Mendele Mokher Seforim

Born/Death: January 2, 1836 - December 8, 1917
Important Locations: Various towns in Eastern Europe during the time of the Russian Empire.
Notable Work(s): Dos Vintshfingerl (The Magic Ring), Dos Kleyne Mentshele (The Little Man), and Fishke der Krumer (Fishke the Lame)

Some Background:

Revered as the “grandfather of Yiddish literature” for his innovations in laying a new literary framework for Yiddish, Mendele Mokher Seforim was born Shalom Yakov Abramowitz in Belorussia (Belarus), coming from a comfortable family of Lithuanian rabbis. Like, Aleichem, in an attempt to connect with Jewish culture and Enlightenment, Seforim originally wrote in Hebrew before switching to Yiddish after about ten years of writingat large. He later reflected on this transition in his Complete Works: “I tried to compose a story in simple Hebrew, ground in the spirit and life of our people at the time. At that time, then, my thinking went along these lines: Observing how my people live, I want to write stories for them in our sacred tongue, yet most do not understand the language. They speak Yiddish. What good does the writer’s work and thought serve him, if they are of no use to his people? For whom was I working?”

Understanding why Seforim was drawn to Yiddish sheds light on his attempt to not only appreciate but to fully understand real people in real situations. His work portrayed Jewish life with honesty and without judgment and depicted the world of the shtetl with all its poverty and decay; all its joy and poetry. Like Aleichem, actually, before Aleichem, Seforim demonstrated the power of Yiddish, as a language of the people, capable of showcasing real life’s tragedy, beauty, and comedy.

Two contrasting themes in his writing reflect his own ambivalence: satiric and/or critical treatment of the ghetto Jew afflicted by stagnation, ignorance, and isolation, contrasted by a sympathetic love and defense of his people. He was not afraid to challenge the status quo in hopes of capturing a realistic depiction of life, offering staunch opposition to Russian anti-Semitism and Jewish persecution, while being critical of Jewish patrician society and often placed him in conflict with community leaders.

To summarize Seforim’s impact on Yiddish Literature and the world at-large, Meshuggenary: Celebrating the World of Yiddish states, “Mendele forged a new literary path, and created a modern portrait of an ancient people faced with ambivalence and contradictions on the threshold of a radically changing world.”

I’ll see you all tomorrow!