Benjamin Zev Wolf Ehernkrantz(1819–1883), popular Yiddish and Hebrew poet known as Velvel Zbarazher. Born in Zbarazh, Galicia, Ehrenkranz had a traditional Jewish education. He became interested in folk songs, and as a singing bard traveled to various European cities, spending his last years in Galata, a suburb of Constantinople (Istanbul). He sang his songs in Yiddish, shifting to Hebrew when appearing before a Haskalah audience. His songs spread fast, gradually changing until their original versions were forgotten. The major themes of his poetry were nature and man, poverty and wealth, and the fight of light against darkness, i.e., maskilim against Hasidim. The bulk of his work is wittily composed of parody and satire. He only published a fraction of his works. His collected poetry, Makkel No'am (Hebrew and Yiddish), appeared in 1865–78 in four parts. He also wrote Makkel Hovelim (1869), in Hebrew and Yiddish, and Siftei Yeshenah (1874). Wachstein published three of Ehrenkranz' long Yiddish poems (YIVO-Bletter, 1938), and a selection of his letters in 1928. Although most of his improvised songs were never published, some were issued by L. Morgenstern, the Warsaw publisher, but were not attributed to the poet.