Elias Levenberg (, ,
;
25 (18) July 1903, in Tartu – 1941 or 1942, in Latvia), was a Jewish teacher and folklorist in Tartu, Estonia.
Biography and family
Elias Levenberg was born in
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...
into family of Chaye Sore Levenberg, who originated from Vidzy, and Samuel Chaim-Leib Levenberg. As show Levenberg's collector's remarks in his folklore records, in 1908–1912 the family lived in Tartu, and in 1915–1918 in Riga where he finished elementary school and Jewish middle school.
In 1927 Levenberg settled in Tartu, perhaps, with his mother and with his wife Zisla (Sisla) Leveberg (Shver). On 4 April 1930 she gave birth to a son Sīmanis (Simon) in Riga. In Tartu also lived Levenberg's aunt B. Usharov.
In 1927 Levenberg entered the faculty of Law of Tartu university. 2 September 1927 he passed the test of Estonian, required to be accepted to the university. The test was administrated and scored by
Johannes Aavik
Johannes Aavik ( – 18 March 1973) was an Estonian linguist and innovator of the Estonian language.
Early life and education
Aavik was born in Randvere, Saaremaa, in the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire (now Estonia). He studied h ...
, an experimentalist modernizer of Estonian language, who was a language inspector at that time. Yet, the same year Levenberg moved to the faculty of Philosophy, which he did not finish; at least in annual lists of actual students his name is mentioned during 1930–1934, 1933–1935 and 1936–1938 years.
From 1 September 1927 Elias Levenberg started to teach Yiddish language and literature in the Jewish elementary school in Tartu (Tartu linna 17 (juudi) algkool), and in Jewish private school (Juudi Erarealkool) and continued at least till 1939. Besides that he taught English and singing.
Living in Estonia Levenberg remained a Latvian citizen. In 1939 he appealed for Estonian citizenship, but his appeal was dismissed.
Since 1939 Levenberg lived in Riga and was murdered in Latvia in 1941 or 1942.
Contribution to folkloristics
In
Tartu university
The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.Walter Anderson, who invented and popularised the gathering of self-records from school children. Following this model Levenberg started in 1929 to gather from pupils of Jewish elementary school's 4–6 grades self-records of beliefs, jokes, songs and alike for
Estonian Folklore Archives
The Estonian Folklore Archives (EFA) is the central folklore archives in Estonia. The Archives functions currently as the subdivision of the Estonian Literary Museum but it was established in 1927 as the division of the Estonian National Museu ...
, where was created a special fond for Jewish collections: ERA Juudi 1 and ERA Juudi 2.
Later he added to the Archives materials recorded from his mother, records from various people and self-records. From 1929 till 1935 he wrote down and contributed to Estonian Folklore Archives more than 800 items of Jewish Yiddish folklore, which is the biggest personal contribution within collections. In a public report in 1931 Levenberg was named among most active collectors of the Estonian Folklore Archives.Aruanne rahvaluule kogumisest 1931 // Meie Maa. 14 jaanuar 1932. P.2 /ref>