Documents

From Nokem Shtif in Kiev to Yoysef Opatoshu in New York, 6 February 1929, expressing his delight that Opatoshu is a reader of Di yidishe shprakh, unlike other Yiddish writers who, he claims, scorn all attempts to improve the Yiddish language and have fallen under the sway of the Yiddish of the masses and the popular press. He complains of the Russification of Yiddish and Yiddish linguistics, maintaining that most Yiddish scholars are “Litvaks” and that Polish Yiddish is being neglected. He asks if Opatoshu will have a look at some folk expressions from the town of Siedlce that were recently published in the journal; could he contribute additions or corrections? Yiddish. Russian and Yiddish letterhead: Di yidishe shprakh, Kultur lige cooperative press, Kiev, Red Army 43. RG 436, Joseph Opatoshu Papers, F271.

Tsemaḥ Szabad, Address for first YIVO Conference, Vilna, 1929. He expresses his conviction that YIVO is a "popular movement, movement of the people," a nonsectarian Jewish national institution that brings together people from different places and of various political persuasions who have in common "love for the Jewish people and its language and culture." He stresses the importance of modern Yiddish schools: "The Yiddish school cannot exist without Yiddish culture and language and Yiddish culture and language cannot exist without the Yiddish school." Yiddish. Typed with handwritten notes. RG 3, Yiddish Literature and Language Collection, F2937.

From Shmerke Kaczerginski in Łódź, Poland, to (?), n.d. (ca. late 1945–1949). A confidential report on the latest meeting of the Jewish Literary Union in Łódź. Kaczerginski was forced to withdraw his candidacy for the board because of his supposed anti-Soviet views. One former partisan announced that the only reason to promote Yiddish schools would be to serve the non-Polish-speaking children of Jews returning from Russia. Another member came out against high school courses in Yiddish. "You can use all of this, but, of course, don't mention my name." Yiddish. Typed. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Tsemaḥ Szabad in Vilna to Abraham Cahan in New York, 12 December 1933. A letter of introduction for Khayim Pupko, a folklorist and esteemed educator, who is being sent to the United States to raise money for the Yiddish-language schools in Vilna, which are in dire financial straits. The dedicated teachers can only be paid a salary that "hardly pays for dry bread." The "tragedy of the German Jews" is playing a not insignificant role in convincing more and more Jews of the importance of Yiddish schools; he hopes Cahan will provide Pupko with as much assistance as possible. Yiddish. Polish letterhead: Dr. Cemach Szabad, Wilno, Styczniowa 8. RG 1139, Abraham Cahan Papers, F133.

From Tsemaḥ Szabad in Vilna to (?), 8 July 1932, reporting on the distribution of small donated sums to Jewish institutions in Vilna, including ORT, Hilf durkh Arbet, and Yiddish schools, all of which are "suffering indirectly from the well-known events." He also mentions his concern that he has been misquoted in the press about public statements he has made about his impressions of Palestine from his recent trip there. The reports make it seem as if he has a rosier view of Zionism than is the case: “All I can say is that in Palestine I didn't once hear anyone singing ‘Hatikvah.’” Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Yoysef Tunkel in Warsaw to Lazar Kahan in Łódź, 27 December 1911, about the terms and conditions that he, Zalmen Vendrof, Khayim Tshemerinski, and "Kopel" require in order to come to Łódź to perform. They cannot agree to a percentage of the house as payment, but want a minimum of 25 rubles each plus 10 rubles each for travel expenses. He hopes for a speedy reply from Kahan because they need to organize the program and he and Vendrof have also been invited to perform [on the same date?] in Minsk. Yiddish. Russian and Yiddish letterhead: Der Moment, Warsaw, Nalewki no. 38. RG 422, Lazar Kahan Papers, F Tunkel.

From Yoysef Tunkel in Warsaw to Lazar Kahan in Łódź, 11 April–19 May 1913; two postcards and a letter about Tunkel’s upcoming trip to Łódź, where he will give a performance. He would like Kahan to meet him at the station. He hastens to assure Kahan that newspaper advertisements announcing that Tunkel will be appearing in a program with the Hazomir Chorus in Warsaw on the very day that he is supposed to be in Łódź are a mistake: Hazomir did not confirm his participation before running the ads. The 25 rubles that Kahan is offering him as an honorarium is really not enough but he will live with this if an additional 10 rubles for expenses are thrown in. Yiddish. Russian and Yiddish letterhead: Der Moment, Warsaw, Nalewki no. 38. RG 422, Lazar Kahan Papers, F Tunkel.

From Zalmen Reyzen in Vilna to members of the Yiddish Writers and Journalists Club in Palestine, 6 June 1929, about whether they have the authorization to form a branch of the Yiddish Pen Club there. He informs them that the regulations of the club prohibit a discrete organization from serving as a branch of the club, and also, that membership is limited to literary writers and excludes journalists. However, if a sufficient number of individual writers in Palestine join the Yiddish Pen Club, they will consider establishing a separate branch in Palestine. Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.

A printed appeal on behalf of Yiddish writers in the Soviet Union by a group of Yiddish writers and others in Paris, May 1949, calling for mass demonstrations to protest the arrest of Jewish writers and the closing of Jewish publications and institutions in the USSR. On the bottom of the page, a handwritten note from Shmerke Kaczerginski to Max Weinreich: he has a lot more to say about this appeal but this will have to do for now. He complains that Weinreich has not been answering letters and sends his regards to "those at home and those at YIVO." Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Simon Dubnow in Berlin to the Peretz Yiddish Writers' Union in New York, 3 January 1931, asking them to serve, in exchange for 10 percent of his royalties, as his agent in his dealings with the publisher Max Meisel, who has a long-standing contract with Dubnow to distribute the Yiddish and English editions of his textbooks, Di idishe geshikhte far shul un folk (Jewish History for School and People) and An Outline of Jewish History. Dubnow has had a lot of trouble obtaining reports from the publisher, as well as his royalties, and simply does not have the time or patience for this. Yiddish. RG 710, I.L. Peretz Yiddish Writers Union Records, F118.

Cover of Familien-bibliotek, no. 51, Warsaw, 1900: playscript for Mentshn, by Sholem Aleichem, with notes by the author inserted in Yiddish and Russian. Yiddish and Russian. RG 107, Letters Collection, Box 16, F20.

From Yisroel Tsinberg in Saint Petersburg, to (?), n.d., asking for help in obtaining two early Jewish socialist newspapers that he cannot find in Russia for research for his Russian-language Geshikhte der nay hebreyishn un yidishn (zhargon) literatur (History of Modern Hebrew and Yiddish [Zhargon] Literature). Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Shloyme Zaynvl Rapoport (S. An-ski) to Konstantin Stanislavsky, 17 September 1916. Rapoport has heard from P. D. Dolgorukov that a prominent Russian actor, V. I. Kachalov, has given the manuscript of Rapoport’s play Mezh dvuh mirov (Between Two Worlds; later known as The Dybbuk) to Stanislavsky and was told that Stanislavsky is interested in it. Rapoport requests a meeting, in person or by telephone. He notes that the Russian public may find the play exotic and unfamiliar and so he is willing to provide photographs and other materials that will help to contextualize it. Russian. RG 3, Yiddish Literature and Language Collection, F3270.

From Israel Joshua Singer in Warsaw to Abraham Cahan in New York, 18 July 1932. Despite Singer's pessimism about the future of Yiddish literature, he is heartened by the moral support of Cahan, the readers of the Forverts and of other Yiddish newspapers; these factors have encouraged him to begin writing a new novel. He does not dare to disappoint Cahan or thousands of readers. He's sorry he hasn't written more in the past few years, but instead has thrown his energies into theater, writing comedies, a few of which he sold to Max Reinhardt, as well as a drama about the tragic life of Russian writer and revolutionary Boris Savinkov. He even tried to turn his novel Yoshe Kalb into a play. Yiddish. RG 1139, Abraham Cahan Papers, F78.

From Vladimir Davidovich Medem in Warsaw (?) to David Eynhorn in Warsaw (?), 18 June 1918. Medem wants to clarify what Eynhorn meant when he said he would like to serve as the editor of the Bund's literary department: does this mean perhaps only that he does not want his own work to be edited by someone else? Or something more? In any case, the Bund does not have the resources to launch a "thick" literary journal of "the Russian type." Medem comments on an article about the German poet Richard Dehmel that Eynhorn has sent, complaining that it is too long for publication. Dehmel, Medem notes, was the "love" of his youth. He takes issue with some of Eynhorn's translation of Dehmel's poems into Yiddish. Also, there is something else he has wanted to raise with Eynhorn for a long time: the way he "Germanizes" the Yiddish language. Eynhorn, he claims, uses the German word Stunde for “hour” when there is a perfectly good Yiddish word, sho. And there are many other examples of German words Eynhorn uses instead of Yiddish words of Hebrew derivation. Yiddish. RG 277, David Einhorn Papers, F26.

From Moyshe Kulbak in Vilna to Abraham Liessin, editor of the Yiddish-language journal Tsukunft, in New York, 26 March 1927, mentioning that Kulbak is enclosing a poem, "Bunye un Bine oyfn shlyakh" (Bunye and Bine on the Highway), that unlike "Vilna," a poem he previously sent, rhymes. Indeed, Kulbak points out, Liessin is wrong when he suggests that Kulbak has broken away from rhymed poetry. There is a difference between poetry for song and poetry meant to be recited, but one need not subscribe to a single set of principles. Moreover, he has never considered himself a member of any specific school of poetry. Yiddish. RG 201, Abraham Liessin Papers, F1013 Kulbak.

From Shloyme Zaynvl Rapoport (S. An-ski) in Petrograd, Russia (now Saint Petersburg), to Shmuel Niger in Petrograd, 1916, asking him to deal with the publisher Boris Kletskin on his behalf while he is out of town for a month or two. Kletskin is publishing Rapoport's collected works, but Rapoport wants him immediately to publish, separately, a Yiddish version of The Dybbuk. He wants Niger to negotiate the terms on his behalf, and if the publisher agrees to them, to hand the manuscript of The Dybbuk over to him. Yiddish and Russian. RG 360, Shmuel Niger Papers, F57.

Solomon Birnbaum, “Di yesoydes fun yidishn oysleyg” (The Foundations of Yiddish Orthography), undated manuscript. Yiddish. RG 3, Yiddish Literature and Language Collection, F1838.

First page of an undated manuscript of an outline for a work on Yiddish and other Jewish languages by Ber Borokhov. RG 3, Yiddish Literature and Language Collection, F1799.

Poem by Shimen Horontshik, “Vinter” (Winter), n.d. "A silent chill enveloped the shtetl. . . ." Manuscript, Yiddish. RG 3, Yiddish Literature and Language Collection, F3279.