Joseph Papernikov is a poet. Born January 1, 1897  in Warsaw (Warsaw Province of the Russian Empire, now Poland). Father, Shmuel Papernikov – owner of a butcher’s shop, one of the first members of the “Hovevei Zion” party.

He studied in heder and in the Russian real gymnasium. From the age of 8, under the direction of Leo Lyova, he sang an alto in the choir of the Great (German) Warsaw Synagogue on Tlomatska Street 4. Before breaking the voice (at age 13) he also participated in the concerts and recordings of Gershon-Itzhok Sirota, the main cantor of this synagogue.

During the First World War, he found himself in Lithuania, occupied by the Germans, and was mobilized by them in the course of labor service. After the war, he returned to Warsaw, where he became friends with the leftist activists of the Poalei Zion Party, and repatriated to Palestine in 1924 and worked as a laborer in the construction of roads in Rishon LeZion and Tel Aviv.) In 1929-1933 he lived in Poland, and then finally settled in Palestine.

At the age of 16 he began to write poetry in Yiddish. He made his debut in 1918 in “Yiddish zamolbicher / Jewish collections”. The author of numerous poetry collections. In 1920-1940s it was printed in almost all Jewish periodicals published in Poland, the USA, France, Palestine. After the Second World War, he was published in the almanac “Die Golden Kate / Golden Chain” by Avrom Sutzkever.

Member of the organization of the Yiddish writers of Israel and the Hebrew Peng-club. The laureate of the prize Itzika Manger (1975). Honorary Citizen of Tel-Aviv (1988).

Joseph Papernikov died on March 11, 1993 in Tel Aviv (Israel).