Shimon Shmuel Frug, also known as Simon Frug, was born on 15 November 1860 in the Jewish Agricultural
Colony of
Bobrovy-Kut,
located in Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine.
Frug's inclination as a poet first manifested itself at the young age of sixteen. It wasn't until three
years later, in 1880, that one of his poems was published.
These first poems were written in Russian and not in Yiddish, a preference that continued throughout
his career, though he did begin to write in Yiddish in the late 1880s. However, Frug considered his
Russian language poems of greater quality than his Yiddish poems.
The Russian pogroms of 1881 and 1882 was the impetus that began the great migration of Jews to America.
While Frug was not among these immigrants to the "Golden Medina", he was profoundly affected by the
pogroms – he joined the Hibbat Zion
(Love of Zion) movement, an early Zionist movement that encouraged Jews to immigrate to
Palestine where they would establish agricultural settlements.
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Not long after the pogroms, Frug was
inspired to write a poem, Jewish Melody, that became popular among Russian Jews who sought
a Jewish State in Israel.
The year 1885 saw the publication of Frug's first volume of poetry. The following year his collected
Yiddish poems were published. Frug's poems often reflected folk themes, Jewish homelessness, and
Jewish suffering. These themes are reflected in his novel in verse, Sionidy.
To learn more about Shimen Shmuel Frug read
the following linked articles in YIVO Encyclopedia and in Wikipedia:
Shimen Shmuel Frug
Simon Frug
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