Benjamin Feigenbaum
Benjamin Feigenbaum | |
---|---|
Mount Carmel Cemetery, New York | |
Occupation |
|
Language | Polish |
Subjects | Socialism, secularism |
Spouse | Mathilda Feigenbaum |
Children | 4 (including William, Henry, Belle Kanin and R. Ganetkin) |
Benjamin Feigenbaum (August 12, 1860 – November 10, 1932) was a
Early life
Benjamin Feigenbaum was born to a prominent Chassidic family in Warsaw, Poland. He went to Yeshivah, but became a free-thinker. According to colleague Israel Joshua Singer, Feigenbaum's "conversion" to secularism happened when his teacher, the Gerer rebbe discovered that Feigenbaum was not wearing tsitsit, a ritual garb. The rebbe beat him as a punishment.[2][3]
After moving to Belgium, he attended his first socialist protest in
Career
London
As a young socialist in 1887, Feigenbaum considered starting a socialist Yiddish newspaper. To his delight, he discovered the newly created London-based
During the Jewish Holiday of Yom Kippur in 1888, Feigenbaum hosted the first public Yom Kippur Ball.[6] In 1889 at another Yom Kippur Ball, Feigenbaum famously declared "If there is a God and if he is Almighty as the clergy claims he is, I give him just two minutes' time to kill me on the spot, so that he may prove his existence!". After two minutes he declared "See! There is no God!". He then announced a location for the workers to eat instead of fasting, as traditionally done during Yom Kippur.[7]
New York
In 1891, Feigenbaum immigrated to
In 1909, Feigenbaum chaired a meeting on whether to strike, held inside the Great Hall of Cooper Union. After hours and multiple speakers cautioned against striking, a Yiddish-speaking shirtwaist worker named Clara Lemlich made her way to the podium and declared "I move that we go on a general strike!" to which the crowd roared enthusiastically. Feigenbaum asked the crowd to take an biblically inspired oath "If I turn traitor to the cause I now pledge, may my hand wither from the arm I now raise",[10] which subsequently led to the largest women's strike in US history.[11]
Police retaliation
Feigenbaum was arrested during a brawl with the police on October 29, 1892, shortly after giving a speech in Philadelphia. He was charged with inciting to riot, assaulting an officer and breaching the peace after allegedly hitting an officer with his cane. He was held on $600 bail.[12]
In
Criticism of Zionism and religion
Feigenbaum was highly critical of Zionism and the usage of biblical scriptures in promoting "socialist spiritualization". In the Yiddish article, 'Materialism in Judaism or Religion and Life' (1896), Feigenbaum criticized using the Bible as "propaganda", noting that if Jeremiah did not know Marx, then it was disingenuous to claim that Marxism is part of a prophetic tradition. In 'Vi Kumt a yid tsu sotsyialismus' (How does a Jew come to socialism?), Feigenbaum wrote "Yes, brothers, socialism is redemption for us, the Jews. Socialism will rescue all the unfortunate people, Jews as well, and give them equal rights... Socialism's victory would spell the only effective defeat of the forces of antisemitism". He further maintained that he met socialist Gentiles who "ridded themselves of antisemitism upon discovering socialism. The enemy is the capitalist, whether Gentile or Jewish; and the Jewish poor are his friend."[15]
Feigenbaum rejected Zionism as utopian and urged Jews to reject the notion of Goles as exile from Palestine. Instead, exile should be understood as the state of persecution, from which socialism can redeem them.[9]
Death
Feigenbaum died on the morning of November 10, 1932, at the
Written works
Authored
- כשר און טרפה [Kosher and Treyf]. New York: The Daily Forward. 1919.
- דיא רעליגיאן און דיא ארבייטער [Religion and the Worker]. New York. 1914.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - כשר און טרפה [Kosher and Treyf]. New York: The Free Thought. 1909.
- מעשי בראשית [Genesis]. New York: Hebrew Publishing Co. 1907.
- פון וואנען שטאמען די היינטיגע אידען?, אדער, אידישע מלוכות אין רוסלאנד און אראביען [Where are Jews from? Or, Jews in Russia and Arabia?]. London: Radical Publishing Company. 1907.
- דער רמב"ם [The Rambam]. New York: International Library Publishing Co. 1903.
- שטיינער וואס פאלען פון הימעל : א פאפולערע ערקלעהרונג וועגען מעטעאריטען, שטערנשנופפען און קאמעטען [Stones that descend from Heaven: A popular exploration of meteorites, strollers and comets]. Warsaw: Progress Publishing House. 1901.
- דארוויניזמוס [Darwinism]. Warsaw: Progress Publishing House. 1901.
- אידישקייט און סאציאליזמוס : אין צוויי טיילען [Judaism and Socialism: Two parts]. Warsaw: Progress Publishing House. 1901.
Translated
- Engels, Friedrich (1918). דיא פאמיליע : אמאל און היינט [The Origin of the Family]. Translated by Feigenbaum. New York: The Daily Forward.
See also
- Yiddish literature
- Yiddishist movement
- History of the socialist movement in the United States
- Jewish views and involvement in US politics
References
- ^ a b "Feigenbaum Dies, Pioneer Socialist; Had been long ill". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 10 November 1932. p. 12. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-3685-2.
- ^ a b Ingall, Carol K. (November 1979). "The Day The Anarchists Came to Town" (PDF). Rhode Island Jewish Historical Notes. 8 (1): 95–97.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78374-356-8.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-5571-6.
- ^ Osorskysays, Michal (2020-09-24). "Vashti | Happy Yom Kippur!". Vashti. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ "The street where God did not strike down Feigenbaum". libcom.org. Archived from the original on 2013-02-10. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ a b "Funeral Services Sunday for Feigenbaum, Socialist Leader | Jewish Telegraphic Agency". www.jta.org. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 2018-07-27.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-299-19463-5.
- Times of Israel. Archivedfrom the original on 2019-05-24. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ Michels, Tony. "Uprising of 20,000 (1909)". Jewish Women's Archive. Archived from the original on 2009-10-23. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
- ^ "Clipping from Pittsburgh Dispatch - Newspapers.com". Pittsburgh Dispatch. October 30, 1892. Retrieved 2018-08-31.
- ISBN 978-1-78374-356-8.
- ^ Foster, Geraldine S. (November 13, 2015). "When 'the Socialist' came to town". The Jewish Voice. Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
- ISBN 978-0-300-22180-0.
External links
- Yiddish Book Center links to published works by Feigenbaum, Benjamin