''Kol Mevasser'' (Yiddish: קול מבשר) was a
Yiddish language
Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ve ...
periodical that appeared from October 11, 1862 into 1872.
[Liptzin, Sol, ''A History of Yiddish Literature''. Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers, 1972. p. 41.] It is considered by
Sol Liptzin and others to be the most important early Yiddish-language periodical (although by no means the first: the short-lived ''
Die Kuranten'' in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
pre-dated it by centuries).
History
Founded by
Alexander Zederbaum as a supplement to his
Hebrew language
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
weekly ''
Hamelitz'', during its last three years ''Kol Mevasser'' functioned independently.
[Liptzin (1972), p. 41-42.] Unlike any earlier Yiddish publication, it circulated over a wide territory,
with readers throughout Eastern Europe, but was based on the Southeastern ("Ukrainish")
Yiddish dialect, indigenous to the region of its production (
Odessa).
Coverage included events both in the
Jew
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...
ish and
gentile
Gentile () is a word that usually means "someone who is not a Jew". Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, sometimes use the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is generally used as a synonym fo ...
world, and extended to science, education, history, geography, and literature. It ran biographies of famous
rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
s, reviewed Yiddish writers such as
Israel Aksenfeld,
Shlomo Ettinger, and
A. B. Gotlober, and launched the careers of a generation of Yiddish writers.
It published the first Yiddish-language fiction of
Mendele Mocher Sforim
Mendele Mocher Sforim ( yi, , he, מנדלי מוכר ספרים, also known as Moykher, Sfarim; lit. "Mendele the book peddler"; January 2, 1836, Kapyl – December 8, 1917 .S. Odessa), born Sholem Yankev Abramovich ( yi, , russian: Соло ...
, a tale called "Dos kleine mentshele" ("The Little Man"), with the first installment appearing in November 1863.
got his start in ''Kol Mevasser'', and it was the first to publish Yiddish poetry by
Abraham Goldfaden
Abraham Goldfaden (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם גאָלדפֿאַדען; born Avrum Goldnfoden; 24 July 1840 – 9 January 1908), also known as Avram Goldfaden, was a Russian-born Jewish poet, playwright, stage director and actor in the languages Yid ...
, who, like Mendele, had already published in Hebrew.
The decade-long run and relatively professional editorial standards of ''Kol Mevasser'' helped to standardize Yiddish spelling, enrich its vocabulary, establish patterns of written usage, and generally increase the prestige of the language.
[Liptzin (1972), p. 42.]
Notes
References
*Liptzin, Sol, ''A History of Yiddish Literature'', Jonathan David Publishers, Middle Village, NY, 1972, {{ISBN, 0-8246-0124-6, especially p. 41-42.
Publications established in 1862
Jews and Judaism in the Russian Empire
Yiddish newspapers
Defunct newspapers published in Russia
Publications disestablished in 1872
Yiddish-language mass media in Russia
Newspaper supplements
1862 establishments in the Russian Empire