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Alexander Zederbaum

Once again, we present here a couple of excerpts of Sh. L. Citron's work, “The History of the Jewish Press” 1. From the Years 1863 to 1889., which appeared in Warsaw in 1921, published by Akhisefer Verlag. These are sections that relate to Alexander Zederbaum, a scion of Zamość, and the Jewish newspaper “Kol Mevaser” which he began to produce.

Approximately forty years passed between Eisenbaum's proof until a Yiddish press began to be created and develop in Russia. The leaders of the Enlightenment who were the only ones would could and were able to be the initiators of such a culturally elevating act, took to it from the first minute, without following the path of the German Maskilim, who thought of the ‘Jargon,’ as a hump on the back of the people, and tried to employ all methods to rid themselves of it.

The fact that the Vilna Maskilim, who in the first twenty years of the 19^th century planned to publish a Yiddish newspaper, as we have related (referring to the introduction to Citron's book), was an entirely exceptional occurrence. The Maskilim, in general, took a wary posture towards Yiddish, and it was in their eyes ‘a sort of yellow badge, a symbol of the wretched Diaspora, of a life of slavery.’ It is not possible to grasp how the people in their time did not understand, that in their shouting of: ‘the Jargon must be taken down from the Bimah, and it must be exchanged for a proper language,’ that they were letting the best and most certain key to the heart of the people, on whose good will they were so dependent, out of their hands. It is however necessary to say, that the Maskilim really had in mind to provide spiritual nourishment only to the intelligent segments of the populace, and they had no concern for the larger Jewish mass, which understood the written word specifically in ‘Jargon,’ and it was for this reason that they settled on Hebrew, Russian and abandoned Yiddish.

The antipathy towards Yiddish reached so far, that among certain circles of Maskilim, ways were sought to influence the government to completely forbid the printing of books in ‘Jargon,’ not taking into account that it was the single most apt language for the Jewish masses.^[a]

Time, however, wrought its effect, and at the beginning of the nineties, it is possible to note a change in the minds of specific Maskilim, in connection with Yiddish. A little at a time, it becomes evident that without the help of this lingua franca, it will not be possible to wage the war on behalf of Enlightenment, and without the tongue of the masses, in hindsight, nothing will be able to be accomplished. It is worth to note, that this changeover to a good opinion of Yiddish, first appeared in the south of Russia. The reason is, that in that sector, Hasidism had spread so vigorously, that it had become a genuine folk movement in that place, and the leaders of that movement immediately began to utilize the people's language for their propaganda. This led to the Maskilim finally being forced to adopt Yiddish as part of their arsenal in their battle against the influence of Hasidism.

As a result of this, in that sector, step by step, the area was prepared for a Yiddish periodical, and the time was of such a nature, that a great interest was awakened among the Jews of the Pale to become acquainted with the surrounding world through the medium of their own newspaper. Only the man was missing, who could capture that inclination from the street, and transform it into a fact of real production.

In 1858, two writers from Odessa, Joseph Rabinovich and Chaim Tarnopol submitted a request to permit the publication of a weekly Yiddish periodical in Odessa. In Russian, ‘Razviet.’ Despite the fact that their request was strongly supported by the famous surgeon Pirogov, who at that time was the curator of the Odessa Teachers Circle, Rabinovich and Tarnopol were not given permission to publish a periodical in Russian, bu only in ‘Hebrew, or also the

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Yiddish-German language used by Russian Jews.’ Rabinovich and Tarnopol however did not utilize the permission that was granted to them, and then the long, very arduous exertion passed to another writer from Odessa. That was, Alexander Zederbaum, as he was later known popularly by the Jews.

As was later related by the historical writer about the older Yiddish literature, Eliezer Shulman, Zederbaum initially was ashamed of publishing a periodical in ‘base Jargon,’ and therefore requested that he be permitted to publish a periodical in Hebrew, and in German, using the Hebrew alphabet. Zederbaum received this permission through Pirogov's good offices, and on September 29, 1860 the first edition of ‘HaMelitz’ appeared – ‘A Central Organ for Jewish Works in the Hebrew and German Languages.’ as it stated in the masthead.

For the first two years, ‘HaMelitz’ effectively appeared in both languages: Between the Hebrew articles, German was often printed, using the Hebrew alphabet.

The practical Zederbaum immediately saw, that the German articles in the paper were essentially a waste, since nobody needed them, and nobody reads them, and he came to the thought to set aside his embarrassment, and in place of the German articles, attempt to produce a separate paper in Yiddish. In the 42^nd edition of HaMelitz, Zederbaum put in a large advertisement in Yiddish, covering 4 pages, in which he communicated the news that very quickly he will begin to publish a separate periodical written in plain Yiddish, by the name ‘Kol Mevaser.’

It is with this ‘Kol Mevaser,’ that the first epoch of the history of the Yiddish press begins, and a new era in the history of Yiddish literature.

Alexander Zederbaum, on whom the fateful burden of laying the foundation for the first Yiddish periodical press fell, was born in Zamość, in the Lublin District in 1816. Zamość was one of the Polish cities, that because of its proximity to the German border, absorbed the Haskala of Mendelssohn more rapidly; already, in those dark years on the threshold of the 19^th century, it already had several famous Maskilim. Zederbaum's father was a watchmaker, but also a scholar of great substance, and a Maskil, thoroughly familiar with both the old and new philosophical literature, possessing a command of German and Polish, a beautiful Hebrew speaker, in keeping with the taste of the times, a writer and translator of poetry. His house was a center for Maskilim, and intelligent people in general, and every person who felt a thirst for education. Among his constant visitors were: the well-known mathematician and later inspector of the Zhitomir Teachers Seminary, Yaakov Eichenbaum, the historian, R' Shimson Bloch, and Dr. Shlomo Ettinger, who earned a reputation by way of his Yiddish fables and poetry. During his youth, Zederbaum rubbed shoulders with these Maskilim, and benefitted from their knowledge and Enlightenment. He studied the Gemara with commentaries, German and Polish, and a little French, and more than everything else, Hebrew. As a young man – he already had a wife and children, – he moved away, as was the custom of the Maskilim of that time, to seek his fortune in the larger world. He came to Odessa in 1840.

There, he first got employment as a bookkeeper in a garment business, and a short time later, opened a store for finished clothing. In order to become more expert in this business, he taught himself to cut clothing. Later, when Zederbaum became a writer and an editor, and used to engage in sharp polemics with journalistic opponents, they would often try and needle him by calling him a ‘tailor.’ However, he never felt insulted by this, and he would occasionally take great pride in contrast to other Maskilim, who were embarrassed for having a [manual] trade.

Periodically, when he had the opportunity, in his articles, to discuss the need for spreading work among the Jews, and to indicate in passing, R' Yohanan the Shoemaker, and R' Yitzhak the Smith, and other learned men in the Talmud, who were also tradespeople, his habit was to end with the following words: ‘and also we (that means the editor of ‘HaMelitz’ and ‘Kol Mevaser’) have not been embarrassed to develop a simple skill, with which to provide for ourselves in case we need to.’

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In Odessa, which at the time was the cultural center of southern Jewry, Zederbaum involved himself in many activities, became active in all charitable and educational institutions, and received the greatest notice everywhere. In this process, he became a close companion to the ‘leadership.’ A man of minimal education, and with a born, broken Russian, he still knew how to approach to highest authority and to get everything he wanted to accomplish. To this, he brought his deep commitment to community work, and his iron energy. It is, however, necessary to note that his old-fashioned, striving, or more correctly: negotiating style, played no small role in this regard, which he acquired with his innate sense from the first minute, and remained with him for his entire life.

The Odessa intelligentsia of that time, which was entirely from the outside, especially from Galicia (from which the sobriquet, ‘Die Broder’ is derived), brought with it a substantial stream of Germanization into Jewish life. The language of discourse was German. Until the seventies, the Russian regime took a tolerant attitude to this; and it appeared to be just the opposite, as if it supported these tendencies towards Germanization. It came so far, for example, that the government itself printed German textbooks for Jewish schools.^[1] But after the Polish rebellion of 1863, the Russian regime began to conduct a sharply nationalistic political agenda, and began to energetically attempt to Russify the Jews in the entire country, including Germanized Odessa. This ‘official’ Russification didn't smell right to the ‘Broder.’ Only one small detail obtained sympathy, to which Zederbaum also subscribed. Zederbaum was not very content with the dependence on German, and expressed his opinion freely and often, and through this vociferous loyalty he earned a reputation with the authorities.

Zederbaum, however, imported a son-in-law, a Galician doctor, Aharon Yitzhak Goldenblum, who was a fanatic ‘German,’ and as it happens, a person with European pedagogical credentials, but with a very superficial inclination to Russification, who through his kindred spirits, the ‘Broder,’ was appointed as Headmaster of the Odessa Talmud Torah, in which the Jewish education of the lower and middle level Jewish classes was concentrated. Zederbaum was afraid of the idea that under the influence of his son-in-law, the Oddest Talmud Torah would acquire a Germanized character, so he worked for a long time, until he was able to ‘stick in a foot,’ in this institution, as a ‘pochtonii blyoostityel’ (honorary inspector) as it was then called. From that time on, no matter which educational institution Dr. Goldenblum entered – and there were several of these – Zederbaum immediately inserted himself, and all because of this, to render the German influence of his son-in-law benign. In this fashion, Zederbaum was drawn into the issues of education, and because of this, he entirely neglected his business, and in the end, wanted to rid himself of it entirely. A number of hears later, when he was bent and writhing under the heavy yoke of his editorial and community activities, in which he managed to acquire many opponents, who created bad blood for him, he complained on his pages more than once about how he had abandoned ‘the measuring tape and the shears.’

Having been left without a way to make a living, Zederbaum paused to consider publishing a newspaper in Yiddish. He didn't consider whether he was fit for this work, based on his ideas and expertise; he just knew that he was a formidable mouthpiece, but what of the pen? He then considered that he would go into partnership with his educated son-in-law. And Zederbaum was one of those people, who once they thought of something, it was as good as done. He immediately began to work towards obtaining permission. But when it came to the issue, Zederbaum suddenly acquired ‘embarrassment,’ as we have previously related here – to publish a newspaper written in ‘vulgar-Jargon’ and in its place, he worked out a concession to do a German paper in Hebrew lettering. His calculation, it seems, was that such a paper would have a substantial following among the ‘Broder,’ that one-time class of the Odessa Jewish population that had means. However, the ‘Broder’ turned out to be rather lukewarm patrons of his German paper, and this moved him, after a couple of years, to convert to a real Yiddish paper. But now, he was not able to obtain permission for a

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separate Yiddish paper – this was already too much for the Russian authorities – but only for a Yiddish byline to the Hebrew ‘HaMelitz’ and this is the way it remained for eight consecutive years.

Telling the world about this periodical, that he was planning to put out in ‘Plain Yiddish, in order that the simple audience and even the women will be able to know what is going on in the world,’ Zederbaum found it necessary to immediately and on the spot answer for himself to those who opposed Yiddish by using the following words:

‘We are aware that today's enlightened people cry out that we should wean the people of Yiddish and train them to communicate in the language of the country; it is possible that they are not entirely incorrect, because, in the country where one lives, it is necessary to understand the [native] language; but what language is to be used to communicate with the unlettered populace, so that they learn what is necessary for each individual, if in fact, all they understand is Yiddish.’

As the reader can see, Zederbaum is not yet prepared to fully say that he is coming here to do something on behalf of the lingua franca itself. For this, as he approached ‘Kol Mevaser,’ he did not as yet have the temerity. He spoke of the ‘vulgar language,’ about the ‘language of the masses,’ He did not embrace this yet in Number 18 of ‘Kol Mevaser,’ (First Year anniversary), in which he still finds it necessary to admit to be, in a special remark, that he does not, God forbid, hold the Jargon to be some sort of respectable language, like all other languages. In another place, we find an opinion of Zederbaum, that the Jargon is only a transition language, a language that will be used for a while, an appendage which we will get rid of quickly. But this was not his true belief, his deeply held conviction; he did this for external appearances. One needed to know Zederbaum, and understand Zederbaum's psychology, to understand that he didn't want to do this to save face with the adherents of German or Russian, but rather with the Hebraists, the readers of ‘HaMelitz,’ to whom ‘Kol Mevaser’ was given as a free premium, as an enticement to become a subscriber. This is also the reason that he gave his Yiddish newspaper a Hebrew name and why, in the first editions of the ‘Kol Mevaser,’ most of the articles were given Hebrew names. But, as said, this was all at the beginning. However, the longer Zederbaum continued, the bolder and more certain he became in his conviction about ‘Jargon,’ and began entirely to call the language Yiddish and Yiddish, as the reader will see in the coming chapters.

A Sample of ‘Kol Mevaser’ when it was still a Supplement to ‘HaMelitz’

This first edition, and also several of the following ones, were filled by Zederbaum himself under a variety of pseudonyms, one could immediately recognize this from the tart language, – a sort of gobbledegook. And this is no wonder. Zederbaum did not know how to write any other way. Himself, born in monarchial Poland, where he lived until he was able to come off being dependent on his father-in-law; in addition to this, a resident of Odessa for how many years, where the Jews there did not speak the fine, rich Yiddish of Volhynia, but rather, a mishmash of Volhynian Yiddish with the Galitzianer dialect (a legacy of Brod), and in addition to this, the common daily language used by Zederbaum was German (the influence of his German son-in-law, Dr. Goldenblum), – all of this together caused Zederbaum to develop a wooden Yiddish style, which literally irritated the ears, and was often not comprehensible.

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A small example of Zederbaum's one-time Yiddish and his spelling:

‘A beautiful summer day began to appear. The dark of the night began to flee before the red blush of the east side. It was entirely silent in all of the streets of Prague, where sleep still held the populace in its beds.’

And here is yet another example of another form of language (also recognizable as Zederbaum, but with Russifying sympathies):

‘Those who belong to podanta soslova are released from herbovoye paper: both in the case of submitting recruits to the nabor, or in writing to the nachalstvo in all matters that pertain to recruits, but if one procures nayomshchikehs or kvitantziyehs, which have been given to recruits for accounting, and in addition, it is necessary to make use of marked paper. Akhotnikehs who go before their semieystvehs are to be taken otcherednyii’ etc.^[2]

After a while, the Yiddish language began to develop in ‘Kol Mevaser,’ at the time that Zederbaum ceased being compelled to fill the all the pages throughout with his own ‘creations.’ And principally, since it was a coterie of Volhynian writers that began to group themselves around him, among whom could be found such stylists as Abramovich, Linietsky, and others. Under the influence of his Volhynian collaborators, Zederbaum himself learned how to write Yiddish increasingly better. In time, he personally worked out a general standard spelling for the writers of ‘Kol Mevaser,’ began to agitate for the need for a Yiddish grammar, and other educational books, and make presentations in his capacity, of various plans as to how all this could be accomplished. This was at the time where, figuratively, he carried the banner of Yiddish high, with great pride.

Zederbaum did not have any program regarding what he should do with his newspaper. In general, Zederbaum was a person, so to speak, who didn't take cognizance of programs. He was by nature a flighty person, meaning, a person without strong attitudes and clear views of the world about him; to whom things seemed right one way, and then another, today – it could be day, tomorrow – night. He had no fear of inconsistencies, and if someone ‘tugged at his sleeve’ because yesterday he had written exactly the opposite of what he had written today, it was of concern to him in the amount of ‘ten times nothing;’ after all, it was his newspaper, and therefore, he felt he could write whatever he pleased. However, he did not always know what he wanted. This clarifies the resulting fact that during a two year period, in which he carried on an intense battle against the contesting elements who opposed the Enlightenment in the Hebrew language ‘HaMelitz,’ he could not seize the style of the ‘Jargon’ publicist. Zederbaum approached the new, ‘plebeian’ – as he put it – expression, with great trepidation, with fear of a misplaced word, which could cause harm, for an extraneous suggestion, that could become dangerous.

In time, because of the outside, incidental material, a program began to take shape for ‘Kol Mevaser,’ that had very specific tendencies, which later on, took a hold of the flighty Zederbaum himself, the productive daily contributor to the newspaper. We will not, however, jump to this, and before we get to the later program of ‘Kol Mevaser,’ we will examine the general form that the newspaper had, until the time where it acquired a set format.

From the third edition on, ‘Kol Mevaser’ began by opening each time with an article under the general name of ‘News,’ which was a line of a variety of news, but several with its special commentary, and it always came out in a form that on the basis of the news, Zederbaum offered opinions on all sorts of questions. This, naturally, led to a situation, where he always selected those facts on which he could base that which he wanted to express. And no matter what question he chose to touch upon, and no matter what he had to say, it always led to the fundamental thought that ‘Russia is a blessed land and it is better for Jews there than anywhere else;’ Jews are suffocated in Rumania, they are oppressed in Morocco, even in the blessed land of Germany they are victims of the most egregious suffering, only in one Eden, and the objective of this was, naturally, that one needed to be patriotic, hold the country dear, and be loyal to the Czar. Especially in the initial period, this was the only theme that Zederbaum sought to develop for his readers, even more

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broadly and deeply, because in it, he found a clear response to all of the problems of Jewish life in relationship to the external world.

Later on, Zederbaum began to utilize the ‘News’ as a means to illuminate the innermost Jewish issues. He pauses, for example, at the fact that in the Moroccan city of Tetuan, the Jews opened a school for their children, and then draws a parallel between them, who find themselves in such a bad situation, who are objects of derision and mockery in the land where they live, and the Jews in Russia, where for an educated person, ‘the entire world is open; he can live anywhere in Russia, and may practice any profession, he may even be a professor. How much did that already cost our educated brethren in Germany, that they should be given access to all the most distinguished positions, and they are not yet done.’ Thereby, Zederbaum warns, and says, that the process of education is education as well, but ‘take care that the children seriously attend school, give them books to read about tradition’ (‘Kol Mevaser’ First Year anniversary, No. 5). Zederbaum did not yet write any special articles about the issue of Jewish education. He did not yet have the impulse to express himself about this question with total openness. He especially didn't want to arouse the ranks of the old traditional Jewish educational system, and if occasionally, he was moved to say something about this matter, he would bury it in the lines of his ‘individual items.’

Zederbaum nourished the first eight editions of ‘Kol Mevaser’ with his own output. Apart from small, minor translation, which were signed with initials, under which mostly the very same Zederbaum hid himself, one did not encounter a single unfamiliar name in ‘Kol Mevaser.’ A new name first appeared in the ninth edition. This was Yehoshua Mordechai Lifschitz, a Jew from Berdichev, who had a German education, a man who greatly loved the Yiddish language, in which he believed that he saw not only a convenient and necessary means to disseminate education, but also something of great, meaningful national, cultural worth. This very Lifschitz, who himself wanted to publish a Yiddish newspaper, and couldn't accomplish this, as we had previously mentioned, was very happy with the appearance of ‘Kol Mevaser.’ He imagined that Zederbaum would immediately and certainly use the opportunity to strengthen the prestige of Yiddish, which had a very low status among the Maskilim of that time. However, he observed that not only does ‘Kol Mevaser’ not agitate even in the slightest on behalf of Yiddish, but that Zederbaum even threw out the following peculiar thought in a footnote:

‘We do not want to wait until those who mock will ask us, better that we should say that our vulgar Yiddish is not suitable as a language, since it is a corrupted German (see ‘Kol Mevaser’ No. 5)’

It was here that Lifschitz personally undertook to clarify the meaning of Yiddish to the simplest reader. He did not do this, however, in a feature article, but only in the form of a dialogue between Yudel (the Jewish people) and his wife Yehudis (the Yiddish language). The dialogue was written in rhyming stanzas, but does not have a poetic rhythm. The essence of it is the conclusion, and the lesson.

Yehudis is very angry with her husband, because he ‘averts his eyes from her,’ and he has a high regard only for ‘others.’

‘You only want to look at others!
And go off to strangers.
You are always jealous of others,
And take pleasure only in strangers.’

And the husband used the following excuse:

‘It is a pleasure to look at others,
That is why I am drawn only to them
Pearls drop from their mouths
Your speech makes my hackles rise.’

To this, Yehudis proudly replies:

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‘And this indeed is
An old plague,
A strange woman is satisfactory,
She is wise, good and beautiful…
They were less lovely than I by far.
They wrote and spoke like children.
Only, they had good reports,
They were polished day and night;
That is why they play great roles,
They are danced with, one sports and laughs.

Just try to hone and polish me,
Adorning me with preparations,
Initially, you may sweat a bit,
But you will have plenty afterwards.’

The husband gets a strong longing for his ‘former wife’ (referring to the Hebrew language) and says in sadness:

‘A great pain is here in my hide,
When I recall my former wife,
She was so brilliant,
She had a name throughout the land,
But apart from all of her golden virtues,
She had such a golden pedigree;
Your pedigree is rather questionable,
You come from all manner of spirits.
Your very name is some sort of novelty
;;She was called ‘The Holy Tongue,’ not ‘Yiddish’

Yehudis does not relent a bit, and says:

‘I can live with you right along with her,
I love her without measure;
What I wish for her
Should only happen to me.
I do not say for you to hate her,
Quite the opposite, be good to her;
But don't take only a single glance
From the wife to the former wife is only a dream,
You only go to visit her
But you need me each and every minute.
It is true that she is beautiful
But you cannot get along without me,
Truly, she is God's wonder,
;But you already have children with me.’

At the end, Yehudis intones that she is dependent on her husband's good will:

‘In my prohibition, it is not so much myself,
;I really pine mostly for you.’

At the end of the dialogue, Lifschitz inserts, so to speak, the opinion of the editor regarding this matter. In order to make the impact stronger, he lets him take the word, not of the editor of the Yiddish ‘Kol Mevaser,’ but rather of the editor of the Hebrew ‘HaMelitz.’ It serves Lifschitz's purpose better that Hebrew should be designated only as Yudel's ‘former wife,’ that Hebrew itself should shower Yehudis with praise and arrive at the conclusion that:

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‘I can wager with you
That Yudel will not divorce Yehudis,
For whatever time it is given to her to live
He will always treat her with dignity.’

It is entirely possible, that Zederbaum himself, who had not yet said his last word about Yiddish, found it better that ‘Kol Mevaser’ should remain silent for the time being about this matter…

By the 13^th edition, ‘Kol Mevaser’ (together with ‘HaMelitz,’ as usual) ceased publication suddenly for a space of three months, we say: suddenly, because Zederbaum did not prepare his readers for this; quite the opposite, he reminded them of renewing their subscriptions for the second quarter of the year. This is very characteristic of the relationship of a Jewish newspaper publisher of the times to his subscribers. Only later, did Zederbaum find it necessary to explain that the cessation of publication was due to the conversion of the newspaper to a new typeface.

For the first quarter of a year, a real chaos reigned in the technical composition of ‘Kol Mevaser.’ It seemed proper, for example, that there was an article published at the very top of the page an article entitled, ‘The Machpelah Cave,’ should be printed, and that after the ‘News,’ (the lead article) there should appear: ‘A cure for the malady called carbuncles,’ or that in the right center number, methods should be presented to ‘take out rust spots from white material.’ It was proper that a poem, that has no quality or substance (‘A vulgar-song’) should be printed in small parts over several consecutive editions. It is necessary to remark here, that Zederbaum had a specific weakness for ‘poetry,’ that is to say, rhymes. There were certain editions, in which two or three poems were printed simultaneously. Among the drivel, once in a while a pearl would be found – a short poem ‘The Pauper,’ written in the genre of Abraham Reisen to come. We allow ourselves to bring a few excerpts from this poem here.

‘I run about and seek.
From morning until night;
In futility I wear out my shoe,
And return home worn out.

I come home on foot
And first have the burden:
To deal with crying children
And a wife to handle.

You abandoned us
– They cry out with a wail –
We have not eaten
For three days now.

I am pained in my wound
My wife cries out and pleads;
The baby cried in the cradle,
Practically flaying off my skin;

We suffer hunger and want,
It is cold and wet in the house;
The rain leaks in,
As if this were the street itself.’

This poem, signed with the initials Y. V. Sh. (Recognized as Joseph Weinstein, a name we will encounter often, later in ‘Kol Mevaser’), resonates dissonantly both in its introduction and in its language, compared to all the other things which appeared in ‘Kol Mevaser,’ at the same time.

The names of genuine writers were not yet seen in ‘Kol Mevaser.’ The writers, it would seem, chose to wait, and see beforehand, what sort of ‘creation’ would emerge from Zederbaum's Yiddish newspaper. Only one of the well-known Yiddish authors do we find in the first editions of ‘Kol Mevaser,’ and not actually his explicit name, but rather his

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pseudonym: Joseph Joel Herdner. This was Joseph Yehuda Lerner, the translator of ‘Uriel Acosta,’ and other theater pieces of Jewish history, and who converted [sic: to Christianity] late in life.

This is the sum total of ‘Kol Mevaser’ during its first 3 months. This totality had both positive and negative promise in the end. Zederbaum was still feeling his way.

(Sh. L. Citron's work about ‘Kol Mevaser’ has 12 chapters. We have included here only two, the most important ones, relating to his biography and founding of the newspaper, and we will also bring the final paragraph of the last chapter of the work.)

When we summarize the accomplishments of ‘Kol Mevaser’ in its nearly nine years of existence, we first see a generally unmatched influence on Jewish life in Russia, despite the fact that it was dominated by tendencies towards Russification, it still had a great attractive meaning and a nationalist sense. No matter how thoroughly suffused it was with the concepts of the Enlightenment, it nevertheless preached constantly a love and longing for nominal Jewish values. Because of this, its iconoclastic tendencies actually served constructive purposes.

Secondly, ‘Kol Mevaser’ created the new Yiddish reader, meaning, the reader of the ‘worldly’ Yiddish book. Until the advent of ‘Kol Mevaser,’ the only spiritual nourishment available to the men and women who read Yiddish, came from the ‘Menorat HaMaor,’ with ‘Nufat Tzofim,’ and from the other side, ‘Creations’ such as ‘Tzentura Ventura,’ and all manner of ‘Old-wives' tales.’ ‘Kol Mevaser,’ at the outset, awakened an interest in them for a more modern type of reading material.

Third, ‘Kol Mevaser’ modernized the Yiddish language. Since Zederbaum himself did not think much of Yiddish and its ultimate fate, he personally did not willingly contribute to enrich the Yiddish language, he personally invested considerable energy to create a standard Yiddish orthography, despite the fact that he himself didn't always abide by it.

At the bottom line, ‘Kol Mevaser’ laid the foundation for the new, modern Yiddish literature, through the smaller and larger talents that were elicited through it, in the various avenues of the art of the written word.

From Zalman Reisen's ‘Lexicon of the Yiddish Press and Philology’ (Volume III pp. 235-350), we excerpt only a small number of biographical details, which were not mentioned by Sh. L. Citron.

Alexander Zederbaum was born on 3 Ellul 1816 and died on 26 Ellul 1893. He was married in Lublin at the age of 19.

During the last years of his life, he directed only ‘HaMelitz,’ But his accomplishments on behalf of the Yiddish press, literature and language remain historic, even though they have not been completely evaluated yet.

At every opportunity, Zederbaum sought to popularize Yiddish literature in his newspapers, making his first impression on his fellow townsman, Shlomo Ettinger, on his Odessa friend, Israel Oxenfeld….he was also the founder of Yiddish criticism, truly in the most primitive form of the word…

Showing superhuman energy and capacity for work, in his role as an editor and community activist, he founded a monthly Hebrew journal called ‘HaMetzapeh’ (1885), after the failure of the Russian, ‘Vestnik’ which was published together with Goldenblum in a weekly ‘Razviet’ (In Russian – 1879-1883, under the actual direction of G. Bogrov, M. Warshawsky, N. Minsky, M. Kulisher, Y. L. Rosenfeld)….

His older son, Joseph Zederbaum was the progenitor of the well-known Russian Social-Democrats Martov, Yezhov, Levitsky….

Professor Simon Dubnow, in his “From Jargon to Yiddish” published in Vilna, Verlag B. Kletzkin, 1929, relates a series of details from his meetings with A. Zederbaum. From the chapter, “The Yiddish ‘Volksblatt,’ in Petersburg,” we extract the following fragment:

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On a hot summer day of the year 1881, in Petersburg, the current editor of ‘Razviet,’ Mark Warshawsky, called and said: “Zederbaum, the editor of ‘HaMelitz,’ wants to publish a periodical in ‘Jargon’ (the word ‘Yiddish’ was not yet being used) for the Jewish masses, and he asks that ‘Razviet’ should support his plan. Perhaps you can prepare an article about the significance of such a paper for the masses? If yes, please approach the Old Man, and obtain from him the appropriate ideas about his plans and possibilities.”

I went to see Zederbaum in his large house on the Litani Prospekt. An old, slightly hunchbacked Jew met me: that is the ‘Cedar,’ Erez (his literary pseudonym), whom I envisioned in my childhood fantasies, when I read ‘HaMelitz,’ as a sort of Samson-like hero of our literature. In a bad Russian (to speak Yiddish between two Maskilim at that time was considered ‘shocking’) he began to tell me the entire story of his first Yiddish newspaper, ‘Kol Mevaser,’ which he had published in Odessa in the 1860's, a supplement to ‘HaMelitz.’ For a couple of hours in a row, he told of how much trouble he had to put up with, from the Russian censor, in both of his newspapers, how he managed to draw in the young Abramovich into ‘Kol Mevaser,’ – Mendele Mokher Sforim – and yet other writers of that time, and the disputes that he had with his co-workers – Gotlober, Lilienblum and the like. Now, I will create yet another newspaper in Jargon, in order to spread the Enlightenment among the masses. ‘HaMelitz,’ and ‘Razviet’ are for the Maskilim, and the new intelligentsia, and a Volksblatt written in Jargon – for the uneducated Jews, who do not understand either Hebrew or Russian, and in this manner, he boasted that only he could have gotten the permission from the government for a newspaper in Jargon, because he is somewhat ‘connected,’ being close to men of considerable power in the ministry. In Petersburg it was known that Zederbaum was, indeed, someone who could get results in these matters, because he was able to enter the ‘corridors of power,’ even through the back door.

I have already forgotten many of the details of that conversation with Zederbaum, but I do remember an overall general impression: For me, where the conversation already had moved on from elementary Enlightenment [issues] to European world problems, a portrait was revealed about the netherworld of literature that cast a pall on my poetic presentations about that Hebrew Enlightenment-literature, which in prior times had shone for me like a bright sun. In Zederbaum I saw more of a businessman in literature rather than a genuine literary figure himself. His plan for a newspaper in Jargon appealed to me. All of us, young and old alike, looked down on [the use of] Jargon in literature. That is: we, the educated, were creating a literature for ourselves in the language of our country, in Russian, which must become the language of our destiny, and in part also Hebrew – the language of our past. But the poor, unlettered classes, to be pitied, also need a vehicle by which they can educate themselves and lift themselves to our level – and for them, it is necessary to create an effective literature in their language, in Jargon, until such time that they will be privileged to speak and read in Russian.

In the previously mentioned article that I wrote for ‘Razviet,’ under the tile, ‘A Yiddish Newspaper for the Masses,’ I also took the same position, but with a strong shift toward democracy. I demonstrated what a powerful force for education lies in a living national language for millions of Jews, and what a great shortcoming our Maskilim made, who up till now had nullified this power, or used Jargon in literature only for purposes of making a joke or for foolish anecdotes. Now, at the time of a frightful political crisis in the life of the people, after the new pogroms, which just now have touched the larger Jewish masses, and precipitated the extensive emigration, a newspaper must be created which will be a beacon for them to follow.

And so, in the fall of 1871, ‘Dos Yiddishe Volksblatt’ began to appear weekly in Petersburg, and existed until 1890. Spector and Sholom Aleichem printed their first works there; My Petersburg friend, Frug, had his beautiful humorous poems written there, who in those years had a reputation as one of the best Russian writers.

To this day, Alexander Zederbaum remains an object for research. In the year 1954, in the book by N. B. Minkov, “Six Yiddish Critics,” which appeared in Argentina in Verlag ‘Yidbukh,’ the first chapter is indeed dedicated to Alexander Zederbaum, where he is indeed portrayed as the pioneer of Yiddish literary criticism; we present the following excerpt from this book:

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… No matter how we choose to interpret Zederbaum's relationship to Yiddish, one thing is clear – to him, the arch-intermediator, Yiddish was not more than a means. The central point to him was ‘to attain the goal.’ And the goal was: improving the lot of the Jewish people. In the heat of the moment, he attempted to help with his own personal effort. But even more, it was possible to help through education. Education was the central issue. And if it was necessary to educate the people by using ‘Jargon,’ then he must also develop ‘Jargon’ itself. He must vest it with everything that a person requires in order to ‘develop taste,’ and in order for him to be able to fell his ‘obligations as a citizen.’It is necessary to have this also in order to demonstrate the ‘lofty objectives,’ to the regime.

It is for this reason that the unusually energetic Zederbaum promulgated a standard orthography. He sought to create a ‘formalized’ language. He was the first to raise the problems of orthography, grammar and dialects. He created the public and journalistic styles, without any tradition to draw on. An important chapter in Yiddish literature is his [capacity to] attract Yiddish writers to the press, and awakening new talents. Among his ‘News Items,’ which he introduced, there was also a section called ‘Yiddish Bibliography.’ This section was prepared, apparently without help. However, taken in historical context, it is the foundation of the later modern Yiddish literary criticism, if one does not take into account Zederbaum's obituary about Israel Axenfeld (‘Kol Mevaser,’ Number 26, 1866).

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The author presents an eight page bibliography of references in Hebrew, Yiddish, English and Russian. The interested reader is referred to the original text for details.

Yaakov Eichenbaum

Yaakov Eichenbaum, one of the first members of the Haskala Movement in Russia, Is recalled in the work of Dr. Yaakov Shatzky about the Haskala in Zamość, and in the work of Dr. Max Weinreich about Shlomo Ettinger, as well as in other works in our Pinkas. Once again, we provide the biographical details about Eichenbaum, taken from Gershom Bader's “Medina VeKhakhameha,” The reproduction of Eichenbaum's handwriting comes from the same source.

Facsimile of Yaakov Eichenbaum's Dedication of Friendship to his friend in Odessa

He was among the first who made an effort to disseminate the Enlightenment in the south of Russia. A poet who excelled in his wonderful feelings, and a mathematician, who nourished himself from all well springs of knowledge, and in his last years, was a teacher an inspector in the government Teachers' Seminary in Zhitomir.

His father (Moshe Gelber) wanted to have him educated as a Rabbi. His father was thoroughly grounded in all the calculations having to do with holidays, the geometric calculations of an Eruv and a Mikva, and studied these matters with his son, even when his son was still a child. When the young boy was 8 years old, he was already well-known in the entire vicinity for his quickness in absorbing material and his knowledge ability.

One of the extremely wealthy men, at that time, stealthily took him from his father's house, and took him into his own house, in order to raise him and have him become his son-in-law. The father-in-law saw, however, that Eichenbaum learned German really well, and occupies himself entirely with mathematical sciences, and dissipates the time to be spent studying Torah, and as a result, he force him to divorce his wife [sic: the man's daughter].

His father then married him off in Zamość, which during the years 1772 to 1851 was under the hegemony of Austria. This circumstance contributed to the fact that the city became an entrepôt for merchants from the west, going to the east; a city of scholars and Maskilim. There, Yaakov learned foreign languages, and [obtained] an understanding of the Tanakh based on biblical research.

When the city was incorporated into Poland, and the Russian regime demanded that the Jews present their documents in order to establish their right to live in Zamość, Yaakov was forced to make use of a forged document, and change his family name from Gelber to Eichenbaum. He became a Russian citizen.

When he began to look for a way to make a living, he became a [private] teacher in the homes of the wealthy, who were more than eager to turn over their children to be educated, because of the very substantial reputation that he enjoyed as a Maskil. After this, he moves to the south of Russia, first to Uman, and from there to Mohilev, and from Mohilev to Odessa.^[1]

In those days, he came across the works of Euclid in German, and seeing how the book was difficult for him to understand, he translated it for his own use into Hebrew. This translation permitted him to delve into the work, and understand it. This translation marks the beginning of his literary activity, even though this book remained only in handwritten form.

In the year 5504 (1844) his name and capability became known to the Russian regime, and it appointed him as an overseer in the Jewish government school in Kishinev, and in the year 5510 (1850) he was appointed as the inspector and teacher in the Teachers Seminary in Zhitomir. He fell ill there. He then traveled to Kiev for medical treatment, and died there.

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His first poems were published in the collection ‘Zion,’ which was edited by Just and Kreitznakh; In Fin's ‘Pirkhei Zion,’ in ‘HaMelitz,’ and in ‘HaCarmel.’ Part of his poetry are collected in the folio, ‘Kol Zimra’ (Leipzig 1836), in the Folio ‘HaKesem’ (which is a visionary epic-poem, published in the first anniversary edition of ‘HaMelitz’ and later in a separate folio in Odessa in 1861). His poetic skills are especially evident on his book, ‘HaKrav,’ a poetic book about the strategy of the game of chess (London 1840, Lemberg 1860). This specific book was translated into Russian by Joseph Rabinovich and was published together with the Hebrew original (Odessa 1847 and Lemberg 1874). He also wrote a book on mathematics, ‘Khokhmat HaShiurim,’ written in French (Warsaw 1857) and an essay in the first volume of ‘Kerem Khemed.’

Translator's Footnote:

1. All of these cities are in modern-day Ukraine. Return

[Page 194]

Yaakov Reifman

When we stand at the ‘border between eras,’ in the period of the Enlightenment, between the Zamość of [traditional] Rabbinic scholarship and the new, modern era, it is not possible to ignore or not to mention the personality of Yaakov Reifman, who has a substantial connection to Zamość and is recalled by all those who write about those times.

Reifman is mentioned in our Pinkas, in a number of works in an incidental and peripheral way. It is clear that this is not sufficient. We cannot provide a sufficiently thorough study of Reifman's life and creativity, characterizing his work, because this is best left for a specialized piece of work. Here, we again bring a variety of excerpts that have an essential relationship to his biography, which to all intents and purposes should not be omitted from our Pinkas.

In the third volume of ‘Knesset Israel,’ which appeared in Warsaw (Edited by Shaul-Pinhas Rabinovich, שפ”ר 1896-1988) there is an autobiography sent in by Reifman himself. He very likely supplied this biography at the request of the editor. We present this autobiography here, once again, leaving out many parts, which are full of a great deal of commentary.

Initial chapters of my story, which I have written down, so that it may remain as a memorial for all generations to come.

I was born on Rosh Chodesh Nissan of 5578 (1818)^[1] in the village of Logów which is three versts from the city of Opatów which is in the District of Radom, in the land of Poland. The name of my father, ז”ל, was Zvi Hirsch and my mother, ז”ל, Rachel. My father was born in the previously mentioned Opatów and my mother in a second village, whose name I no longer remember. Both my father and mother were descended from distinguished families, Torah scholars, God-fearing people, suffused with wisdom, who exerted themselves to direct their children onto the same path… I can remember more than one instance, when I was still a child, how my mother would take me out of bed in the middle of the night and in the black of the night she would lead me to the Bet HaMedrash to learn Torah there from the mouth of my teacher. She would do this in the most intense and unbearable cold, not heeding the fact that she was not well-dressed [against the weather], not missing the act of taking me to learn. My father worked with a heavy sweat for very little income, which was inadequate for a living, but nevertheless he paid my tuition fees.

My father could learn, and had a knowledge in the Torah and tradition. My mother knew nothing, but a fear of Heaven satisfied her, and she knew how to avoid falling into doing the wrong thing.

When my parents lived in the village of Logów, despite the fact that they were not wealthy, we didn't lack for anything. My father was a scribe for someone, and this position brought in enough for our needs… but when I was 4 years old, our blessing turned to a curse, and pleasure to pain. God poured out his wrath upon us, a fire broke out in our house, which destroyed everything, we were left without so much as a thread or a shoelace.

We were forced to leave the village, and we settled in Opatów, the place of my father's birth. There, my father took up teaching. This was the source of anger and bitterness from which we had to derive our livelihood… until he died.

There is no pen with which one can describe our need and deprivation in that time. And from that time on, when I began to imbibe the galling cup of deprivation and tribulation to my fill, it has not ceased until this day; it is only intermittently that God eases my burden, and benefits me with a new insight in Torah and wisdom…

Until I was 6 years old, I studied with my father, [learning] the alphabet, Tanakh, Mishnah, and Gemara. Studying the alphabet, so as to recognize the letters and vowels, and to be able to read words took me one week to learn. It penetrated my bones like a good oil.

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From 6 to 15 I studied Talmud and Pesukim with the Dayanim of the city, one of whom was called ‘Rabbi Meir Harif^[2]….’

After the age of fifteen, I ceased studying with others. I began to drink from the waters of my own brook. I left the path of casuistry and hairsplitting. I exerted myself to understand every issue in a straightforward and simple manner, getting to the root of the matter.

For a half year, I pursued this path, and the path of logic became clear to me, even though I had never heard that word used with my own ears. I went off on the road to free research, exerted myself to understand everything in terms of simple linear thought, and praise be to God that he helped me find such truths through this method of investigation, which had previously been unknown to me.

In Opatów there was nothing of the philosophical works of our scholars, apart from the commentaries of the Ralbag^[3] on the Tanakh…. Indeed, I studied those with relish…until the time when God selected for me as a wife, the daughter of the beloved sage, Out Teacher, Rabbi Joseph Maimon^[4] of Szczebrzeszyn, and I found the book, ‘Moreh Nevukhim,’ by the Rambam in his possession. Like a starving man, who rushes to eat, that is the way I began to absorb this profound book, until I fully assimilated it into the innermost reaches of my heart. Later on, books came to my hand such as ‘Belief and Thought’ by R. Saadia Gaon; the ‘Sefer HaKuzari’ by Yehuda HaLevi; ‘Sefer Ekrim,’ by R. Joseph Albo, and the ‘Sefer Milkhamot Adonai,’ by the Ralbag. I began to study them and with all my might I exerted myself to access and understand their words.

After this, I learned German very well, and began to look into the studies of the German philosophers, and my heart became strongly bound up with the study of philosophy. I also did not hold my hand back from poetry, and at various opportunity, wrote poems in Hebrew and Aramaic, with very lofty forms of expression and lofty ideas – true, without the disciplines of rhythm and rhyme, as was the style of all poetic creations in our holy tongue; I also wrote a whole set of fables…

I began to carry on a correspondence with the leading figures of the generation from Szczebrzeszyn: Rapaport, Geiger, Just, Rgeiv, Luzzato, Frist, Khayot, Steinheim…. Gorodny…Kirchheim, Zachs, Goldberg…Wiezner, and others…In Opatów, my activity consisted of only talk and feelings from the heart, but not in writing, I had not written a single word in a book. Coming to Szczebrzeszyn, I began to hold a pen i my hand, and really began to write. There, I really put myself into the explanation of our holy tongue. And the first portion of my commentaries on this language I assembled in the folio that was titled, ‘Igeret Tosiah Umezima.’ I hope that God will help me to have it published in the open and the reader will be able to see that also my initial labors in Hebrew commentary was not minor.

My intellectual guideposts are:

1. I always strive to be original in every thing; I exert myself not to copy or imitate. I enjoy reading works by writers that are original (by using the Hebrew root-word ‘makor,’ he encompasses the word urgeister, originalen. – Ed). And also creators of new directions. This has brought me to write an essay by the name, ‘Teudat Yisrael,’ which is meant

to clarify the support of the people of Israel. This work has to be original, both from an intellectual and from a substantive sense.
2. Out of a sense of distaste, I do not tolerate duplicity and hypocrisy. (By way of explanation, he uses the words, verheimlichung, verstellung, sich anders stellen als man denkt. – Ed.). [One should] Not say one thing, and think otherwise; not to conceal enmity with so-called friendliness; not flattering the ‘powers that be;’ benefitting from hypocrites. That is why I tend to form friendships with the young rather than the old, because the hearts of the young are still free of falseness, not yet spoiled, and not yet ensnared in the net of those who corrupt.
3. I love being alone, where there is not a living soul. It is very seldom that the demand is made for me to be in the presence of friends, and a gathering of good brethren.
4. My love for mankind is stronger than death… I do better to draw close to a small, insignificant, but decent person, rather than to the rich and powerful, and those who, so to speak, are sensible. I detest people who earn the hatred of others, especially those who on the outside show themselves to be friends, but inside, is a stranger and an enemy…
5. I love everything rooted in basics, understanding thing from the ground up.
6. I love research of medieval things and criticism; for me this is literally a game, when I literally exhaust myself in studying very lofty issues.

1. ‘Tavnit HaBayit’ (Volkova 5604 [1844]); It contains questions and answers regarding issues in the Talmud. It is part of my large treatise, ‘Beit Yaakov.’
2. ‘Pshar Davar’ (Warsaw 5619 [1859]); Contains interpretations of 22 Agadot [Historical Parables] using the critical approach.
3. ‘Toledot Rabbeinu Zerakhia Baal Maor’ (Prague 5613 [1853]); This book has been used by the leading German educators, such as Graetz, Neiger and their like.
4. ‘Kol Mevaser’ (Prague 5609 [181849]); An announcement about the objective of my large treatise, ‘Hilkhot Gedolot.’
5. ‘Khut HaMeshulash’ (Prague 5619 [1859]); Consists of 3 different issues: A) About the knowledge of the Talmudists and writers of commentaries in foreign languages; B) The history of Jewish fables; C) Remarks about the book, ‘Sefer Peninim;’ There is a letter at the end of my book ‘Mishloakh Manot’ about this book, which was written to me by Professor Franz Delitch;
6. ‘Arba'ah Kharashim’ (Prague, 5620 [1820]); Deals with the four books A) Ben Sira; B) Sefer Hassidim; C) Sefer HaTefilah; D) Shealtot LeR' Akhai Gaon;
7. ‘Mishloakh Manot’ (Prague 5620 [1820]); Contains two scientific gifts that I sent on Purim, one in the year 5619 and the second in the year 5620 to the great man, who is well-known in all corners of the world, Our Teacher, R' Abraham Albert Cohen, ז”ל in Paris. Regarding the second gift, the commentary, ‘Ner Shabbat,’ my friend the wise and great Rabbi, Raphael Kirchheim wrote the following words to me: In order to ease your soul, let me let you know that your commentary, ‘Ner Shabbat,’ was quoted and repeatedly re-read this week through the mouth of the great and wise Rabbi Abraham Geiger, in the sermon that he gave in the evening all week in the Great House, which is filled to overflowing with men and women, Christians and Jews, who come to hear lectures about Jewish Law and about the various Jewish sects. That is what he wrote.

8. ‘Moadei Erev’ (Vilna, 5628 [1868]); A collection of a variety of research subjects, that I lectured on during my Sabbath-to-Sabbath discussions before the elected youth of the young people of Zamość.
9. ‘Teudat Yisrael’ (Berlin, 5628 [1868]); Previously mentioned;
10. ‘Kan Tzippor’ (Berlin, 5630 [1830]); A parable written in the style of Aesop… It is a high-minded poem. At the end there is a letter about this poem from the leaders of the Hevra, ‘Kol Yisrael Haverim,’ and the great scholar Dr. Kohut, the author of ‘HeArukh HaShalem,’ translated the introduction of the poem into German and had it printed in a German periodical, which appears in Breslau and received considerable praise there;
11. The first chapter of the 11 that appear in my book, ‘Imrot Yaakov,’ (Eitkhunen, 5633 [1873]). This chapter is titles, ‘What's your problem, sleeper’; It awakens and refreshes a person from his nap to work for knowledge, and it is written in a very fine style;
12. ‘Sdei Aram’ (Berlin, 5635 (1875]), which is comprised of a series of studies regarding Targum Onkelos [sic: The Aramaic translation of the Pentateuch].
13. ‘Or Boker’ (Berlin, 5637 [1877]), which illuminates the method of critique in three chapters, and is full of new things like a pomegranate.
14. ‘Minkhat Zikaron’ (Breslau, 5641 [1881]); Printed as a presentation by the learned Rabbi Dr. Marcus Greenwald, it contains new interpretations of hundreds of lectures about our Holy Writ, in the style of ‘Derekh Ketzarah’ [sic: the short way] containing the 32 precepts of Rabi Eliezer ben R' Yosi HaGlilli.
15. ‘Khovat HaAv LiVno’ (St. Petersburg, 5642 [1882]), which takes up the six obligations that a father has to his son, about their roots and their offshoots, and also how they are discharged. I created this for one of my students at the time that he had a firstborn son.

In the bibliography, I have uncovered many new things that had not been known to me, and of these, I will mention (as a way of setting them doown) that the interpretation of the Book of Proverbs, which is written to the רב”א [Acronym for Ibn Ezra] is not his, but written by Rabbi Moshe Kamhi, the brother of the רד”ק….Look in ‘Literaturblatt dem Orient,’ 1841, No 48.

In the year 5641 (1881) the nobleman and righteous individual, Our Teacher R' Moses Montefiore, of blessed memory, honored me with an expensive gift as follows: a large pure silver goblet, with a personally written letter from him, which says the following:

With God's help, Ramsgate, Monday, Parshat Khayei-Sarah, 5641 (1881) full of blessings….Yaakov Reifman…Szczebrzeszyn.

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Please accept this silver goblet as a gift of eternal memory, that should bear witness of my desire for his marvelous books. I have placed them in Ohel Moshe V'Yehudis, in order that they may illuminate the eyes of those who come to slake the thirst for Torah and wisdom. May God bless you and give you strength and peace. And when you raise this goblet with wine to make Kiddush – on the Sabbath and the festivals – may you bring to mind for good, your loyal supporter, who prays for the good of his people.

In my entire life, my mouth did not fill with laughter as much as it did on that day, when the present from this previously mentioned nobleman came to me, and then, when a boon came to me from my friend, the great erudite Teacher, Rabbi Abraham-Chaim Wagna, of Amsterdam, a full box of precious books, whose value was greater than diamonds. Only these two days were happy days in my life on this earth. All the other days were [days of] sadness, and heartache, each in its measure…

In place of garnering riches and world recognition, God blessed me with a son full of beauty, a man of great erudition in Talmud and commentators, the Original Scholars [Rishonim] and Latter-day Scholars [Akharonim]… he is today a teacher-director in Lublin and is renown in his knowledge and piety. His name is Nathan. Apart from him I have nobody, not a son or a daughter, just he alone represents my attainment in this world, only in him do I see my happiness.

The remainder of my life's history, their course will be described in a separate folio. Here and now, I do not have the possibility to enumerate them, both because of considerable work I have, and the current tumult and disorder in my home. However, in order to respond to the requests of my brethren-friends and to be responsive to their demand, I want to inform you about a portion of the titles of many books that are still not available, and are yet to be published:

1. ‘Levana Zakah.’ This book will clarify and explain two previous books, both having the name, ‘Erukh.’ These are: 1) ‘Erukh’ on the words of the Torah, which was written to R' Netanel ben R' Yekhiel the Italian, and 2) ‘Erukh’ on the words of the Torah, by Rabbi Shlomo Pirkhon, the Sephardi.The place in the sentences will be identified ( in the first ‘Erukh’ there are sentences which are not well-known by most) and the commentaries of the Raza”l, which are cited there; lists will also be given of the names of the sages and the books and other important issues, with the required remarks…
2. ‘HeAruga HaShniya’ (the second ‘weaving’) of the book, ‘Sdeh Aram,’ and this is the content: there are a variety of studies there about the Targum of the Prophets, which are written to Jonathan ben Uzziel. This is arranged in five chapters: 1) Who created it (The Targum). Here we give a precise clarification, that the Targum that we have of the Prophets, is the work of Rabbi Joseph the Amorite, and the Jerusalem Targum of the Prophets, which is presented in many of the earlier books, is by Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel. Also, all of the remarks of the Haza”l are clarified, that refer to this. 2) The way in which it was written by those who wrote it (The Targum), and it is full of new things, like a pomegranate; 3) The objective of the Targum; about the translation (of Targum)…of our Talmud authorities and Scholarly authorities as well as that of the Gaonim, Rabbis, Medakdekim…4) A lengthy essay about the methods of Rabbi Abraham Ibn Ezra in making use of this Targum;^[5]) Sh”as (360) observations about the Targum.
3. ‘Dvar Esther,’ Consists of remarks and clarifications of both translations of the Book of Esther and compiles poems about the book from the alphabet and Tashra”k, that are known. This is a precious discovery, which heretofore had been hidden for the sight of men…
4. ‘Baal Brit Abraham,’ consists of remarks, clarifications and emendations to the commentaries of R' Abraham Ibn Ezra….
5. ‘Shemen LaMaor,’ Sheds a bright light on the entire commentary on the Mishnah by Maimonides, which is called, Maor….
6. ‘Prozdor,’ collects a variety of research about all of the philosophical books of our Sages; the first volume of the book, ‘Milat Higayon,’ which is added to the works of Maimonides, has already appeared in the periodical ‘Otzar Tov.’

7. ‘Khayker Mitzva,’ is concerned with the study of the mitzvahs involving God, reasons out their limits, gives the content and basis…. it is a large and broad book, which is not yet entirely completed….

Up to this point, the biographical details are supplied by Reifman himself. The editor of ‘HaMelitz,’ Shaul Pinchas Rabinovich (שפ”ר), supplements them by writing:

This then, is the story of the wondrous scholar, Toledot Yaakov, the simple man, who sits in the shadow of the Torah, from his youngest years to his deepest old age. From his mouth, one does not hear his struggle for a livelihood, and his poverty of satisfaction, only the spiritual interests of a Jew; he occupies himself with his feelings and thoughts. For sixty years, he has lived in an outlying little town, far from the wider, larger world, and in the quiet, he toiled in and searched through the esoterica in the spiritual archives of our people…

The editor makes an appeal that everything should be done to relieve this old man and scholar of his worries, that he should be helped in his old age, and given the capacity to be able to publish his important books.

He ends this appeal with an excerpt from the Hebrew Poet Y. L. Gordon:

Wherever I choose to turn, I see your spirit
Who searches in the room of the Torah, with a sputtering candle,

But I have not forgotten you, brother, and who could possibly forget you?
How many Yaakov Reifmans are to be found in the marketplace?!

Yehuda Brandwein

Text of the Recommendation Letter in Yaakov Reifman's Handwriting

Yehuda Brandwein, born in Zamość, is – according to what his son said – was very close to I. L. Peretz, and when Peretz practiced as a lawyer, he worked for him, helping him to copy specific documents in a calligraphic manner – because he had a clean and pure penmanship.

This letter was given by Reifman in the year 5653 (1893) (two years before his death in 1895). Yehuda Brandwein, had by that time, planned to move to Argentina. Part of his friends, had already emigrated to that land already, which became famous as a place for Jewish residents, thanks to Baron Hirsch's colonization projects. However, the trip did not materialize.

Yehuda Brandwein first left Zamość for Germany in 1908; First, he lived in Weimar (Mecklenburg) and later in Greisfeld (Pomerania), where he died in the year 1923.

In the year 1936, when Joseph Brandwein had already left Germany, then already under Nazi rule, he found this recommendation letter from Yaakov Reifman among other documents. He donated this document to YIVO in Argentina.

[Page 200]

The introduction of the document is a recommendation for Yehuda Brandwein from Zamość, in the Lublin Province, who up to two years prior, had still been wealthy, having money, and belonging to the town elite, and who suffered a sudden tragedy, and he lost his entire fortune and livelihood. He can write Hebrew, Polish, Russian, and keep a set of [accounting] books. He, Reifman, therefore requests that Jews all over should help him, taking him into their businesses, because he is a special person, valuable and honest…

Under this recommendation letter, there is yet another lengthy circular stamp where in the top half are the words: ‘Titayn Emet LeYaakov;’ 5 In the first part, Szczebrzeszyn in the bottom part, and in the middle: Yaakov Reifman.

It is interesting that when he signed himself, he would use a double ‘nun’ while the stamp has a single ‘nun.’

Translator's Footnotes:

1. The text gives an erroneous translation as 1718. Return
1. This appears to refer to Rabbi Meir APTA (1760-1831) of Opatów, the author of Ohev Yisrael, and a leading Hasidic figure of the times. Return
1. Levi ben Gershon (1288––1344), also called Gersonides. Jewish philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, called also Ralba”g, from the initials of his Hebrew name, b. Languedoc. He wrote scientific works and commentaries on Averroës and the Torah. His Milkhamot Adonai [the wars of the Lord] is an elaborate treatise modeled after the Moreh Nevukhim of Maimonides. It is mainly a systematic criticism of the syncretism of Maimonides. His scientific views remained influential into the 19^th cent. Return
1. This spelling follows the transliteration of the Rambam's father. In time, this became transmuted into the Polish Majman, and hence the American equivalent: Maiman. Return
1. Hebrew, for: ‘And you shall give the truth to Yaakov.’ Return

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