I was fortunate to be able to acquire recently a beautiful handwritten manuscript of an original work that appears to have been prepared for print but never made it to the press. The manuscript is a Hebrew translation from the Yiddish Der Katorshznik, containing short stories by Nahum Meïr Schaikewitz (1849-1905), also known by his pseudonym “Shomer.” A very popular writer, Shomer was very prolific; aside from a score of Hebrew novels, he wrote over 200 Yiddish novels. His novels were printed cheaply for the masses the Yiddish-speaking Jews in Eastern Europe were a ready audience. Over 30 of his plays were produced as well, performed in Russia and later in the Yiddish theaters of New York.
This manuscript of approximately 450 pages is dated 1891. It contains 32 chapters, written under the pseudonym Yeshay Ben Amotz, perhaps a play on his last name Schaikewitz. While the Yiddish version was published, the Hebrew seems to have never been printed. Many of Shomer’s publications, though, are very scarce, having been printed on lower grade paper that deteriorated over time and being secular in content and disposed of when not of use unlike religious writing which was often preserved for religious burial.
