Lazar Borodulin (April 24, 1879 – March 21, 1947) was a Jewish American writer and essayist, writing primarily in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

. He is known as an author of one of the very few

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

novels written in Yiddish.Borodulin, Lazar
/ref> Lazar Borodulin was born in Genichesk,

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

, Russian Empire. In 1900s or 1910s he emigrated to the United States where he started writing popular science articles in various Yiddish outlets, such as Varhayt (Truth), Der Tog, Tog (Day), Tsukunft (Future), Fraynd (Friend, a publication of The Workers Circle), and Gerekhtikeyt (Justice). His works include two books: *''On the other side of the Sambation, a scientific and fantastic novel'', (New York, 1929) *''Milkhomes un antisemitizm'' (Wars and anti-Semitism) (New York, 1937).

''On the Other Side of Sambatyon''

''On the Other Side of Sambatyon'' (1929) is one of a very few works of science fiction written in Yiddish.Valerie Estelle Frankel, ''Jewish Science Fiction and Fantasy through 1945: Immigrants in the Golden Age'', pp. 17, 36 It is a "lost world"/"mad scientist"-type story grounded in the Talmudic lore about Ten Lost Tribes.Jorge Zeballos Stepankowsky
''La Palabra Israelita'', August 26, 2016 Ciencia ficción en ídish: transgresión que sana
p.12

Plot

The novel starts with a married couple visiting a Yiddish reporter Hofman worried about a missing red-haired girl. It turns out she disappeared together with a scientist named Berger who invented a ray gun, and Hofman embarks on a quest to find the scientist. It turns out that Berger found his way to the land of mysterious Red Jews beyond the legendary river Sambation. Its legendary inaccessibility is explained in the novel by the fact that it is made of a chain of constantly erupting geysers.Yiddish SF&F 101* – Part 2
CyberCozen SCIENCE-Fiction Fanzine Vol. XXXIII, No. 02; February 2021 The middle third of the book describes technical and social advancements of the Red Jews, the rest is a quest to and from and a love story.

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borodulin, Lazar 1879 births 1947 deaths Jewish American writers Jewish American essayists Yiddish-language writers American science fiction writers Popular science American Ashkenazi Jews American people of Russian-Jewish descent