| Leyzer Volf | |
| Native Name: | לייזער וואלף |
| Native Name Lang: | Yiddish |
| Birth Name: | Eliezer Mekler |
| Birth Place: | Šnipiškės, Vilnius, Vilnius Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Lithuania) |
| Death Place: | Shakhrisabz, Uzbek SSR (present-day Uzbekistan)[1] |
| Occupation: | Poet, writer |
| Language: | Yiddish |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Genres: | --> |
| Subjects: | --> |
| Spouses: | --> |
| Partners: | --> |
Leyzer Volf (Yiddish: לייזער וואָלף; ; born Eliezer Mekler; 1910, in Šnipiškės, Vilnius – April 1943, in Shakhrisabz) was a Yiddish poet and writer of the Yung-Vilne movement, best remembered for his poems Black Pearls (1939), Lyric and satire (1940), and Brown Beast (1943).[2] [3] [4] [5]
Volf's father was a house painter and his mother was a housewife.[6] He was the fourth child in his family.[6] He was sent to cheder at age four, but quickly left after being shocked by the way the rabbi treated the children, after which he was taught privately at home by a melamed.[6] Later on he would study at a secular Jewish folk school in Vilnius and attend a youth camp for weak children; throughout this period he kept a large distance from other children and did not have many friends.[6] Already in school he was considered to be an excellent writer and an avid reader.[6]