the Yiddish language, its dialects, [and] the history and bibliography of Yiddish philology.”  “He was the first to introduce into Yiddish language research,” noted Khayim Gininger, “important European methods and scope, and thus the first to uncover the fundamental fact that the sources of Yiddish were to be sought in Middle High German, which found organic continuation in a full array of contemporary German dialects.  Yiddish linguistic research preserves this very approach in every direction till the present day….  [He can] be called the father of Yiddish linguistics.”  He died in Paris.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 3 (under “Senean”); Khayim Gininger, in Tshernovitser bleter (Czernowitz) 182 (1934); Moyshe Laks, in Naye prese (Paris) (February 26, 1971).

Berl Cohen

YEKHIEL SHEYNTUKH

YEKHIEL SHEYNTUKH (b. March 28, 1941)

            He was born in Buenos Aires.  He attended religious elementary school and graduated from high school and a teachers’ seminary.  In 1960 he moved to Israel.  His doctoral dissertation (1978) at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem concerned Yiddish and Hebrew literature under Nazi rule in Eastern Europe.  He debuted in print in 1960 in Yunger dor (Young generation) VIII (in Buenos Aires).  He contributed work on Yiddish literary and cultural history to: Di goldene keyt (The golden chain), Bay zikh (On one’s own), Folk un tsien (People and Zion), Folk, velt un medine (People, world, and state), Almanakh fun yidishe shrayber in yerusholaim (Almanac of Yiddish writers in Jerusalem), and Yugntruf (Call to youth) (New York).  He also writes in Hebrew—for Hasifrut (Literature), Mibifnim (From within), and elsewhere.  A book of his in Hebrew: Yitsḥak katsenelson, ketavim shenitslu migeto varsha umimaḥane viṭel (Yitskhok Katsenelson, writings that survived the Warsaw Ghetto and the Vittel Concentration Camp) (Jerusalem, 1990), 394 pp.

Berl Cohen

YOYSEF-DOVID SHEYNZON

YOYSEF-DOVID SHEYNZON (b. April 15, 1904)

            He was born in Aniksht (Anyksciai), Lithuania.  He received both a Jewish and a general education.  He graduated from a Hebrew teachers’ seminary in Kovno and went on to study medicine in at Kovno University.  Until 1940 he lived in Kovno, and from there he was deported by the Soviets to Siberia.  From 1945 he was in refugee camps in Germany, and in 1948 arrived in Montreal where he took up Jewish education.  He began writing for Idishe shtime (Jewish voice) in Kovno, and later wrote for Dos vort (The word) in Munich, later still for Keneder odler (Canadian eagle) in Montreal.  In book form: Yisroel in oyfboy (Israel under construction) (Munich,1948), 430 pp.  He also published several Hebrew textbooks.

Source: Khayim Leyb Fuks, Hundert yor yidishe un hebreishe literatur in kanade (A century of Yiddish and Hebrew literature in Canada) (Montreal, 1980).

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 528.

YOYSEF SHEYNHEYT

YOYSEF SHEYNHEYT (April 15, 1899)

            The author of novels, he was born in the village of Pobine (Pobina), Kiev district.  He studied in the village until age thirteen with private tutors brought in from afar and later in a commercial school in Uman.  Over the years 1919-1923, he lived in the land of Israel, later in the United States, and from 1967 in Tucson, Arizona.  He wrote novels and stories, mostly for: Der amerikaner (The American), Tog (Day), and Tog-morgn-zhurnal (Day-morning journal).  These novels bore such titles as: Ger fun ungarn (The convert from Hungary), In di teg fun shoftim (In the days of Judges), Feter khayim (Uncle Khayim), and Dovid hameylekh (King David).  Of his novel, Di mishpokhe markman, oder di farshnitene doyres (The family Markman or the generations wiped out), only a prospectus appeared (Tel Aviv, 1971), 16 pp.

Source: Autobiography.

Berl Cohen

M. SHEYNGOLD

M. SHEYNGOLD

            He wrote about literary matters, but mostly anti-religious essays.  He contributed work to: Ratnbildung (Soviet education), Hamer (Hammer), and other serials.  In book form: Revolyutsye un religye (Revolution and religion) (1928); Keyne avles tut er nit, got (He’s done nothing wrong, God) (1928); Mit vos iz shedlekh di religye (How religion is harmful) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1930), 48 pp.; Di valn in di ratn un di arbeter-farzorgung (The elections and councils in the workers’ boarding homes) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1930), 45 pp.; Peysekh (Passover) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1930), 48 pp.; Higyenishe mitsves kosher un treyf, mile (Hygienic deeds, kosher and treyf, circumcision) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1931), 55 pp.; Yomnoyrim (Days of awe [= High Holidays]) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1931), 47 pp.; Der yunger apikoyres, antireligyener leyen-bukh (The young heretic, anti-religious reader) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1931), 191 pp.; Antireligyezer deklamater (Anti-religious declaimer), with Khatskl Nadel (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1932), 70 pp.; Der yidisher arbeter als teyl funem gantsn arbeter-klas (The Jewish worker as a part of the entire working class) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1932), 57 pp.

Source: Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1962), see index.

Berl Cohen

BOREKH SHEYNGAUTER

BOREKH SHEYNGAUTER (b. 1912)

            He was a prose author, born in Kam"yanets'-Podil's'kyy. He completed a seven-level Jewish school, later pursuing his studies at the Yiddish state theater in Moscow, but he did not graduate. At the start of WWII, he left with the army and took part in the fighting. After being demobilized, he returned to Moscow and worked in a series of factories as a laborer and office employee. His first story, “Di gerekhte shtrof” (The right punishment), was published in Sovetish heymland (Soviet homeland) in 1972. Other works include: Di prayz fun broyt (The price of bread), documentary stories and jottings (Moscow: Sovetski pisatel, 1986), 60 pp., a supplement to Sovetish heymland 4 (1986).

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. 386.

YOYSEF SHEYNBERGER

YOYSEF SHEYNBERGER

            He was a Satmer Hassid.  He lived in New York.  He was the author of Der fayerdiger zayl, dos lebn un shafn fun … moyshe shiye yude leyb diskin (Soul on fire, the life and work of…Moyshe Joshua Yude-Leyb Diskin) (Brooklyn, 1977), 304 pp.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 527-28.

SHLOYME SHEYNBERG

SHLOYME SHEYNBERG (December 15, 1891-September 26, 1942)

            A translator, poet, and author of stories, he was born in Pilev (Puławy), Poland.  He attended religious elementary school until age twelve, spent several years in a small Hassidic synagogue, and then became a typesetter and took up self-education.  He traveled around as a teacher and held a variety of positions.  He lived for many years in Warsaw.  With Mark Rakovski, he was the literary manager and editor of Sh. Yatshkovski’s publishing house (founded in 1924).  In 1928 he established his own press, “Koykhes” (Strengths).  He fled during WWII to Soviet Russia and died there.  He composed poetry, stories, and literary articles, though mostly translations from world literature.  He began his literary activities in 1917 with poems in the weekly newspaper Dos folk (The people)—though already in 1910 he placed several poems in the collection Yugend (Youth) in Warsaw.  He was a regular contributor to Lubliner togblat (Lublin daily newspaper), in which he placed a lengthy cycle of “lyrical songs” and numerous stories (one story entitled “Durkh noyt un layd” [Through need and suffering] carried through an entire month).  He later wrote for Yitskhok-Meyer Vaysenberg’s Yudishe zamelbikher (Yiddish collections) and contributed work to: Lebens-fragen (Life issues), Folkstsaytung (People’s newspaper), Literarishe bleter (Literary leaves), Ilustrirte vokh (Illustrated week), and Argentina’s Far groys un kleyn (From big and small).  He published the journal Velt-literatur (World literature) in Warsaw (2 issues, 1925) and Literarishe yontef bleter (Literary holiday sheets) in Warsaw (Nisan [= March] 1926).  Among his translations: Edmondo De Amicis, Dos harts (The heart [original: Cuore]) (Warsaw: Sh. Yatshkovski, 1923), 6 vols.; Leo Tolstoy, Milkhome un sholem (War and peace [original: Voina i mir]) (Warsaw: Ch. Bzhoza, 1927), 4 vols.; Tolstoy, Anna karenina, roman (Anna Karenina) (Vilna: B. Kletskin, 1929), 2 vols.; Fedor Gladkov, Naye erd (New earth [original: Novaia zemlia]) (Warsaw, 1934-1935), 3 vols., 479 pp.; André Malraux, Der goyrl fun mentsh (Man’s fate [original: La Condition humaine (The human condition)] (Warsaw, 1935), 478 pp.; Charles Dickens, Oliver tvist, dos tragishe leben fun a yosem (Oliver Twist, the tragic life of an orphan) (Warsaw: M. Goldfarb, 1926-1927), 2 vols.; Boris Pilniak, Di volge falt arayn in kaspishn yam (The Volga flows into the Caspian Sea [original: Volga vpadaet v Kaspiiskoe more]) (Warsaw, 1935), 2 vols., 319 pp.  He died in Sengiley, Russia.[1]

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4; Meylekh Ravitsh, Mayn leksikon (My lexicon), vol. 1 (Montreal, 1945); Zusman Segalovitsh, Tlomatske 13, fun farbrentn nekhtn (13 Tłomackie St., of scorched yesterdays) (Buenos Aires, 1946), p. 97; Yoysef Papyernikov, Heymishe un noente, demonungen (Familiar and close at hand, remembrances) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1958), pp. 263-65; Pulaver yizker-bukh (Remembrance volume for Puławy) (New York, 1964), p. 107; Shiye Tenenboym, Geshtaltn baym shrayb-tish, zikhroynes vegn shrayber un moler in nyu-york, 1938-1968 (Figures by the desk, memoirs of writers and painters in New York, 1938-1968) (New York: CYCO, 1969), pp. 385-94; Sh. L. Shnayderman, Ven di vaysl hot geredt yidish (When the Vistula spoke Yiddish) (Tel Aviv: Perets Publ., 1970), pp. 111-12; Yeshurin archive, YIVO (New York).

Berl Cohen

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[1] According to another source, it was Kuibyshev.

MOYSHE SHEYNBERG

MOYSHE SHEYNBERG

            He was the author of a series of plays: Di ashmoyre (The night watch) (Vienna: Yudishe yugend farlag, 1925), 10 pp.; Shoshane (Shoshana), 3 acts (Vienna: Baginen, 1936), 46 pp.; Gaz-keler, tsaytshpil in 3 aktn (Gas cellar, a play in three acts) (Vienna: Baginen, 1936); Mazl-tov, a ingl, komedye in 3 aktn (Congratulations, a boy, a comedy in three acts) (Vienna: Baginen, 1936); Af a griner lonke (On a green meadow), with music by Zigmunt Volfson.

Ezra Lahad

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 527.

DOVID SHEYNBERG

DOVID SHEYNBERG (1913-March 23, 1942)

            He was born in Baranovitsh (Baranovichi), Byelorussia.  He studied in religious elementary schools and yeshivas, and he was a pupil of the Chofets-Hayim.  He was murdered in the Baranovichi ghetto.  He published in Orthodox newspapers: Dos yudishe togblat (The Jewish daily newspaper) in Warsaw, Yudishe arbayter shtime (The voice of Jewish labor) in Lodz, and Dos vort (The word) in Vilna, among others.  He published articles, poems, stories, and sketches.  He also wrote a biography of the Chofets-Hayim (around 1936).  His pen name: Ariel.

Source: Moyshe Prager, Antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (Anthology of religious poems and stories) (New York, 1955), pp. 575-83.

Berl Cohen

DOVID SHEYNBERG

DOVID SHEYNBERG (d. September 1954)

            He was a translator, born in Pilev (Puławy), Poland, the brother of Shloyme Sheyn.  In 1928 he moved to Paris.  He worked as a typesetter for the Russian newspaper Poslednie novosti (Latest news).  During the Nazi occupation of France, he lost his wife and only son and later took his own life from depression.  He translated: Nikolai Gogol’s Rusland (Russia), with Avrom Tsimerman (Warsaw: Sh. Goldfarb, 1925), 235 pp.; and Arthur Schnitzler’s Der letster viln (The last will) (Warsaw: Ch. Bzhoza, 1926), 183 pp.  He died in Paris.

Source: Tog (New York) (January 21, 1956).

Berl Cohen

SHMUEL SHEYN

SHMUEL SHEYN

            He was born in Zbaraz (Zbarazh), Galicia.  He authored Di yerushe, nisht keyn bobe-mayse (The legacy, not an old wives’ tale) (Drohobych: A. H. Zupnik, 1902), 39 pp.  Under “writings by the author” are listed Di tsvey shifbrider (The two step-brothers) and two Hebrew-language volumes.

Berl Cohen

YISROEL SHEYN (IZRAEL SZAJN)

YISROEL SHEYN (IZRAEL SZAJN) (July 7, 1908-July 10, 1964)

            He was a bibliographer, born in Warsaw.  He attended a Polish public school.  He was in Soviet Russia during WWII.  In the 1930s he became involved in Yiddish bibliography in Warsaw, as he was after WWII.  He placed work in: Folks-shtime (Voice of the people) and Bleter far geshikhte (Pages for history)—in Warsaw.  He published: Biblyografye fun oysgabes aroysgegebn durkh di arbeter-parteyen in poyln, 1918-1939 (Bibliography of works published by workers parties in Poland, 1918-1939) (Warsaw: Yidish bukh, 1963), 182 pp.; Bibliografia dzienników żydowskich wydawanych w Polsce w latach 1918-1939 w je̜zyku polskim (Bibliography of Jewish dailies published in Poland in 1918-1939 in Polish) (Warsaw: Institute of Jewish History, 1981).  He wrote a lengthy piece, entitled “Materyaln tsu a biblyografye fun yidisher peryodike in poyln, 1918-1939” (Materials toward a bibliography of Yiddish periodicals in Poland, 1918-1939), in Shtudyes vegn yidn in poyln, 1919-1939 (Studies of Jewish in Poland, 1919-1939), ed. Joshua A. Fishman (New York, 1974).  He died in Warsaw.

Berl Cohen

[Additional information from: Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 527.]