Seattle has a “poet plumber” who writes verses and roundelays in Yiddish. He is Sam Grodstein, Seattle Talmud Torah director and Seattle resident for the past twenty-five years.
His poetic yearnings date back nearly forty years to his Yeshiva days in Vilna, Poland Recently he exhibited his talent by writing a poem for the banquet marking the fortieth anniversary of the Bikur Cholum Synagogue.
“I’ve already written 200 poems,” Grodstein says, “and it doesn’t take me long to make them up. Most of them I write to order—for banquets, weddings, parties, etc. If clothes can be made to order for those occasions, why not poems?”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.