Veltsher, Y.
He was a wedding entertainer and author of folksongs. He appears as the author of Mekhires Yoysef (The Sale of Joseph) (Lemberg, 1893), reissued several times, among them: (Vilna, 1908), 32 pp. This was a play based on the selling of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible, written in verse and interspersed with the Hebrew text. He would likely also have been the author of Akhashveyresh-shpil (Aḥashverosh play) (Vilna, 1926), 32 pp., as can be seen in the introductory poem which begins both plays: “The event of Joseph and his brother” (in the Joseph play) and “The event of Aḥashverosh and the two queens” (in the Aḥashverosh play); and ends in both: “With sweet words and splendid songs / To sing at Purim with a cup in one’s hand / In every city and in every land.”
Sources: Sh. Bostomski, Purim-Shpiln (Purim Plays) (Vilna, 1926); Dr. Y. Shiper, Geshikhte fun Yidisher Teater-Kunst un Drame (History of Yiddish Theatrical Art and Drama), vol. 3 (Warsaw, 1928), p. 265.