Mordekhai David Brandstetter (1844−1928) was one of the prominent creators of Hebrew Haskalah literature in its latest phase. His most celebrated contribution is connected with HaShahar, the leading periodical of late Haskalah literature, edited by Peretz Smolenskin between 1869−1884.
Most of the readings of Brandstetter’s writings have focused so far on the dozen short stories and novellas he published in HaShahar. Much less attention has been devoted to the later stage of his literary work that outstretched far beyond that era. This study focuses on those late works, some twelve stories that were written after the publication of Brandstetter’s collected writings in 1891. These stories are still rooted in Galician Jewish life, but they reflect the ambition to adhere to new materials and poetics, following the radical changes in Hebrew literature from the 1880’s onward towards realism, modernism and Zionism.
 

This paper discusses R.A. Braudes’ short stories that were published in the second half of the 1870s, during his three-and-a-half-year residency in Lviv. This was a period of dramatic changes in Haskalah literature, and also a significant period in Braudes’ work when he first attained his status as a novelist. In light of this success, I will explore why Braudes persisted in using the short-story genre, one that was considered trivial and did not earn him the recognition he received for his longer works, and discuss what literary and conceptual possibilities the short story gave him that his novels failed to give.
 

The interface between politics and theology in the discourse of Zionism and Jewish nationalism has occupied writers, historians and literary critics since the end of the nineteenth century, and has received renewed attention recently. This paper analyzes David Frishman’s critique of Hayim Nahman Bialik’s literary work, highlighting Frishman’s anti-Zionist and anti-messianic stance. It then uses Frishman’s critique as a basis for critically examining the contemporary debate over the secularization of modern Hebrew literature.
 

This paper presents the tasks and aims that Nahum Sokolow believed Hebrew literature should have in Jewish life and in the Jewish national movement. Before his official joining the Zionist movement, Sokolow believed that the contribution of Hebrew literature to the formation of Jewish nationalism was more significant than the return of the Jews to their historical territory. This position did not change significantly after his joining the Zionist movement in 1897. In addition the paper evaluates Sokolow’s significant input to the development of the Jewish literary center in Warsaw and a new Hebrew literary style.
 

The article gives a general overview of Hebrew literary life in Warsaw, and provides new perspectives on Hebrew fiction written in and about the city in the period of 1880−1920. The study results from the need to understand Hebrew literature within the inherently multilingual, transnational nature of the Jewish literary activity in the city and is based on a large corpus of Hebrew fictional texts that scholars did not consider earlier. It describes Hebrew literary life in Warsaw, as well as the different ways in which Warsaw’s cityscape and the urban experience are represented in Hebrew stories and novels written between 1880 and 1920.
 

HEBREW LITERARY CENTERS IN INTERWAR POLAND

The article scrutinises various aspects of cultural activities in Hebrew literary centers in interwar Poland (1919–1939). The research is based on Hebrew literary periodicals published in the cities of Warsaw, Krakow, Vilnius and Lviv.
Taking into consideration the common practice of scholars to neglect or ignore both the historical importance and the literary value of the output of diasporic centers, the main goal of the study was to show the internal dynamic of the Polish center. By describing literary initiatives undertaken in various cities, the author demonstrated the spectrum of cultural and literary activities, along with diffe­rences between the centers and mutual relations of their representatives.
 

The image of Poland in the poetry of Uri Zvi Greenberg and Avot Yeshurun

 The article discusses the image of Poland in the works of two Hebrew poets, Uri Zvi Greenberg and Avot Yeshurun, whose biographies are closely connected with Poland. Both of them expressed their complex and often contradictory feelings towards their European past but each of them did it in his own way. Greenberg in his main works created a national and political narrative. Even when he referred to personal memories, they were usually combined with a social diagnosis. In contrast, Yeshurun in his poetry expressed, above all, personal feelings of devotion to the abandoned town and family as well as longing and sense of guilt.

 

HEBRAICA VERITAS IN BREST BIBLE

Abstract: According to a 450-year-old tradition, the Brest Bible is regarded as the first translation of the whole Holy Scripture from the original languages into Polish. The present article deals mainly with the relation between the Brest Bible and Hebrew and Aramaic versions. Even a cursory analysis reveals that the Brest translators generally followed hebraica veritas. Yet, they took advantage of Stephanus’s Bible (Geneva 1556/57), which besides the Vulgate contained a literal translation of the Hebrew Bible into Latin, accomplished by Santes Pagnini. This version made it possible to convey hebraica veritas without resorting to the Hebrew text. In places where there are significant differences between the printed editions of the Hebrew Bible of the 16th century and Pagnini’s version (e.g. Ruth 2:23; 3:15; 4:1), the Brest Bible follows Pagnini. The Brest translators followed Pagnini’s text in Stephanus’s edition verse by verse, adapting the division into chapters and verses to the Polish text. The analysis of onomastics and the system of transcription in the Brest Bible leads to the conclusion that the translators followed the previously accepted principles of proper names translation as well as left some Hebrew and Aramaic terms untranslated. The influence of the Vulgate might have been the result of mistakes which emerged as a result of taking advantage of two Latin versions simultaneously, printed alongside by Stephanus (see 1 Chr 4:2). There are reasons to doubt if the Brest translators were translating directly from the original version. Chances are they translated directly from Pagnini’s version printed by Robert Stephanus. In order to confirm this with all certainty and without a shadow of a doubt, strenuous and tedious research, comprising larger parts of the text, conducted verse by verse, is absolutely crucial.
 

The Hampels. Love in the shadow of Nazism

Abstract: Dorothea Schalit, a Jewish girl, and Heinz Hampel, a Protestant, met in Sopot (Zoppot), then a town incorporated into the Free City of Gdańsk (Danzig), in the 1920s. They got married and were active in the leftist and democratic circles. After 1933, when the municipal authorities became dominated by the Nazis, the Hampels did not leave the Free City. Despite the increasing pressures and insults from the NSDAP members, Heinz Hampel refused to divorce Dorothea. Owing to their courage and the aid from few friends, the couple managed to survive in Sopot and in March 1945 saw the Red Army enter the town. They lived there until 1950 when they decided to emigrate to Israel. Till their death they stayed in Jerusalem. The presented text consists of a historical introduction written by Grzegorz Berendt and the report of the Hampels on their life in Sopot prior to the entry of the Russian army into the city. The said report was incorporated into the collections of Yad Vashem Institute, the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority.