The News in the Hebrew Movement
ZIONISM recognizes the national birthright of the Hebrew language over all the other languages and dialects spoken by the Jewish people, and is interested in its revival and restoration to its ancient glory in the new Palestine. Hebrew is the language in which were created those cultural values that make the Jewish contribution to human civilization unique and give us a national raison d'être amongst the nations of the world. It, furthermore, has given us Hebraic continuity in the West so that now, after two thousand years of dispersion, we are still potent nationally and culturally to resume life in the East. The Hebrew language served us as an eternal reminder of the motherland from which we spring.
Hebrew thus has a right claim on the Zionist movement for encouragement and support. Indeed, without the Hebrew backbone, Zionism would have been an invertebrate idea, hardly acceptable to the "stiff-necked people." This is a salient fact in the story of our national movement, and the sooner it will be realized by the hosts of the newly-affiliated Zionists the sooner will they grasp the true meaning of Zionism and the greater the real, inner compensation for their efforts towards the realization of their ideal.
The Zionist Organization of America, while always realizing the defects of a Zionist programme that did not devote considerable attention to the furtherance of Hebrew, for some reason or other, until about three years ago, almost entirely neglected this phase of our national endeavor. But with the extension of Zionist work in this country, and the growth of the Hebrew movement, the realization has dawned upon the Zionist leaders that the organization could no longer remain in mere passive sympathy with our cultural work. Hebrew began to play a prominent part at the annual Zionist conventions which, in turn, voted constantly increasing appropriations for its promotion. With the inauguration of the Department of Education of the organization and the establishment of a modus operandi with the Histadruth Ivrith on all matters pertaining to Hebrew work in this country, we have the beginning of the redemption of the Zionist pledge to the Hebrew movement in America.
The present is indeed a most opportune time for the Zionist Organization of America to embark upon intensive Hebrew work. The sentiment for Hebrew has in late years grown here immensely. Everywhere is manifest the desire to learn our national language, whose literature bears so much promise to the student. The demand for Hebrew teachers is hardly met by the supply. There has for years been felt in this country a need for a teachers’ seminary—an institute to train scholars and pedagogues for modern Hebrew schools. It is this need that the Zionist Organization, through its Department of Education, co-operating with the Histadruth Ivrith, is soon going to meet. The tentative plans, recently adopted, are to open preliminary courses for teachers, which will eventually develop into the proposed seminary. Another important step by the organization on the road of Hebrew work is its taking over the Hebrew weekly Hatoren, which, under the editorship of Dr. Shmarja Levin and Mr. I. D. Berkowitz, has reached a high literary standard, and is now considered one of the best journals printed in Hebrew. The Hatoren has for three years been within the “sphere of influence” of the Zionist Organization and enjoyed the annual subsidies voted it by the Zionist
conventions; yet its present acquisition by the organization is a salutary act, because thereby not only will there be added a periodical to the list of the Zionist publications, but the organization will henceforth have a mouthpiece in Hebrew; and the Zionist Organization must speak in Hebrew no matter how many other languages it may happen to employ.
Yet another Hebrew activity, a most important one, is now being furthered by the organization: the opening of evening courses in Hebrew for adults in the various centers of the Zionist districts.
While the work carried on by the Hebrew-speaking societies and their central body, the Histadruth Ivrith, is still of the regular, routine type, Hebrew literary production and publication are beginning to make big strides in this country. The Kadimah Publishing Association, which was about one year and a half ago organized by the Histadruth Ivrith issued this month three books by I. D. Berkowitz, Dr. N. Slouschz and M. Bernstein, and announces for the near future a book on the prophets by Dr. B. Mossinsohn, one on Palestine by Dr. M. Shenkin, a history of the Hebrew language by E. Ben-Yehuda, Knut Hamsun's "Pan," translated by M. Lipson, and five volumes of Sholom Aleichem in the Hebrew version of the author's son-in-law, the member of the Hatoren, I. D. Berkowitz. The Kadimah is a membership society, after the fashion of the Zionist Organization in many ways.
Great attention is now focussed in Hebrew circles on the coming to this country of Abraham J. Stybel of Moscow, the Jewish millionaire who devoted a fund of $5,000,000 for the production and promotion of Hebrew literature. Mr. Stybel, who will be accompanied to this country by S. Schneer, the eminent poet, contemplates opening a Hebrew publishing house in New York, under the editorship of Mr. I. D. Berkowitz. He is especially interested in the translation of the best of the world literature into Hebrew, and is establishing publication centers in the several countries where Hebrew literary talent is available to do the work. The center of these centers will be in Palestine. Thus far he established the Russian publishing house in Moscow, in charge of David Frishman, and succeeded in publishing there two 700-page literary collections, entitled “Ha’tekufah,” and a number of translations. In America, this Russian Jewish Maecenas expects to have translations made from the English literature; he also wants Hebrew talent in America to translate Shakespeare (very little of Shakespeare has so far been translated into Hebrew). Mr. Stybel negotiated with Mr. Berkowitz about his American plans for more than a year, and sent the latter sufficient funds to engage translators for certain English works. Now, upon his arrival to this country, he will find several volumes already completed in manuscript, ready for publication. Mr. Berkowitz, on the other hand, endeavored to enlist every Hebrew talent available in this country for the Stybel project, with the result that several of the ablest Hebrew writers here are now almost wholly devoting their time to this work. Besides the translations, Mr. Stybel contemplates issuing here a 500-page quarterly, devoted to original Hebrew letters. Thus a Jew from Russia, the home of Jewish learning and letters for-many centuries, is coming to distant America to rekindle the Hebrew pillar of fire which has always lighted our way in history.