ARN VOROBEYTSHIK

ARN VOROBEYTSHIK (1895-1941)

            He was a children’s writer, literary researcher, and teacher.  He worked as a teacher of Yiddish literature in Latvia, later moving to the Soviet Union where he taught Yiddish literature initially in Kharkov and later in the Odessa. He was at that time the manager of the Mendele Museum in Odessa. Over the 1920s and 1930s, he published in a variety of serials materials concerning Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Sholem-Aleichem, Yitskhok-Yoyel Linetski, and others. He was one of the editors of the planned publication of Mendele’s collected works with the Moscow publisher “Emes” (Truth). He died during World War II.

His works include: Perl, maysele (Pearl, a story) (Riga: Arbeterheym, 1922), 29 pp.; Kinder-dertseylungen (Children’s stories) (Kharkov: State Publ., 1925), 58 pp.; Farvos un bizvanen, kinder-mayse (Why and how far, a children’s story) (Kharkov: Ukrainian State Publ., 1926), 14 pp.; Shneyelekh-khavertes, kinder mayse (Snowflake girlfriends, children’s story) (Kharkov: State Publ., 1927), 6 pp.  He contributed important materials concerning Mendele and Sholem-Aleichem, which appeared in: Mendele un zayn tsayt (Mendele and his times) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 251 pp., and Sholem-aleykhem, zamlung fun kritishe artiklen un materyaln (Sholem-Aleykhem, anthology of critical articles and materials) (Kiev: Ukrainian State Publishers for National Minorities, 1940), 297 pp.

Sources: Sovetish heymland, Materyaln far a leksikon fun der yidisher sovetisher literatur (Materials for a handbook of Soviet Jewish literature) (September 1975); Chone Shmeruk, comp., Pirsumim yehudiim babrit-hamoatsot, 1917-1961 (Jewish publications in the Soviet Union, 1917-1961) (Jerusalem, 1961), see index.

Berl Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), cols. 232-33; and 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. 131-32.