Miriam Markel-Mosessohn (; 1839 – December 18, 1920) was a
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
author and translator who wrote in
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
Congress Poland
Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
, the daughter of a wealthy Jewish merchant, Shimon Wierzbolowki, and his wife Ḥayyah. She had two brothers, Yosef and Shmuel, and a sister, Devorah; both the daughters and the sons of the family attended the local Jewish school, where they learned to read and write Hebrew; although she did not attend '' ḥeder'' – the traditional elementary school where young boys studied the
chumash
Chumash may refer to:
*Chumash (Judaism), a Hebrew word for the Pentateuch, used in Judaism
*Chumash people, a Native American people of southern California
*Chumashan languages, Indigenous languages of California
See also
* Pentateuch (dis ...
(the first five books of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach" . '' Suvalk, where she continued her Hebrew studies under the Hebraist . As Balin (2000) notes (p. 32), Kayserling's entry on Markel-Mosessohn was inaccurate on several points, especially in his mistaken assumption that she had children, and that her parental responsibilities were what hindered her from publishing more than she did. During her two and a half years of study under Paradiesthal he also instructed her in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
and, to a lesser extent, French languages and literatures. When he left to take a position as a tutor in
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, Markel-Mosessohn continued her Hebrew studies independently, shifting her focus from formal study of the language to intensive reading of whatever Hebrew works she could obtain; in this way she absorbed the products of the Jewish cultural revival then under way.
Career
During the 1860s she began focusing her efforts on translation of works into Hebrew, and completed a Hebrew version of Ludwig Philippson's German-language historical
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most novelettes and short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) ...
''Der Flüchtling aus Jerusalem'' (in manuscript).
She married Anshel Markel-Mosessohn (1844–1903) of
Kovno
Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...
in 1863, when she was 24 and he 19. She and her husband corresponded in Hebrew and shared an interest in the Hebrew revival; he was supportive of her writing, as well as of her efforts to publish her work. She assisted him in his business dealings at points. The two remained married for forty years, until Anshel Markel-Mosessohn's death, in 1903; they never had children.
In 1869 she published the first volume of ''Ha-Yehudim be-Angliya'', her elegant Hebrew translation of 's ''Die Juden und die Kreuzfahrer unter Richard Löwenherz'', a historical work about the
Jews in England
The history of the Jews in England can be traced to at least 750 CE through the Canonical Exceptions of Echbright, published by the Archbishop of York, although it is likely that there had been some History of the Jews in the Roman Empire, Jewi ...
in the era of the
crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
, under
Richard the Lionheart
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'st ...
. The second volume was not published until 1895 (both volumes appeared in Warsaw). Poor health and financial problems were at least partially the cause for the long delay in her bringing the second volume to completion.
Over the course of her life Markel-Mosessohn corresponded with three prominent '' maskilim'' – her male colleagues in the Hebrew revival – Abraham Mapu,
Judah Leib Gordon
Judah Leib Gordon (, ; December 7, 1830 – September 16, 1892), also known as Leon Gordon, was among the most important Hebrew poets of the Haskalah.
Biography
Gordon was born to well-to-do Jewish parents who owned a hotel in Vilnius. As a p ...
, and Moses Lilienblum. Mapu was the first fellow Hebrew writer with whom she initiated a correspondence, in 1861, writing to him in Hebrew and enclosing an original piece of writing. He responded appreciatively, complimenting the lucidity of her style and dubbing her a ''maskelet'', or enlightened woman. They exchanged a handful of letters over the next year or two, and also met briefly in person on two occasions, in 1861, and again in 1866 or 1867, both times at Mapu's home in Kovno.
Markel-Mosessohn wrote to Judah Leib Gordon for the first time in 1868, after she had completed a draft of the first part of ''Ha-Yehudim be-Angliya'', her translation of Francolm's work. Gordon responded enthusiastically to the translation; he assisted her in finding a publisher, and contributed a laudatory preface to the published volume. Their correspondence spanned 20 years, and reflected a mutually supportive friendship, although they never met in person. In 1875 Gordon dedicated to her his poem "Kotzo shel yud" ('The tip of the
etter Etter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*Albert Etter (born 1872), American horticulturist
*Bill Etter (born 1950), American football quarterback
*Bob Etter (born 1945), American football placekicker, bridge player, and profess ...
yud'), which evokes empathy for a modern-day woman trapped by oppressive strictures of Jewish law.. Two years later she acknowledged the honour, while writing to him for moral support, at a time when her husband had been imprisoned in connection with questionable financial dealings.
During the 1870s Markel-Mosessohn became more involved than before in her husband's business affairs, and moved several times, at one point staying three years in Danzig, and finally settling in Vienna in 1881.
She renewed her correspondence with Gordon in 1887, when she had completed the second volume of her Hebrew translation of Francolm's ''Die Juden und die Kreuzfahrer unter Richard Löwenherz''; she requested he write a few lines for the preface of her book, and he readily complied, as pleased with the second as he had been with the first volume.
In the spring of 1887, upon Gordon's urging, Markel-Mosessohn hesitantly agreed to become the Viennese correspondent for the Hebrew newspaper ''
Ha-Melitz
''HaMelitz'' (Hebrew: ) was the first Hebrew newspaper in the Russian Empire. It was founded by Alexander Zederbaum in Odessa in 1860.
History
''HaMelitz'' first appeared as a weekly, and it began to appear daily in 1886. From 1871, it was publis ...
'', of which he was then editor. Between May and July 1887 she published four progressively more developed articles, the last two being, respectively, a report detailing the appearance of political
anti-Semitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
during the latest Hungarian elections in the village of Tiszaeszlár, where a
blood libel
Blood libel or ritual murder libel (also blood accusation) is an antisemitic canardTurvey, Brent E. ''Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis'', Academic Press, 2008, p. 3. "Blood libel: An accusation of ritual mu ...
had occurred five years before, in 1892; and a feuilleton about summer in Vienna, and Viennese Jewry more generally.