Shmuel Niger (also Samuel Niger, pen name of Samuel Charney, 1883-1955) was a

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 ...

writer, literary critic and historian and was one of the leading figures of Yiddish cultural work and

Yiddishism Yiddishism is a cultural and linguistic movement that advocates and promotes the use of the Yiddish language. It began among Jews in Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. Some of the leading founders of this movement were Men ...

in pre-revolution Russia.

Life

Shmuel Niger was born Shmuel Ṭsharni on 15 June 1883 in Dukora, a small village in

Minsk Governorate Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...

, to Zev Volf and Brokhe Tsharni (née Hurwitz). His father, a fervent

Lubavitcher Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

Hasid Ḥasīd (, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Honorifics in Judaism, Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in hi ...

, died in 1889, leaving Shmuel’s mother a widow with five sons (he being the third) and a daughter.Leyb Vaserman, "Niger, Shmuel,” in ''Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur'', vol. 6, cols. 190–210 (New York, 1965) Niger’s two younger brothers also achieved renown. Baruch Charney Vladeck (1886–1938) became a leading socialist agitator and theoretician, general manager of ''

The Jewish Daily Forward ''The Forward'' (), formerly known as ''The Jewish Daily Forward'', is an American news media organization for a Jewish American audience. Founded in 1897 as a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper, ''The New York Times'' reported that Set ...

'' and New York City alderman while Daniel Charney (1888–1959) was a celebrated Yiddish poet, writer and journalist. Niger was a child prodigy, studying Talmud until the age of 17 at

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

s in Berezin and Minsk. He was preparing for rabbinic ordination when he instead moved into the secular and political world, having become attracted to secular culture and Zionism. In 1904, he co-founded the

Zionist Socialist Workers Party Zionist-Socialist Workers Party (), often referred to simply as Zionist-Socialists or S.S. by their Russian initials, was a Jewish territorialist and socialist political party in the Russian Empire and Poland, that emerged from the ''Vozrozhdenie ...

, and was a writer for the party paper '' Der nayer veg'' (''The New Path''). He was imprisoned and tortured for his political activity several times in Minsk,

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

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 ...

Daugavpils Daugavpils (see also other names) is a state city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city derives its name. The parts of the city to the north of the river belong to the historical Latvian region ...

(

Dvinsk Daugavpils (see also other names) is a state city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city derives its name. The parts of the city to the north of the river belong to the historical Latvian region ...

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

, and

Vilna Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

, but he avoided execution after the intervention of family and friends.

Literary career

After initial literary forays in Russian and Hebrew, he wrote, published and worked as an editor for many different Yiddish periodicals in Vilna, St. Petersburg and Moscow. His 1907 essay on

Sholem Asch Sholem Asch (, ; 1 November 1880 – 10 July 1957), also written Shalom Ash, was a Polish Jews, Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language who settled in the United States. Life and work Asch was born Szalom Asz in ...

's drama ''Meshiekhs tsaytn'' (''The Age of the Messiah'') was his first significant Yiddish critical article and also helped to introduce the still relatively unknown Asch to a much broader audience. In 1908, together with the

Bund Bund, BUND, or the Bund may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Der Bund'', a German-language newspaper published in Bern, Switzerland * Shanghai Bund (TV series), ''Shanghai Bund'' (TV series), a 2007 Chinese television remake of the 19 ...

ist dramatist A. Vayter and the Zionist essayist

S. Gorelik S is the nineteenth letter of the English alphabet. S may also refer to: History * an Anglo-Saxon charter's number in Peter Sawyer's, catalogue Language and linguistics * Long s (ſ), a form of the lower-case letter s formerly used where "s ...

, he founded the short-lived journal ''Literarishe Monatshriftn'' (''Literary Monthly Journal'') in Vilna, which is widely credited with having launched the Yiddish literary renaissance. The journal, while only publishing four issues, contained works of the bright young hopefuls of Yiddish literature, including Sholem Asch, Dovid Einhorn, Peretz Hirshbein, Hersh Dovid Nomberg, and

Der Nister Der Nister (, "the Hidden One"; 1 November 1884 – 4 June 1950 in the Abez camp of Gulag) was the pseudonym of Pinchus Kahanovich (), a Yiddish author, philosopher, translator, and critic. Early years Kahanovich was born in Berdychiv, Ukrai ...

. Niger’s own essays on Asch, Nomberg, I. L. Peretz, and

Avrom Reyzen Avrom Reyzen (Yiddish: אַבֿרהם רייזען; April 8, 1876 – April 2, 1953), known as Abraham Reisen, was a Belorussian Jewish-American writer, poet and editor. He was the elder brother of the Yiddishist Zalman Reisen. Reyzen was bo ...

set the high literary tone of the journal and heralded a level of literary and critical sophistication unprecedented in Yiddish literature. Assisted by

Ber Borochov Dov Ber Borochov (; – 17 December 1917) was a Marxist Zionist and one of the founders of the Labor Zionist movement. He was also a pioneer in the study of the Yiddish language. Biography Dov Ber Borochov was born in the town of Z ...

, he edited ''Der Pinkes'' (''The Record Book'', 1913), the first Yiddish scholarly volume devoted to the study of Yiddish literature, language, folklore, criticism, and bibliography. He also edited

Zalman Reisen Zalman Reisen (; 6 October 1887 – 1941), sometimes spelled Zalman Reyzen, was a lexicographer and literary historian of Yiddish literature. Early life Reisen was born in Koydenev (now known as Dzyarzhynsk) in Minsk Governorate (in present-d ...

's ''Leksikon fun der Yidisher Literatur un Prese'' (''Lexicon of Yiddish Literature and Press'', 1914). These volumes helped to lay the foundation for the scholarly study of the Yiddish language and literature.

In America

In autumn 1919, Niger immigrated to the United States, where at first he worked at ''The Jewish Daily Forward'' (where his brother Baruch was manager), and a few weeks later at the Yiddish liberal daily ''Tog'' (''Day''), for which he worked until his death in 1955. He became the leading critic of Yiddish literary life, writing weekly reviews of books and articles on literary trends for ''Tog''. He also co-edited the literary monthly ''Di Tsukunft'' from 1941 to 1947. Although the bulk of Niger’s literary criticism, mainly consisting of articles and essays from journals and newspapers, was never collected and published in book form, a bibliography compiled by Efim Jeshurin lists 4,083 items by Niger and 1,607 items about him.Jeshurin, Ephim H., ''Shmuel Niger-bibliografye,'' YIVO, (New York, 1958) Niger died in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 24 December 1955, returning from a

YIVO YIVO (, , short for ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. Estab ...

Executive Committee meeting. His funeral was attended by well over 1,000 people and news of his death led to the publication in the Jewish press of hundreds of articles about him worldwide. He was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens, New York.

References

External links

Guide to the Papers of Shmuel Niger
at the YIVO Institute, New York, NY * Bromberg, Eli
“We Need to Talk about Shmuel Charney.”
''In geveb'', October 2019. {{DEFAULTSORT:Niger, Shmuel 1883 births 1955 deaths People from Pukhavichy district People from Igumensky Uyezd Belarusian Jews Zionist Socialist Workers Party politicians Yiddish culture in Russia History of YIVO Yiddish-language literature