in Yiddish". In 1917–18, Shternberg and Jacob Botoshansky together founded a Yiddish revue theater in Bucharest, for which they wrote and produced nine short plays (revues), including Tsimes (named after the traditional pureed vegetable dish tsimes), Bukaresht-Yerusholaim ("Bucharest-Jerusalem"), ("All of a sudden"), Grine bleter ("Green leaves"), Kukuriku, Sholem-Aleykhem ("Hello"), and Hershele Ostropoler ("Hershele of Ostropol"). In 1917, in response to antisemitic violence at that time in Romania and elsewhere in Eastern Europe, he staged passages from Bialik. In 1920, he became the editor of "Der Veker", official organ of the Jewish section of the Romanian Socialist Party. In 1924–26, he was the director for the "Vilner trupe". The Romanian daily newspaper Adevărul wrote on August 23, 1924, shortly after the troupe's arrival in Bucharest, that "Such a demonstration of artistry, even on a small stage such as Jigniţa and even in a language like Yiddish ought to be seen by all who are interested in superior realization of drama." In 1930 he created a hugely successful studio theater BITS ("Bukareshter Yidishe Teater-Studiye"), housed in Bucharest's Jewish quarter Văcărești, that played a prominent role in the development of modern trends in European theater. BITS staged works of Osip Dymov (Yashke-muzikant – "Yashka the Musician"), Jacob Gordin, I.L. Peretz (Banakht afn altn mark – "A night at the old market"), Sholem Aleichem (Oytser – "Treasure", and most famously Der farkishefter shnayder – "The enchanted tailor"), (Der Geler Shotn, 1935), Nikolai Gogol (Zhenit'ba – "The Marriage"), – mostly musical comedies with elements of grotesque, but also I.Y. Singer's Yoshe Kalb and his own play Teater in Flamen ("Theater in Flames") on the theme of the then-ongoing Spanish Civil War. Sidi Tal starred in many of these productions. The performances were popular with the Bucharest intelligentsia and Peretz's "Banakht Afn Altn Mark", for one, was played more than 150 times. During this time, Shternberg published his first collection of poetry, in Bucharest (1938). As antisemitic, pro-fascist tendencies gained power in Bucharest, the theater left for a prolonged tour of major European cities and eventually Shternberg moved to Czernowitz, where he continued his theatrical activities. In 1939, Shternberg along with Moyshe Altman sneaked across the Dniester and became a Soviet citizen. A year later, when his native Bessarabia was annexed by the Soviet Union, he and most of his former troupe settled in Kishinev, where Shternberg became artistic director of the Yiddish-language Moldovan State Jewish