SHRAYBMAN, YEKHIEL (1913– ), Yiddish writer. Born in Vadrashkov (Bessarabia) in the Russian Pale of Settlement, he recreated his birthplace as Rashkov, a symbolic landscape where he set most of his (semi-)autobiographical short novels, novellas, and poetic miniatures. His study at the Czernowitz pedagogical seminary (1930–32) ended with his dismissal for anti-Romanian political activity. He struggled for survival during the next seven years of hiding in Bucharest, during which he also worked as a prompter in a Jewish theater, which experience is reflected in his best-known novel Zibn Yor mit Zibn Khadoshim ("Seven Years and Seven Months," 1988). In 1940 he moved to the Soviet Union where he quickly became part of the literary establishment as a regular contributor to and member of the editorial board of the journal Sovetish Heymland. His works are a testimony to the history of Jews in the region, his self-reflective style encapsulating the fragmented and disappearing Jewish world. His books include Dray Zumers ("Three Summers," 1946), Yorn un Reges ("Years and Moments," 1973), Shtendik ("Always," 1977), In Yenem Zumer ("In that Summer," 1981), Vayter … ("Further …," 1984), Yitsire un Libe ("Creation and Love," 2000). His honors include the Meritul Civic Medal of the Republic of Moldova (1996), Ruzhi Fishman-Shnaydman (1997), and Zalman Rejzen (1999) awards.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

M. Hazin and I. Lahman, in: Forverts (Jan. 10, 1997), 12, 19; G. Remenik, Portrety evreĭskikh pisatelei (1982), 320–8; I. Chobanu, in: Nistru, 3 (1963), 155–7.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.

Yekhiel Shraybman