Today in Yiddishkayt
What happened in Yiddishkayt on this day in history? Who was born today? Whose yortsayt is observed? Learn about major figures in European Jewish culture.
Read More2/17 | Birthday of Ossip Dymov
Today in Yiddishkayt… February 17 Birthday of Ossip Dymov (Yosef Perelman), Yiddish Writer Yosef Perelman was born on February 17, 1878 in Białystok. In 1902, Perelman graduated from the Forestry Institute in Saint Petersburg where he earned a degree in land surveying. He took an interest in literature and began writing under the pseudonym Ossip Dymov, named after a character in Anton Chekhov’s classic short story “Grasshopper.” His literary career began as a columnist for a Saint Petersburg weekly called Театр и искусство (Theater and...
Read More1/7 Birthday of Aron Kushnirov
Today in Yiddishkayt… January 7 Birthday of Aron Kushnirov, Yiddish Poet The Yiddish poet Aron Kushnirov was born Aron Kushnirovitsh just south of Kiev in Boyarka, Ukraine (Боярка, made famous by Sholem Aleichem as Boyberik) on January 7, 1890. He received a traditional Jewish education in kheyder, but after his father’s death when Kushnirov was 13, he went off to Kiev to become work as an assistant in a grocery and continued his education on his own. He was conscripted into the Tsarist army in the First World War and continued fighting in the Red Army after 1920. His first...
Read More12/31 | Yortsayt of Shloyme Ettinger
Today in Yiddishkayt… December 31 Yortsayt of Salomon Ettinger [Shloyme Etinger], Playwright & Poet Shlyome Ettinger died 155 years ago today in his rural cottage in Żdanów, outside of Zamość, the city he called home for most of his life. Born at the dawn of the 19th century, Ettinger was part of the first generation of Jewish Enlightenment figures (maskilim) who turned to Yiddish. Ettinger is often credited with the writing of first Western European-style play in Yiddish. His Tartuffe-inspired play Serkele which was written initially as a closet drama (often read solely by...
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