Documents

From Yitsḥak Katzenelson in a German detention camp for foreign nationals in Vittel, France, to his aunt Sarah Shiskin in London, 2 September 1943. English. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Israel Joshua Singer in Warsaw to Dovid Eynhorn in Paris (?), 8 November 1927. Singer has just completed a novel and when he has written something shorter, he will send it to Eynhorn for publication. He refers to a literary journal that Eynhorn and Lyakhover want to get off the ground in Warsaw and says that, in his opinion, it will not succeed unless the editorial board is based in Warsaw. Lyakhover will not be able to edit it from afar. Though the honoraria the journal will offer will be attractive to out-of-work Jewish writers in Warsaw and there is a need for a new journal of Yiddish literature, the venture has little chance of succeeding and will require a great deal of capital. Yiddish. RG 277, David Einhorn Papers, F20.

From Nathan Birnbaum in Vienna to Dr. M. Brender at the Wochenblatt in Copenhagen, 25 September 1917, thanking him for his Rosh Hashanah greetings. Birnbaum mentions an earlier letter he had sent to Brender about the severe injury that Birnbaum’s son Uriel sustained in the Battles of Isonzo, a key series of clashes in World War I. German. RG 3, Yiddish Literature and Language Collection, F1836.

From Itsik Manger in Warsaw to J. Gruder in Cernăuţi, Romania (now Chernivtsi, Ukr.), 26 July 1930, asking him to inquire of "Shvantsn Simkhe" (that fool, Simkhe) if there is any news of Manger's brother, who was arrested 10 days earlier. Manger has received a letter from America with regards from Yiddish writer Moyshe Leib Halperin. In October, Manger will go to Riga, and then on to Kaunas and Paris. He has published a letter from Shteynberg (whose trip to Riga has been "unsucessful") in the Lodzher folksblat. Shteynberg says that among Jews "there is anger without limit." Manger gives his address in Łódź as care of Moyshe Broderzon. Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Shloyme Bikl in Bucharest to "Gruder" in New York, 9 February 1939, asking him to meet his ship, the Queen Mary, when it docks in New York and to arrange a cheap hotel or furnished room for Bikl and his family “because we are a bit green and it’s a mitzvah to help greenhorns.” Yiddish. Romanian letterhead: Dr. S. Bickel, Advocat. RG 107, Letters Collection. Published with permission.

Poem by Shmuel Yankev Imber, “Vandere-glik” (Vagabond luck), n.d. "To Yoysef A. . . . My young friend—You laugh . . . you laugh . . . / My young friend . . . / Your teeth are like pearls— / My young friend. . . ." Yiddish. RG 108, Manuscripts Collection, F5.5.5.

A fable by Eliezer Shteynbarg, “Der forzikhtiker hon” (The Cautious Hen), n.d. Yiddish. RG 108, Manuscripts Collection, F87.7.4.

First page of a purim-shpil in three acts written by Dovid Hofshteyn for M. Gnessin's theater in Tel Aviv, ca. 1926. Yiddish. RG 108, Manuscripts Collection, F23.21.

From Avraham Yitsḥak Kook in Jerusalem to Rabbi Ḥayim Ozer Grodzenski in Vilna, n.d., asking him to help spread awareness of the plight of Rabbi Ya‘akov Tuviah Rappoport of Minsk, a scholar and shoḥet (ritual slaughterer) who has been sentenced to eight years in prison by Soviet authorities. Hebrew. Copy of a letter, typed with handwritten corrections. RG 107, Letters Collection.

Poem by Moyshe Altman, “Ovnt khmures” (Evening Clouds), 1920. One of two poems with the same title. Yiddish. RG 108, Manuscripts Collection, F5.11.

From Jakob Lestschinsky in Vienna to Abraham Cahan in New York, 1938. Lestschinsky and his family have been refused a visa to reenter Poland. The excuse is that relations between Poland and Lithuania are tense, but he has heard from someone working for HIAS that the real reason is that he is in disfavor because of some of his articles. Luckily, he was in London at a meeting of the Jewish Agency when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. Now he and his family are in Geneva and he has applied for a visa for France. Everyone knows that war is imminent and that Germany is poised to march into Czechoslovakia. Cahan is his only hope and he begs him to do what he can to help him and his family. He will have sleepless nights until he hears of Cahan's "decision." Even though he can't be in Poland personally, he will continue to file reports about what is going on there. As the head of YIVO's Economic Section and the editor of the journal Idishe ekonimik (Jewish Economics), he has more than 200 contacts in Poland. Typed. Yiddish. English,Yiddish, and Polish letterhead: Jacob Lestschinsky. Correspondent of the "Jewish Daily Forward" in New-York, Warsaw, Chlodna 2, m. 4. RG 1139, Abraham Cahan Papers, F91.

From Shloyme Zaynvl Rapoport (S. An-ski) in Warsaw, to Shmuel Niger in New York, 8 October 1920, written not long before the writer's death. He thanks Niger, who might have had something to do with arranging the large sums of money that have been sent to Rapoport the Stybel Publishing house. He is mystified about the ultimate source of the funds. He has heard from Khayim Zhitlovski that Niger had sold the rights to Rapoport's play for performance by a theater in New York and is curious to know which theater and whether Rudolf Schildkraut will be involved. It is too bad that the Yiddish actor and director David Herman is in Vilna now and not in New York, because Rapoport really admires him. Rapoport is sending Niger several Hasidic tales related to Ba‘al Shem Tov and his followers. There is little in the way of Yiddish literature being published in Warsaw at the moment. The newspapers Haynt and Moment are trying to make up for the dearth of other venues, but are hampered by newsprint shortages. Rapoport is sending Niger poems by two young poets, Yisroel Emyot and Iosef Papiernikov. He writes that he managed to flee Otwock one day before it was taken by the Bolsheviks and that his health is poor: he is unable to walk much because his legs are swollen. He plans to go to Berlin in a month. He has heard from Max Weinreich, who has married Tsemaḥ Szabad's daughter and is living in Berlin. The Vilner Trupe has gone downhill now that some of its leading lights are gone. Avrom Morevski is depressed about this and also about "Snyegov," a "talentless meshumed [convert, traitor]" who is now reaping success in America. (The letter includes brief mentions of Alter Kacyzne, Yona Rozenfeld, and Fritz Yaffe.) Yiddish. RG 360, Shmuel Niger Papers, F57.

Untitled poem by Khayim Semyatitski. "Every evening / Death enters my house. . . ." Yiddish. RG 108, Manuscripts Collection, F58.12.3.

From Hersh Dovid Nomberg in Berlin to Sholem Asch, 14 November, ca. 1911. He's not happy to be "stuck" in Berlin but "it's better, in all respects, than being in a Russian prison. . . . What do you have to say about the great revolutionary Nomberg?" He finds the role of political emigre "amusing but uncomfortable." A certain Goldberg has passed on regards from Asch, but Nomberg complains that this man also insisted that he read his "compositions" and notes that "rich nudniks are worse than poor ones because you have to listen to them." He says that he came back from his recent trip to New York, "rich in impressions and poor in money." While he was there, he saw the beginning of a factional fight at the Yiddish newspaper Forverts that resulted in several writers leaving to establish a rival newspaper. Yiddish. RG 602, Shalom Asch Papers, F53.

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

Invitation from the Vilna Kehillah to composer and choir director Leo Liow to attend a service at the Great Synagogue in honor of a visit from Ignacy Mościcki , the president of the Polish Republic, 20 June 1930. Yiddish and Hebrew. RG 1140, Leo Low Papers, F3.

Calling card of Yitsḥak Katzenelson, Chair of the Jewish Literary and Journalistic Union, Łódź, Poland, n.d. Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.

From Yoysef Tunkel in Warsaw to Abraham Liessin in New York, 21 February 1930, about a humor piece Tunkel is submitting to the journal Tsukunft for publication. He hopes that Liessin will agree that it is a piece "of the better sort, which must be published in a journal" and apologizes for submitting a handwritten manuscript rather than a typescript. Yiddish. Polish and Yiddish letterhead: Der Moment, Warsaw, Nalewki 38, Konto Czekowe P.K.O. 51. RG 107, Letters Collection.

Untitled verses by Moyshe Kulbak, n.d. "You will put your golden ring on his finger / And wear your iron chain. . . ." Yiddish. RG 108, Manuscripts Collection, F76.6.2.

From Shloyme Bastomski in Vilna to Lune Mates in Chicago, 12 June 1926 (forwarded to Los Angeles), congratulating Mates on the publication of his new book of poems, Momentn, and praising it but also offering some criticism. He mentions the young poet, Elkhonen Vogler, from Vilna, to whom he is going to give Mates's address. Yiddish. RG 107, Letters Collection.