L. was born on 10 January 1887 in Grodno, Polish Lithuania. Her father was a klezmer musician. She learned in the Marinska gymnasium. In 1903 she entered into the Bialystok Polish dramatic school under the direction of Stanislav Zavadszky. In 1905 she traveled to Warsaw to continue learning, but due to material conditions she had to stop her learning and become a hat milliner. In Warsaw she became a member of  the Yiddish dramatic circle and debuted as "Malka" in Sholem Aleichem's "Tsezeyt un teshpreyt".

In 1909 she traveled out to Vitebsk and there joined Sam Adler's troupe, where she acted until 1912, while also going on a tour with the troupe across Lithuania and White Russia. In 1912 she settled in Minsk and here joined Nachum Zemach's "Habima hebrit", with whom she toured across russia to act in Hebrew in Dymov's "Der eybiker vanderer" (role of "Leah"), and Sholem Aleichem's "Mazel tov" (role of "Freydl"). In 1913 she joined Esther Rukhl Kaminska's troupe and there acted until the outbreak of the World War.

In 1914 she went back to Minsk and directed with drama circles, with whom she often put on productions to benefit various professional organizations. In 1919 she joined "Unzer vinkl" in Minsk, which was under the direction of M. Rafalski, then she worked in the "Yidishe front-troupe" under the Bertanov, which performed in White Russia and the cities b the war front. In 1920 she returned to Minsk and joined in the first Yiddish White