MODERN HEBREW LITERATURE Modern Hebrew literature is universal in scope and secular in spirit, thus contrasting with the purely legal, ritualistic or homi letic works of earlier times. This literature took its rise in Italy (M. H. Luzzatto, 1707-47), whence it shifted to Germany, show ing at first, notably through the influence of Moses Mendelssohn (1729-86), a rationalistic and cosmopolitan tendency.
Following a brief period of activity in Galicia dominated by Biblical criticism and historical scholar ship (Krochmal, 1785-1840; Rapoport, 1790-1867), Hebrew literature assumed a new character in Russia and Lithuania, where the so-called Haskalah movement developed—a humanistic and humanitarian spirit which set itself against the traditional ex clusiveness of the Jew. It found expression in the historical and scientific compendia of Kalman Schulman (1819-99), in the novel (Mapu, 1808-67) and in poetry (Lebensohn, 1828-52; J. L. Gordon [1831-92] ). The novelist P. Smolenskin (1842-85) heralded a reaction, hastened by the pogroms against the Jews, towards a Jewish national policy, which culminated in Zionism. Since his day Hebrew literature has been largely dominated by the idea of a national revival. This idea has found its most com plete expression in the essays of Asher Ginzberg (Ahad Ha'am) who has resisted the tendency to lay undue stress on the economic and political factors in Zionism and has insisted on the concep tion of Palestine as the cultural centre of the Hebrew race.
The individualistic and symbolic spirit in Hebrew literature has been greatly influenced by the modern mystic movement among the Jews known as Hassidism. In the sphere of fiction this spirit found its foremost representative in Isaac Loeb Perez (1851-1915), whose stories are distinguished by artistic beauty and tenderness. Humour is the dominant characteristic of S. J. Abramowitsch, a short-story writer (known as "Mendele,"
1918). Judah Steinberg (1863-1908), author of many stories, excels in the delineation of character, and in him the individual finds more complete and varied representation than elsewhere in Hebrew literature. This fact, and the clearness and fluency of his style, give him high rank among Hebrew novelists. Another novelist of some distinction is R. A. Braudes (1851-1902), who chose the struggle for religious reform as the theme of his prin cipal novels.
Poetry has made rapid strides in modern Hebrew literature. There is a host of contemporary poets, the most repre sentative of whom is Hayyim Nachman Bialik (1873-1934). With the exception of Judah ha-Levi (fl. 12th century) he is perhaps the leading Jewish national poet, inheriting the idealism and the prophetic seriousness of his people. He is pre-eminently the poet of Jewish woe. To Jewish national hopes and aspirations he seldom gives expression in his verse. None of the Hebrew poets has grasped and represented the spirit of the Ghetto and its poetry with so much sympathy and so much tenderness of feeling as Bialik. The ideas of Ahad Ha'am and the influence of Gordon's style and form are traceable in his poems. Next to Bialik and in strong contrast with him stands Dr. Saul Tschernichowski
). He was the first to introduce into Hebrew poetry an admiration for the Greek spirit and the sense of complete enjoy ment of life. His work is remarkable for its easy gracefulness and its varied rhythms and metrical forms. Dr. Jacob Cahan (1880 ), is an idealist, whose poems bear the stamp of a marked individuality. In the poems of Zalman Schneor (1886– ) there is at times a gentle pessimistic vein, and his verse is full of life and beauty; the rhythm has harmony and tunefulness, 'the imagery is rich, varied and striking, and the movement quick and bold. His prose, too, is marked by the same qualities. Among a list of poets of less distinction may be mentioned Jacob Stein berg, Jacob Fichman, Isaac Katzenelson, J. J. Koplewitz, David Schimonwitz, the brothers Simon and Pesach Ginsburg, Hillel Bavli, Judah Karni, A. Schlonsky, Uri Zebi Greenburg, Avigdor Feuerstein, Benjamin N. Silkiner and Simon Leo Halkin. Modern Hebrew poetry, like Hebrew poetry in general, has been strongest in lyric.
The various transformations of Jewish life brought about by the Zionist and other Jewish movements and the in fluence of foreign literatures had their effects upon the shaping of contemporary Hebrew fiction, notably the short story and the novel. There has been created a Hebrew short story, artistic in technique and generally psychological in presentation, delineating the individual in a variety of moods and situations; but at the same time marked by a minute, torturing self-analysis, by an impotence in the will of the heroes and by an outlook upon life that is gloomy and despondent. The creators of these stories are followers of Micah Joseph Berdyczewski (1865-1921), who in his view of life was influenced by the individualistic theories of Nietzsche. Among the most notable story-writers of this group are Isaiah Domoshevitzky (known as J. Bershadsky, 1870-1908), Joseph Hayyim Brenner (1881-1921), Gershon Schofmann, Uri Nisan Gnessin (1880-1913) and Isaac Dob Berkowitz. The melancholy and morbid spirit which some of these writers have introduced into the Hebrew sketch and novel is almost entirely traceable to the influence of the Russian and Scandinavian litera tures of the last few decades. A notable exception to this tendency is S. J. Agnon, an original symbolico-mystical writer of short stories and a master of Hebrew style. Other writers of fiction who are free from this pessimistic strain are A. A. Kabak, Moses Smilansky, L. A. Orloff, S. Ben-Zion Guttman, Eliezer Steinman, Asher Barash, A. Reubeni and Abraham Soyer.
Other Works.—The adaptation of the Hebrew language to the needs of modern life owes much to Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858-1923 ), one of the pioneers of the idea of a Jewish national renascence, whose ten-volume Hebrew dictionary (Thesaurus totius Hebraitatis) is a monument of a life's devotion to the revival of Hebrew. The talent of David Frischmann (1863-192 2 ) extended over the domains of the feuilleton, the short story, poetry and criticism. Dr. Joseph Klausner (1874– ) is active in many fields—criticism, history, scholarship and journalism. He possesses considerable erudition and historic insight. Hillel Zeitlin, a mystic, has made original contributions to various phases of modern Hebrew literature. The greatest Jewish journal ist, writing for Jews in Hebrew and in many other languages, was Nahum Sokolow (1859-1936). Reuben Brainin (1863– ) is a critic but his literary ideas and tastes are perhaps too much determined by outside influences. In Dr. Simon Bernfeld (186o ) Hebrew literature has a many-sided and very prolific writer with a gift for presenting the results of scholarly research in at tractive literary form. Wolf Jawitz (1847-1924) was a historian and a philosopher of religious romanticism. David Neumark (1866-1924) made original contributions to the study of Jewish philosophy. Jacob Klatzkin, Fishel Lachower, S. B. Maximon, Dr. S. M. Melamed, Joel Blau, Osias Thon, Mordecai Ehrenpreis, S. I. Hurwitz, Dr. M. Waxman and others have contributed much to the development of the essay in Hebrew literature.
Hebrew literature, including its vernacular, is a primary factor responsible or the rejuvenation of the national Jewish spirit and for the emancipation of Jewish life from external influences. Literary activity came to a virtual standstill as a result of the World War and its consequences, which bore with especial severity on eastern Europe, formerly the chief centre of Hebrew literature. During the last few years there has been a revival in eastern Europe, and a certain development in America; but the centre of this activity has shifted to Palestine.
