Arkady Davidowitz

• Name — Arkady Davidowitz • Native Name — Аркадий Давидович • Born — 12 June 1930 • Birthplace — Voronezh, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union • Died — 25 February 2021 • Place of death — Voronezh, Russian Federation • Genre — Aphorisms

Davidowitz was born to a family of doctors – his father, Filipp Abramovich, was a venereologist, and mother, Raisa Solomonovna, a paediatrician. So by the aphorist's own admission, he was treated "first by Mum, then by Dad". During the Soviet period, Davidowitz was published in the Krokodil magazine under the pseudonyms of Julius Caesar, Ernest Hemingway, Honoré de Balzac, and "French writer A. David" in the Smiles of All Sizes section, and his work included in many collections of aphorisms. Davidowitz financed the publication of his collection The Laws of Existence, Including Non-Existence in over twenty volumes. In 1977, with friend and artist Valentina Zolotykh, the author founded in Voronezh a unique museum of aphoristics. After the 2010 publication of the collection The End of the World Will End Well, Davidowitz began to be "recognised as an unrecognised genius" by an ever-widening group of people, which by summer 2012 had become a fan club. In October 2012, the club, under the aegis of, and with intellectual and material support from the Khovansky Foundation, launched a new educational project named The Aphorism as a Capital-Letter Word, promoting education through the learning of Davidowitz's aphorisms. On 21 March 2013, the project was officially affiliated to the Voronezh branch of the Moscow Institute of Humanities and Economics. Davidowitz was a regular contributor to the Russian Humanist Society's Common Sense magazine. Arkady Davidowitz was hospitalized due to a positive COVID-19 test on 7 February 2021, as a precautionary measure. Davidowitz died a few weeks later, on 25 February 2021, at age 90.

February 29, 2020, on the Great leap Shabbath, Arcady Davidowitz appealed to the world community for the recognition of this day as a holiday uniting all people, regardless of race, religion, nationality, citizenship, profession or gender. As the writer noted, currently, there is not a single common holiday when everyone can wish each other well. For example, Christmas was once designed for absolute philanthropy, indiscriminately of nationality and religion, but led to a split even among Christians themselves. Even New Year is hardly suitable for a universal holiday, because the Chinese celebrate on other days, the Iranians, too, Buddhists and Jews in different ways. It would seem that Valentine's Day can be considered such a holiday, but on this day only those who love can wish each other well. And nobody wishes anything to those they do not love. But on EVERYONE'S DAY, even those who usually hate can wish each other well too.

• Stanisław Jerzy Lec