Jekuthiel Berman (; 1825 – ) 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 ...

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 ...

writer, who published a number of

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) ...

s in ''

maskilic The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Europe and th ...

'' journals.

Biography

For over thirty years, Berman held a position in the employ of the railroad magnate

Samuel Polyakov Samuel (Shmuel) Polyakov (also Poliakoff, Poliakov, ) was a Russian businessman, informally known as the "most famous railroad king" of the Russian Empire, the senior member of the Polyakov business family, a philanthropist and a Jewish civil rig ...

, and devoted part of his leisure to literary composition. Between 1870 and 1880 he lived in

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

and later in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

. A stroke of paralysis in 1887 rendered him incapable of continuing either his vocation or his literary efforts. Berman's first novel, ''Shenot ra'inu ra'ah'' ('The Years Wherein We Have Seen Evil'), which describes the life and sufferings of the

Cantonist Cantonists (; more properly: , "military cantonists") were underage sons of conscripts in the Russian Empire. From 1721 on they were educated in special "cantonist schools" () for future military service (the schools were called garrison school ...

s in the time of Emperor Nicholas I, appeared in the first volume of ''

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 ...

'' (1860). Another novel, ''Pesel Mikah'' ('The Graven Image of Micah'), appeared in the same periodical (1884). ''Ha-shodedim be-tsaharayim'' ('The Noonday Robbers') was first published in ''

Ha-Shaḥar ''Ha-Shaḥar'' () was a Hebrew language, Hebrew-language monthly periodical, published and edited at Vienna by Peretz Smolenskin from 1868 to 1884. The journal contained scientific articles, essays, biographies, and literature, as well as genera ...

'' (1877) and afterward appeared in book form. The fate of his fourth novel, ''Ha-yetomim'' ('The Orphans'), is somewhat singular. The first instalment appeared in Zederbaum's monthly, ''Ha-Mitspah'', of which only four numbers were published in St. Petersburg in 1886. Ten years later another part appeared in ''Ner ha-Ma'aravi'', a Hebrew monthly published in New York, which was also soon discontinued. Berman was one of the purists in ''

'' Hebrew, who insisted that no foreign words or idioms be used. A letter from Berman on this subject, and a reply by R. A. Braudes favouring expansion and modification of the language, were published in 's ''Gan Peraḥim'' (Vilna, 1881).

Publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Berman, Jekuthiel Hebrew-language writers Jewish writers from the Russian Empire Novelists from the Russian Empire People from Tver People of the Haskalah 1825 births 1880s deaths Year of death uncertain