Shlomo Bastomski — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

Shlomo Bastomski (1891-941) was an educator, writer, collector of folklore, newspaper editor and publisher. He was prominent because of his contributions in all those fields. He was born in Vilna and lived there for most of his life. He taught at Mefitzie Haskalah, a boys' school, which was one of the first schools in which the language of instruction was Yiddish. Not only did he promote children's literature but he also collected folklore material: expressions, stories (mostly about jokesters), Jewish folk stories, games and songs. His pupils were an important source because they brought stories they heard from their parents and grandparents. Subsequently, he published anthologies of this folklore material.

In 1910 he published a short article in the Vilna weekly paper entitled The question of Children's Literature which dealt with the urgency of producing literature and a magazine for children in Yiddish instead of Russian. In fact, together with his wife, Malka (1888-1941) and other advisors, the most prominent being Zalman Reisen (1887-1940?), he fulfilled his ambition. Between the two wars, when Vilna was part of Poland, he published anthologies, text books and book series and, for many years, edited the children's magazines.

Grinike Beimalach and Der Haver were children's papers in Yiddish that appeared bi-monthly for years. The first edition of the paper appeared in February, 1914 and, except for two long breaks, appeared regularly until the summer of 1939. All the editions of the paper are available on the National Library site of "Historical Jewish Newspapers". The paper's name was taken from Hayim Nahman Bilaik's famous poem, as was its motto (Among the green trees, Moishele and Shloimele are playing) that was translated by Aharon Ashman.

Grinike Beimalach and Der Haver were no different to other children's newspaper around the world. Almost every edition included a letter from the editor or the editorial board, stories and poems, an informative column, articles of general knowledge, letters from readers as well as puzzles, quizzes, riddles etc.  The graphic element was also not neglected: there were photographs, pictures and print letters in different fonts. However, undoubtedly, the most important part of the paper was the literary section.

Translated from: Adina Bar-Tal, blog  OnegShabbat