4. Zemach Shabad

Born in Vilnius, Zemach Shabad (1864-1935) spent almost his entire life here. He embraced the whole city with his social, educational and charitable activities. Shabad devoted a particular attention to the impoverished, children and the ailing. After graduating from the Science School for Boys, he continued his education in the prominent Ramailė yeshiva, and from 1881 onwards he studied medicine at the Moscow University.

Shabad received his Doctor in Medical Sciences degree for his research on diabetes in 1894. Upon returning to Vilnius, he worked in the local Jewish hospital, and contributed to the establishment of many other significant institutions. One of the most important was the Vilnius branch of the Society for the Protection of the Health of the Jewish Population (OZE), which not only provided health care services but also was engaged in charitable activities, hygiene education, and published the medical journals “Peoples’ Health” and “Be Healthy”. Thanks to the initiative of Shabad, a residential nursery was established alongside the health facility for school-aged children, other health care institutions and budget canteens. He ensured that each school had a doctor, and in the case of children of the poor, this school doctor was their sole opportunity to access health care. He also started an initiative by the name “Drop of Milk” for the hard-pressed women raising children – milk, food and clothing were distributed to these women for free.Apart from immediate work in the medical and health-care spheres, Shabad allocated considerable time for the pursuit of science. He was a fervent enthusiast of education in Yiddish language, and developed numerous medical terms in Yiddish. Shabad also became the founder of one of the most important Jewish science institutions – YIVO. His life was an inspiration to many. One of the inspired was writer Korney Chukovsky (1882-1969). He created a character named Doctor Aibolit (1925), whose prototype, according to the writer, was doctor Shabad himself. In his memoir, Chukovsky recalls: “I came up with the idea to write this fairy-tale when I met Doctor Aibolit in Vilnius. To tell the truth, the surname of this doctor was Shabad. He was the best person I had ever known.”

It is noteworthy though, that Doctor Aibolit has many similarities with the Doctor John Dolittle, a character created by Hugh Lofting (1886-1947) a couple of years before the emergence of Doctor Aibolit. It is possible that the story of Doctor Aibolit was not merely translated, but also an adapted and rewritten version of Doctor Dolittle, thus pretending it to be a different story. In a similar fashion, Pinocchio became Buratino, and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz became The Wizard of the Emerald City.Be that as it may, Tsemakh Shabad could nevertheless have been a prototype for Doctor Aibolit. When Shabad died, a monument was erected in the yard of the OZE children rehabilitation centre, and the inscription on it read “Tsemakh Shabad. The greatest friend of children” – to honour his devotion to the children and their health.