Yiddish literature encompasses all those
belles-lettres
() is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pej ...
written 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 ...
, the language of
Ashkenazic Jewry which is related to
Middle High German
Middle High German (MHG; or ; , shortened as ''Mhdt.'' or ''Mhd.'') is the term for the form of High German, High German language, German spoken in the High Middle Ages. It is conventionally dated between 1050 and 1350, developing from Old High ...
. The history of Yiddish, with its roots in
central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
and locus for centuries in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...
, is evident in its literature.
It is generally described as having three historical phases: Old Yiddish literature;
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...
and
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
literature; and modern Yiddish literature. While firm dates for these periods are hard to pin down, Old Yiddish can be said to have existed roughly from 1300 to 1780;
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...
and
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
literature from 1780 to about 1890; and modern Yiddish literature from 1864 to the present.
An important
bibliography
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliograph ...
of Yiddish literature is the ''Leksikon Fun Der Nayer Yidisher Literatur'' (Lexicon of Modern Yiddish Literature) published by the
Congress for Jewish Culture The Congress for Jewish Culture (also known as the World Congress for Jewish Culture or, in Yiddish, der Alveltlekher Yidisher Kultur-kongres) is a secular organization founded in 1948 to promote Yiddish culture throughout the world. Individuals a ...
in 8 volumes between 1956 and 1981, containing a brief presentation of around 7,000 writers.
Old Yiddish literature

Yiddish literature began with translations of and commentary on
religious text
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...
s. (See article on the
Yiddish language
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 ...
for a full description of these texts.) The most important writer of old Yiddish literature was
Elijah Levita (known as Elye Bokher) who translated and adapted the chivalric romance of
Bevis of Hampton, via its Italian version, Buovo d’Antona. Levita's version, called Bovo d'Antona, and later known with the title ''
Bovo-bukh'', was circulated in manuscript from 1507, then published in Isny (Germany) in 1541. This work illustrates the influence of European literary forms on emerging Yiddish literature, not only in its subject but in the form of its stanzas and
rhyme scheme
A rhyme scheme is the pattern of rhymes at the end of each line of a poem or song. It is usually referred to by using letters to indicate which lines rhyme; lines designated with the same letter all rhyme with each other.
An example of the ABAB rh ...
, an adaptation of Italian ottava rima. Nonetheless, Levita altered many features of the story to reflect Judaic elements, though they rest uneasily with the essentially Christian nature of chivalry. (For a discussion of the tension between Christian and Jewish elements in the Bovo-bukh, see chapter two of
Michael Wex’s ''
Born to Kvetch''.)
A number of Yiddish epic poems appeared in the 14-15th centuries. The most important works of this genre are the ''
Shmuel-Bukh'' and the ''
Mlokhim-Bukh'' – chivalric romances about king
David
David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament.
The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
and other Biblical heroes. The stanzaic form of these poems resembles that of the ''
Nibelungenlied''. Following the example of other European epics, the ''Shmuel-Bukh'' was not simply recited, but sung or chanted to musical accompaniment; its melody was widely known in Jewish communities.
Far from being rhymed adaptations of the Bible, these old Yiddish
epic poem
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to ...
s fused the Biblical and
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...
ic material with European courtly poetry, thus creating an
Ashkenazic national epic, comparable to the ''
Nibelungenlied'' and
The Song of Roland
The ''Song of Roland'' () is an 11th-century based on the deeds of the Frankish military leader Roland at the Battle of Roncevaux Pass in AD 778, during the reign of the Emperor Charlemagne. It is the oldest surviving major work of French li ...
.
Another influential work of old Yiddish literature is the ' (“Story Book”). This work collects ethical tales based on Hebrew and rabbinic sources, as well as
folk tales and legends. Based on the inclusion of a few
non-Jewish stories, scholars have deduced that the compiler lived in the area that is now western Germany during the last third of the 16th century. It was first published in 1602. These instructional stories are still read in highly religious communities, especially among the
Hasidim.
A commentary written for women on the weekly
parashot by Rabbi
Jacob ben Isaac Ashkenazi in 1616, the ''
Tseno Ureno'' (צאנה וראינה), remains a ubiquitous book in Yiddish homes to this day.
Women wrote old Yiddish literature infrequently, but several collections of tkhines (personal prayers which are not part of liturgy) were written by women such as
Sara Bas-Tovim and Sarah Rebekah Rachel Leah Horowitz, both in the 18th century. The most extensive text by a woman from this era is the memoir of the 17th-18th century
Glikl of Hameln, a family document that was not published until 1896.
Hasidic and Haskalah literature
Hasidic stories
The rise of
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
popular mysticism in the 18th century gave rise to a specific kind of literary work. Alongside its scholarly
thought
In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, and de ...
were
hagiographic
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...
stories venerating its
leadership
Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations.
"Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
. This gave storytelling a new centrality in
Rabbinic Judaism
Rabbinic Judaism (), also called Rabbinism, Rabbinicism, Rabbanite Judaism, or Talmudic Judaism, is rooted in the many forms of Judaism that coexisted and together formed Second Temple Judaism in the land of Israel, giving birth to classical rabb ...
as a form of
worship
Worship is an act of religious devotion usually directed towards a deity or God. For many, worship is not about an emotion, it is more about a recognition of a God. An act of worship may be performed individually, in an informal or formal group, ...
, and spread the movement's appeal. These anecdotal or miraculous stories personified new Hasidic doctrines of the
saintly intermediary, Divine Omnipresence, and the hidden
value of the common folk. As one master related of his visit to
Dov Ber of Mezeritch
Dov Ber ben Avraham of Mezeritch (; died December 4, 1772 Old Style, O.S.), also known as the ''Maggid of Velyki Mezhyrichi, Mezeritch'' or ''Mezeritcher Maggid'', was a disciple of Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer (the Baal Shem Tov), the founder of Has ...
, "I went to see how the Maggid tied up his shoelaces". A story of the
Baal Shem Tov
Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue f ...
, Hasidic founder, represents this:
The saintly prayers of the Baal Shem Tov and his close circle were unable to lift a harsh Heavenly decree they perceived one New Year. After extending the prayers beyond time, the danger remained. An unlettered shepherd boy entered and was deeply envious of those who could read the holy day's prayers. He said to God "I don't know how to pray, but I can make the noises of the animals of the field." With great feeling he cried out, "Cock-a-doodle-do, God have mercy!" Immediately, joy overcame the Baal Shem Tov and he hurried to finish the prayers. Afterwards, he explained that the heartfelt words of the shephard boy opened the Gates of Heaven, and the decree was lifted.
As
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 ...
was reserved for Torah study and prayer, the vernacular Yiddish stories of different masters were compiled in Yiddish or Hebrew writing, beginning with "Shivchei HaBesht"-"In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov" (1815 Yiddish translation from Hebrew compilation of 1814). In the 20th century
Martin Buber
Martin Buber (; , ; ; 8 February 1878 – 13 June 1965) was an Austrian-Israeli philosopher best known for his philosophy of dialogue, a form of existentialism centered on the distinction between the I and Thou, I–Thou relationship and the I� ...
publicised Hasidism to the secular world through its stories, mediated through his own
Neo-Hasidic philosophy
Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
. Previous Kabbalistic themes, accepted without emphasis in Hasidism, entered Eastern European Jewish
folklore
Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
in tales of
reincarnation
Reincarnation, also known as rebirth or transmigration, is the Philosophy, philosophical or Religion, religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living being begins a new lifespan (disambiguation), lifespan in a different physical ...
and
possession, and were commonly adapted by later secular Yiddish writers. Meanwhile, the mysticism of Hasidism as well as the culture of
wider traditional Judaism, were parodied by Haskalah Yiddish literature.
Hasidic parables
Within the works of
Hasidic philosophy
Hasidic philosophy or Hasidism (), alternatively transliterated as Hasidut or Chassidus, consists of the teachings of the Hasidic movement, which are the teachings of the Hasidic ''rebbes'', often in the form of commentary on the Torah (the Five ...
, another storytelling form was used - insightful parables to illustrate its new mystical interpretations. The
Baal Shem Tov
Israel ben Eliezer (According to a forged document from the "Kherson Geniza", accepted only by Chabad, he was born in October 1698. Some Hasidic traditions place his birth as early as 1690, while Simon Dubnow and other modern scholars argue f ...
used short,
soulful analogies, alluded teachings and encouraging anecdotes in first reaching out to revive the common folk, while parables of other masters were integrated within their classic works of Hasidic thought. The distinct parables of
Nachman of Breslov
Nachman of Breslov ( ''Rabbī'' ''Naḥmān mīBreslev''), also known as Rabbi Nachman of Breslev, Rabbi Nachman miBreslev, Reb Nachman of Bratslav, Reb Nachman Breslover ( ''Rebe Nakhmen Breslover''), and Nachman from Uman (April 4, 1772 – O ...
comprise a complete literary form that stand alone with their own commentary, in Yiddish original and Hebrew translation. In one example of former Hasidic parable, the Baal Shem Tov explained the mystical meaning of blowing the
ram's horn on the New Year:
A King sent his son away from the palace to learn new skills. Regrettably, the son lost his royal ways, and forgot his home tongue. After years in exile he remembered his true calling, and desired to return to the palace. Upon approaching the gates, the guards no longer recognised the King's son and refused him entry. At that moment the King appeared on the balcony and saw the commotion of the son at the gates, but also did not recognise his son who now appeared in peasant clothing. In distress, as the son could no longer remember the royal language, he cried out a heartfelt wordless call from his soul. Immediately, the King recognised his voice and delighted in being reunited with his son.
Rabbi Nachman's 13 ''Sippurei Ma'asiyot'' Wonder-Tales of 1816 take mystical parable to a self-contained literary purpose and art. Where the analogies of other masters have direct messages, Rabbi Nachman's imaginative, intricate tales, that can involve stories within stories, offer layered
mystical
Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...
and
devotional commentaries, or literary readings. Rabbi Nachman alluded to some meanings when he orally told each tale in Yiddish. He saw their roots in ancient
Aggadic
Aggadah (, or ; ; 'tales', 'legend', 'lore') is the non-legalistic exegesis which appears in the classical rabbinic literature of Judaism, particularly the Talmud and Midrash. In general, Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporat ...
mystical articulation, by saying that this concealed form was how Kabbalah was taught orally before
Shimon bar Yochai explained it, though the Tales are unique in
Rabbinic literature
Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense, is the entire corpus of works authored by rabbis throughout Jewish history. The term typically refers to literature from the Talmudic era (70–640 CE), as opposed to medieval and modern rabbinic ...
. He took to storytelling as redemptive activity once other paths had been blocked, such as the death of his son in whom he saw Messianic potential; "the time has come to tell stories", he said. Rabbi Nachman saw his role as innovative, and his teachings focus on the
redemptive scheme of
rectification:
"In the tales told by the Nations of the World are hidden sparks of holiness, but the tales are confused and spiritually out of order, so that the sparks remain hidden."
The thirteenth tale, "The Seven Beggars", is the most intricate. The story told on the seventh day is missing and Rabbi Nachman said that it would only be known when the
Messiah
In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; ,
; ,
; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...
comes. The Tales, documented in Yiddish with Hebrew translation by
Nathan of Breslov, amongst other Hasidic storytelling have had the strongest effect on the development of Yiddish literature.
Haskalah

During the same years as the emergence of Hasidism, the most influential secular movement of Jews also appeared in the form of the
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'' (; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), often termed the Jewish Enlightenment, was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Wester ...
. This movement was influenced by the
Enlightenment and opposed superstition in religious life and the antiquated education given to most Jews. They proposed better integration into European culture and society, and were strong opponents of Hasidism. Writers who used their craft to expound this view were
Israel Aksenfeld,
Solomon (or Shloyme) Ettinger and
Isaac Mayer Dick. Aksenfeld was at first a follower of Reb Nachman of Bratslav, but later abandoned Hasidism and became a strong opponent of it. His novel ''Dos shterntikhl'' (“The head-scarf”), published in 1861, portrays the Hasidic world as intolerant and small-minded. Only five of his works were published because of opposition from Hasidic leaders. His work is realist and shows the influence of 19th century
Russian literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia, its Russian diaspora, émigrés, and to Russian language, Russian-language literature. Major contributors to Russian literature, as well as English for instance, are authors of different e ...
. Ettinger was a physician who wrote plays, including what is considered the most important of the Haskalah era, “Serkele”. His satiric style shows the influence of European drama: one scholar speculates that he read
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
. Isaac Mayer Dick (1808–1893) wrote
short stories
A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...
which sold tens of thousands of copies in book form. His role in literary development is as significant for creating a readership for
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 ...
as for the content of his work, which tends to the didactic. He also wrote in
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 ...
, including the outstanding
Talmud
The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
ic parody, “Masseket Aniyyut” (“Tractate Poverty”).
Modern Yiddish literature
The classic Yiddish writers

Modern Yiddish literature is generally dated to the publication in 1864 of
Sholem Yankev Abramovitsh's novel ''Dos kleyne mentshele'' ("The Little Person"). Abramovitsh had previously written in Hebrew, the language in which many proponents of the Haskalah communicated with each other, until this publication. With this novel, originally published serially in a Yiddish newspaper, Abramovitsh introduced his
alter ego
An alter ego (Latin for "other I") means an alternate Self (psychology), self, which is believed to be distinct from a person's normal or true original Personality psychology, personality. Finding one's alter ego will require finding one's other ...
, the character of
Mendele Moykher Sforim ("Mendel the Book Peddler"), the character who narrates this and many succeeding stories. Abramovitsh himself is often known by this name, and it appears as the "author" on several of his books, producing a complex set of relations between the author, the persona and the readership which has been explored most thoroughly by Dan Miron. Abramovitsh's work is ironic and sharp, while maintaining the voice of a folksy narrator. His work critiques corruption inside the Jewish community and that imposed on it from Russian and Polish governing institutions. He also continues the tradition of Haskalah literature with his attack on superstition and outmoded traditions such as
arranged marriage
Arranged marriage is a type of Marriage, marital union where the bride and groom are primarily selected by individuals other than the couple themselves, particularly by family members such as the parents. In some cultures, a professional matchmaki ...
. His extraordinary parody of the
picaresque, ''Kitser masoes Binyomen hashlishi'' ("The Brief Travels of Benjamin the Third"), published in 1878, was his last great work and provides one of his strongest critiques of Jewish life in the
Pale of Settlement
The Pale of Settlement was a western region of the Russian Empire with varying borders that existed from 1791 to 1917 (''de facto'' until 1915) in which permanent settlement by Jews was allowed and beyond which the creation of new Jewish settlem ...
.
Abramovitsh's influence lay in two factors. First, he wrote in Yiddish at a time when most Jewish thinkers tended to Hebrew or a non-Jewish language such as German. Secondly, as Dan Miron demonstrates, Abramovitsh brought Yiddish belles lettres firmly into the modern era through the use of rhetorical strategies that allowed his social reform agenda to be expressed at the highest level of literary and artistic achievement. The outpouring of Yiddish literature in modernist forms that followed Abramovitsh demonstrates how important this development was in giving voice to Jewish aspirations, both social and literary. The most important of the early writers to follow Abramovitsh were Sholem Rabinovitsh (popularly known by his alter-ego,
Sholem Aleichem
Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (; May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish language, Yiddish and , also spelled in Yiddish orthography#Reform and standardization, Soviet Yiddish, ; Russian language, Russian and ), ...
), and
I. L. Peretz. Rabinovitsh's best-known works are the stories centering on the character
Tevye the Dairyman. Written over many years and in response to the variety of Jewish catastrophes of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the stories epitomize Rabinovitsh's style, including his signature style of "laughter through tears". I. L. Peretz brought into Yiddish a wide array of modernist techniques he encountered in his reading of European fiction. While himself politically radical, particularly during the 1890s, his fiction is enormously nuanced and allows multiple readings. His work is both simple and caustic, more psychological and more individualistic than Abramovitsh or Rabinovitsh's. For these reasons, he is considered the first true modernist in Yiddish literature. He wrote primarily stories of which "Bontshe shvayg" (Bontshe the Silent) is one of his best known. As with much of his work, it manages to convey two apparently opposing messages: sympathy for the oppressed with critique of passivity as a response to oppression.
Together, Abramovitsh, Rabinovitsh and I. L. Peretz are usually referred to as the three "classic" Yiddish writers ("di klasiker" in Yiddish). They are also nickednamed respectively the "grandfather", the "father" and the "son" of Yiddish literature. This formulation erases the fact that they were all roughly contemporaneous and are best understood as a single phenomenon rather than as distinct generational manifestations of a tradition. Nonetheless, this formulation was propounded by the classic writers themselves, perhaps as a means of investing their fledgling literary culture with a lineage that could stand up to other world literatures they admired.
Literary movements and figures

Dramatic works in Yiddish grew up at first separately, and later intertwined with other Yiddish movements. Early drama, following Ettinger's example, was written by
Abraham Goldfaden, and
Jacob Gordin. Much of what was presented on the Yiddish stage were translations from European repertoire, and as a result much of the earliest original writing in Yiddish owes as much to German theatre as to the classic Yiddish writers.
While the three classic writers were still at their height, the first true movement in modern Yiddish literature sprang up in New York. The “Sweatshop Poets,” as this school has come to be called, were all immigrant workers who experienced
first hand the inhumane working conditions in the factories of their day. The leading members of this group were
Morris Rosenfeld,
Morris Winchevsky,
David Edelstadt and
Joseph Bovshover. Their work centers on the subject of proletarian oppression and struggle, and uses the styles of Victorian verse, producing a rhetoric that is highly stylized. As a result, it is little read or understood today. Simultaneously in
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 ...
a group of writers centered around I. L. Peretz took Yiddish to another level of modern experimentation; they included
David Pinski,
S. Ansky,
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 ...
and
I.M. Weissenberg. A later Warsaw group, “
Di Chaliastre” (“The Gang”) included notables such as
Israel Joshua Singer,
Peretz Hirshbein,
Melech Ravitch and
Uri Zvi Grinberg (who went on to write most of his work in Hebrew). Like their New York counterpart,
Di Yunge (“The Young Ones”), they broke with earlier Yiddish writers and attempted to free Yiddish writing, particularly verse, from its preoccupation with politics and the fate of the Jews. Prominent members of Di Yunge included
Mani Leib,
Moyshe-Leyb Halpern,
H. Leivick, and the prose writers
David Ignatoff,
Lamed Shapiro and
Isaac Raboy. Just a few years after Di Yunge came into prominence, a group called “
In Zikh” (“Introspection”) declared itself the true avant garde, rejecting metered verse and declaring that non-Jewish themes were a valid topic for Yiddish poetry. The most important member of this group was
Yankev Glatshteyn. Glatshteyn was interested in exotic themes, in poems that emphasized the sound of words, and later, as the Holocaust loomed and then took place, in reappropriations of Jewish tradition. His poem “A gute nakht, velt” (“Good Night, World,” 1938) seems to foresee the tragedy on the horizon in Eastern Europe. Also of note in interwar Warsaw's Yiddish avant-garde is
S.L. Shneiderman, who published two books of poems, ''Gilderne Feigl'' (Eng: Golden Birds) in 1927 and ''Feyern in Shtot'' (Eng: Unrest in Town) in 1932. In
Vilnius, Lithuania (called Vilna or Vilne by its Jewish inhabitants, and one of the most historically significant centers of Yiddish cultural activity), the group “
Yung Vilne” (“Young Vilna”) included
Chaim Grade,
Abraham Sutzkever and . Grade's short story “Mayn krig mit Hersh Raseyner” (“My Quarrel With Hershl Rasseyner”) is one of the classic
post-Holocaust Yiddish stories, encapsulating the philosophical dilemma faced by many survivors. Sutzkever went on to be one of major poets of the 20th century.

During the radical turn of the 1930s, a group of writers clustered around the U. S. Communist Party came to be known as “Di Linke” (“The Left Wing”). This group included
Moishe Nadir,
Malka Lee and
Ber Grin. In Canada, a similar group was known as the Proletariat school of writers, exemplified by
Yudica. In
the Soviet Union, Yiddish literature underwent a dramatic flowering, with such greats as
David Bergelson,
Der Nister,
Peretz Markish and
Moyshe Kulbak. Several of these writers were murdered during a Stalinist purge known as the
Night of the Murdered Poets (August 12–13, 1952), including
Itzik Fefer and
Leib Kvitko. Bergelson is considered by many an underrated genius whose work in the modernist novel may be among the most interesting examples of the form. Important Soviet writers who escaped persecution include
Moyshe Altman,
Ikhil Shraybman,
Note Lurie,
Eli Schechtman,
Shike Driz,
Rivke Rubin,
Shira Gorshman, and others. There appears to have been no rhyme or reason to explain why certain writers were not persecuted, as all these writers pursued similar themes in their writing and participated in similar groupings of Jewish intellectuals.
Certain male writers also did not associate with a particular literary group, or did so for a short time before moving on to other creative ethics. Among these were
Itzik Manger
Itzik Manger (30 May 1901, Czernowitz, then Austrian-Hungarian Empire – 21 February 1969, Gedera, Israel; ) was a prominent Yiddish language, Yiddish poet and playwright, a self-proclaimed folk bard, visionary, and 'master tailor' of the writ ...
, whose clever re-imaginings of Biblical and other Jewish stories are accessible and playful but deeply intellectual. Other writers in this category are
Joseph Opatoshu,
I. B. Singer (who is always called “Bashevis” in Yiddish to distinguish him from his older brother),
I. J. Singer and
Aaron Zeitlin.
Many of the writers mentioned above who wrote during and after the 1940s responded to the Holocaust in their literary works—some wrote poetry and stories while in ghettos, concentration camps, and partisan groups, and many continued to address the Holocaust and its aftereffects in their subsequent writing. Yiddish writers known best for their writings about the Holocaust include
Yitzhak Katzenelson,
S.L. Shneiderman,
Y. Shpigl, and
Katsetnik.
Female authors in Yiddish literature
An interesting feature of Yiddish literature in its most active years (1900–1940) is the presence of numerous women writers who were less involved in specific movements or tied to a particular artistic ideology. Writers such as
Celia Dropkin,
Anna Margolin,
Kadia Molodowsky,
Esther Kreitman, Katie Brown and
Esther Shumiatcher Hirschbein created bodies of work that do not fit easily into a particular category and which are often experimental in form or subject matter. Margolin's work pioneered the use of
assonance
Assonance is the repetition of identical or similar phonemes in words or syllables that occur close together, either in terms of their vowel phonemes (e.g., ''lean green meat'') or their consonant phonemes (e.g., ''Kip keeps capes ''). However, in ...
and
consonance in Yiddish verse. She preferred off-rhymes to true rhymes. Dropkin introduced a highly charged erotic vocabulary and shows the influence of 19th century Russian poetry. Kreitman, the sister of
I. J. and
I. B. Singer, wrote novels and short stories, many of which were sharply critical of
gender inequality
Gender inequality is the social phenomenon in which people are not treated equally on the basis of gender. This inequality can be caused by gender discrimination or sexism. The treatment may arise from distinctions regarding biology, psychology ...
in traditional Jewish life.
In the developing Yiddish literary scene in Europe and the United States in the first decades of the twentieth century, women writers were regarded by literary critics as a rare phenomenon, at the same time that editors of newspapers and journals, especially those of the socialist and anarchist press, were eager to publish women's work, as a hallmark of modernity and in the hope of boosting circulation; however, a few leading male writers and editors, including
Avrom Reyzen and
Aaron Glanz-Leyeles, expressed the view that women writers had a particular contribution to make to the emerging American Yiddish literature. Women writers such as
Yente Serdatzky and
Fradl Shtok, found a limited degree of recognition for their work but ultimately were out of step with their male literary peers and came to an impasse in their writing careers. Shtok, at first known for her poetry, especially for being among the first Yiddish poets to write sonnets, garnered disappointing reviews for her collection of short stories (''Gezammelte ertseylungen'', 1919) that were innovative in the way they incorporated the subjectivity, including erotic desires, of female characters. Writers such as
Rywka Braun-Nyman reflect an interest in poeticizing manifestations of
survivor guilt
Survivor guilt or survivor's guilt (also survivor syndrome, survivor's syndrome, survivor disorder and survivor's disorder) happens when individuals feel guilty after they survive a tragic, near death, or traumatic event when others perished. It ...
within
Holocaust literature in a nature that is first-hand.
Isaac Bashevis Singer and the Nobel Prize
The awarding of the
Nobel Prize in Literature
The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in ...
to
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...
in
1978
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...
helped cement his reputation as one of the great writers of world literature. Many readers of Yiddish, however, are convinced that there are many finer writers among Yiddish literature, including his brother.
Chaim Grade believed himself overlooked by the English-speaking world.
Cynthia Ozick's short story "Envy; or, Yiddish in America" implies a similar emotion on the part of a Yiddish poet, generally taken to be based on
Yankev Glatshteyn. Some Yiddish critics complained of the excessive sex and superstition in Singer's work, which they felt brought Yiddish literature in general into disrepute. In addition, Singer's habit of presenting himself to the American press as the last or only Yiddish writer was irksome to the dozens of writers still living and working at the time. But in spite of these squabbles (which to some extent continue, years after the death of the protagonists), most scholars of Yiddish today would agree that the awarding of the Nobel Prize to Singer brought an unprecedented amount of attention to Yiddish literature, and has served to heighten interest in the field generally. Many scholars believe it to be a justified prize on the basis of the part of Singer's oeuvre that is available in translation, which represents his most accomplished works.
Contemporary writing in Yiddish and influenced by Yiddish literature
The last prewar European-born writers who published or are still publishing in the early 21st century include the Canadian authors
Chava Rosenfarb,
Simcha Simchovitch (1921–2017) and
Grunia Slutzky-Kohn (1928–2020); Israeli writers including
Tzvi Ayznman (1920–2015),
Aleksander Shpiglblat (1927–2013),
Rivka Basman Ben-Hayim,
Yitzkhok Luden,
Mishe Lev (1917–2013),
Yente Mash (1922–2013),
Tzvi Kanar (1929–2009),
Elisheva Kohen-Tsedek (born 1922) and
Lev Berinsky (born 1939); and American poet-songwriter
Beyle Schaechter-Gottesman, and poets and prose masters
Yonia Fain (1913–2013) and
Moyshe Szklar (editor of the Los Angeles Yiddish literary periodical
Khezhbn; 1920–2014), as well as the prolific feuilletonist and playwright
Miriam Hoffman. Writers of the "younger" postwar born generation comprising those born in the late 1940s through 1960s (many hailing from the former Soviet Union) include
Alexander Belousov (1948–2004),
Mikhoel Felsenbaum,
Daniel Galay,
Moyshe Lemster,
Boris Sandler (who edited the Yiddish "Forverts" edition 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 ...
from 1998 to 2016),
Velvl Chernin,
Zisye Veytsman,
Heershadovid Menkes (pen name of
Dovid Katz), and Boris Karloff (pen name of
Dov-Ber Kerler, editor of "Yerusholaymer Almanakh"). A younger generation of writers who began to come to the fore in the 21st century includes poets
Gitl Schaechter-Viswanath,
Yermiyahu Ahron Taub and
Yoel Matveyev in the US,
Yisroel Nekrasov in Saint Petersburg,
Haike Beruriah Wiegand in London,
Thomas Soxberger in Vienna, and the prose writers
Boris Kotlerman in Israel and
Gilles Rozier (editor of "Gilgulim") in Paris. The earlier works of some of the younger generation authors were collected in the anthology "Vidervuks" (regrowth), published in 1989. Recent works of many of contemporary authors appeared in 2008 in Paris (
Gilgulim: naye shafungen) and Jerusalem (
Yerusholaymer Almanakh).
A new generation of Yiddish writers has emerged from the
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
and
Haredi
Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
movements of contemporary Orthodoxy. The author known only by the pseudonym Katle Kanye writes blistering satire of current halakhic literature as well as poetry and thoughtful commentary on Hasidic life. Another example of a
Haredi
Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
Yiddish blog-writer is Natirlich.
Spy thriller
Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intelli ...
s in Yiddish have become a popular genre within Hasidic communities.
European literatures have had a strong influence on Yiddish literature, but until the late 20th century there was little return flow into English, except through bilingual writers who chose to write in English, such as
Anzia Yezierska and
Ab Cahan. The poet
Irena Klepfisz, who was born to Polish-speaking Jewish parents in Nazi-occupied Poland and learned Yiddish in school after immigrating to the United States, is influenced by the language in her work and also translates poetry from the Yiddish.
Currently, many young writers with little knowledge of Yiddish have been influenced by Yiddish literature in translation, such as
Nathan Englander and
Jonathan Safran Foer
Jonathan Safran Foer (; born February 21, 1977) is an American novelist. He is known for his novels '' Everything Is Illuminated'' (2002), '' Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close'' (2005), '' Here I Am'' (2016), and for his non-fiction works '' Eat ...
. An exception is
Dara Horn, who has studied both Yiddish and Hebrew and draws on both of these traditions in her English-language novels.
The last Yiddish language writers in the former Soviet Union were
Aleksandr Bejderman in Odessa and
Yoysef Burg in Chernivtsi, both of whom are deceased.
Literary works written originally in other languages continue to be translated and published in Yiddish.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...
's ''Index Translationum'' database lists 98 foreign-language books published in Yiddish translation since circa 1979, in a number of countries including Israel, the US, Romania, Germany, and the USSR.
Index Translationum: translations into Yiddish
- lists 98 items, as of 2013-01-06. The index starts in 1979; however, several items in the list far predate that year.
See also
* California Institute for Yiddish Culture and Language
*Hebrew literature
Hebrew literature consists of ancient, medieval, and modern writings in the Hebrew language. It is one of the primary forms of Jewish literature, though there have been cases of literature written in Hebrew by non-Jews, mostly among the Arab cit ...
* Jewish political movements
* List of Yiddish language poets
*Shtetl
or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...
* Yiddish Book Center
* Yiddish Renaissance
*Yiddish theatre
Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satire, satiric or nostalgic revues; melodr ...
References
Further reading
* Estraikh, Gennady. ''In Harness: Yiddish Writers’ Romance with Communism'' (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005)
* Frieden, Ken. ''Classic Yiddish Fiction: Abramovitsh, Sholem Aleichem, and Peretz'' (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995).
*
* Glasser, Amelia (trans.) ''Proletpen: America’s Rebel Yiddish Poets'' (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2005)
* “Ma’aseh books,” “Aksenfed, Israel,” “Ettinger (Oetinger),” “Dick, Isaac Mayer”. ''Jewish Encyclopedia'' (1904–11). 11 August 200
* Miron, Dan. ''A Traveler Disguised: A Study in the Rise of Modern Yiddish Fiction in the Nineteenth Century''. (New York: Schocken, 1973; reprint edition Syracuse University Press, 1996).
* Norich, Anita. ''The Homeless Imagination in the Fiction of Israel Joshua Singer'' (Bloomington: IUP, 1991)
* Riemer, Nathanael: Some parallels of stories in Glikls of Hameln "Zikhroynes". In: PaRDeS. Zeitschrift der Vereinigung für Jüdische Studien e.V. (2008) Nr. 14, S. 125–148.
* Roskies, David G. ''A Bridge of Longing: The Lost Art of Yiddish Storytelling'' (Harvard University Press, 1996) ,
* Seidman, Naomi. ''A Marriage Made in Heaven: the Sexual Politics of Hebrew and Yiddish'' (Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997)
* Sokoloff, Naomi, Anne Lapidus Lerner and Anita Norich, eds. ''Gender and Text in Modern Hebrew and Yiddish Literature''. New York: JTSA, 1992.
*
* Wex, Michael. ''Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language And Culture in All Its Moods''. (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2005).
* Wisse, Ruth. ''A Little Love in Big Manhattan: Two Yiddish Poets'' (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1988)
“Yiddish literature.” Written by Ken Frieden. ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. 2006. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 31 July 2006
* "Yiddish literature", “ Glückel of Hameln, Glikl of Hameln” and “Nahman of Bratslav”. ''Reader’s Guide to Judaism'', ed. Michael Terry (Chicago, New York: Fitzroy Dearborn: 2000).
* Steinhoff, Thorsten. ''Zeitgenössische jiddische Lyrik Odessaer Autoren'' (Regensburg) : ehrstuhl für Neuere Dt. Literaturwiss. I der Univ. 996 Als Ms. gedr.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yiddish Literature
European literature
Literature
Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...