Monday marks the 90th anniversary of Tsemakh Shabad, the renowned doctor from Vilnius. Besides being a medical doctor, Shabad was a philanthropist and served on the Vilnius city council and in the Polish Senate. He was a founding member of the YIVO. Legendary during his own lifetime, Shabad was immortalized in literature as Dr. Aybolit in the work of the same name by the extremely popular Russian-language children’s author Korney Chukovsky. Dr. Aybolit was the main character in three Soviet films and spawned a Soviet cartoon series as well. Janina Valančiūtė from the Lithuanian Library of Medicine wrote a study of the man in Lithuanian several years ago, available below.

2023-SM6Internetas-204-207