R. was born in 1903 in Warsaw, Poland, into a horepashner working family. He was educated in a worker's circle. From his early youth he had a deep desire to act in the Yiddish theatre. He had a magnificent voice and sang with feeling.

At the age of sixteen he became a member in David Herman's theatre studio and later acted in dramas. In 1927 he came to Paris, and he had soon joined up with the drama circle of the "Kultur-lige (Culture League)", where he became very active and acted in singing roles. In 1943 R. became one of the founders of the "Piat" Theatre under the leadership of David Licht. Here he often had acted in main roles in the staged productions and became very popular, remaining in the Paris Yiddish theatre world.

In the summer of 1941 R. rose up, through the French collaborators with the Nazis, in the bon-la Roland camp, that he was interned with 500 young Jews, only men. There he had organized a small theatre group with whom he acted in small numbers to give compassion to those interred, a little raising of the spirit, and at the same time encouraging them to ease their difficult mood. In June 1942 he, together with the entire camp, was deported to Auschwitz, where he several months later became sick from dysentery. Under the difficult sorrow and pain in the brutal force of his hunger for them to sing to him until he gave up his soul.
 

Sh. E. from Leyb Lenski.