Edward Sperling

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A young Edward Sperling, 1911

Edward J Sperling (1889 – July 22, 1946), born Ezra Sperling, was a 20th-century writer, humourist, and

Zionist
.

Early life

Ezra Sperling was born in 1889 in a

Sioux City, Iowa
. As a boy – and throughout his life – Edward was described as quiet, gentle, and fairly introverted, spending most of his time reading or writing. As a result, he took to writing professionally, writing articles for local Jewish newspapers.

World War One and aftermath

After

kibbutzim
.

Writings

While working for the British Mandate, Edward wrote for many newspapers, including the London

pseudonyms
(most notably "Caisson"). His most successful article, which he wrote for the Illustrated News, was entitled "Barrage". Barrage, which was essentially a collection of humorous aphorisms/one-liners, ran from 1937 to April 1946. The humour expressed is often based on the inconveniences of Palestinian (and later, war-time) life.

Excerpts from Barrage:

  • "It is feared that the high cost of hair dyes may cause a serious shortage of blondes in the country."
  • "Military experts, once skeptical, now give great praise to the Soviet Army. Those Russians have shown that they can take towns faster than anybody else can pronounce them".
  • "It is feared that should the python, which escaped the other day from the Tel Aviv Zoo, begin to devour camels, the city will be threatened with a serious meat shortage".

In 1992, Sperling's grandson, David Sperling, compiled a great number of the aphorisms into a book entitled Barrage: Observations from Palestine, 1940 – 1946, which remains as yet unpublished.

Sperling also wrote art criticisms for the Jewish Chronicle and the Palestine Post (the latter which published his last review on the day of his death), using the initials "Th. F.M.".

Death

On July 22, 1946, Edward Sperling died in the King David Hotel bombing. Sperling was preparing to leave Jerusalem to go to Haifa. As he left his government office at the King David Hotel, he was shot at by Irgun men (not knowing he himself was a Zionist). Wounded, he fled back into his office in the hotel. Shortly afterward, the bombs planted by the Irgun men in the hotel went off. He was among the 91 people killed in the bombing. He was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. (See King David Hotel bombing).

References

Tugend, Tom. "A grandson's quest." The Jerusalem Post [Jerusalem] July 22, 1996

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