RUSSIAN-JEWISH LITERATURE, artistic and journalistic creativity in Russian by Jewish writers who reflected Jewish life from the standpoint of self-identification with their people. Russian-Jewish literature is one of the components of the Jewish literature of modern times (starting from the era X askals) both in the proper Jewish languages ​​and dialects, and in the languages ​​of the surrounding majority.

The affiliation of a writer to Russian-Jewish literature (as well as to other similar literatures - German-Jewish, American-Jewish, etc.) is determined by the following features:

1. Free choice of one's national and cultural affiliation, leading to national self-consciousness.
2. Rootedness in Jewish civilization, an organic connection with it and, as a result, a natural appeal to Jewish themes. At the same time, whatever the attitude of the writer to the material, his view is always a view from the inside, which is the main difference between a Jewish writer and a non-Jewish writer (regardless of his ethnic origin), who refers to a Jewish plot.
3. Social representativeness, that is, the ability of the writer to be the voice of the community as a whole or a significant part of it. Writers and publicists who have broken with the national community (whether in a religious-ritual or national-cultural sense; see Apostasy) and who did not express solidarity with it do not belong to Russian-Jewish literature, even if their work was devoted to Jewish themes (for example , J. Brafman's journalism, dramaturgy and prose by S. Litvin-Efron /1849–1925/, etc., which were essentially frank denunciations / see Scammers / on Jews).
4. Dual affiliation to the Russian and Jewish civilizations (this sign is characteristic of the 20th century), which means, among other things, that the writer's work equally belongs to two peoples.

Due to the nature of the development X Askala in Russia, the "embryonic" period of Russian-Jewish literature stretched for more than half a century. The first printed book that can be attributed to Russian-Jewish literature - "The Cry of the Jewish Daughter" (St. Petersburg, 1803) by I. L. Nevakhovich - included three rhetorical works, some of which were written in Russian, the other was an author's translation from Hebrew, as well as his unpublished ode to the accession to the throne of Emperor Alexander I (March 1801). Nevakhovich for the first time in Russian outlined a set of stereotypes typical of maskilim, but he lacked both talent and knowledge of the Russian language, and most importantly, he did not and could not have a Jewish reader. The second Russian-Jewish writer Leon Mandelstam, whose student collection "Poems" (M., 1840) was also mostly originally written in Hebrew, and then translated by the author into Russian, was not literary gifted either. Mandelstam played a significant role in the history of the enlightenment of Russian Jewry, he owns not only the first of the Jews' translations of the Pentateuch into Russian (“Torah, that is, the Law, or the Pentateuch of Moses”, Berlin, 1862), but also the first translation of A. Pushkin into Hebrew (1847). Historical and cultural, and not actually literary interest is represented by “Thoughts of an Israelite. In 2 parts. The composition of the Jew Abram Solomonov ”(Vilna, 1846). A. Solomonov (1778, Minsk, -?) was a convinced maskil and was engaged in translations from Hebrew into Russian and Polish. in the spirit X Askala was compiled and his work addressed to the Jews (in contrast to the “Cry of the Jewish Daughter”, addressed to the Russian enlightened reader) and convincing them that neither the Talmud nor rabbinic literature prohibits acquaintance with the language of the surrounding majority and the latest achievements of civilization.

This emerging literature (as well as, in part, the subsequent work of Russian-Jewish writers) was not free from apologetics and self-censorship. Sh. Chernihovsky wrote in the article “Russian-Jewish Fiction”: “Dedicating his works to his people, the Jewish writer did not forget that his reader is not only in this environment, but also in the surrounding society, and therefore he weighed each of his word out of fear that he would not be misunderstood, often he was carried away by apologetic ardor ... ”(“ Jewish Encyclopedia ”, in 16 volumes, St. Petersburg, vol. 13, col. 641).

The true founder of Russian-Jewish literature was O. Rabinovich, whose first publications in Russian (translations, journalism, prose) date back to the end of the 1840s. Rabinovich belonged to the second generation of Russian maskilim, who were not oriented towards their homeland X askals - Germany, but to Russia; The main language of culture for this generation was no longer German, but Russian. Created in 1860 by Rabinovich together with the writer and public figure I. Tarnopol (1810–1900), the first Jewish periodical in Russian, the weekly Rassvet, could rely on its reading public - the still small Russian-Jewish intelligentsia. Rabinovich's work not only reflected his own development, but also anticipated the path that the literature of Russian Jewry (not only in Russian, but also in Yiddish and Hebrew) had to go: from convinced assimilation and Russification to doubts about the rationality and fruitfulness of unconditional Russian patriotism and unrequited passion for rapprochement with the "indigenous population"; from an irreconcilably hostile attitude towards “jargon” (the Yiddish language) to experiments in the literary fixation of folklore material (songs, sayings), attempts to convey the intonation, syntax and idiomatics of Yiddish by means of a different language (here Rabinovich turned out to be a predecessor not only of the Austro-Jewish writer K.E. Franzoz, who was widely translated and diligently read by Russian Jews, but also by the entire galaxy of American-Jewish writers of the 20th century). Rabinovich applied the main substantive principle of Russian-Jewish literature and journalism, which retained its significance for more than two decades: to fight on two fronts - to defend against the attacks of enemies and to criticize one's own vices. Rabinovich discovered techniques, images, tonality, the author's attitude to the subject, which later became signs of Jewish literary creativity as a whole. In the story “Penalty” (“Russian Messenger”, 1859, No. 1), which enjoyed extraordinary success in Jewish reading circles and attracted some attention from the Russian public, the writer first tried to show the Jewish character in a specifically Jewish situation during the period of persecution of Nicholas I. The discovery of Jewish characters continues and in the next story, "The Hereditary Candlestick", which, like the previous one, is included in the cycle "Pictures of the Past" ("Dawn", 1860, No. 1-8); although its material is the same (Jews in the tsarist service, in the Nikolaev army), the range of characters is much expanded and, most importantly, the narrator changes - pathos is replaced by irony (and irony is the strongest side of Rabinovich's talent). Unlike these two stories, which show a Jew in contact with the surrounding majority, Rabinovich's last work of fiction - "The story of how Reb Chaim-Shulim Feigis traveled from Chisinau to Odessa and what happened to him" (Odessa, 1865) - was his own. a kind of return to the ghetto: Jewish life was considered in itself, with a look, although critical, ironic, but full of sympathy. This sharply distinguishes Rabinovich from the consistent and adamant maskilim of the type of I. B. Levinson and their successors, who mercilessly denounced the shtetl, and makes him the direct predecessor of Shalom Aleichem. "Chaim-Shulim ..." as a work of art is close in thought and feeling to "Auto-emancipation" by L. Pinsker, written much later; this is a return to oneself, to one’s own home, no matter how unattractive it may be to an enlightened eye, there is no other and cannot be, and the Jewish writer opens a source of inspiration in the Jewish “mass” with all its prejudices, darkness and non-participation in Russian and European culture. The unbearable wretchedness of her existence is transformed by the power of the carefree laughter of the “man of the air” (anticipating the hero Shalom Aleichem) into carnival buffoonery, but through the superficial humor of situations, the humor of characters, characteristic of all new Jewish literature, breaks through.

Many of Rabinovich's collaborators on "Dawn" have taken a prominent place in the history of Russian-Jewish literature. L. Levanda was the leading and most famous Russian-Jewish publicist for a quarter of a century; he succeeded after the pogroms of 1881–82. renounce assimilationist illusions and join Palestinephilism (see Hovevei Zion), put forward new slogans: "self-preservation" and "self-help". In the work of Levanda, the publicist resolutely suppressed the artist. Already A. Volynsky, the first significant literary critic in Russian-Jewish literature, noticed the artistic shortcomings of Levanda's works, and explained his undeniable popularity with the Russian-Jewish reader by the writer's special sensitivity to the topic of the day, as well as the difficulties and contradictions of the initial era of leaving the ghetto, when the nascent Russian-Jewish intelligentsia lost its orientation and perspective and, according to Russian custom, turned to the writer as a teacher of life, and the writer Levanda boldly gave advice, most often short-sighted, but always sincere and disinterested, always meeting the aspirations of society. Thus, Levanda's most famous work, the novel Hot Time (1871–73), depicts the Polish uprising of 1863–64; in conception and manner of writing, this novel is purely realistic, if not directly everyday writing, like most of Levanda’s stories, novellas and essays, although it contains neither living images, nor plausible situations, nor an organically unfolding plot, but there is a decisive answer to the question that retained its own sharpness in the 1860s–1870s: what should a Jew do who has embarked on the path of enlightenment and realized his offensive inequality? The author calls for assimilation, putting this call into the mouth of the protagonist, who consciously and to the end preferred Russia, his new homeland, to Poland, trying and hoping to become a full-fledged Russian citizen. The freer Levanda's sketches of everyday life are from tendentiousness, the better they are literary, for example, "Four tutors from a pine and from a forest" (from the series "Essays on the Past", "Russian Jew", 1879, No. 2-7) or "Yashka and Yoshka" ("Sunrise", 1881, No. 9-11). A group of satirical works, created under the obvious influence of M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, stands apart; the most successful among them are an excerpt from the novel "Journey to Colchis" ("Jewish Library", 1879, vol. 7; the novel was never published in full) and the novel "Confessions of a businessman" (1880), both about disorderly and shameless grunderstvo. The best journalistic cycles that reveal the strongest aspects of Levanda’s talent are “Flying Notes of a Perplexed One” (“Dawn”, 1882) and the adjoining “Flying Thoughts of a Perplexed One” (“Sunrise Weekly Chronicle”, 1882), “Modest Conversations about Last Year snow” (“The Weekly Chronicle of “Voskhod”, 1885, No. 13–21), their continuation is three leading articles in the same weekly (No. 29–31) and, finally, the article “On Assimilation” (ibid., No. 37– 38) is a kind of public and political testament of the writer. Levanda, along with Rabinovich, was rightfully considered the founder of Russian-Jewish literature. Almost 30 years after his death, in one of the Russian-Jewish magazines one could read: “Among the Jewish writers of the Gaskol era who wrote in Russian, the most prominent place is occupied by Lev Osipovich Levanda” (“Spikes”, 1915, No. 7) . Even during the life of Levanda, the idea arose to publish a complete collection of his works (“The Weekly Chronicle of Voskhod”, 1886, No. 41; a letter to the editor A. Volynsky and S. Frug), subsequently it arose in connection with various memorable dates, but so far Lewanda's legacy remains uncollected and unexplored.

Among other well-known employees of Rassvet, who made a significant contribution to Russian-Jewish journalism, were the publishers and editors of the weekly Zion (1861–62) that replaced it: L. Pinsker, doctor and public figure E. Soloveichik (died in 1875 d.) and physiologist N. Bernstein (1836–91), as well as M. Morgulis, A. Garkavi, A. Landau. Relatively little is known about other figures in Russian-Jewish literature who are more or less associated with Dawn: lawyer I. Halberstadt (1842–92), long-term head of the “Jewish table” of the Odessa City Duma B. Bertenzon (1815–71), lawyer and professional journalist P. Lyakub (died in 1891), teacher of the Russian language at the Odessa Jewish School I. Frenkel, whose transcriptions of Talmudic legends were published posthumously by his son, who claimed in the preface to the publication that the author was “the first Jew who spoke in print in -Russian" ("Dawn", 1861, No. 33). The unity of the multilingual Jewish culture of Russia is evidenced by the fact that well-known writers and publicists who wrote in Hebrew (see Hebrew New Literature) Kh. Z. Slonimsky and I. L. sent their correspondence written in Russian to the first Russian-Jewish periodical. Gordon.

The third Odessa weekly Den (1869–71), which considered itself a direct continuation of Dawn and Zion, introduced a number of new names into Russian-Jewish literature: I. Orshansky, M. Kulisher (see Kulisher, family), A. U. Kovner, historian of Russian Jewry and literary critic S. Stanislavsky (1848–?), teacher and writer I. Varshavsky (1832–1903). The journal was edited by P. Levenson (1837–94), a lawyer and first-class essayist, whose talent unfolded in full force in the 1880s, mainly in the St. Petersburg Voskhod. Compared with the period of the early 1860s. skill in the field of sarcastic polemics has noticeably increased (for example, the cycle of feuilleton chronicles by M. Kulischer “Weekly Essays”, 1870–71; signed with the initials M.K.).

Away from the Odessa center of Russian-Jewish literature, the work of G. Bogrov developed, who belonged to the same literary generation as Rabinovich and Levanda. His first and most famous work, the autobiographical novel Notes of a Jew (written in the 1860s), was published in 1871–73. in the Russian capital magazine "Notes of the Fatherland". The Russian public and Russian critics reacted to the novel with interest: for the first time, the Russian reader was presented with a broad and detailed (about a thousand printed pages) panorama of Jewish life with almost ethnographic explanations in the main text and in numerous author's notes. The notes are imbued with hatred for the traditional Jewish way of life, mores, and way of thinking, which is characteristic of maskilim of extreme views. The fanatical intensity of hatred is so great that anti-Semites in those days and later referred to Bogrov with sympathy, and the Jews reproached him for slander. The reproaches are unfair: Bogrov's tendency is exactly the same as Levanda's, but the super-doctrinal narrowness of the gaze often leads the author to blindness, often, but not always: the hero-narrator asks himself: "Who is to blame for my misfortunes?" - “... First of all, I myself am to blame: I am a Jew! To be a Jew is the heaviest crime; it is a guilt that cannot be redeemed; this is a stain that cannot be washed off by anything; ... this is the sign of Cain on the forehead of an innocent, but condemned person in advance. The groan of a Jew does not arouse compassion in anyone. Serves you right: don't be a Jew. No, and that's not enough! Don't be born a Jew!" But then all the efforts of maskilim-assimilators are hopeless. Bogrov's artistic talent, rather modest in itself, was crushed by rough tendentiousness. However, the work of Bogrov, a writer of everyday life and a documentary filmmaker, now that the world he depicted has irrevocably disappeared, is much more valuable than 100 years ago. Bogrov, as an author and editor, significantly contributed to the revival of Russian-Jewish periodicals in the late 1870s - the first half of the 1880s. Despite his extremely critical attitude towards traditional Judaism and sympathy for the radical reformist ideas and activities of Y. Gordin, his adoption of Orthodoxy at the end of his life was caused not by ideological, but by purely personal considerations - the desire to legalize actual marriage. Bogrov's view of the departure from Jewry, formulated in a letter to Levanda (1878), anticipates the position of many Russian intellectuals of Jewish origin in a later era: “If the Jews in Russia were not subjected to such persecution and systematic persecution, I might the other shore, where other sympathies smile at me, other ideals. But my brothers in the nation, four million people in general, are suffering innocently, can a decent person give up on such a lie? ("Jewish Library", 1903, v. 10).

In the 1870s the center of Russian-Jewish literature moved from Odessa to St. Petersburg. In 1871–73 The weekly Bulletin of Russian Jews was published (irregularly), but its contribution both to journalism and artistic creativity is small. On the contrary, the publication of the "Jewish Library" (publisher-editor A. Landau) became an important stage in the development of Russian-Jewish literature, although from 1871 to 1880 only eight volumes of "historical and literary collections" were published, as indicated on the title page. (vols. 9-10 appeared in 1901-1903). The direction of the collections is the same as in the three Odessa periodicals: enlightenment, assimilation, Russification; the main composition of the authors is Levanda, Bogrov, Kulischer, Landau, Morgulis, Orshansky, that is, the “sixties”. V. Nikitin also belonged to them; despite the fact that the artistic merits of his works are modest, for Russian-Jewish literature his writings are very significant. Although he was baptized in childhood, and the break with Jewry was complete (so much so that his real name and surname are unknown), in 1871, in “Notes of the Fatherland” (in the same year, the first chapters of Bogrov’s “Notes of a Jew” appeared in the magazine ) he unexpectedly published an essay on the cantonists called "The Long-Suffering" (before that, he published only works on legal issues). This is the first work of Russian-Jewish literature entirely devoted to the institution of cantonists, Jewish not only in material but also in its view of the material. In the "Jewish Library" Nikitin published two long stories (vol. 4, 1873; vol. 5, 1875), he also collaborated in the journal Voskhod. His writings on the Jewish theme were published in separate editions. Nikitin also owns major works on the history of Jewish agricultural colonies in Russia, on which he worked, having access to the archives of the Ministry of Agriculture due to his official position. The fate of Nikitin is one of the first examples of how a writer moves away from Jewishness and approaches it, how Jewish principles are combined in the work of one person and have nothing to do with Jewry. P. Weinberg also actively collaborated in the Jewish Library, and then in the Voskhod (he also converted to Christianity in his youth), publishing both original works and translations on their pages.

Late 1870s was marked by a sharp rise in the activity of the Jewish press: in 1879 two weeklies were opened in St. Petersburg - Dawn (1879–83) and Russian Jew (1879–84). One of the external reasons for this rise was the growth of public anti-Semitism in Central Europe and in Russia itself (partly in connection with the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78), an increase in the number of readers, that is, Jews who mastered the Russian language, as in the Pale of Settlement, and beyond. It is no coincidence that both of these weeklies lasted much longer than their Odessa predecessors, and Voskhod, which appeared in 1881, lasted a quarter of a century and was the longest-running publication in the Russian-Jewish periodical press.

The boundary between the first, educational-assimilatory, and the second, nationally oriented, period of Russian-Jewish literature was laid by the pogroms of 1881–82. The main motives of the new period, covering the 1880s. and most of the 1890s - the bitterness of lost illusions and a return to the values ​​of patriarchal life in the ghetto (return to the "Jewish street"). The transition to a new period began as early as within the framework of the first literary generation (Rabinovich's last story, Levanda's late journalism). Despite the change in direction (for example, Dawn turned from a preacher of Russification into an organ of Palestinephilism), there was no conflict between “fathers and sons” in Russian-Jewish literature, just as there was no complete rejection of the educational ideas of assimilation - in the concept of “Russian Jew” the first half was no less important than the second. The first literary generation came up with new publications. Soon the next generation of writers also gained wide popularity: M. Ben-'Ammi, S. Dubnov, A. Volynsky, S. Frug, N. Minsky, I. L. B. Katsenelson (under the pseudonym Buki ben-Yogli), I. L. Kantor (under the pseudonyms Ben-Bag-Bag, Lev Ivry), A. Ya. Paperna (his first publications in Hebrew date back to the early 1860s) and many others. Their literary destinies later developed in different ways: while some remained in Russian-Jewish literature, others went into Russian literature proper, into Yiddish and Hebrew literature.

In the first half of the 1880s. the genre, stylistic, and content characteristics of Russian-Jewish literature finally took shape: the predominance of the journalistic (didactic, apologetic) element in all genres (especially in literary criticism), and the developed satirical direction. Poetry remained weak and for the first 20 years of its existence did not give a single name worth mentioning. In 1880, in the "Jewish Library" (Vol. 8), a poem was published that testified to the talent of the author - "The Collar" by M. Abramovich (1859-1940; see Mendele Moher Sfarim). This talent, however, did not develop, but rather degraded in numerous compositions on biblical subjects; in the late 1880s. Abramovich finally abandoned both poetry and Jewishness. Perhaps it was precisely because of the poverty of Russian-Jewish poetry that the publications of S. Frug, who appeared in 1879 in Dawn, became an important event. Frug very quickly won wide recognition, became a Jewish national poet not only for the assimilated intelligentsia who were switching to Russian, but also for the “masses”, who had no other means of communication and cultural expression other than Yiddish, as well as for the future classics of new poetry in Hebrew X. N. Bialik and Sh. Chernikhovsky. Frug clothed the painful, sharpest realities in dilapidated romantic words and images (however, like most other poets of the so-called era of timelessness), but his contemporaries did not notice this - they were bribed by topicality and melodiousness unprecedented before in Jewish poetry in Russian. Constantly in need of income, he wrote too much and too hastily.

According to the level of poetic mastery, the historical drama in verse by N. Minsky "The Siege of Tulchin", published in "Voskhod" (1888), is higher than the works of Frug (although Minsky's contribution to Russian-Jewish poetry "The Siege of Tulchin" is limited). Minsky's contribution to Russian-Jewish journalism is more significant - about ten polemical articles and feuilletons in "Rassvet", which influenced the development of the most important feuilleton genre in Russian-Jewish literature (as any journalistic articles were called at that time). Some of Minsky's articles have retained their significance to this day, for example, "Letter to Mr. Stranger" ("Dawn", 1880, No. 10 - a polemical response to the "letter" "The Jew is coming!" in A. S. Suvorin's "New Time" ). A little later (1881), Frug began to write feuilletons, who worked in this genre until the end of his life. Frug was a prolific but uneven journalist; in terms of content, among his feuilletons there is pure journalism and real stories, in tone they are invariably colored with irony. Many are combined into cycles: “Flying Strokes and Sketches” (“The Weekly Chronicle of “Sunrise”, 1886), “From the Diary” (ibid., 1888–89), “Spring Elegies” (ibid., 1889) and others. Some cycles stretched over many years and passed from one periodical to another (“From the Memoirs of a Jewish Colonist” [or “Jewish Farmer”]; in 1881 in “Dawn”, then until the end of the 1880s in “ Weekly Chronicle of "Sunrise" The largest cycle, although not united by a common subtitle (in the “Weekly Chronicle of the Sunrise” and the “Chronicle of the Sunrise”, 1889–98), is a text dedicated to Jewish holidays. In some feuilletons, prose is interspersed with verse. Despite the fact that much was written in a hurry and "just in case", Frug's feuilleton prose is an essential and necessary stage on the way to V. Zhabotinsky's feuilletons - the pinnacle of this genre in Russian-Jewish literature. Almost all writers of both the first and second periods tried themselves in the feuilleton genre (see above). Among the most productive and, apparently, the most popular feuilletonists of the first half of the 1880s. there were also Gershon-ben-Gershon (G. Lifshitz, 1854–1921), who also performed successfully in satirical fiction; Halevi (M. Orshansky); Optimist (M. Lazarev, 1858–1912), who also published fiction; G. M. (G. Rabinovich; 1832–89), one of the publishers of The Russian Jew; Pyotr Shlemil (D. L. Slonimsky), who began back in 1872 with the story "First Steps", published in the "Bulletin of Russian Jews"; I. Rombro.

In the first half of the 1880s. professional Russian-Jewish literary criticism was born. Its initiators were A. Volynsky, S. Dubnov, I. L. Kantor, G. Lifshits. A special place belongs to M. Lazarev, whose article “The Tasks and Significance of Russian-Jewish Fiction. (Critical sketch) ”(“ Sunrise ”, 1885, Nos. 5–6) was the first attempt to move from an analysis of disparate facts to generalizations and perspectives.

Since the mid 1880s. and until the end of the century Voskhod was the only Russian-Jewish periodical; everything that Russian-Jewish literature (with the rarest exceptions) produced during this period was published in Voskhod. The most significant of the prose writers who actively and regularly collaborated in Voskhod was M. Ben-‘Ammi (he signed his works as Ben-Ami). His first stories appeared in Voskhod in 1882, where he was published until the closing of the magazine in 1906 (the unfinished autobiographical story Years of Wanderings). Already the first publications were noticed and appreciated by Russian-Jewish critics; in the late 1890s Sh. Ginzburg, one of the permanent collaborators of Voskhod, accurately defined the place of Ben-Ammi in Russian-Jewish literature: “He became the first depicter and singer of the Jewish masses, which Russian-Jewish fiction had not paid attention to before him, being almost exclusively engaged in intellectual - educator (maskil); his main interest is not individual personalities and not everyday details, but the people as a whole, the soul of the people with the main thing that is hidden in it, that is, with boundless and undivided love for the Torah; it is no coincidence that Ben-‘Ammi’s best pages are pictures of holidays (primarily Saturdays), when an enthusiastic prayerful mood takes possession of the mass and turns it into a single organism ”(“ Sunrise ”, 1897, No. 12). The author's position of the struggle on two fronts also changes decisively (which was first encountered by O. Rabinovich and remained unchanged in Russian-Jewish literature for 20 years); for Ben-‘Ammi, this is not a defense against enemy attacks from outside and a struggle with his own vices, but a close and sympathetic attention to his own, special national existence. He took this position as early as 1884 (the article "Our Jewish world-eating and its main cause"; Voskhod, 1884, No. 8-9) and remained faithful to it throughout his creative life. Ben-‘Ammi clearly formulated his program: “Let the Jews themselves be imbued with true love for the Jewish people and for Jewry - and this is quite enough” (“Collection of stories and essays”, vol. 1, Odessa, 1898). Since not the masses, but the culturally Russified (or in the process of Russification) Jewish intelligentsia and the commercial and industrial class were the readers on whom the Russian-Jewish writer was guided, it was to this reader that Ben-‘Ammi tirelessly reminded him of his spiritual values. No one in the literary generation of Ben-‘Ammi expressed more sharply and unambiguously the transition from enlightenment universalism to national self-sufficiency. How important this transition was and, ultimately, fruitful, can be seen at least from the fact that S. An-sky came to similar convictions decades later: , Torah, Talmud - fallen, destroyed. And so we, representatives of the new Jewry, are trying to create something that, in addition to religion, would unite and rally the people into one whole ”(Collected Works, vol. 1, St. Petersburg). At the same time, the limitations of Ben-‘Ammi’s capabilities are also obvious. He invariably describes the same era - the 1860s, when the traditional way of life, the way of thinking and feeling were only slightly shaken, but far from being undermined; Outside of this material, familiar to the author from the recollections of childhood and adolescence (the autobiographical nature of the narrative is almost everywhere emphasized by the story in the first person), Ben-‘Ammi the fiction writer does not exist. Falling in love with patriarchal Jewry with the age-old immobility of its way of life and existence often turns into grandiloquent apologetics, sentimentality, tedious monotony, static, weakness of the plot. To a lesser extent, these shortcomings are inherent in late prose ("Childhood", "Years of Wanderings"). Of the rich journalistic and journalistic heritage of Ben-'Ammi, a lot has retained its relevance, first of all - the cycle of essays "The Voice from the Desert", begun in "Voskhod" (1900-1901) and continued in the weekly "Future" sympathizing with Zionism in 1902. Ben-'Ammi is the first of the major writers of Russian-Jewish literature who also appeared in fiction in Yiddish: his story appeared in the second issue of Shalom Aleichem's Yiddish Folkslibraries as early as 1889 (and he continued to write in Yiddish later on).

S. Yaroshevsky (died in 1907) was a notable figure among the prose writers of Voskhod. During his collaboration with the magazine (1881–99), he published six long stories, three novellas and four novels, of which the novels The Natives of Mezhepolis (1891–93) and The End of the Natives (1896) form a dilogy. With rare exceptions, the works of Yaroshevsky did not evoke a response from his contemporaries. First of all, this is due to the uncertainty of his position on the issue that was the most important for the Jewish reader: what is the value of Jewry? is it worth it to be a jew? The image of a cross (or potential cross) appears already in the second publication (the story "The Pioneer", 1882, Nos. 1-5) and is present in many works, but it remains unclear how the author himself regards apostasy. Particularly curious in this respect is the novel Rosa Maygold (1897, nos. 5-12). Seeing the tragic consequences of any departure from Jewry and its selfish - at least partially - motives, Yaroshevsky, at the same time, does not find in Jewry those inner virtues and strengths that could resist the temptation of leaving his people. The characters and the events depicted leave a feeling not so much of an insoluble conflict as of confusion and even a cowardly inability to decide and act. But the criticism of that time did not appreciate the deep reflections of Yaroshevsky, the justice of which was comprehended by the Jewish community much later. Back in 1883, he said (through the mouth of a gendarmerie general addressing a young Jewish socialist involved in some kind of revolutionary “case”): “... you are doing this out of love for the fatherland, for the people ... as they now love to express; you want to prove by this that you have ceased to be Jews and, along with all the sons of the fatherland, care for the good of the fatherland, the people ... But these are soap bubbles ... You will never achieve that even your friends ... consider you equal to themselves .. You will always remain Jews in their eyes, and the people of whom you are the uncalled saviors will never recognize you... At the first signal, they will go to beat you... The current pogroms... this is science for you. You wanted a merger, your intelligent young people wanted to show that they had become more Russian than the Russians themselves ... So they paid the price ... Be prudent ”(the story“ In the whirlpool ”,“ Sunrise ”, 1883, No. 10). And the monologue of an aged Jewish enlightener, by no means a retrograde, not a mossy guardian of tradition, that it is too early for Jews to leave their "shell" for the sake of "mixing" and "merging" (the story "Pioneer"), almost a quarter of a century anticipates the reflections of S. An-sky, which underlie the “essay” (the author’s definition; in terms of volume and essence, this is a novel) with the meaningful title “Destroyers of the Fence” (“Books of the Voskhod”, 1905, No. 1–9). The very theme of the pogrom, which was subsequently developed not only by Russian-Jewish literature, but also reflected in Russian literature, was introduced into artistic prose by Yaroshevsky. The weaknesses of the writer (the unconvincing plot and the fuzziness of the plot moves, sentimentality, sluggishness of the narrative) are obvious, but it is unfair to forget about the merits: he creates a picture of the life of the provincial city of K., somewhere in the south-west of the empire, in the Pale of Settlement (the action of the majority takes place there). works of Yaroshevsky) - the "second reality", which is distinguished by originality, internal consistency, and a variety of characters. The author's ironic gaze and his method of building characters attract attention (the psychological characteristics are gradually, unobtrusively, made up of small details). The creative fate of Yaroshevsky is one of the examples of the unfair oblivion that befell many writers of Russian-Jewish literature.

The opposite of Yaroshevsky in all respects was J. Rombro. He was not forgotten (however, the history of Jewish culture preserves rather only his pseudonym Philip Krantz). As a prose writer, he made his debut in Voskhod (his first publication in the same journal in 1880 was of a journalistic nature) a little later than Yaroshevsky, in 1882, and his entire artistic heritage in Russian-Jewish literature is reduced to three stories (the last appeared in Voskhod in 1885). He managed to create several images that expanded the former horizons of Russian-Jewish literature: a beggar student of a yeshiva, turning from a desperate religious fanatic into an even more desperate atheist (“Notes of a Mad Orem Bocher”); in another work - the mistress of thoughts in the town, arranging the wedding of a beggar woman with an idiot in order to atone for the sins of the community and to get rid of cholera and causing maskil not only anger, but also a kind of admiration, since she is really a kind soul and really cares about the public good, although and understands it in his own way; a beggar woman herself, miserable and ugly, but not resigned, longing for motherhood and family happiness and hopelessly embittered (“Cholera Wedding”).

An even smaller creative heritage was left by G. Gurevich (1854–?), the author of the remarkable “Notes of a Renegade” (“Sunrise”, 1884, No. 3,5,6), signed with the pseudonym Gershon Badanes. He studied at the universities of Vienna and Berlin and began his literary activity in German in newspapers of the left and the far left (like Rombro, he switched from X askali to socialism). He returned to Russia in 1883 and in the same year began to publish in Voskhod. Combining fiction with journalism, "Notes" with the utmost frankness imitates the manner and methods of M. Saltykov-Shchedrin, who was the idol of the Russian (including Russian-Jewish) intelligentsia and had an impact on the culture of Jews in Russia as a whole, regardless of linguistic affiliation . Gurevich analyzes the transformation of a maskil into a renegade, that is, the feverish Russification of a newborn Russian-Jewish intellectual, who abandoned his hateful co-religionists and fellow tribesmen for the sake of the ideals of universal brotherhood and was rudely rejected by the coveted "surrounding majority", which sees in him not a brother, but a contemptible Jew. This situation, outlined by Yaroshevsky a year earlier, is for the first time written out in detail, with tragic pathos and sarcasm; the image of a renegade Jew becomes typical in various Jewish literatures of the 20th century. (for example, Josephus Flavius ​​in L. Feuchtwanger's trilogy, Lyutov in J. Babel's Cavalry and others). The peculiarity of the Russian maskil-renegade is that he is not a victim of politics, but of great Russian literature, from M. Lermontov and V. Belinsky to G. Uspensky and the same M. Saltykov-Shchedrin. It was she who made him believe in "the universal ideals of beauty, grandeur, eternity, proud civic consciousness" ("Voskhod", 1884, No. 6) and turn into a "true Russian" - only to hear from the Russifier-raznochinets in the midst of pogroms , who opened this literature to him, but since then managed to become a “state youth”, the state wisdom about popular unrest: “We have no right to treat not only negatively, but even indifferently to a purely popular movement; we are obliged to express the general formula of all the forces acting in Russia in a certain direction” (ibid., 1884, No. 3). The renegade curses the "Russian spirit", renounces Russia, but he is unable to break with her and "return to his native background" (ibid.).

Six months later, in Voskhod (1884, Nos. 9-12), S. An-sky's story "The History of a Family" appeared, originally written in Yiddish, but did not find a publisher and therefore translated (perhaps with someone's help) into Russian . For the first time in Russian-Jewish literature, the subject of the image was not just poverty and need, but extreme and terrible poverty, the complete pauperization of patriarchal Jewry. This literary debut anticipated themes and types that became characteristic and predominant only in the next, third period of Russian-Jewish literature from the end of the 1890s. (especially in S. Yushkevich). In 1885, An-sky published one story in Voskhod and then left the magazine and Russian-Jewish literature for a long time. Only in 1902 did An-sky publish the story Mendel the Turk, written ten years earlier, at the his Russian, populist period; from that moment began the second Jewish period of his work, which lasted until the end of his life and put him forward among the leading writers of Russian Jewry, and besides - in two languages ​​equally: in Russian and in Yiddish. As one of the most prominent Russian-Jewish critics A. Gornfeld correctly noted, in this second period An-sky from a sociologist of Jews becomes its psychologist, that is, he approaches Ben-Ammi, but, unlike him, peers into the soul with sympathy and understanding. and old, traditional and new, rebellious, going into the revolution of the Jews ("Pioneers", "Sunrise", 1904-1905; "In a New Way", 1906). “A representative of young Jewry, who in the past years bore the brunt of the struggle for new views on his shoulders, he was able to appreciate the positive elements that he found in the people of the past. These people were mistaken, but they were people of the spirit, they were real intellectuals, with whom they had to fight, but which you can be proud of ”(A. Gornfeld). Both creativity and An-sky's life itself are an example of how Jewish and Russian were combined within the framework of one personality and over the course of one life path, and one or the other alternately prevailed. And although the Jewish one took over, the An-sky artist, who was completely formed by the school of populists-raznochintsy, did not go beyond its rather limited limits, although he outlived his literary idol G. Uspensky by as much as 20 years. But for all the dryness, earthliness, documentary essay writing, typical of populist literature, it has pages, episodes, images of such poetic power, to which Russian-Jewish literature as a whole has rarely risen (such is the frail Sender - “In a new way”, - fascinated by Russian strength, prowess and scope, dreaming of being dissolved in the Russian people and rejected by them with contempt). The work of the late An-sky, a translator of folk tales, Hasidic legends and, first of all, the author of the "Dybbuk" stands apart; in this capacity, An-sky is more of a collector of folklore than a romantic or mystic (this was one of the first to be noted by I. L. Peretz). It remains unclear whether the play "Dybbuk" was written in Russian or in Yiddish, or both versions were created simultaneously. There is no doubt that in 1916 the Russian version of "Dybbuk" ("Between Two Worlds") had already taken shape approximately in the form in which the play exists today in Hebrew and Yiddish - this is confirmed by an excerpt from the first act, published in the weekly "Jewish life” (Petrograd, 1916, No. 1). There are also newspaper, memoir, epistolary evidence of the author's negotiations with K. Stanislavsky about staging the play in one of the studios of the Moscow Art Theater in 1915–17. (however, the full Russian text, which was read and corrected by K. Stanislavsky, has not yet been found). The affiliation of the "Dybbuk" to Russian-Jewish literature is beyond doubt.

From the very first issue of Voskhod and throughout the 1880s, almost until the end of his life, P. Levenson was published in the journal (see above). Most clearly, his literary talent is manifested in the genre of a travel essay (“Visiting”, 1883, Nos. 1–2 and 5–6; 1885, No. 1–2, 4–5, 8–9; “A Trip to Ramsgate”, 1889, No. 1–2,4,6; In the West, 1889, No. 12, 1890, No. 4–5, 8–10; Memoirs of England, 1891, No. 4–9): the sea of ​​details, the most characteristic and significant, is combined with a purely Shchedrinian irony, and this combination imparts freshness, immediate fascination to texts of a hundred years ago. The story "Bewitched" (1884, No. 7) is one of the best works about cantonists in Russian-Jewish literature.

In the 1880s for the first time there appear authors brought up in an assimilated environment who do not rebel against the old Jewry, do not apologise for it, they are alien to it from the very beginning, and they are driven into Jewry by sad circumstances (pogroms, anti-Jewish legislation, administrative measures). This phenomenon was first analyzed by O. Gruzenberg (in the first half of the 1890s he led the column “Literature and Life” in “Voskhod”) using the example of the first collection of short stories and novels “Silhouettes” (1894) by Rasheli Khin (1863/64?/ - 1928, pseudonym R. M-khin). The Jewish theme was neither the only one nor even the predominant one for the writer; the main object of the image is the Russian intelligentsia at home and in exile. Gruzenberg argued that the Jewish characters of Khin were built according to Russian intellectual models; this is true only in relation to the story “Not to the Court”, with which the writer first appeared in Voskhod (1886, Nos. 8-12), but is not applicable to most of the later works published both in Russian-Jewish and in proper Russian periodicals ("Bulletin of Europe", "World of God" and others). Already in the story "Makarka" ("Sunrise", 1889, No. 4), the main character of which is a teenager from a family living not in the Pale of Settlement, but in Moscow, the author creates an image that is original both psychologically and in plot. A. Gornfeld several times in the early 1900s. noted that Hin not only knows his heroes, but writes them from the inside, and contrasted it with A. Kuprin, who, with all his sympathy for the Jews, is unable to go further than an ethnographic essay. R. Hin is an early (if not the first) example of a creative path in which the Russian-Jewish and Russian writers develop in parallel, sometimes touching, but never uniting; it is, as it were, the beginning of belonging to two civilizations.

Among the writers who declared themselves in the 1880s were V. Baskin (1855-1919), the author of the drama in five acts "At the Crossroads" ("Russian Jew", 1880, No. 20-31), later known musical critic; prose writer and playwright N. Goldenberg (1863-?), who published under the pseudonym Baron Tarnegol (the first literary scandal in Russian-Jewish literature is associated with his name: the Warsaw Polish-Jewish newspaper "Israelita" claimed that his play "Waiting for the best", published by the "Russian Jew" in 1881, No. 32–39, - plagiarism); V. Berman, speaking in all genres, including poetry; W. Veinshal (1863–1943), gifted prose writer and publicist. The history of Russian-Jewish literature is so little studied that nothing is known about many prose writers who started out interestingly, except for the name and (or) pseudonym.

At the turn of the 1880–1890s. debuts E. (Kh.) Hisin, a member of Bilu, who returned to Russia in 1887. His essays on Palestine were published in Voskhod until the end of the 1890s. (“From the diary of a Palestinian emigrant”, 1889, a separate edition called “Diary of a Biluy”, T.-A., 1973; “A Trip to the Promised Land”, then “The Promised Land”, 1891–97; “Jordan”, 1898– 99) and were an important milestone in the development of documentary prose in Russian-Jewish literature. In the first half of the 1890s. B. Ferber (1859–95), who promised a lot but died early, was published: the story “From the Chronicle of the Town of Cherashni” (“Sunrise”, 1890, No. 11–12), the story “Near Love” (“Sunrise”, 1892, No. 4 -8; essays and feuilletons in the Weekly Chronicle of Voskhod). The last and best work of art by M. Varshavsky (1853–97) was printed - the sketch "Adventure" ("Sunrise", 1892, No. 1); in Russian literature, Varshavsky made his debut as a poet in 1874, and in Russian-Jewish literature he began as early as 1879 in Dawn, where he led the department of fiction, in which he also placed a number of his works (The Black Jew, The Forgotten and others); he "discovered" Frug, whom he arranged in the capital and supported in every possible way. After the termination of the publication of Dawn, Varshavsky collaborated in the Russian Jew, and in 1884, under the pseudonym Mark Samoilov, published a collection of poems By the Sea (which did not contain Jewish themes). Of the young authors of Voskhod who left early, the poet and essayist I. Tager (died in 1896) attracts attention. Among the figures of Jewish culture who later became famous, who began their literary activity in the 1890s, is L. Rubinov (1873–?), who until the end of the century published his stories and novels in Voskhod, and later in Zionist publications (Future, "Jewish Life" and others), and after the First World War ended up in Poland and completely switched from Russian to Yiddish; M. Ryvkin; J. Gessen, who began with very weak verses ("Sunrise", 1895, No. 2); M. Rivesman (1868–1924), who also worked in Yiddish, is a prose writer, poet, playwright, translator, who wrote a lot about children and for children (a series of feuilletons “From childhood memories” in the Weekly Chronicle of Voskhod and in the newspaper Voskhod ", 1892–1903); L. Yaffe.

A very special debut was the appearance on the pages of Voskhod (1896, No. 7) by N. Pruzhansky (N. Linovsky; 1844/45? / -1919?), First published in Hebrew back in 1863 in " X a-melitz ". He early accepted Christianity and went into the proper Russian literature for more than 15 years. A professional and prolific writer (he owned at least two dozen collections of short stories and novels, mostly unrelated to Jewry), he brought nothing original to Russian-Jewish literature. After the pogroms of 1881–82. he published a number of pamphlets for the people (“Are we doing well that we beat the Jews”, Odessa, 1882; “Is the Jew guilty of being a Jew”, Odessa, 1883), and from the mid-1890s. regularly contributed to Voskhod (magazine and newspaper) and Voskhod Books. The “Jewish” Pruzhany is a characteristic maskil of the last generation, only somewhat belated, and perhaps the most curious in his legacy is the memoirs “Experienced”, dedicated to the author’s early years in Pruzhany, in Vilna (at the rabbinic school), in Odessa and in Nikolaev (“Books of Voskhod”, 1903, No. 12; 1904, No. 12).

As a new word in Russian-Jewish literature, the story (rather a story) “In a Jewish Town” by N. Kogan (1863–93), published under the pseudonym N. Naumov in Vestnik Evropy (1892, No. 11; separate edition 1893) was accepted by critics city ​​called "In a remote place"). The story was almost the only work of fiction (with the exception of poetic and fictional experiments published in the newspapers "Krym" and "Krymsky Vestnik") of an early deceased writer (in his obituary S. Stanislavsky called Kogan "an innovator in the field of Jewish fiction", and further wrote, that Russian-Jewish literature, “greatly impoverished after the death of such major writers as L. O. Levanda and G. I. Bogrov, would have found in him a worthy substitute”; “The Weekly Chronicle of Voskhod”, 1893, No. 26). In 1905, M. Ryvkin published an essay on Naumov-Kogan in a separate pamphlet, in which he writes: “...“In a remote place” has become a reference book for almost every Jewish family. She ... along with the memory of her brilliant creator became the property of the entire Jewish people. The story is extremely (and, obviously, deliberately) simplified both in terms of plot and plot: “enlightened”, that is, a young man who received a Russian education returns to his native place to open a school, and meets different people there. This work exactly fits into the canons of Russian populist prose, it is no coincidence that it appeared in a Russian magazine with the assistance of V. Korolenko and is dedicated to him. Probably, the delight of the critics was caused not only by the author's sad sympathy for the beggar, but by the great spirit melamed, who adamantly denies any knowledge other than traditionally Jewish, not only sympathy for the police official, who becomes a "Jewish" despite his "good heart", at the request of his superiors and "official papers", but also the special poetics of populist prose, for the first time consistently and skillfully applied by a Russian-Jewish writer. This poetics, however, had already exhausted itself on Russian soil, it had no future in Russian-Jewish literature either, and it is not surprising that both the story and its author were soon forgotten.

A new period in Russian-Jewish literature begins in 1897 with the appearance in the August book "Russian wealth" of the story "The Tailor" (with the subtitle "From Jewish Life") by S. Yushkevich. The appearance of the Jewish story in the journal of Russian populists, which published such writers as I. Bunin and L. Andreev, M. Gorky and A. Kuprin, was significant: in the pre-revolutionary decades, Russian-Jewish literature first attracted the attention of the Russian reading public, the Jewish theme more and more often and sharper sounds in fiction works on the pages of Russian periodicals. The interest and reaction of critics to Russian-Jewish literature was not always sympathetic: in the second half of the 1900s. voices were heard about the dominance of Jews in Russian literature, and both Russian-Jewish writers and Russian writers of Jewish origin were meant. The formation of both political Zionism (1st Zionist Congress, 1897), on the one hand, and the Russian revolutionary movement, on the other, led to the strengthening of social and political motives in literature and to a sharp division of writers along these motives. In aesthetic terms, Russian-Jewish literature, following Russian (from which, as in previous periods, it continued to be artistically dependent), experienced a kind of modernist revolution. This period in Russian culture was called the "Silver Age"; Russian-Jewish literature of the early 20th century. also flourished. All these phenomena were reflected in the vast, multifaceted, partly contradictory work of S. Yushkevich. For the first time, a Russian-Jewish writer rose above the utilitarian tasks of denunciation and apology, he felt like an artist who does not care about what interpretation can be given to his works in the broad context of the national and religious confrontation "Jew - non-Jew". As V. Khodasevich accurately noted, the main subject and goal of Yushkevich is the depiction of human suffering; the fate of the Jewish people in Russia worried him not only in itself, but also, probably, as the focus of world and especially Russian suffering. “An assimilated everyday writer of decay” (by the definition of I. Tsinberg), Yushkevich depicted the destruction of the traditional family, worldview, social structures (already from the first significant work, the story “Disintegration”, written in 1895–97, published in 1902) and the "fruits" of this destruction: the big Jewish bourgeoisie, the proletariat, prostitutes, criminals and moral degenerates. Often this caused indignation among readers and theatergoers (especially in connection with the productions of the plays Money, 1907, and The Comedy of Marriage, 1909) and even direct accusations of anti-Semitism. The motive of Jewish self-hatred was also first discovered by Yushkevich. Among the new Jewish characters he created, there are also strong personalities, fighters professing various political beliefs, including Zionist ones (the writer himself was never a Zionist). Yushkevich introduced an element of coarse sensuality, eroticism into Russian-Jewish literature (apparently for the first time in new Jewish literatures), anticipating I. Babel in this, and in Yiddish literature - O. Varshavsky and I. Bashevis-Singer. He was also Babel's predecessor in the first successful attempts at a truly artistic (and not mechanical, as before him) reproduction of the intonation, lexical and syntactic features of speech in Yiddish by means of the Russian language. In the work of Yushkevich, along with successes, there are also obvious failures (for example, he hardly mastered the techniques of symbolist writing in prose and drama). However, the transition from a kind of everyday life to satire (in the image of "winners", "masters of life"), bordering on the grotesque and the aesthetics of ugliness, turned out to be highly fruitful: his best works were written in this vein - the novel "Leon Dray" (1908-19 ) and the story "Episodes" (1921), which opened up new perspectives in Russian-Jewish literature. In general, the entire development of Russian-Jewish literature during this period is connected with the experiments and achievements of Yushkevich.

The second most important writer in these years was D. Aizman, also published for the first time in Russian Wealth, but four years later. Like Yushkevich, he was at first close to M. Gorky, published in his literary collections and in the Znanie publishing house, sympathized with the Social Democrats, sang the revolution, but after 1907 he began to look for other themes and means of expression: the social gave way to the personal , a purely realistic manner of writing - modernist (symbolist). Like Yushkevich, he often turned to all-Russian, non-Jewish topics. Aizman - the Jewish writer nevertheless prevailed in him over the Russian; his hero is, as a rule, an assimilated Jewish intellectual who has lost contact with his people, in love with Russia and rejected, repelled by it. Hence the recurring and characteristic for Aizman image of a Russian Jew in exile, suffering from nostalgia and dreaming of returning to his homeland. This motive is specifically Aizman’s, but the most common motive for all Russian-Jewish literature of the period under review was Russian-Jewish mutual perceptions, relationships, interactions, often in their most tragic manifestation - a pogrom (for example, Aizman’s story “The Heart of Being”, 1906, and his story "Bloody Spill", 1908). As a master of words, Aizman surpasses Yushkevich. His prose, more even, pure and finished, mostly neutral (even before the turning point of 1907) politically and ideologically, is one of the pinnacles of Russian-Jewish literature; No wonder critics called Aizman the "Jewish Chekhov." Aizman's main stylistic discovery is the virtuoso reproduction of the Russian speech of a semi-educated Jew who still feels insecure in the Russian language element; in this he, like Yushkevich, is a direct predecessor of Babel. Aizman also wrote for the theater, his plays were famous; one of them, "Wives", was staged on the capital's stages (at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, 1909, at the Maly Theater, 1910). The passion of Yushkevich and his gift as a satirist were alien to Aizman; he is soft, lyrical and even a little sentimental, and this to some extent explains the unfailing favor of both the reader and critics. However, sometimes he knew how to be almost merciless to his characters - and then especially interesting characters were born, like Max Solntsev, aka Moses Zonshein in the story "Editor Solntsev" from the collection of the same name (published posthumously in 1926).

The stories and essays by M. Ryvkin (see above), which compiled the collection “In the Stuffiness” (withstood several editions, the first in 1900), represent in Russian-Jewish literature the tradition of psychological prose of the Chekhov type, the subject of which is the closed world of the town . The later novel about the Velizh case, Navet (1912), was the first experience of a modernist historical novel in Russian-Jewish literature and received a positive assessment from I. Tsinberg. If Ryvkin belonged to Jewish literature (in Russian and Yiddish) completely, then A. Svirsky began in 1892 as a Russian writer and did not address the Jewish topic for about ten years (perhaps because in his youth he left Jewishness by adopting Orthodoxy). In the 1900s–1910s three collections of his stories about the Jewish poor were published; in the late 1920s one of the Russian critics, who reviewed the ten-volume collected works of Svirsky, noted that in all his work, it is the Jewish stories that are of the greatest artistic value. They are written in the spirit of the early Gorky (somewhat romanticized everyday description of the social "bottom"). And in Soviet times, when Russian-Jewish literary activity almost froze, Svirsky partially remained within the framework of Russian-Jewish literature: even his last work, the autobiographical novel The Story of My Life (1929-40), reveals an obvious dual belonging - to a typically Russian biography of the 20th century. (similar to the Gorky autobiographical trilogy), but at the same time, to the tradition of Russian-Jewish autobiographical prose (Levanda, Bogrov, Ben-‘Ammi). A. Kipen, who does not have many works related to Russian-Jewish literature, was also close to the Gorky direction, but his contribution is quite significant. Thus, in the story "Liverant" (1910), a completely new Jewish character is presented - strong, independent, actively reacting to any humiliation and achieving success; Aron Getz, the hero of the story, is the direct predecessor of Babel's characters. To a certain extent, Kipen also anticipated the language of Babel's dialogues. In the wonderful story “Who art in heaven” (Jewish World weekly, 1910, No. 3), noticed and subtly commented on by S. An-sky, the problem of children and adolescents in Russified families is introduced into Russian-Jewish literature: “lullaby assimilation” (an expression of An-sky) will push them further on the path of apostasy, baptism. The tragedy of baptism is presented in an unexpected perspective in the play by O. Dymov, whose activity in Russian-Jewish literature was very short-lived (for him it was a bridge from Russian literature to Jewish literature in Yiddish). In the play "Listen, Israel!" (1907), depicting the atrocities and horrors of the pogrom, the main plot move is that a young man killed by pogromists turns out to be a secret convert (he converted to Christianity in order to go to university); when this is discovered, the rabbi refuses the murdered man's father a Jewish funeral. The main subject of the image is the suffering of the father, "new Job". It is noteworthy that this extremely successful move was borrowed by Dymov from Svirsky, who in the cycle “Eternal Wanderers (Notes of a Salesman)” (“Jewish Life”, 1904, No. 10) showed the same collision, only not related to the pogrom.

This period was the time of the highest flourishing of Russian-Jewish book publishing and periodicals. There were more than 60 time-based publications alone. A school of Jewish cultural studies, historiography, and literary criticism developed; its brightest and most famous representatives are Yu. Gessen, Sh. Ginzburg, P. Marek, A. Gornfeld, I. Zinberg; they all wrote for the general public, that is, they were not only scientists, but also writers. Fiction departments of periodicals were constantly replenished with new names, some of them soon disappeared, some writers continued to be published, and separate editions and even collections of works followed magazine publications. Among the latter is L. Kornman (pseudonym Carmen, see R. Karmen), but above all - N. Osipovich, who created a completely new character for Russian-Jewish literature - a Black Sea Jewish fisherman, healthy, strong and fearless, in no way similar to a frail and timid shtetl inhabitant ("By the Water"). Osipovich was a predominantly lyrical artist who painted both nature and his characters with love and "an indestructible faith in the future, unshakable idealism" (A. Gornfeld). Of the names that flashed through Russian-Jewish literature, A. Katsizne attracted the attention (later he became a fairly well-known representative of Yiddish literature).

The period of "silence" in Russian-Jewish literature lasted until the second half of the 1960s, in fact, until the revival of Zionism in the Soviet Union and the beginning of repatriation to the State of Israel. The awakening of a national consciousness, whether short-lived or sustained, does not by itself give birth to a Jewish writer. Therefore, neither P. Antokolsky with his poem "Not Eternal Memory" (1946), nor B. Slutsky with his large cycle of "Jewish poems", nor V. Grossman with his amazing power "Jewish chapters" from “Lives and Fates” and “Everything Flows ...”, not even warm nostalgic memories that appeared during the “thaw” period (autobiographical / in whole or in part / stories and novels about Jewish childhood: the trilogy “The Road Goes Away” by Alexandra Brushtein, 1956–61; "The Boy from Pigeon Street" by B. Yampolsky, 1959; "At the Beginning of Life" by S. Marshak, 1961; "Family from Sosnovsk" by S. Bruk, 1965, and others) - all these are Russian writers. It is also difficult to attribute to Russian-Jewish literature the works that appeared in the late 1960s. - 1970s devoted to Jewish themes: M. Grossman's stories "Beyond Reason" (1968) and D. Galkin's "Cimbalists" (1970), A. Rybakov's novel "Heavy Sand" (1978) and others.

Russian-Jewish literature of a period that continued into the 1990s matured in the underground and was born, mainly in Israel, after the departure of the author from the Soviet Union or in preparation for the departure, which sometimes dragged on for many years due to refusal (see Samizdat; see also Soviet Union; Russian literature in Israel). The largest Russian-Jewish writer who settled outside Israel is F. Gorenstein (1932–2002; lived in Berlin). His philosophical, extremely capacious and "thick" prose and drama belong, however, to Russia and Christianity no less, and perhaps even more, than to Jewry and Judaism. As for the territory of the former Soviet Union, the process of formation of a new generation of Russian-Jewish writers is just beginning. Only G. Kanovich, a highly professional prose writer, deeply rooted in Jewry, declared himself convincingly and weightily. Dina Kalinovskaya (nee Dora Beron; 1934–2008) also drew attention to herself with the story “Oh, Saturday” (1980; first published in Yiddish translation in “Sovetish Geimland”, 1975, No. 2–3, under the title “Old People ”), stories “From Friedkin’s Stories” (1985, translated into Yiddish in “Soviet Geimland”, 1976, No. 6), “Drawing at the Bottom” (1985) and others.

UPDATED VERSION OF THE ARTICLE IS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION

Are there poets of genius among the Jews? No one. Among the Jews, only four personalities are listed as poets: Pasternak, Heine, Mandelstam and Brodsky. There are ten poets of this level in every seedy Russian town. To call these mediocre poets great can only be the Jews and their lackeys, who, for lack of a better way, strive to praise any Jewish mediocrity. The most interesting was Pasternak. But then again, what's interesting? With his poetic translations. The translations are good. Pasternak translated from English, German and French the best Western European poets and tried to borrow poetic images from them and pass them off as his own. Brodsky was engaged in similar translations and borrowings. Stealing someone else's and passing it off as your own is a typical method of Jewish genius. But, despite all the borrowings, both the poetry of Pasternak and the poetry of Brodsky leave a miserable impression. The Jews do not have the spark of God. It is not surprising that the Jewish Committee for Nobel Prizes awarded the Ig Nobel Prizes to both Pasternak and Brodsky.

Of course, the Jews had nothing like such Russian geniuses as A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, S. A. Yesenin, A. A. Fet, F. I. Tyutchev, and never will.

At one time, the famous Soviet poet S. Ya. Marshak, who almost one-to-one copied the style of the English poet Robert Burns, came up with the following epigram:

With all that, with all that,
With all that, though.
Marshak remained Marshak,
And Robert Burns is a poet.

This epigram is very characteristic of all Jewish art.

At one time, Soviet and world Jewry promoted such a Soviet artist as Smoktunovsky. He was presented as the greatest Soviet artist, an artist of international level. It is clear to any art lover that Smoktunovsky is a mediocre artist, and besides, he is not quite mentally healthy. In people of high taste, his work could not cause anything but disgust.

Look at the Russian outstanding actors of this time: Zharov, Kryuchkov, Pugovkin, Andreev, Tikhonov, Rybnikov, Belov, Batalov, Papanov, Ulyanov, Samoilov, Matveev, Leonid Bykov, Evstigneev, Gribov, Leonov, Solomins, Tabakov, Lanovoy, Nikulin, Shukshin , Filippov, Zhzhenov, Innocent, Porokhovshchikov, Filatov and many others. A huge army of amazingly talented and original Russian nuggets. But those who have money and the media impose their criteria and their assessments on society: it turns out that Smoktunovsky is the most brilliant actor.

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Are there poets of genius among the Jews? No one. Among the Jews, only four personalities are listed as poets: Pasternak, Heine, Mandelstam and Brodsky. There are ten poets of this level in every seedy Russian town. Name these...

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"POETS-BAPTIZED JEWS"

Election ghetto! Shaft and ditch.

Please don't wait!

In this most Christian of worlds

Poets are Jews!

(Marina Tsvetaeva)

Self-awareness of the personal, national and universal is most strongly manifested in the poetic word. The dispersal of Jews in many countries and continents was the reason that many Jewish poets created their works in different languages ​​of the world. Hebrew literature has existed for the 33rd century. A noticeable trace was left by Jewish poetry in Spanish and Arabic in the years of the early Middle Ages, and in the last 2 centuries - in European languages. A little over a century ago, Jews entered Russian poetry and immediately occupied leading positions in it: Sasha Cherny, Mandelstam, Pasternak, Galich, Korzhavin. The list of Jewish surnames could be continued, but I will confine myself to these names - they are the ones that link the articles: about baptized Jews in Russian poetry. They were all baptized.

Brodsky's name remained outside this list, since publications and speeches by people close to the poet emphasized that he had never been baptized. For example, Ilya Kutik said: "Brodsky was neither a Jew nor a Christian, he wanted to be a Calvinist ...". By the will of Brodsky's wife, a cross was erected on his grave. It cannot be ruled out that the poet foresaw this possibility by writing the poem “I erected a different monument to myself.”

The question of the baptism of prominent poets is confusing to many people. Why did these respected, talented and close by blood people leave their roots, make themselves Russians “just like that”, without formally renouncing their Jewishness? Some of them didn't even change their last names.

Russian poetry of the 19th century was simple, accessible, musical and easily perceived. But in the poetic allegory of the poets of the 20th century, sometimes even venerable writers do not always understand the meaning of the creations of their colleagues.

So Brodsky asked Nadezhda Mandelstam to comment on one of her husband's poems. But she could not give him a transcript.

"Tsvetaeva's poems are sometimes difficult, they require a thoughtful unraveling of her thoughts," wrote Anastasia Tsvetaeva. Understanding the allegories of the poetess is not always available not only to ordinary lovers of poetry, but also to those for whom the study of Tsvetaeva's work has become a profession. For example, critic V. Losskaya believes that the words of the poetess often "affect all the confusion of her (Tsvetaeva) emotional reactions."

The lines from Marina Tsvetaeva's "Poem of the End" are very famous and often quoted:

S. Rassadin comments as follows: “After all, the ghetto of chosen ones, and not exiles, is such a ghetto, complaining about being in which is just as pointless (and would you even want to?) How to ask G-d to save you from the gift sent down to him ... "Jew" in the very sense in which the Slav woman Tsvetaeva applied the word to herself and her kind.

Two years after the creation of The Poem of the End, Tsvetaeva wrote in one letter: I love Jews more than Russians and maybe I would be very happy to be married to a Jew, but - what to do - I didn’t have to.

Alexander Mikhailovich Glikberg - Sasha Cherny wrote about himself: “The son of a pharmacist. Jew. Baptized by a ten-year-old father to be assigned to a gymnasium. He passed the exam, he was not accepted because of the percentage rate. The father decided to baptize him. That's the whole involvement of Sasha Cherny in Christianity.

The poet was born into a wealthy but uncultured Jewish family. Mother - a hysterical woman and a cruel, stingy father created an intolerable situation in the family. Following his brother, Sasha ran away from home. He was then 15 years old. His further life was spent in a world far from religion.

Sasha Cherny is a satirist poet. His sharp pen stung not only the king and politicians, for which he was arrested and brought to trial. The “Russian layman” and the “true Russian Jew” suffered no less. The poet was especially merciless towards the anti-Semites, who live under the slogan: "Jews and Jews, chickens and sidelocks. Save Russia, sharpen your knives!" (Judophobes). The following lines of Sasha Cherny are interesting: “But what is a Jewish question for Jews. \ Such a shame, a curse and a rout, \ That I dare not touch him \ With my poisoned pen. I could not find deep Christian motives in the poet's work.

Mandelstam, like Heine, wanted to unite Judaism with Hellenism, and also painfully and forcibly came to Christianity. He betrayed the faith of the fathers, but, as it were, not completely. The poet did not go to the Orthodox Church, but chose the Protestant church in Vyborg. He was not baptized with water.

Having converted to Christianity, he never renounced his origin and the title of Jewry, which he was always proud of. The “memory of blood” was peculiar to Mandelstam. She went back to the biblical kings and shepherds, when there was no Christianity, and the later period, when Christianity won, according to S. Rasadin, he completely forgot.

In the Stalin period, Mandelstam began to be afraid of the totalitarian power of monotheism, and consoled himself with the fact that the Christian doctrine of the trinity was more suitable for his suffering nature. Mandelstam, said Nadezhda Yakovlevna, "was afraid of the Old Testament god and his formidable totalitarian power." He said that by the doctrine of the trinity, Christianity overcame the sovereignty of the Jewish God. "Naturally, we were afraid of autocracy." This statement, according to some critics, can be interpreted as Mandelstam's commitment to Christianity.

What kind of a Christian is he if he had no desire for martyrdom? All his life, Mandelstam lived in need and suffered greatly from this, not at all in a Christian way.

Mandelstam's attitude towards Jewry was complex and contradictory. He recalled the constant shame of a child from an assimilated Jewish family for his Jewishness, for importunate hypocrisy in the performance of a Jewish ritual, for "Jewish chaos" (...not a homeland, not a home, not a hearth, but precisely chaos).

In the 1920s, Mandelstam's life was spent in throwing between Christianity (" now every civilized person is a Christian") and Judaism ( "What a pain ... for a strange tribe to collect night herbs"). Later, he admires the "internal plasticity of the ghetto", notes the melody and beauty of the Yiddish language, the logical balance of Hebrew.

In The Fourth Prose, he said: "I insist that writing, as it has developed in Europe and especially in Russia, is incompatible with the honorary title of a Jew, which I am proud of."

The most restless of all Russian poets, Osip Mandelstam was still lucky in one thing: he found a woman keeper. Nadezhda, nee Khazina, was also a Jewess, baptized in childhood. She survived the poet for 42 years and dedicated her life to the cause of perpetuating the memory of the poet. The book "Memoirs" brought Nadezhda Mandelstam world fame.

In 1936, Pasternak was stigmatized for the lines "I rubbed myself into someone else's relatives."

Trying to somehow efface his Jewish "guilt", the poet was too carried away by the Russian principle in his work, that he even crossed the boundaries of what was permitted: in 1943 A. Fadeev accused Pasternak of great-power chauvinism.

The poet did not hide this: “I have Jewish blood, but there is nothing more alien to me than Jewish nationalism. It can only be Great Russian chauvinism. In this matter, I stand for complete Jewish assimilation...”.

After Doctor Zhivago appeared in Europe, the world Jewish community condemned the poet for so-called intelligent anti-Semitism and apostasy. Upon learning of this, according to Ivinskaya, "Borya laughed: - Nothing, I am above nationality." And Tsvetaeva said: from some point of view and Heine and Pasternak are not Jews ...

Nothing is known for certain about Pasternak's baptism. The poet once admitted in a letter to Jacqueline de Proire that he "was baptized in infancy by my nurse ... This caused some complications, and this fact has always remained an intimate semi-secret, the subject of rare and exceptional inspiration, and not a quiet habit." Did it take place due to the arbitrariness of some nanny in secret from the whole family?! It will probably never be known whether such an event was real or a far-fetched, artistic image created by the poet's imagination. However, when entering the Faculty of Philosophy of Margburg University, B. Pasternak, answering questions about religion, wrote down: "Jewish."

Pasternak advised Ivinskaya to write down about his passport data: “Mixed nationality, write it down.” The beloved woman wanted to present Pasternak as a purely Russian poet. In the chapter “Questionnaire” from the book of memoirs “Captured by Time”, Olga Ivinskaya told about the poet: “Baptized in the second generation, a Jew by nationality, B.L. (Boris Leonidovich) was a supporter of assimilation.” This is only half true. His father, Leon Pasternak, "remained a Jew until the end of his days."

In Pasternak's many-sided work there is not a single line about the catastrophe of European Jewry. But in the work of Naum Korzhavin, many pages are devoted to this topic. He wrote about Babi Yar, about "the world of Jewish shtetls..., synagogues and grave stones", about his Orthodox grandfather, about the fate of a Jewish immigrant, about various aspects of Jewish self-perception.

Galich sincerely supported the doctrine of the assimilation of Soviet Jewry. “I, a Russian poet, cannot be excommunicated from this Russia by the “fifth point.” His drama "Sailor's Silence", which essentially proclaimed assimilation, was originally called "My Big Land". With these words of the Jew David, the play ended. Theatrical ideologists demanded to change the name.

Heinrich Böhl noted that creative people in totalitarian countries seek a way out in religion, while in democratic countries they become atheists.

Maybe this is the reason for the baptism of Galich and Korzhavin?

They had one godfather, also from Jews - Alexander Men, a man of great talent and charm. Unfortunately, there was no such brilliant preacher among Russian Jewry.

I learned about the apostasy of Galich and Korzhavin quite recently, upon my arrival in America. I have not excluded them from the circle of poets, to whom I often return and re-read. But the question is, "Why Christianity?" - remained. If for Sasha Cherny and Mandelstam baptism was a necessary measure, then for Pasternak, Galich and Korzhavin Christianity became a conscious act and a spiritual need. Korzhavin even now says that a Russian poet can only be a Christian.

It is well known that "a poet in Russia is more than a poet" - he is a god, or at least a prophet. In the Russian world, a Jew is traditionally a foreign element, an enemy, and only a conversion to Christianity will allow him to take the place appropriate to his talent. Such a judgment exists, but I do not see it as convincing.

Great poets knew Russian proverbs well: “Change faith - change conscience”; “Baptize a Jew and lower it under water”; "A forgiven thief, a healed horse and a baptized Jew have one price."

In the great and powerful language, the word "apostate" is synonymous with "renegade", which in the Russian mentality has a disparaging connotation.

Pasternak, Galich, and Korzhavin knew that because of Christianity, 100 million Jews were missing on the globe at the present time. It was no secret for them that one of the greatest poets of all times and peoples, Heinrich Heine, admitted after baptism: “I wish all renegades a mood similar to mine ..., I left behind the crows and did not stick to the peahens.”

Surely baptized poets read the lines of B. Slutsky:

Orthodoxy is not in prosperity:

during the most recent years

it makes up food

except for baptized Jews.

I.Axelrod

Jewish World (New York)

Material created: 07/14/2015

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Soviet statesman and politician. 1891-1938 Genrikh Grigoryevich Yagoda (Enoch Gershenovich - Genakh Girshevich - Yegoda) was born on November 20, 1891 in Rybinsk into a Jewish artisan family. His father, Gershon Fishelevich Yagoda, was a printer and engraver. In addition to Enoch, the family had two sons and five daughters. Yagoda's father was a cousin of Mikhail Izrailevich...

Kaganovich Lazar Moiseevich

Soviet state and party leader. 1893-1991 Born on November 22, 1893 in the Jewish family of Prasol Moisei Gershkovich Kaganovich in the village of Kabany, Radomysl district, Kyiv province. His father, Prasol Moses Kaganovich, bought up cattle and sent them in droves to the slaughterhouses in Kyiv, so the Kaganovich family was not poor. From the age of fourteen, Lazar began ...

Alferov Zhores Ivanovich

Russian physicist, Nobel Prize winner in 2000. R. 1930 Zhores Ivanovich Alferov was born into a Belarusian-Jewish family of Ivan Karpovich Alferov and Anna Vladimirovna Rosenblum in the Belarusian city of Vitebsk. He received the name in honor of Jean Jaurès, an international fighter against the war, the founder of the newspaper "Humanite". After 1935, the family moved to the Urals, where the father ...

Vygotsky Lev Semyonovich - Lev Simkhovich Vygodsky

Soviet psychologist. 1896–1934 Lev Simkhovich Vygodsky (in 1917 and 1924 he changed his patronymic and surname) was born on November 17, 1896 in the city of Orsha in the family of the deputy manager of the Gomel branch of the United Bank, the merchant Simkha (Semyon) Yakovlevich Vygodsky and his wife Tsilya (Cecilia) Moiseevna Vygodskaya . He was the second of eight children in the family. Education...

Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich

Russian theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner in 2003. 1916–2009 Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg was born in 1916 in Moscow into the family of Lazar Efimovich Ginzburg, an engineer, water treatment specialist, graduate of the Riga Polytechnic School, and physician Augusta Veniaminovna Ginzburg. Early left without a mother who died of typhoid fever in 1920, when the boy was 4 years old. ...

Zeldovich Yakov Borisovich

Soviet physicist and physical chemist. 1914-1987 Born March 8, 1914 in Minsk in the family of lawyer Boris Naumovich Zeldovich and Anna Pavlovna Kiveliovich. When the baby was four months old, the family moved to St. Petersburg. After graduating from high school in 1924, Yakov got a job as a laboratory assistant at the Institute for the Mechanical Processing of Minerals. The future academician never...

Ioffe Abram Fedorovich

Russian and Soviet physicist. 1880-1960 Born in the city of Romny, Poltava province in 1880 in the family of a merchant of the second guild Fayvish (Fyodor Vasilyevich) Ioffe and housewife Rasheli Abramovna Weinstein. He graduated from the Romensky real school in 1897 and entered the St. Petersburg Institute of Technology. Abram received a diploma in process engineering and decided to continue his studies. In 1902...

Kagan Veniamin Fedorovich

Russian and Soviet mathematician. 1869–1953 Born in 1869 in Siauliai, Lithuania. He graduated from Kiev University in 1892, since 1923 he has been a professor at Moscow University. Kagan drew attention to himself with his work on pangeometry. Starting from the 90s of the XIX century, Kagan popularized the legacy of N.I. Lobachevsky. In "The Foundations of Geometry" (1905-1907) he gave the axiomatics...

Kikoin Isaak Konstantinovich

Soviet experimental physicist. 1908-1984 Born in 1908 in Malyye Zhagory, Shavelsk district, Kovno province, in the family of school mathematics teacher Kushel Isaakovich Kikoin and Buni Izrailevna Maiofis. Since 1915 he lived with his family in the Pskov province. In 1923, at the age of 15, Isaac graduated from school in Pskov and entered the 3rd ...

Lavochkin Semyon Alekseevich - Shlyoma Aizikovich Magaziner

Soviet aviation designer. 1900–1960 Semyon Alekseevich Lavochkin (Shlema Aizikovich Shoper) was born on September 11, 1900 in Smolensk into a Jewish family. His father was a melamed (teacher). In 1917 he became a gold medalist, then went into the army. Until 1920 he served in the border division as a private. In 1920, from the ranks of the Red Army, he was sent to...

Landau Lev Davidovich

theoretical physicist, Nobel laureate in 1962. 1908–1968 Born into a Jewish family of oil engineer David Lvovich Landau and his wife Lyubov Veniaminovna in Baku on January 22, 1908. From 1916 he studied at the Baku Jewish Gymnasium, where his mother was a natural science teacher. At the age of fourteen, he entered the Baku University, where he studied simultaneously at two...

Lifshits Evgeny Mikhailovich

Soviet physicist. 1915-1985 Born in Kharkov in the family of a famous Kharkov oncologist, Professor Mikhail Ilyich Lifshits, whose doctoral dissertation was opposed by Academician I.P. Pavlov. He graduated from the Kharkov Polytechnic Institute in 1933. In 1933–1938 he worked at the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, since 1939 at the Institute of Physical Problems of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Pupil L.D. Landau. Passed Landau's theoretical minimum...

Mandelstam Leonid Isaakovich

Soviet physicist. 1879-1944 Born on May 4, 1879 in Mogilev in the family of a doctor Isaac Grigoryevich Mandelstam and Mina Lvovna Kan. Childhood and youth were spent in Odessa. Until the age of 12 he studied at home, in 1891 he entered the gymnasium, which he graduated in 1897 with a medal. Studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the Novorossiysk University (Odessa), ...

Mil Mikhail Leontievich

Soviet helicopter designer and scientist. 1909–1970 Mikhail Mil was born in Irkutsk on November 22, 1909 into a Jewish family. His father, Leonty Samoilovich Mil, was a railway employee, his mother, Maria Efimovna, was a dentist. His grandfather, Samuil Mil, was a cantonist, after 25 years of service in the navy he settled in Siberia. At the age of twelve he made...

Perelman Yakov Isidorovich

Russian and Soviet scientist, popularizer of science. 1882–1942 Yakov Isidorovich Perelman was born on December 4, 1882 in the city of Bialystok, Grodno province of the Russian Empire (now Bialystok is part of Poland) into a Jewish family. His father worked as an accountant, his mother taught in elementary grades. The father died in 1883, and the mother had to raise the children alone. She...

Samoilovich Rudolf Lazarevich - Reuben Lazarevich Samoilovich

Soviet polar explorer. 1881–1939 Rudolf (Reuben) Samoylovich was born in Azov on September 13, 1881, into a prosperous family of a Jewish merchant. After graduating from the Mariupol gymnasium, he entered the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Novorossiysk University. There he joined a revolutionary circle and came under police surveillance. Worried about the fate of her son, his mother sent him to continue his education in Germany, during...

Tarle Evgeny Viktorovich

Soviet historian. 1874-1955 Born November 8, 1874 in Kyiv in a Jewish family, was named Gregory. My father belonged to the merchant class, but he was mainly engaged in raising children, served as the manager of a shop owned by a Kyiv company, and his wife managed there. He spoke German and even translated Dostoevsky. Mother came from a family, in history...

Frank Ilya Mikhailovich

Soviet physicist, Nobel Prize winner in 1958. 1908–1990 Born on October 23, 1908, in the family of the mathematician Mikhail Lyudvigovich Frank and Elizaveta Mikhailovna Frank (born Gratsianova), who had recently moved to St. Petersburg from Nizhny Novgorod. The future physicist came from a well-known Moscow Jewish family - his great-grandfather, Moses Mironovich Rossiyansky, in the 60s of the XIX ...

Frenkel Yakov Ilyich

Soviet theoretical physicist. 1894–1952 Frenkel was born into a Jewish family in Rostov-on-Don in 1894. His parents are Narodnaya Volya Ilya Abramovich Frenkel and Rosalia Abramovna Batkina. Uncle - Yakov Abramovich Frenkel (1877-1948) - Soviet musicologist. In 1912, while still at the gymnasium, Yakov wrote his first work on the Earth's magnetic field and atmospheric electricity. This...

Khariton Julius Borisovich

Russian theoretical physicist and physicist-chemist. 1904–1996 Julius Borisovich Khariton was born in St. Petersburg on February 27, 1904 into a Jewish family. Grandfather, Iosif Davidovich Khariton, was a merchant of the first guild in Feodosia. Father, Boris Osipovich Khariton, was a well-known journalist, expelled from the USSR in 1922, after the annexation of Latvia to the USSR in 1940, he was convicted ...

Khvolson Daniil Avraamovich

Russian orientalist, historian, linguist. 1819–1911 Born November 21, 1819 in Vilna. The son of a poor Jew from Lithuania received a religious Jewish education in a cheder and a yeshiva, studied the Tanakh, the Talmud, and commentators on the Talmud. Later, he taught himself German, French and Russian. He attended a course at the University of Breslau, received a PhD from the University of Leipzig...

Stern Lina Solomonovna

Soviet biochemist and physiologist. 1878–1968 Born in Libau (now Latvia) into a wealthy Jewish family on August 26, 1878. The father is a prominent businessman with European connections, the mother raised children, of whom there were seven in the family. She dreamed of becoming a zemstvo doctor. The Jewess Stern failed to enter the medical faculty of Moscow University. She was educated at Geneva...

Rubinstein Anton Grigorievich

composer, pianist, conductor, music teacher. 1829–1894 Anton Rubinstein was born on November 28, 1829 in the Transnistrian village of Vykhvatints, Podolsk province. He was the third son in a wealthy Jewish family. Rubinstein's father - Grigory Romanovich Rubinstein - came from Berdichev, by the time the children were born he was a merchant of the second guild. Mother - Kaleria Khristoforovna Rubinstein - ...

Rubinstein Nikolai Grigorievich

virtuoso pianist and conductor. 1835–1881 Born June 14, 1835 in Moscow. The Rubinstein family moved to Moscow from the Transnistrian village of Vykhvatinets three years before the birth of Nikolai. By the time he was born, she was quite wealthy. Nikolay studied music from the age of four under the guidance of his mother, and from the age of seven he gave concerts with his brother Anton. Studied...

Engel Julius Dmitrievich

music critic, composer. 1868–1927 Julius Dmitrievich (Joel) Engel was born on April 28, 1868 in Berdyansk. There he graduated from the Russian gymnasium, in 1886-1890 he studied at the Faculty of Law of Kharkov University and received a law degree. Ioel inherited from his father, an amateur guitarist, an interest in music, including Jewish, took a course at the Kharkov Musical College in...

Maykapar Samuil Moiseevich

pianist and composer. 1867–1938 Samuel Maykapar was born on December 18, 1867 in Kherson. Soon Samuil Maykapar's family moved from Kherson to Taganrog. Here he entered the Taganrog gymnasium. He started playing music at the age of six. In 1885 he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the conservatory, where he studied as a pianist with Beniamino Cesi, Vladimir...

Glier Reingold Moritzevich

Soviet composer, musical and public figure. 1875_1956 Reinhold Moritsevich Glier (Reingold Ernest Glier) was born on January 11, 1875 in Kyiv. The Gliere family comes from Jews who converted to Lutheranism. Father - Moritz Gliere moved to Kyiv from the German city of Klingenthal. He was a master for the production of brass wind instruments, and in Kyiv he was the owner of a music workshop. ...

Gnessins

Evgenia Fabianovna, married Savina (1870–1940), Maria Fabianovna (1871–1918), Elena Fabianovna (1874–1967), Elizaveta Fabianovna, married Vitachek (1879–1953), Olga Fabianovna, married Aleksandrova (1885 –1963), Mikhail Fabianovich (1883–1957) .. Russian musicians, founders of the music school Sisters and brother were born in Rostov-on-Don in the family of Fabian Osipovich Gnesin, a rabbi. Mother Bella Isaevna Fletzinger-Gnesina, singer, student of the Polish composer S. Moniuszko. Baptized daughters of the Rostov rabbi...

Dunayevsky Isaac Osipovich - Isaac Beru Betsalev Dunayevsky

Soviet composer. 1900-1955 Dunaevsky (Isaac Beru Iosif Betsalev Tsalievich Dunaevsky) was born on January 30, 1900 in the Ukrainian town of Lokhvitsa into a Jewish family of a small bank employee Tsale-Yosef Simonovich and Rozalia Isaakovna Dunaevsky. The family was musical. Grandfather was a cantor, mother played the piano and sang. From childhood, he showed outstanding musical abilities, from the age of 8 ...

Schnittke Alfred Garrievich

Soviet and Russian composer. 1934-1998 Alfred Schnittke was born on November 24, 1934 in the city of Engels in the Volga German Republic in a mixed Jewish and German family, the son of a Jew and a German. His father, Harry Viktorovich Schnittke, was born in Frankfurt am Main. Mother, Maria Iosifovna Vogel, came from German colonists. The first language of the composer was German, however...

Gusman Israel Borisovich

Russian conductor. 1917–2003 Izrail Borisovich Gusman was born on August 18, 1917 in Nizhny Novgorod in the family of the famous music critic Boris Evseevich Gusman. Soon the Guzman family moved to Moscow. In 1931, Israel Borisovich graduated from the music school named after. Gnesins and entered the military conducting faculty of the Moscow Conservatory. During his studies, he started working...

Gilels Emil Grigorievich

outstanding Soviet pianist. 1916–1985 Emil Gilels was born on October 19, 1916 in Odessa, into a Jewish family. Father, Grigory Gilels, worked at a sugar factory, mother - Esther - was a housewife. Emil began playing the piano at the age of five and a half. Having quickly achieved significant success, Gilels makes his first public appearance in May...

Petrov Nikolay Arnoldovich

Soviet and Russian pianist. 1943–2011 Nikolai Petrov was born on April 14, 1943 in Moscow, into a family of musicians. His father, cellist Arnold Yakovlevich Ferkelman, performed with the piano accompaniment of Dmitry Shostakovich and was friends with the composer; grandfather - opera bass Vasily Rodionovich Petrov, sang at the Bolshoi Theater; uncle - composer Moses ...

Zeitlin Lev Moiseevich

Soviet violinist. 1881–1952 Born March 15, 1881 in Tbilisi. In 1901 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in violin class with L.S. Auer, a Russian violinist of Hungarian origin. Auer is the founder of the so-called Russian violin school. Trained over 300 students. In 1918 he emigrated to the USA. Lev Zeitlin gave concerts in Russia after graduating from the conservatory...

Oistrakh David Fedorovich - David Fishelevich Oistrakh

Soviet violinist, violist, conductor. 1908-1974 David Fedorovich (Fishelevich) Oistrakh was born on September 30, 1908 in Odessa in the family of a merchant of the second guild Fishel Davidovich Oistrakh and his wife Beila. From the age of five he studied violin and viola with Pyotr Stolyarsky, first privately, and since 1923 at the Odessa Music and Drama Institute...

Kogan Leonid Borisovich

Soviet violinist. 1924–1982 Leonid Borisovich Kogan was born on November 14, 1924 in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine), in the family of photographer Boris Semyonovich and Sofia Lvovna Kogan. Studied since 1933 in Moscow, since 1936 - at the Central Music School in the class of A.I. Yampolsky, he also graduated from Moscow in 1948 ...

Elman Mikhail Saulovich

Russian and American violinist. 1891–1967 Misha Elman was born into a musical Jewish family. His grandfather, Yosele Elman, was a famous klezmer violinist (the origins of klezmer are found both in ancient Jewish folklore and in the music of neighboring peoples, especially Moldavian). Grandfather gave his four-year-old grandson the first violin. Father - Saul Iosifovich Elman - was a melamed ...

Milstein Natan Mironovich

Soviet and American violinist. 1904–1992 Nathan Milstein was born on January 13, 1904 in Odessa in a large family far from music. His father, Myron Milstein, worked for a woolen textile company; mother, Maria Blueshtein, was a housewife; the family had seven children. He studied violin at the school of Peter Stolyarsky until 1914, then studied...

Kheifets Yasha - Iosif Ruvimovich Kheifets

one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. 1901-1987 Yasha (Iosif Ruvimovich) Kheifets was born on February 2, 1901 in the city of Vilnius (Russian Empire) in the family of music teacher Ruvim Elievich Kheifets and Khaya Izrailevna Sharfshtein. Yasha started learning the violin at the age of three from his father and soon became known as a child prodigy. Started at the age of four...

Galich Alexander Arkadievich - Alexander Arkadievich Ginzburg

author and performer of his own songs. 1918–1977 Alexander Arkadyevich Galich (Ginzburg) was born on October 19, 1918 in Yekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk) into an intelligent Jewish family. Father - Aron Samoilovich Ginzburg, economist; mother - Feiga (Fanny, Faina) Borisovna Veksler, worked at the conservatory. Grandfather, Samuil Ginzburg, was a well-known pediatrician in the city. In 1920, the Galich family...

Kristalinskaya Maya Vladimirovna

Soviet pop singer. 1932-1985 Maya Vladimirovna was born on February 24, 1932 in an intelligent Moscow family. Russian by mother, Jewish by father. While studying at school, she studied in the children's choir of the Folk Song and Dance Ensemble of the Central House of Children of Railway Workers, led by Semyon Osipovich Dunayevsky, brother of Isaac Dunayevsky. Graduation night in June...

Pasternak Boris Leonidovich

one of the greatest poets of the 20th century, winner of the Nobel Prize in 1958. 1890–1960 The future poet was born in Moscow into a creative Jewish family. Father - artist, academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts Leonid Osipovich (Isaac Iosifovich) Pasternak, mother - pianist Rosalia Isidorovna Pasternak (nee Kaufman). The family moved to Moscow from Odessa in 1889, within a year...

Antokolsky Pavel Grigorievich

Soviet poet. 1896–1978 Pavel Antokolsky was born on July 1, 1896 in St. Petersburg. His father Grigory Moiseevich worked as an assistant to a barrister, until 1933 he served in Soviet institutions. Mother Olga Pavlovna, who graduated from the Frebel courses, devoted herself entirely to the family. Antokolsky's grandfather was the famous sculptor Mark Antokolsky, the creator of the famous statue of Ivan the Terrible. From childhood, Pavel was fond of ...

Shvarts Evgeny Lvovich

Soviet writer. 1896–1958 Evgeny Lvovich Schwartz was born on October 21, 1896 in Kazan. His father was Lev Borisovich (Vasilyevich) Schwartz, who converted to Orthodoxy, a Jew, his mother was Maria Fedorovna Shelkova from an Orthodox Russian family. Moreover, not only the father of Yevgeny Schwartz was Orthodox, but also his grandfather, who received the name Boris at baptism (according to the successor ...

Babel Isaak Emmanuilovich

Soviet writer. 1894-1940 Isaac Babel was born on July 12, 1984 in Odessa on Moldavanka into a Jewish family of a poor merchant Manya Itskovich Bobel, originally from Belaya Tserkov, and Feiga (Fani) Aronovna Bobel. Babel's biography has some gaps. This is mainly due to the fact that the autobiographical notes of the writer himself are largely altered, invented ...

Mandelstam Osip Emilievich

one of the greatest Russian poets of the 20th century. 1891–1938 Osip Mandelstam was born on January 15, 1891 in Warsaw into a Jewish family. Father, Emil Veniaminovich (Emil, Huskl, Khatskel Beniaminovich) Mandelstam, was a glove master, was a merchant of the first guild, which gave him the right to live outside the Pale of Settlement, despite his Jewish origin. Mother Flora...

Tynyanov Yury Nikolaevich - Yury Nasonovich Tynyanov

Soviet writer, literary critic. 1894–1943 Yuri Nikolayevich (Nasonovich) Tynyanov was born on October 18, 1894 in Rezhitsa, Vitebsk province, into a wealthy Jewish family of a doctor Nason Arkadyevich Tynyanov and co-owner of the tannery Sofia Borisovna Tynyanov (nee Sora-Khasi Epshtein). In 1904-1912 he studied at the Pskov Gymnasium, from which he graduated with a silver medal. Then he studied in 1912-1918...

Kassil Lev Abramovich

Soviet writer. 1905–1970 Lev Kassil was born on July 10, 1905 in Pokrovskaya Sloboda (now the city of Engels, Saratov Region) in the family of a doctor Abram Grigoryevich Kassil and a music teacher, then a dentist Anna Iosifovna Perelman. He studied at the gymnasium, which after the revolution was transformed into the Unified Labor School, from which he graduated in 1923. The school published a handwritten ...

Kaverin Veniamin Aleksandrovich - Veniamin Aleksandrovich Zilber

Soviet writer. 1902–1989 Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin (Zilber) was born on April 19, 1902 in the family of Abel Abramovich Zilber, bandmaster of the 96th Omsk Infantry Regiment, and his wife, Khana Girshevna Desson, owner of music stores. On August 14, 1912, according to the results of admission tests, Veniamin Zilber was enrolled in the preparatory class of the Pskov provincial gymnasium, where he studied ...

Ilf Ilya Arnoldovich - Yehiel-Leib Arevich Fainzilberg

Soviet writer and journalist. 1897–1937 Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf (Iekhiel-Leib Aryevich Fainzilberg) was born on October 15, 1897, the third of four sons in the family of a bank clerk Arye Benyaminovich Fainzilberg and his wife Mindl Aronovna in Odessa, where they moved between 1893 and 1895. In 1913 he graduated from a technical school, after which he worked in a drawing...

Kazakevich Emmanuil Genrikhovich

Russian and Jewish Soviet writer. 1913-1962 Kazakevich (among relatives known as Emma Kazakevich) was born on February 24, 1913 in Kremenchug, Poltava province, in the family of a Jewish publicist and literary critic Genekh Kazakevich. In 1930, Emmanuel graduated from the Kharkov Engineering College and the following year he moved with his parents to Birobidzhan, where the Jewish...

Grossman Vasily Semyonovich - Iosif Solomonovich Grossman

Soviet writer and journalist. 1905–1964 Vasily Grossman (Iosif Solomonovich Grossman) was born on December 12, 1905 in Berdichev into an intelligent Jewish family. His father, Solomon Iosifovich Grossman, a chemical engineer by profession, was a graduate of the University of Bern and came from a Bessarabian merchant family. Mother - Ekaterina (Malka) Savelievna Vitis, French teacher - ...

Aliger Margarita Iosifovna - Margarita Iosifovna Zeiliger

Soviet poetess. 1915–1992 Margarita Iosifovna Aliger (Zeiliger) was born on October 7, 1915 in Odessa into a Jewish family. Her parents were employees. Her father dreamed of composing music all his life, but for many years a terrible need forced him to translate technical literature. Therefore, he really wanted at least his daughter to be able to ...

Barto Agniya Lvovna - Gitel Leibovna Volova

Soviet children's poet. 1906–1981 Agnia Lvovna (Gitel Leibovna Volova) was born on February 17, 1906 in Moscow into an educated Jewish family of a veterinarian. According to the testimony of her daughter, Tatyana Andreevna Shcheglyaeva, Agnia was born in 1907. The fact is that when Agnia was 17 years old, in order to receive rations for employees (herring heads), she ...

Dragunsky Viktor Yuzefovich

Soviet writer. 1913–1972 Viktor Dragunsky was born on November 30, 1913 in New York to a family of emigrants from Russia. Soon after that, the parents returned to their homeland and settled in Gomel. Victor started working early to provide for himself, because during the war his father died of typhus. His stepfather I. Voitsekhovich, Red Commissar, ...

Marshak Samuil Yakovlevich

Soviet poet. 1887–1964 Samuil Marshak was born on November 3, 1887 in Voronezh into a Jewish family. His father, Yakov Mironovich, worked as a foreman at a soap factory. Mother, Evgenia Borisovna Gitelson, was a housewife. The surname "Marshak" is an abbreviation meaning "Our teacher Rabbi Aaron Shmuel Kaidanover" and belongs to the descendants of this famous rabbi and talmudist (1624-1676). Early...

Rybakov Anatoly Naumovich

Soviet, Russian writer. 1911–1998 Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov was born on January 14, 1911 in Chernigov into a Jewish family of engineer Naum Borisovich Aronov and his wife Dina Abramovna Rybakova. From 1919 he lived in Moscow. He studied at the former Khvostovskaya gymnasium. All childhood impressions and memories of Rybakov are connected with the life of a big city in the 1920s. Here, ...

Samoilov David - David Samuilovich Kaufman

Soviet poet, translator. 1920–1990 David Samoilov (David Samuilovich Kaufman) was born on June 1, 1920 in Moscow into a Jewish family. Father - a famous doctor, chief venereologist of the Moscow region Samuil Abramovich Kaufman; mother - Cecilia Izrailevna Kaufman. In 1938, David Samoilov graduated from high school and entered the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, History and Literature (MIFLI) - ...

Levitansky Yuri Davidovich

poet and translator. 1922–1996 Yuri Davidovich Levitansky was born on January 22, 1922 in the city of Kozelets (Chernihiv region, Ukrainian SSR) into an assimilated Jewish family. They lived in poverty, sometimes needed the bare necessities, especially after one day they were completely robbed, taking out almost everything that was there from the house. Shortly after the birth of Yuri, the family moved ...

Dolmatovsky Evgeny Aronovich

Soviet poet. 1915-1994 Evgeny Dolmatovsky was born on May 5, 1915 in Moscow into the family of a lawyer, member of the Bar Association, Associate Professor of the Moscow Law Institute Aron Moiseevich Dolmatovsky. During the years of study at the Pedagogical College, he began to publish in the pioneer press. In 1932-1934 he worked on the construction of the Moscow metro. In 1937 he graduated from the Literary Institute. March 28, 1938 was...

Brodsky Joseph Alexandrovich

Russian and American poet, Nobel Prize winner in 1987. 1940–1996 Joseph Brodsky was born on May 24, 1940 in Leningrad into a Jewish family. Father, Alexander Ivanovich Brodsky, was a military photojournalist, returned from the war in 1948 and went to work in the photographic laboratory of the Naval Museum. After that, he worked as a photographer and journalist in several...

Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich

Soviet theater and film director. 1898–1948 Sergei Eisenstein was born in Riga (Russian Empire) on January 22, 1898 into a wealthy family of city architect Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein. His father, Mikhail Osipovich Eisenstein, was a Riga city architect and rose to the rank of titular councillor. Mikhail Eisenstein died in Berlin, but was buried in a Russian cemetery. ...

Room Abram Matveevich

Soviet filmmaker. 1894–1976 Born June 28, 1894 in Vilna (Russian Empire). In 1914-1917 he studied at the Petrograd Psycho-Neurological Institute, in 1917-1922 - at the Medical Faculty of Saratov University. In parallel with his studies, he worked as a teacher in the Saratov Department of Arts, was the rector of the Saratov Higher State Workshops, and a director at the Demonstration and Children's Theaters. Leading the theater...

Romm Mikhail Ilyich

Soviet filmmaker. 1901-1971 Romm was born on January 24, 1901 into a family of Jewish Social Democrats in Irkutsk, where his father, a doctor by profession, was exiled for participation in revolutionary activities. Mother came from a family of intellectuals. She passionately loved the theater and passed on her love of art to her children. From the age of nine he grew up in Moscow. Graduated from high school...

Mikhoels Solomon Mikhailovich - Solomon Mikhoels Vovsi

Soviet Jewish theater actor and director. 1890–1948 Solomon Mikhoels (Vovsi) was born on March 16, 1890 in Dinaburg (now Daugavpils, Latvia), into a patriarchal Jewish family. He received a traditional Jewish primary education in a cheder. According to the actor himself, he “only at the age of thirteen began to study systematically the secular sciences and the Russian language.” Then in...

Chukhrai Grigory Naumovich

Soviet filmmaker. 1921–2001 Born on May 23, 1921 in Melitopol. Father, Rubanov Naum Zinovievich, was a military man. In 1924, Grigory's parents separated and he stayed with his mother. He was raised by his stepfather, Pavel Antonovich Litvinenko, who worked as the chairman of the collective farm. In 1935, my stepfather was sent to study at the All-Union Academy of Socialist Agriculture in Moscow, ...

Motyl Vladimir Yakovlevich

Soviet and Russian theater and film director. 1927–2010 Born on June 26, 1927 in the Belarusian town of Lepel into a Jewish family. His father, Yakov Davydovich (Danilovich) Motyl, a Polish immigrant, worked as a mechanic at the Kommunar plant in Minsk. Vladimir was three years old when his father was arrested on charges of espionage and sent to a camp on ...

Efros Anatoly Vasilyevich - Natan Isaevich Efros

Soviet theater director 1925-1987 Anatoly Efros (Natan Isaevich Efros) was born on July 3, 1925 in Kharkov in a family of employees of an aircraft factory. During the Great Patriotic War, in evacuation to Perm, until 1945, Anatoly worked as a mechanic at the same plant. From childhood he was fascinated by the theater. In 1943 he entered the studio of...

Schweitzer Mikhail Abramovich - Moses Abramovich Schweitzer

Soviet filmmaker. 1920–2000 Mikhail (Moses) Abramovich Schweitzer was born on February 16, 1920 in Perm. In the spring of 1925 the family moved to Moscow. He graduated from the directing department of VGIK in 1943. He studied in the workshop of Eisenstein. “I am a student of Eisenstein,” Schweitzer liked to say. – I really remember many of his precepts…” His appearance in the cinema fell on the period…

Sats Natalia Ilyinichna

founder and director of six children's theaters. 1903-1993 Natalia Sats was born on August 27, 1903 in Irkutsk in the family of composer Ilya Aleksandrovich Sats and opera singer Anna Mikhailovna Shchastnaya. Ilya Sats, Natalia's father, was born in the town of Chernobyl into a Jewish family. His father, Alexander Mironovich Sats, was a barrister. Ilya grew up in Chernihiv, ...

Raikin Arkady Isaakovich

Soviet pop and theater actor, director. 1911–1987 Arkady Raikin was born on October 24, 1911 in Riga into a Jewish family of Itzik (Isaac) Davidovich Raikin, a port scavenger of construction timber, and his wife, a housewife, Elizaveta Borisovna Raikina (ur. Gurevich). As a child I visited cheder. While studying at school in Rybinsk, he was engaged in a drama circle and was fond of ...

Kio Igor Emilievich

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Every adult began his acquaintance with literature in childhood, leafing through colorful books of fairy tales. Of course, in adulthood, fairy tales give way to novels and short stories, but the plots of your favorite fairy tales remain in your memory for many years. Carried away by fabulous events, children from an early age learn to understand the difference between good and evil, get out of difficult situations and get acquainted with the world in which they will live. But all this can be found not in every book and not in every author, because only a person of special talent can put deep meaning into a simple form, of which there have been not so many throughout history. There were even fewer Jewish storytellers, but the contribution of each to the transmission and preservation of Jewish traditions and worldview cannot be overestimated.

It is difficult to determine when the tradition of telling tales appeared among the Jews, however, the most ancient tales, serious, spiritual and valuable, can be called the Haggadic Midrash. These old instructive stories served as the basis for many fairy tales known to us and still occupy the minds of children and adults. The oral Torah served as the source of plots and heroes of such stories, but over time, the stories were modified, supplemented or reduced, without departing, however, from their original essence. Jews not only told and retold fairy tales, but also collected them and wrote them down. Each family kept handwritten collections that were passed down through the generations.

The first printed edition and, in fact, a collection of all oral and self-written tales of Jewish culture is the book "Maise-buch", which was published at the very beginning of the 17th century. The publisher, and possibly the collector of these works, was Yaakov ben Avraham Polak, who can hardly be called a Jewish storyteller. However, his work became a major event for Jewish literature of that time and fueled all Jewish fiction until the 18th century. It is impossible to determine who was the author of the fairy tales described in the book and when they were written, but their source could be both Talmudic texts and midrashim, as well as medieval tales and legends overgrown with European folklore.

Maise-buch edition, 1602.

Carefully passed from mouth to mouth, many plots of fairy tales are so vital that they are relevant in the modern world. This book was translated into German in the 19th century and published in Hebrew in the 20th century. Unfortunately, the book was never translated into Russian, but many of the fairy tales included in it can be freely found in Russian.

In the period between the medieval editions of Jewish legends and the beginning of the flourishing of Jewish literature at the end of the 19th century, the fate of Jewish fairy tales was in the hands of the Hasidim and their students, who continued the Haggadic tradition and brought the stories unchanged until the century before last. Hasidic tales are a vivid example of Jewish literature. Velv and Rivka, The Rich Man's Mirror and others are all extremely expressive and witty. However, it is still not possible to single out the authorship of a certain person of a particular fairy tale, therefore, until the end of the nineteenth century, all written and retold fairy tales are considered folk tales.

Children's writers of the endXIX-early twentieth century

With the development of writing and science, the Jewish fairy tale ceases to be exclusively folk. The dispersal of Jews around the world does not interfere with the development of Jewish literature, including children's literature. The great Jewish writer, a classic of Jewish literature in Yiddish Yitzchok-Leybush Peretz also wrote fairy tales, but in an unusual verse format at that time. The Yitzchok-Leybush collection Stories and Tales, which was released shortly before the outbreak of World War II, made a valuable contribution to the genre of Jewish fairy tales and served as an inspiration for Jewish storytellers of the future.

Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak(1887-1964)

Another Jewish storyteller who brought Jewish legends out of the shadows and introduced the whole world to Jewish wisdom through his works was Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. An interesting fact is that the surname "Marshak" is nothing more than an abbreviation for the Hebrew word "מהרש "ק ‎" (Our teacher Rabbi Aaron Shmuel Kaidanover). And Samuil Yakovlevich belonged to the descendants of the great and wise rabbi and talmudist. It cannot be It is accidental that the writer was keenly worried about the spiritual component of Jewish traditions all his life, this explains the depth of the writer’s soul and the ability to subtly convey a capacious meaning in a couple of words.Marshak wrote poems on biblical themes, and in 1911 he even traveled to Eretz Israel and lived in a tent near Jerusalem. Spiritual craving for his culture was reflected in his children's works. According to the plots of his such sweet and simple fairy tales, the red line is respect and love for people, the equality of people of all races and shades. As in ancient times, a skilled storyteller, thanks to allegories , halftones and vivid examples, educates children's souls and instills high moral values.Marshak, with his work, brought the Jewish fairy tale to a new - world - level, because his books and collections were translated into many languages ​​\u200b\u200bof the world and entered the world classics.

Sasha Cherny (1880 - 1932)

A friend and ideological comrade of Samuil Marshak was another Jewish children's writer, a Ukrainian by origin - Sasha Cherny. He, like Marshak, wrote witty poems for children in an easy and slightly joking manner, just so that it would not be difficult for children to understand the simple truths that were contained in them. The life of the poet and writer was far from easy, he was not afraid to write works that were not censored, which is why at one time he was not accepted in society, and also created many problems for himself with the authorities and publishers. However, he left an impressive mark on Jewish children's literature, thanks to such tales as "Squirrel Sailor" and "Cat's Sanatorium", reflecting the prose of life of that time. Bright characters and colorful events are a hallmark of Alexander's work, and the content of the fairy tale is rather complicated, making these children's funny and ironic stories interesting for adults as well.

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky (1882-1969)

Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky (real name Nikolai Vasilievich Korneichukov) was the illegitimate son of Emmanuil Solomonovich Levenson. His father did not recognize him, and this was a heavy burden in the soul of the writer all his life. However, this did not prevent Chukovsky from realizing his talent and becoming a bright star in the firmament of world literature, and Jewish literature in particular. He was not only a publicist, critic, translator and journalist, but also an unsurpassed author of children's fairy tales. His fairy tales are read with pleasure by parents to children today. "Aibolit", "Fly-Tsokotuha" and "Moydodyr" are fairy tales that have passed the test of time and become real classics of children's literature and carry a serious adult message, despite its allegorical form.

Shlomo Gilels (1873-1953) and Pinchevsky Mikhail Yakovlevich (1894-1955), who wrote children's novels and stories in Hebrew and Yiddish, are also worthy figures in the field of children's literature of the early twentieth century. These writers brought the genre of Jewish fairy tales to a new level, giving the content of fairy tales a Jewish color not only using the language, but also openly using Jewish traditions and culture in the repertoire. This was the beginning of the emergence of modern Jewish fairy tales from the shadow of other nationalities and getting rid of the veil of assimilation.

Jewish storytellers in the USSR

The work of Jewish storytellers on the territory of the Soviet Union had a tinge of the post-war period, the heroes of the plots reflected the Soviet ideal of morality, as required by censorship. But minor characters and plot twists often echoed the stories already known in the Agadic tradition. Looking back, we can say with accuracy that this was not an accidental, but even a well-thought-out move by the authors of children's literature of that time. A vivid example of this is the work of the children's writer and poetess of the mid-twentieth century Emma Efraimovna Moshkovskaya.

Emma Efraimovna Moshkovskaya (1926-1981)

At the very beginning of her formation as a writer, Emma Efraimovna received Marshak's approval, and released her first collection of poems "Uncle Shar", which simply breathes optimism and freshness. Each new verse teaches the child to love life and the people around, in simple forms tells about the rules of behavior and "what is good and what is bad." At the same time, it is especially valuable that the heroes of her poems and fairy tales show by their own example that you should never give up. Isn't that what many ancient Jewish tales based on the midrash and the Aggadic part of the Torah teach us?

The originality of her stories and poems resonated in the children's souls of that time and continues to occupy the minds of children today. And this is not surprising, because she expounded the plots of the works in a childish direct language, as if they were written by the child himself. Having chosen such an unpretentious childish language of presentation, Mashkovskaya did not at all abandon the deep meaning and capacious content of her works. A vivid example of her undoubted talent is the verse “And my mother will forgive me”:

I offended my mother
Now never ever
Let's not leave the house together
We will never go with her.

She won't wave out the window
And I don't wave to her
She won't say anything
And I won't tell her...

I take the bag by the shoulders,
I'll find a piece of bread,
Find me a stick stronger,
I'll go, go to the taiga!

I will follow the trail
I will look for pydy
And through the wild river
Build bridges go!

And be the chief boss,
And if I'm with a beard,
And be always sad
And so silent...

And now it will be a winter evening,
And many years will pass,
And here's a jet plane
Mom will take the ticket.

And on my birthday
That plane will fly
And mom will come out of there,
And my mother will forgive me.

This short and simple work catches the eye of both children and their parents, because they describe the familiar feelings of each reader, revealing their new meaning. Based on the fairy tales of Mashkovskaya, cartoons that we loved were shot, songs were written to her poems, which meant universal recognition of the talent of the writer.

Noteworthy Jewish children's writers of the same era can be called Viktor Moiseevich Vozhdaev (1908-1978) and Yana Bzhekhov (1898-1966), who wrote serious and strict children's fairy tales, more strictly educating children in morality, responsibility and respect for others. Vozhdaev's tale "About Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf" is probably his most popular work among children. The story of how Prince the Firebird was looking for really excites the imagination and teaches readers perseverance and resourcefulness. The Polish poet and children's writer Jan Brzechow became famous thanks to his fairy tales "about Pan Klyaksu". The protagonist of these stories - Adam Neskladushka - is close to every child in many ways, which explains the success of these creations around the world.

Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder (1918-2000)

Separately, it is worth mentioning Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder, a children's writer, poet and screenwriter. He was born in Bessarabia, but lived most of his life in Russia. Zakhoder wrote in an original, very peculiar style that resonated with audiences, both children and adults. His stories contain fabulous prose, saturated with philosophy and lyrics. The most popular and interesting of his works were filmed, such as "The Whale and the Cat", "The Tale of the Good Rhino" and "Tari the Bird". These kind and bright cartoons still look easy and are quite relevant in modern society.

Rachel Baumvol (1914-2000)

A truly valuable quality of a children's author of fairy tales is his ability to attract and hold the attention of a child, and the Israeli storyteller Rachel Baumvol had such a talent. She was born in Odessa, but at the first opportunity she immigrated to Israel. The most successful fairy tales were written by her in the Soviet Union, such as The Checkered Goose, The Biggest Gift, The Friend in the Wallet. The heroes of these warm and instructive stories most often became forest animals, describing the originality of the Soviet era as an allegory. The writer instilled through her fairy tales in children kindness, mutual understanding and humanity - exactly those qualities that were the most valuable in people in the post-war period. For example, you can take an excerpt from her witty tale: "Why are you all cloves?" asked the orange girl. “So that you can share with everyone. “And why are you, an apple, without slices? So that I can eat you whole? No, the apple replied, so that you can give me wholly.. During her long career as a writer, Rachel has not retreated a single step from her self-determination as a Jewish writer. She defended her national identity and, until 1940, wrote exclusively in Hebrew. Not without reason, at the end of her career, critics called the writer "the keeper of the Jewish word." Despite the really difficult writing path, Baumville still remained true to her style of writing and uncompromising character.

Jewish storytellers of the 20th century

Outside the Soviet Union, the development of the Jewish fairy tale took place more freely. Writers scattered throughout Europe brought Jewish literature out of the shadows.

Leila Berg (1917-2012)

Leila Berg was one of the brightest writers of books for children, and at the same time an ardent defender of children's rights. She fully realized these two life vocations, and also left a valuable mark on children's literature. Her most popular fairy tales can be called short stories about a little car nicknamed "Kid", which tell children about the adventures of a kind and honest hero who easily and without compulsion goes through difficult situations, never losing heart. Another popular children's book of fairy tales by Leyla is Slice's Adventures. This book was intended for schoolchildren, because the example of its heroes reveals many complex moral and ethical questions, to which breeds even adults do not know the answer.

Leila Berg is rightfully considered one of the best children's writers of our time. Useful and informative for every child will be her series of stories "Spitz" and a book for very young "Steam Engine. Ducklings. Rybka”, which brought the writer The Eleanor Farjeon Award.

Miriam Jalan-Stekles (1900-1984)

The Israeli writer Miriam Yalan-Stekles possessed an original manner of presenting children's prose. Her last name is nothing but an acronym for her father's name, Yehuda Leib Nissan. This Israeli writer from childhood was familiar with Jewish traditions and Jewish culture, despite the fact that she was born in the Russian Empire. This is what influenced her style and manner of writing children's fairy tales, which are full of bright characters and captivate with haggadic plots. Her works “Life and Words” (Chaim Ve-Milim), “Paper Bridge” (Gesher Shel Niyar) and “Two Legends” (Shtei Agadot) amaze with the depth of their understanding of children's experiences and problems, as well as their philosophical meaning. Perhaps this is what made her works really popular in Israel and abroad, and the writer herself became the winner of the Israel Prize for Literature.

The Jewish people have always been rich in talented and successful world figures. And children's literature is just one of the areas of their implementation. The versatility and depth of Jewish fairy tales has not been lost, despite the millennia of Jewish assimilation, and today every Jewish child can absorb the knowledge of his people through modern fairy tales and children's stories.

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