V. LAYKHTER

V. LAYKHTER (1904-January 29, 1945)

            The pen name of Meyer Voytsislavski, he was born in Lodz, Poland.  He studied in religious elementary school and the Gerer yeshiva.  He spent WWI deep in Russia.  At the end of 1918, he returned to Lodz, where he was one of the founders of “Tseire Agudat Yisrael” (Agudat Yisrael youth) movement.  In 1925 he made aliya to Israel as a pioneer, and there he worked in a publishing house and was active in the movement of Poale Agudat-Yisrael (Workers of Agudat Yisrael).  As a writer he debuted in print in Lodzher ortodoksisher bletlekh (Lodz Orthodox pages), in which he published poetry, short stories, and articles.  He also contributed to: Der idisher arbayter (The Jewish worker), Beys-yankev zhurnal (Beys Yankev journal), and the anthology Friling (Spring) in 1929—all in Lodz; Der yud (The Jew) in Warsaw; Shearim (Gates) and Alim levitui in Tel Aviv; among others.  In book form, he published: Minyaturn (Miniatures) (Tel Aviv, 1931), 48 pp.; Erets-yisroel (The land of Israel) (Lodz, 1931), 48 pp.  He also edited Betokh (Within) in Tel Aviv (1944-1945) and co-edited Lodzher ortodoksisher bletlekh and Friling in Lodz and Shearim and Alim levitui in Tel Aviv (1928-1931).  A number of his poems and sketches were included in: M Prager, ed., Antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (Anthology of religious poems and stories) (New York, 1955), pp. 129-39 and 625-40.  He died in Tel Aviv.  He also wrote under the pen names Hameiri and M. V., among others.

Sources: Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) (November 20, 1931); Shin, in Beys-yankev (Lodz) (January 1, 1932); G. Handal, in Sefer hashana shel haitonaim (The annual of newspapers) (Tel Aviv, 1945/1946), p. 345; M. Prager, ed., Antologye fun religyeze lider un dertseylungen (Anthology of religious poems and stories) (New York, 1955), p. 129; Khayim Leyb Fuks, in Fun noentn over (New York), vol. 3 (1957), p. 241.

Khayim Leyb Fuks