The Flower

Elyokum Tsunzer was born in Vilna and became “the father of Yiddish poetry,” a prolific and widely revered versifier. He wrote before, after, and even during his conscription in the Russian army, jotting poems in the soldiers’ barracks. Poetry aside, he was a well-known singer, in high demand at Russian weddings and other public occasions. Tsunzer’s unflinching and faintly lugubrious melodies chronicled the plight of Jews under tsarist rule.