Mendele Mocher Sforim
Mendele Mocher Sforim (
Youth
Mendele was born to a poor
Mendele traveled extensively around Belarus, Ukraine and Lithuania at the mercy of an abusive beggar named Avreml Khromoy (Russian for "Avreml the Lame"); Avreml would later become the source for the title character of Fishke der Krumer (Fishke the Lame). In 1854, Mendele settled in Kamianets-Podilskyi, where he got to know writer and poet Avrom Ber Gotlober, who helped him to understand secular culture, philosophy, literature, history, Russian and other languages.
Early work
Mendele's first article, "Letter on Education", appeared in 1857, in the first Hebrew newspaper,
Grandfather of Yiddish literature
Mendele initially wrote in Hebrew, coining many words in that language, but ultimately switched to Yiddish in order to expand his audience. Like Sholem Aleichem, he used a pseudonym because of the perception at the time that as a ghetto vernacular, Yiddish was not suited to serious literary work — an idea he did much to dispel. His writing strongly bore the mark of the Haskalah. He is considered by many to be the "grandfather of Yiddish literature", an epithet first accorded to him by Sholem Aleichem, in the dedication to his novel Stempenyu: A Jewish Novel.[2] Mendele's style in both Hebrew and Yiddish has strongly influenced several generations of later writers.
While the tradition of journalism in Yiddish had a bit more of a history than in Hebrew, Kol Mevasser, which he supported from the outset and where he published his first Yiddish story, Dos kleyne Mentshele, 'The Little Man', in 1863, is generally seen as the first stable and important Yiddish newspaper.[3]
Ideology and later work
His later work became more humane and less satiric, starting with פישקע דער קרומער, Fishke der Krumer[5] (Fishke the Lame; written 1868-1888) – which was adapted as a film of the same title in 1939 (known in English as The Light Ahead[6]) – and continuing with the unfinished The Travels of Benjamin III (מסעות בנימין השלישי, Masoes Benyomin Hashlishi, 1878), something of a Jewish Don Quixote. (The title is a reference to the well-known travel book of the Medieval Spanish-Jewish traveller Benjamin of Tudela.) In 1938, this work was adapted by Hermann Sinsheimer as a play for the Jüdischer Kulturbund in Germany, and performed there shortly after Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), in November of that year.[citation needed]
As with Fishke, Mendele worked on and off for decades on his long novel Dos Vinshfingeril (The Wishing Ring, 1865–1889), with at least two versions preceding the final one. It is the story of a
Works
- Limdu hetev (Learn to Do Good, 1862-)[a].[7]
- דאס קליינע מענטשעלע, Dos kleyne mentshele, 1864
- drama Di Takse (The Tax, 1869)
- Di Klatshe (The Nag, 1873)
- פישקע דער קרומער, Fishke der Krumer[8] (Fishke the Lame; written 1868-1888)
- Beémek Habakhá ("In the Vale of Tears"): Yiddish title: "Dos vintshfingerl"[9] ("The Wishing Ring", 1865–1889)[10]
- The Travels of Benjamin III (מסעות בנימין השלישי, Masoes Benyomin Hashlishi, 1878)
- "The Burned-Out" ("Ha-nisforim, 1896)[11]
- autobiographical Shloyme Reb Khayims: A bild fun yídishn lebn in der Líte ("Shloyme, son of Reb Khayim: An Image of the Yiddish Life in Lithuania"; never completed; 1899–1912)[12]
- “BeSeter ra'am” (Hebrew: בסתר רעם, In the Secret Place of Thunder; 1886–1887)[b]
- “Shem va-Yefet ba-‘agalah” (Shem and Japheth in the Train Compartment; 1890),
- “Lo naḥat be-Ya‘akov” (There Is No Good in Jacob; 1892),
- “Bi-Yeme ha-ra‘ash” (In Days of Tumult; 1894)
- “Bi-Yeshivah shel ma‘alah uvi-yeshivah shel mata” (In the Heavenly Assembly and the Earthly One; 1894–1895)
Notes
- ^ Limdu Hetev, or Learn to Do Well, full title: Hebrew: למדו היטב: הוא ספור אהבים. "Limdu Hetev" is a biblical allusion: למדו היטב דרשׁו משׁפט אשׁרו חמוץ שׁפטו יתום ריבו אלמנה "Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged; Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow." – Isaiah 1:17
- ^ "Beseter ra'am" is a allusion to an expression in Psalms 81:7 [13] variously translated as "in the secret place of thunder", "hidden in thunder", etc.
References
- ^ Stillman, Gerald (1991). "Introduction: A Summary of Mendele's Life, Work, and Times", in: Selected Works of Mendele Moykher-Sforim, edited by Marvin S. Zuckerman, Stillman, and Marion Herbst. Vol. 1 of the series "The Three Great Classic Writers of Modern Yiddish Literature". Joseph Simon/Pangloss Press.
- ISBN 9780520201934.
- ^ Liptzin, Sol (1963). The Flowering of Yiddish Literature. New York: Thomas Yoseloff. p. 23.
- ^ Liptzin, Sol (1972). A History of Yiddish Literature. Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers. p. 42.
- ^ Fishke der Krumer
- ^ The Light Ahead (Fishke der Krumer)
- ^ Mikhail Krutikov BERDICHEV IN RUSSIAN-JEWISH LITERACY IMAGINATION:From Israel Aksenfeld to Friedrich Gorenshteyn
- ^ Fishke der Krumer
- ^ "Dos vintshfingerl"
- ^ "The Wishing Ring"
- ^ Alan Mintz, Viva Voce: Vicissitudes of the Spoken Word in Hebrew Literature
- ^ Shlomo R. Haim's. A picture of Jewish life in Lithuania, 1901 version (free reading)
- ^ Psalms 81:7
Further reading
- ISBN 0-8246-0124-6, especially 40-45.
- YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe
- Dan Miron, A Traveler Disguised. The Rise of Modern Yiddish Fiction in the Nineteenth Century, 1996
- Aron Gurshtein , Избранные статьи. М.: Советский писатель, 1959.; "Наследие Менделе" ("Mendele's Heritage"): starting from p. 248
External links
- Works by or about Mendele Mocher Sforim at Internet Archive
- Works by Mendele Mocher Sforim at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
- Mendele Moykher-Sforim at Maison de la culture Yiddish-Bibliothèque Medem.
- Literature by and about Mendele Mocher Sforim in University Library JCS Frankfurt am Main: Digital Collections Judaica