David Pinski was a Yiddish playwright, novelist and editor. Born in Mohilev, Belarus (then part of the Russian Empire), his plays probably were performed in English more often than any other Yiddish dramatist. In this exhibition, originally part of the Museum's "Great Artists" series, grandson Gabriel recalls his memory of his zeyde.

Although P. was fluent is several languages, he chose to write in Yiddish. According to an article in the Jerusalem Post in 1972, written by Sol Liptzin, "In the course of his eighty-seven years he enriched Yiddish with more than two hundred major contributions: plays, novels, short stories, travel sketches, memoirs, essays, poems." Many of his plays were published in English, as were two of his novels and many of his shorter works. His works were also published in Russian, German, and Hebrew. In addition to the numerous performances in the Yiddish theatre, Pinski's plays were performed in translation, e.g. "Der oytser (The Treasure)" was produced by Max Reinhardt in Berlin in the German language.

Many of the Yiddish actors and actresses who have graced the world's stages often have traveled to the countries of Central and South America and Cuba in order to continue performing during their off-seasons, or simply to look for gainful employment in their profession, most often in the years before the Second World War.

Whether performing in a single country or in many countries as part of a large tour, the mostly Jewish crowds eagerly awaited their beloved Yiddish actors and actresses, many of whom made a name for themselves with theatre audiences.

One such couple who made such tours an important part of their life's work were the talented husband and wife acting team of Leon and Celia Zuckerberg. Though Leon passed away at an early age, both he and wife Celia have, by the body of their work left a legacy for all of their family to take immense pride in. In this exhibition, their daughter Shirley speaks of her dear parents.

Zalmen Zylbercweig was the editor or author of more than thirty books relating to Yiddish culture and history. The most famous of his works, considered by many to be the "bible" of Yiddish theatre, is the six-volume "Lexicon of the Yiddish Theatre", published between 1931 and 1969. The fifth volume of the Lexicon serves as a memorial book to nearly five hundred men or women, once associated with the Yiddish theatre in some way, who were tragically killed during the Holocaust.

Z. was born on 27 September 1894 in Ozorków, a town not far from Łódź, Poland. In 1896 his father moved the family to Łódź when Z. was only two years old. He was educated in Łódź, worked there in his father's bookstore, and in 1910 made his debut under the pseudonym of "Solomon" with a translation in the "Łódźer morgenblat" newspaper, as well as translations in various other publications. From 1915 to 1924 Z. was a collaborator and later a co-editor at the "Łódźer tagenblat", and there he published many critiques and reviews of Yiddish theatre productions. In 1924, Z. traveled to Eretz Yisrael as a correspondent for the Yiddish newspaper.