M. LEYBOVITSH

M. LEYBOVITSH (b. ca. 1880)

            He hailed from Lithuania.  In 1900 he arrived in South Africa.  He worked as a village peddler, at the same time writing poems and publishing them in the weekly Der idisher advokat (The Jewish advocate), edited by Dovid Goldblat (Cape Town, 1904-1907).  He also contributed to Hakokhav (The star) (1903-1907) and Idishe prese (1904) in Johannesburg.  In 1908 he returned to Russia, and from that point in time there has been no further information about him.  In M. Basin’s anthology, 500 yor yidishe poezye (Anthology, 500 years of Yiddish poetry) (New York, 1917), p. 153, Leybovitsh’s poems, “Der trevler” (The traveler) and “Dos vegl” (The trail), appear in print.

Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 2; L. Feldman, Yidn in yohanesburg (Jews in Johannesburg) (Johannesburg, 1956).

Khayim Leyb Fuks