Many years before the great immigration of the Jews had begun, there was
a sufficiently large community of Russian Jews resident in New York to
support a newspaper. In the seventies there existed there a weekly, _The
Jewish Gazette_, and there was at least one book store, that of the firm
of Kantrowitz, that furnished the colony with Judeo-German reading
matter. The centre of that Jewish quarter was then as now on Canal
Street, where there was also the Jewish printing office of M.
Topolowsky, from which, in 1877, was issued a small volume of
Judeo-German poetry by Jacob Zwi Sobel, probably the first of the kind
in America. His few songs are all in the style of Goldfaden. One,
entitled 'The Polish Scholar in America,' is especially interesting, not
from a literary standpoint, but from the light it throws on the
condition of the Jews before the eighties. Whether they wished so or
not, they were rapidly being amalgamated, on the one side by the German
Jews, on the other by the American people at large. Many tried to hide
their nationality, and even their religion, since the Russian Jews did
not stand in good repute then. The vernacular was only used as the last
resort by those who had not succeeded in acquiring a ready use of the
English language, and its approach to the literary German was even
greater than that attempted by Dick at about the same time in Russia.
However, English words had begun to creep in freely and to modify the
Germanized dialect. It is evident that the seeds of the American
Judeo-German, as it may now be found in the majority of works printed in
New York, had been sown even then. The proneness to use a large number
of German words is derived from the time when the smaller community had
been laboring to pass into American Judaism by means of the German
Jewish congregations.
Suddenly, in 1881, began the great forced emigration of the Jews from
Russia, and in the same year the main stream of the unfortunate
wanderers commenced to flood the city of New York, and from there to
spread over the breadth and the length of the United States. At present
there are, probably, not less than three hundred thousand Russian Jews
to be found in New York alone. The aspect of the Jewish colony was at
once changed. It was thrown back into conditions resembling those in
congested Russian cities. There came misery, poverty, and squalor. The
struggle for existence was even harder than it had been at home. They
had exchanged the tyranny of the autocracy for the liberty of the
republic, but they did not at the same time better their material
well-being. It was then that the sweat-shop with all its horrors had its
beginning, or at least found its most objectionable development. And
they were not all laborers who were forced to tread the sewing-machine,
or roll cigars and fill cigarettes. Many of them had seen better days at
home, some had even been students at gymnasia and at universities.
Without any previous training in their particular occupations, forced to
do ten and twelve hours' work of the hardest labor, they had no time to
think of any but the most sordid, more immediate physical needs. Some
indeed succeeded in establishing themselves permanently, but the
majority groaned under a heavy yoke. Only by degrees did more and more
of them issue from the sweat-shops, to take up other occupations; but
few of them ever forgot the horrors of their first years in America. The
whole course of the Judeo-German literature is a reflex, on the one
side, of their sufferings, on the other, of the greater liberty, the
slowly increasing well-being.
With the large immigration came also some of the literary men: Zunser,
Schaikewitsch, Seiffert, Goldfaden. They at once set about to produce
books with the same vim that they had developed at home. But the field
was not so profitable, and they had to turn to other work. Schaikewitsch
and Zunser have become printers instead of writers of books, and
Goldfaden gave up his attempt in despair and returned finally to Europe.
However, in the short time that they have been active in America, they
have succeeded in doing immeasurable harm not only to Judeo-German
literature, but to the people for whom they wrote as well. They have
corrupted the language in accord with the forms which they found in
vogue among the Jews who had been here before them, and they started out
to minister to the sensational tastes of the masses who received their
nourishment from the lower English press of New York. The amount of
many-volumed so-called novels that they have produced is simply
appalling. These are mainly adaptations of the most sensational novels
in whatsoever language they could lay their hands on. Goldfaden also
started _The New York Illustrated Gazette_, the first of the kind in
Judeo-German, but it lived only a short time. In spite of the mass of
printed matter in the vernacular, literature did not pay in America, and
Goldfaden left the country in disgust.
But the eighties were not by any means devoid of interest and
far-reaching importance to Jewish letters. During that time Judeo-German
journalism received its fullest development. In Russia a daily press
could not exist at all, and the few weeklies that had been issued from
time to time had to move in such closely circumscribed limits that
journalism ever remained there in its infancy. But on the other side of
the Atlantic, the first thing the Jews learned to value and to make free
use of was the newspaper. A large number of these were started in the
first ten years of the great immigration, but most of them have been of
short duration. In the struggle for existence the oldest newspaper, that
had had its beginning in 1874, came out victorious. It bought out and
consolidated twenty Jewish dailies and weeklies and now appears in the
form of _The Jewish Gazette_, as the representative of the more
conservative faction of the Russian Jews of America. But the most active
in that field of literature were those who at the end of the eighties
clustered around the newspapers that were published in the interest of
the Jewish laborers. Of these _Die Arbeiterzeitung_ was the most
prominent.
A number of causes united in making the socialistic propaganda strongest
among the Russian Jews. They had come from a country where all the
elements of opposition naturally gathered around the political parties
that stood in secret conflict with the Government and also the social
order of things. In America, they came at once in contact with the
sweat-shop and similar industrial oppressions, which only sharpened
their dislike of the social structure. Intellectually they stood higher
than those of their brethren who persevered with the conservatives, for
they had at least come to think about their condition and the affairs
of the world, while the others clung to old superstitions and did
nothing to drag themselves out from the slough of ignorance into which
they had fallen in Russia. At the same time the many intelligent men who
had been driven to the United States nearly all had belonged to the
opposition parties at home, and it was from them alone that the masses
could be saved from the clutches of the sensational novelists. This
struggle between Schaikewitsch and his tribe on the one side and the
intelligent writers on the other began towards the end of the last
decade, and the older men are being as surely driven to the wall here as
they have been in Russia by Rabinowitsch and the newer school of
writers. These younger men have, with but one exception, been driven to
Judeo-German letters as their last resort. Some of them had never before
published anything in any language, and none of them had ever practised
writing in their vernacular. They all belonged to that class of Jewish
young men who had received their instruction in Russian schools, or who
had in any way identified themselves completely with their Gentile
comrades. They had all reached their school age in the seventies, when
everybody was as eager to become Russianized as two decades before their
parents had been to oppose the new culture. Either as belonging to the
Jewish race, or because of their sympathies with the Nihilists, they had
to flee from the country. These form to a great extent the basis for the
Russian intelligence in the United States.
They brought with them the idea of the Narodniks, which was that their
energies ought to be devoted to the uplifting of the masses. They could
not hope to become in any way influential among the native population in
the American cities. They, consequently, directed their attention to
their own race. One of the first to arrive in America with the great
immigration, was Abraham Cahan. He was born in the year 1860 in
Podberezhe, in the government of Wilna. His early years had been passed
in a Jewish school perfecting himself in Jewish lore. At the age of
fourteen he entered the Hebrew Teachers' Institute at Wilna, from which
he graduated in 1881. He was appointed a teacher in a government school
in a small town in the province of Witebsk, but he had soon to flee,
having been discovered by the police as a participant in the nihilistic
movement. The next year he arrived in New York penniless. He had a hard
struggle for three or four years. Since that time he has been active as
the founder of several excellent Judeo-German periodicals, as a writer
in the dialect himself, as a contributor to the English press, and,
finally, as a writer of English books. Of the latter, 'Yekl' was
published a short time ago by Appleton & Co., and 'The Imported
Bridegroom and Other Stories,' by Houghton, Mifflin & Co. He has also
contributed to the _Cosmopolitan_, _Short Stories_, and the _Atlantic
Monthly_.
His Judeo-German activity began with the foundation of the
_Arbeiterzeitung_, devoted to the interest of socialism and
enlightenment among the Jewish masses. To this gazette he contributed
largely. Most of his articles are popularizations of sciences, but he
has also written several books of stories, mostly from the life of the
New York Ghetto. Like his English stories, they are composed in a good
literary style, and present vivid pictures of Jewish life as it is
modified under American conditions. It may be safely asserted that his
English sketches are conceived by him first in the Judeo-German, after
which they are adapted for an American public. While showing great
merit, it cannot be said of his novels that they equal those of the
writers in Russia. In fact, there has not arisen in America any author
who has shown the same degree of originality as those of the
mother-country, even though they frequently surpass them in regularity
of structure, and in the fund of information they possess. Among the
large number of writers in New York who have contributed to the
literature, it can hardly be said that any individual style has been
developed. They resemble each other very much, both in the manner of
their compositions, and the subjects they treat. Nor could it be
otherwise. They nearly all are busy popularizing science in one way or
other, or they write novels from the life of the Jewish community,
which, in the less than two decades of its existence, has not developed,
as yet, many new characteristics. They imitate Russian models for their
stories and novels, mainly Chekhov. They are all of them realists, and
some have carried their realism to the utmost extent.
One of the most fruitful popularizers of science has been Abner
Tannenbaum. His works have all the merit of being based on real facts,
though these are presented in the attractive form of novels, whether
original or translated. He is now exerting an influence also on the Jews
of Russia, where his works are much valued. He was born in 1847, and, up
to the year 1889, was a wholesale druggist. In that year he arrived in
America, and, for the first time, began writing in the vernacular. At
first, he translated novels from German and French, especially the works
of Jules Verne. Later, he wrote some novels after the fashion of the
German pedagogue, J. H. Campe, in his works 'Robinson the Younger' and
'The Discovery of America.' Since 1893, he has been a permanent
contributor to _The Jewish Gazette_, where he has been writing and
popularizing encyclopedic items.
The early history of J. Rombro, who is writing under the pseudonym of
Philip Krantz, does not differ much from that of Abraham Cahan, with
whom he has been active in the publication of the same periodicals. He
had to flee from Russia about the same time. He went to London and
Paris, from which place he contributed to various Russian magazines. In
London he met Winchevsky, who, at that time, had been editing a
Judeo-German newspaper, _The Polish Jew_. He was asked by him to write a
description of the riots against the Jews. "It was a hard job for me,"
so writes the author, "and it took me a long time to do it. I never
thought of writing in the Jewish Jargon, but fate ordered otherwise,
and, contrary to all my aspirations, I am now nothing more than a poor
Jargon journalist." The author's evil plight has, however, been the
people's gain, for to his untiring activity is due no small amount of
the enlightenment that they have received in the last ten years. In 1885
he was invited by a group of Hebrew workingmen, rather anarchistic than
social-democratic, to edit a socialistic monthly, _The Workers' Friend_.
Against his will, for he was a social-democrat, he accepted the offer.
This monthly became the next year a weekly. Later, he translated
Lassale's 'Workingmen's Program' into Judeo-German. About that time, in
1890, he was invited by the Jewish socialists of New York to come to the
United States and edit a strictly social-democratic paper. He gladly
accepted this invitation, and March 6, 1890, the first number of the
_Arbeiterzeitung_ was issued; since 1894 it has been appearing under the
name of the _Abend-Blatt_ as a daily, and it is now the official Jewish
organ of the socialist labor party. He was also the first editor of the
_Zukunft_, started by the Jewish socialist sections of the United States
in 1892. Now he is contributing to the monthlies _Neuer Geist_ and _Neue
Zeit_. His articles are all characterized by great earnestness, and by a
good flowing style. He is far from being a blind partisan, and he knows
how to treat impartially questions of a general import.
The nineties have passed in the United States in the often-repeated
attempt to establish permanent Judeo-German magazines. There have been a
large number of them in existence, and one after the other has met with
financial failure. Now, however, there are several that promise to last
a longer time. Never before has the periodical press in Judeo-German
been brought to such a perfection as regards its outward form and the
variety of subjects that it has incorporated in its pages. The first of
the kind was the _Zukunft_ just mentioned. It lasted until the year
1897, when it gave way to the _Neue Zeit_, which is practically a
continuation of the first. It differs little from similar popular
science magazines in other languages. We find in it such articles as,
What is Socialism? Philosophy and Revolution; A Dog's Brain, by John
Lubbock; Shakespeare, his Life and his Works; Pasteur and his
Discoveries; and similar scientific articles. To these must be added
many literary articles, stories, poems, reviews, and the like. Among the
several good contributors of the latter class of literature we shall
dwell at a greater length on B. Gorin and Leon Kobrin.
B. Gorin is the pseudonym of J. Goido, of whose activity in Russia we
have spoken before. After the failure of his undertaking in Wilna,
mainly through the interference of the censor, who delayed his
publication in every possible way, he went to Berlin to attend lectures
at the University. He soon went to America, where shortly after, in
1895, he became the editor of a Philadelphia Judeo-German newspaper.
From there he went to New York, where he published the 'Jewish American
Popular Library,' a collection of short stories in the manner of his
Wilna edition; but its life was cut short after the seventh number. He
has since been the editor of the _Neuer Geist_. The most of his sketches
were published in the _Arbeiterzeitung_ and in the _Abend-Blatt_, when
it was still edited by A. Cahan. At first he confined himself
exclusively to short sketches in the style of the Russian writer,
Shchedrin, but soon he followed the example of all of those who have
written in America, and has translated foreign authors, has written
reviews, and popularized science. In Russia he had begun the translation
of 'David Copperfield.' In America he has translated Chekhov, and has in
one way or other introduced the Russian Jews to the works of Daudet,
Maupassant, Sienkiewicz, Korolenko, Dostoyevski, Bourget, Garshin,
Potapenko, and many German and English novelists.
One of the most original writers of the realistic school in the manner
of the Russian Chekhov is Leon Kobrin. He has lately started the
publication of a 'Realistic Library,' of which the first number so far
issued contains several sketches that have been written by him in the
last two years. One of the best in that volume is the first, 'Jankel
Boile,' a story from the life of Jewish fishermen. One is rather
inclined to doubt that his Jewish characters really exist as he has
depicted them; it almost seems as if they were a transference of Russian
men to Jewish surroundings, for they seem to do things that are not met
with as peculiarities of the Jews in the many novels by Judeo-German
writers. But it may be that he speaks from intimate acquaintance with a
class of people that is not generally accessible to the average writer.
Barring this, the story is very vividly told. It is a sketch of a Jewish
boy who has grown up with the village boys, and who has but the faintest
idea of his Jewish faith. He falls in love with one of the peasant girls
of his acquaintance, whom he courts, and for whom he is about to give up
the faith of his fathers. In the last moment, when out in the night on a
fishing tour on the stormy lake, he is caught with remorse at his
impending apostasy, and he commits suicide by jumping in the lake. This
is but a bare outline of a most excellently developed story, in which
realism has been carried to a _ne plus ultra_. His portrayal of the
lower classes with their indomitable passions reminds one very much of
the remarkable sketches of the Russian Gorki.
At this juncture mention must be made of the many short sketches by
Gurewitsch, who writes under the pseudonym of Z. Libin. They belong
among the best Ghetto stories that have been written in New York, and
they display undoubted talent. Cahan, Goido, Kobrin, and Libin are all
young men yet, and from them alone a regeneration of the Jewish novel
may be expected.
In 1893 Krantz and Sharkansky started a monthly magazine, _The City
Guide_, but only two numbers of it appeared. Two years later Winchevsky
began issuing in Boston _The Emeth_, a weekly family paper for
literature and culture. It is a pity it was stopped before the year was
out, for of all the magazines that have seen daylight in America, it was
by far the most ably edited. Among his contributors of belles lettres
we find the names of the authors just mentioned, and also several
others. Nearly everything else is from the pen of the editor. While in
many of the leaders his socialistic bias is pronounced, yet most of his
articles deal with subjects of a general interest. Of his poetry we have
spoken before. His prose style is even better. It is smooth, idiomatic,
and carefully balanced. He is one of the few authors who bestow great
care on a good Judeo-German style, and file and finish it. Most
interesting are his epigrams and philosophical reflections, and his
satirical sketches, which he generally ascribes to the 'Insane
Philosopher.' Winchevsky has been very productive. Outside of his many
original stories and sketches, his poetry, and sociological articles, he
has translated a number of works, among others the Russian Korolenko and
Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables.' His translations are the very best in
the Judeo-German language. Few have equalled him in the art of
translation. The distinguishing characteristics of all his productions
are dignity and refinement. Although he frequently depicts Jewish life,
the Jew is but an accident of his themes, for he has ever in mind the
social questions at large, as they affect the whole world.
The year before Schaikewitsch began the publication of the _Hebrew Puck_
in imitation of the English _Puck_. Being of a humorous nature, that
magazine does not show the glaring defects of his other works to any
great extent. In the same year Alexander Harkavy started _The American
People's Calendar_, which in addition to the matter that more strictly
belongs to an almanac contains also several useful articles of a
literary value. Harkavy has developed an untiring activity in the
publication of books by which his countrymen should be introduced to
the English language and to a right understanding of American
citizenship. He has written all kinds of text-books, has translated the
Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, and published _The
Hebrew American_, an English weekly with footnotes in Judeo-German. He
has also written a large number of popular articles on linguistic
subjects. Many of these contain valuable matter, but it is often
difficult to disentangle the facts from his personal speculations, which
are not always based on scientific truths. He lacks training, and his
style is otherwise colorless. But for all that, his deserts in the
education of the Russian Jews of New York must not be undervalued. Of
his translations we might also mention the 'Don Quixote,' of which so
far only the first part has appeared in Judeo-German. Among the writers
of historical essays, the most promising is the Roumanian, D. M.
Hermalin, whose 'Mohammed' and 'Jesus the Nazarene' are not only fair
and unbiassed statements of the foreign religious teachings, but also
belong among the very few books in Judeo-German that are supplied with a
critical apparatus.
The best magazine now in existence is the _Neuer Geist_, of which the
first seven numbers were edited by Harkavy, but which now appears under
the editorship of Gorin. It is a periodical of science, literature, and
art, and has no special political bias. We find here the same
contributors as in former monthlies. To those mentioned before may be
added the names of Budianov, Feigenbaum, and Solotkov, who have written
many good articles on sociological and philosophical matters, and Katz,
who is an astute critic. Here has also appeared the best translation in
verse of one of Shakespeare's dramas, 'The Merchant of Venice,' from the
pen of the poet Bovchover. Another, smaller magazine, _Die Zeit_,[110]
is published by the Hebrew poet M. M. Dolizki. Another well-conducted
monthly is the _Neue Zeit_, issued by the Jewish-speaking sections of
the Socialist Labor Party of the United States. There is no material
difference in the composition of the contributors' staff. A few more
names might be added to the list of men who have been active in
spreading information among the Russian Jews, such as Feigenbaum,
Wiernik, Bukanski. Seiffert has written some interesting accounts of the
Jewish stage in America, but his language is of the order of Dick or
even worse; Rosenfeld and Sharkansky have at various times produced some
sketches and even dramas, but they are more strictly poets, as which
alone they will survive.
The time is not far away when there will not be a Judeo-German press in
America. The younger generation never looks inside of a Jewish paper
now, and the next following generation will no longer speak the dialect,
unless something unforeseen happens by which the existence of that
anomaly shall be made possible. Already _The Jewish Gazette_, taking
time by the forelock, has begun issuing an English supplement to its
Judeo-German weekly. It wants to secure its lease of life by passing
over by successive steps to a periodical published entirely in English,
without a violent loss of its subscribers. Several of the intelligent
writers in the vernacular are at the same time contributing to the
English press, while some have entirely abandoned their Judeo-German. In
the meanwhile that literature is developing a feverish activity. From
its ashes will rise new forces in the English literature of America
that will add no small mite to its pages. In the short time of the
existence of the Judeo-German in America, it has passed through three
distinct stages: the first was the era of the sensational novel; then
followed the socialistic propaganda, coupled with the evolution of the
press, but particularly the magazine. Now, without abandoning entirely
the social and political ideals, the writers are combining to popularize
science and to produce a pure literature. The latter is more or less
under the sway of the Russian writers Chekhov, Korolenko, and Garshin.
What Russia has done for the Jews in the seventies is reaped by the
masses in the nineties in America.