Reb Naftoly Yakobson

I would like to pay a tribute to Reb Naftoly Yakobson. Toliya was a poet and literature teacher in the famous math School No.2 in Moscow. In it�s heyday virtually all students in that school were Jews. He exemplified a charismatic genius, people literally would "hang from the chandeliers" to listed to his words. In 1968 he raised his voice in defence of the democracy in Czechoslovakia. The authorities gave the Scholl No. 2 an ultimatum either he leaves or they crash the school (which incidentally they eventually did anyway). Toliya Yakobson was forced out of Russia in 1973. He lived in Jerusalem for the last five years of his life where in 1978 he killed himself. He was a manic-depressive and he often spoke to friends that he was afraid not come out of his lows.

There is a memorial page for Yakobson (in Russian) maintained by Natasha Simonovitch the wife of Pinchas Polonsky of Machanaim, she was in the unforgettable School No. 2 1968 graduating class with my cousin. There is also a most interesting page with tributes to Yakobson by the School No. 2 students. And there is sort of a hesped by Eli Luxembourg. Incidentally proving my theory that all significant creative geniuses from Chagal to Allen Ginsberg came from Vitebsk, Reb Naftoly Yakobson family is from that glorious town.

Here is 1968 recording by Reb Naftoly Yakobson reading one of his poems.