PAPIERNIKOV, JOSEPH (1897–1993), Yiddish poet. Born in Warsaw, he attended a Russian secondary school. Because of his fine voice and sensitive ear for music, he was accepted as choir boy by Cantor Gershon *Sirota in the Tlomacka Synagogue in Warsaw. At an early age he joined the Left Po'alei Zion party, which supported the development of a modern Yiddish literature, and there he found the first audience for his lyrics. In 1924 he immigrated to Palestine, where he remained except for an extended sojourn in Poland (1929–33).