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PAGE TEN
Romance of the Yiddish Press
By MAXIMILIAN HURWITZ
(Copyright, 1924, by Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
Rosh Hashonah Greetings
Editor's Note:—The present article tells the romantic story of
the first 100 years of the Yiddish press with a wealth of detail not
to be found elsewhere in English. It also throws many interesting
*sidelights on Jewish life in pre-war Russia, and toward the end
raises the question whether the American Yiddish press will survive
in view of the virtual stoppage of Jewish immigration. Maximilian
Ilurwitz was formerly associate editor of the Jewish Tribune.
In order to avoid confusion, it is necessary to distinguish between
the adjectives Jewish, Hebrew and Yiddish as applied to the press.
By Jewish press is meant all periodical publications, in whatever
language, which cater primarily or exclusively to Jews; by Hebrew
press meant all Jewish periodicals printed in the language of the
Old Testament as modified by time; by the Yiddish press, is meant
all similar publications printed in the Judeo-Germanic language
(Judisch which is spoken by the majority of the Jewish people,
especially in Eastern Europe. It is this last which forms the subject
of the present article.
Mill's
Baking
Co.
FOURTH AND MERRICK
GLENDALE
•
publications launched by the modern-I;VOAN's•A‘
$rsa.as's
jots was in Ilebrew.
'et
First Hebrew Daily.
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A HAPPY
The first Ilebrew daily every pub-
fished was Ilayom, whose brief career
began in 1886. The same year two
Hebrew weeklies, Hamelitz and Ilat-
, zetirah, established respectively In
'1860 and 1862, began to appear every
day. The former existed until 1904 6/
and the latter until 19(15, when it f4
died, wax revived, and finally passed I /*/
away for good a few years later. Two// ,
other Hebrew dailies, llatzofeh and
Ilazeman, were, after a short life, !//
;wept away by the first Russian revs- to;
lution, which marked the decline of •//
the Hebrew press in Russia. Several //
attempts to publish a Ilebrew news-
paper in America have failed. At //
Present there are only two small Ile- OA
b rew dailies in existence, Doar
yom and Ila'aretz, both issued in Pal-I/
sstine. One may, therefore, say that I :4
he golden era of the Hebrew pressl /0
lasted about 45 years. /0.
/
This is a short period, but in it the';"
NEW YEAR TO YOU 1;
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The recent centenary celebration a great literature, and that would at- Ilebrew press made history. It routes11/0
of the Yiddish press serves to call at- tain its greatest influence and afflu- the fundamentalists, rejuvenated the'
tention to the remarkable story of its ence in far-away America, where at indent speech of the Jews and V ot,
progress from humble beginnings in that time there were scarcely a hand- brought about a renaissance of Ile- /5
Poland to its present position of ful of persons who could read Yid- brew letters, which produced its fair.
power and prosperity in America. it dish!
!st fruits in the poems of 13ialik, the //
The Vistula Observer died in its •ssays of Adah Ma'am, the novels of tt
is a fascinating story, as seemingly
incredible as everything else about second year, and for nearly 40 years Brenner, the critical essays of Brain-
had no successor, and then, too, not n, and the miscellaneous writings of //
Jewish life—and as true.
.
Imagine a language that is still in Yiddish, but in Hebrew. To un- Frischman, to mention only a few. It •;,;,!.
without a literature (its greatest derstand the reason one must know salted into life such splendid literary 1 //
the
state
of
Russian
Jewry
at
that
writers as yet unborn), that is indeed
wriodicals as Hashahar, Ilashiloah, /4
little more than a patois despised by time. That state has been admirably Bailor and the Ahiasaf Almanac. It •/./
the articulate elements of the people described by David Druck in an in- sept the printing presses groaning
speaking it; imagine a people the teresting little book (in Yiddish) with books on all subjects, which
vast majority of whom are too poor on the history of the Yiddish press were devoured, at first surreptitious-
although he writes of
and too far removed from the main in Russia: fur,
'y, then openly, by the culture-greedy
currents of modern life to feel the the closing days of the nineteenth iouth of Israel. And when the mas-
century,
the
picture
he draws is even
need of a periodical press of its own;
dream of emancipation and a
imagine further an autocratic gov- more true of the early part of that rapprochement between Jew and Gen-
ernment that frowns upon all foreign- century. We quote:
was shattered by the rise of anti-
"Notwithstanding the many disa
language papers, and a publisher
Semitisni in Germany, the pogroms A„,
whose capital would not suffice to get bilities and persecutions which the mil persecutions in Russia following
out a single issue of a village paper; Jews had to endure under Alexander he ascension of Alexander III, and
imagine such a state of affairs, and III, no change took place in Jewish he Dreyfus affair in France, and dis- O rs'
you would consider it hopeless to life. The Jewish world still resem- Ilusioned Jews began to think of the
publish one in such a language. Yet bled an idyl. It was cut off from the restoration of Jewish national life in
this was precisely the situation that rest of the world. Even though a '..he ancient homeland as the only so-
confronted Anton Eisenbaum when, certain part of the Jewish intelli- lution of the Jewish question, it was
toward the end of 1823, he launched gentsia attempted to disturb this he Hebrew press that took up the
in Warsaw the first Yiddish paper in slumber, these efforts had no great ef- national idea and advocated it until ~
How much more will you have financially when we
greet you next year?
4% ON SAVINGS
Ii
7 590
Season's Greetings
u6-52-zm
D.Rjarratt& Co.
/1
The Royal Oak
Savings Bank
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II
MAIN AND FOURTH
Don't Watch Us Grow — Grow With Us.
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the Russian empire, the Vistula Ob- fect upon the people. In the cities
found expression in the political
and towns where Jews lived in corn- Zionism of Herz!. And it is signiti-
server.
pact masses, more interest was taken sant thlt one of the first Jewish So-
German in Hebrew Characters.
in the weather forecasts of the alma- cialist organs was likewise published
Eisenbaum had no inkling of the
nac than in all the political, social and
future that awaited the Yiddish cultural revolutions roundabout. in Hebrew.
The Hebrew press went down be-
press, fur, as a matter of fact, he Those who were versed in politics and
cause it could not withstand the corn-
did not publish his paper in Yiddish
in the lives of kings would gather in petition of the Yiddish press. In the
at all, but in Polish and in German, the synagogue of an evening and tell
battle of tongues it was inevitable
the latter printed in Ilebrew charac-
phantastic stories about the 'English- that the language understood by all
ters. (Here we must note that as
woman' (Queen Victoria), the Turk, t he people should vanquish the one
early as 1586 a group of Polish Jews and 'how Plevna was captured.' The
understood by a small, although very
in Amsterdam founded a semi-weekly
96 WARREN AVE. WEST, Near CASS
common people would tell breathless influential, minority. Other factors,
which was likewise published in Ger-
tales about robbers, ghosts and evil which we cannot stop to discuss here,
Now in Our New Location at
man printed in Ilebrew characters, so
Phone Northway 5865
spirits. Naturally, the scholars spent conspired to give Yiddish the ascend-I
that, as Nahum Sokolow recently
their leisure tumors at the synagogu e ancy. And so, after a brief but vies)
pointed out, the centenary of the Yid- pouring over the Talmud, or some
lent struggles, the Ilebrew press gave
dish press should have been cele-
other sacred book. Everything pro- way and the humble "handmaiden"
brated more than a century ago.) ceeded normaly, quietly, slowly. It
took the place of highborn "mistress."
Two Doors North of Former Location.
And certainly he would have shaken
never occurred to anyone to change
Czar's Government Hostile.
his head incredulously had anyone
the world or that it could be changed
That a Yiddish press did not de-
CHERRY 1 4 0 4
told him that his paper, which con- at all, Men must not meddle in the
velop in Russia before 1903 was duel
fined itself merely to official govern-
affairs of God or of governments. So chiefly to the hostility of the Russian
For years Wechsler's Kosher Restaurant has stood for quality
ment news, was destined to murk the
the fathers had lived end so one must government. The powers that be saw I
and service. We have moved into larger quarters so that dur-
beginning of a powerful Yiddish
We 'replace glass in any make car while you
-=-
r-
go on living."
no harm in a Ilebrew press which was =
press that would profoundly affect
ing the coming year we can further the same service and more
1-=-
wait.
Haskalah in Infancy.
read by the safe and sane minority, E---
the views and aspirations of the Jew-
fully serve our hosts of patrons.
The Ilaskalah movement — the but considered it too risky to allow
ish people, that would help develop
the despised patois into an instru- movement for secular education and the publication of papers in a lan-
ment fit to serve as the medium of a modern rational interpretation of vatre that the Jewish masses could
We Cater to Wedding., Card Parties and Banquets.
life—which was to inaugurate the read. For by this time the autocracy
long and bitter struggle between the was already obsessed with the idea
Jewish modernists and fundamental- that the growing revolutionary move-
,,, .... ...
is i ts, was still in its infancy and ment was the work of Jewish malcon- am osommissossoss,a,
arcely ruffled the placid stream of tents. Requests for permission to
ewish
life.
The
two
other
move-
publish a Yiddish paper in Russia
J
lents which were to affect the pee- were repeatedly made and repeatedly
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p le so deeply—Zionism and Socialism refused, although, strange to say,
oo
-were still unborn. The masses Yiddish papers printed abroad were,
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V 'ere steeped in dense ignorance and after being approved by the censor,
'ere led by Talmudic scholars whose allowed to circulate in the country.
Jews of everything were essentially And thus it came to pass that the first
ti hose of their Babylonian prototypes and perhaps finest Yiddish literary
,500 hundred years earlier. Pro- weekly, Der Just, was, at least at the
0
' ane literature, the drama, music, beginning, edited in Odessa, printed
he arts and all the graces of civil- in Cracow and censored in Warsaw,
zed living were all but unknown. whence it was finally mailed to sub-
0*
OPEN ALL WINTER.
Poverty and squalor reigned supreme. scribers. Fancy the Saturday Even-
00
'nder such conditions, what chances ing Post published under such condi-
were there for a Jewish press to tions. Yet the Jud flourished and be-
came the center of all the Yiddish
exist ?
It was the Ilaskalah movement that literary lions, young and old, thanks
gave the first impetus to a Jewish largely to the skill of its editor, Dr.
press in Russia. At first the ma.skil Joseph Lune.
In the autumn of 1902 the Russian
(as the modernist called himself ) who
managed to acquire an academic or government experienced a change of
Kings of Rhythm Exponents of Classical Jazz.
professional education was apt to heart and authorized the publication
Dancing from 7 to 11:30 P. M.
keep aloof from his people.And , o f a Yiddish daily in St. l'etersburg
even when he remained among them to be called Der Freund. The spon-
ansl tried to win them over to his sons of the new paper at once bought
views and ways, he was fought tooth out the Jud and discontinued it, fear-
and nail by the overwhelming major- ing that there was no room for both
Your Wife and Children
to
Bring
The Place
ity, who regarded him as a renegade. a daily and a weekly in Yiddish. By
But as the number and influence of this step they were also enabled to
Personal Attention Given.
the modernists grew, many of then, procure for the Freund the editorial
began to make concerted efforts to services of Dr. Lurie.
A Stupendous Task.
lift their benighted brethren out of
the slough of medievalism. It was Getting out a Yiddish daily in the
sn=731
about this time that the Society for Russian capital was a stupendous un-
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the Promotion of Culture among the dertaking. There was no Yiddish
5:=cio 1=tmlIcAff=1
0
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Phones:
Jews was formed. printing press in St. Petersburg and
The theory of the maskil was one had to be imported. Yiddish corn-
Glendale 7711
simple almost to the point of naivete. positors had to be brought from out
Glendale 0215
ignorance
He believed that it was
the of , town and it was necessary to ob-
masses
and superstition of the Jewish mass - Cain for them the right to love in the
which was the chief cause of their capital, which was outside the Jewish
suffering and of their unpopularity Pale. The same applied to the edi-
with the Gentile world. Once they tonal staff. There was not then, as
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were taught modern views and man- there is now, an agency with corm-
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nets,
once
they
began
to
dress
and
spondents
in
all
parts
of
the
world,
001X1001H>000000000
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speak and live like their neighbors, and news had to be gleaned from the
all would be well. Above all, the Russian papers and hastily rendered
maskil had faith in the power of edu- into Yiddish. A new terminology had
at
be creed
in a language that
OE cation to usher in the reign of to good
reason and good will, when all preju- lacked all technical terms and an up-
BC dice would perish from the earth. er register of words. Everything
0 Had not humanism brought about th e had to be set up by hand, there being
l tion of the Jews of France, no Yiddish Linotype machines. Be-
Germany and other western coun- fore locking the forms and going to
Versa, page proofs had to be submit-
tries?
But in order to realize this end, ted to the all-powerful censor, who
B pi and especially in order to overcome
might at the last moment strike nut
the opposition of the orthodox, the whole passages and thereby necessi-
Elecrtical and Hand Dumb
Waukegan, Illinois
modernists found it necessary to have tate a good deal of resetting and
O
recourse to the printed word. And a change in the makeup. Advertis-
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tial elements among the Orthodox 'here were few Jews. Finally, sub-
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Detroit Sale. Office:
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in the personal business correspond- since there were no news stands and
ence employed the Hebrew tongue, no professional canvassers in the Jew-
2845 GRAND RIVER AVENUE, DETROIT, MICH.
hereas
the
Yiddish
was
the
"jargon"
0
ish communities, most of which were
Telephone Glendale 0546
of the ignorant multitude, the first three days' journey from the place
C. W. LOCKER
JAMES A. HUGHES
of publication.
Ilowever, all difficulties were sur-
mounted and when the Freund finally
appeared (Jan. 1, 1903), it met with
instant success. And it deserved its
:access, for it has never been equaled
by any other Yiddish daily in Europe.
Rut its prosperity was short-lived.
For, as a result of the relaxation of
the censorship laws following the
Russian revolution of 1905, Yiddish
papers began to appear in Warsaw
and other great Jewish centers, and
the Freund, located at the periphery
of Jewish centers, could not compete
with its rivals. It ceased to exist al-
together when in 1910 S. J. Yatzkan
CAFtLSON & McCLELLAN, INC.
inaugurated the Yiddish penny press
in Warsaw, an unheard of thing in
Russia, where a single copy of liame-
OUR NEW HOME: 1425 BROADWAY
litz used to sell for 10 kopecks.
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I have dwelt at some length upon
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the history of the Jewish press in
Russia because it is from that coun-
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try that everything significant in Jew-
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ish life emanated during the past 75
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(Continued on next page.)