FOLKLORE RESEARCHER FROM VITEBSK
Zalmen-Vigder Khrapkovsky was born in 1883 in Kopyl. He studied there in a cheder and then graduated from a secondary school in Gorodok. Later he taught at Jewish schools in Liozno and Orsha and moved to Vitebsk. Here he continued participating actively in the Jewish life of the city. He died while still rather young – in 1924.
Khrapkovsky was a researcher of Jewish folklore, which infatuated him. The results of his research were published in a St. Petersburg newspaper “Friend” at the beginning of the 20th century. Later other materials from his research were published in a scientific journal “Zeitschrift”, which was edited by the Belarusian Science Academy. Then in 1922 Khrapkovsky published a small book titled “Military joke”, which was a combination of legends, anecdotes, proverbs and sayings connected with wars, especially with the war of 1914-1917.
With all respect to the work done by Khrapkovsky, his work can be described as slightly unprofessional. This can be revealed in ways of systematizing, expression and graphic print. The book is not easy to read because of random printing and different size fonts. There are a lot of Russian words written in Hebrew letters, as well as inserted texts in Russian.
Despite that, the book is of immense value for any serious scientists. The language of the book is extremely colorful containing unique dialect phrases virtually on every page…
Vera Knorring,
Keeper of Yiddish fund
Russian national library
(St. Petersburg),
candidate of historical science
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