Yiddish Literary and Linguistic
Periodicals and Miscellanies
A Selective Annotated Bibliography
by Leonard Prager with the help of A.A. Greenbaum
Introduction:
Modern Yiddish Literature
and the
Modern Yiddish Press
This is a slightly revised version of the introduction
to Leonard Prager, with the help of A.A. Greenbaum, Yiddish Literary and Linguistic
Periodicals and Miscellanies. Darby, PA and Haifa: Norwood Editions, 1982.
The history of modern Yiddish literature and the history of the Yiddish press are intricately interwoven. The classical triumvirate of Yiddish letters, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Sholem-Aleykhem and Y.-L. Perets were deeply involved with the press and would have had radically different literary careers had it not been for the press. Mendele was one of those who encouraged Aleksander Tsederboym in 1862 to publish Kol-mevaser. His Dos kleyne mentshele, which appeared in Kol-mevaser in 1864, and which marks Mendele's beginning as a Yiddish author, is often regarded as the terminus a quo of modern Yiddish literature. Mendele also planned with Byalik and Ravnitski to establish a Yiddish journal in Odessa. Sholem-Aleykhem published and edited one of the first prestigious literary journals in Yiddish -- one which paid its authors -- Dos yudishe folks-biblyotek. He was a regular contributor to Der fraynd, the first Yiddish daily in Russia, and to many others. Perets published and edited a series of periodicals and was closely involved with the Yiddish press generally. For a time he served as editor of the feuilleton section of the daily Der veg. The press gave Yiddish writers an audience, impelling and partly shaping their creativity; the audience in turn came to expect stories, poems and essays in their papers and learned to demand them. A large percentage of Yiddish writers have published their work in periodicals. To sketch these immensely varied publications, the prime vehicles of Yiddish literature, is to illuminate its history.
Older Yiddish literature was written in Western Yiddish, a spatial variant of Yiddish different from Eastern Yiddish. Western Yiddish continued to be the language of Yiddish literature in Eastern Europe in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. This meant that, as in Chinese- and Arabic-speaking countries, a gap existed between the vernacular and the literary language. Modern Yiddish literature became possible when, in the Yiddish-speaking landmass of Eastern Europe, writing began to form itself on the spoken language. When, in the middle of the nineteenth century, a secular vernacular literature began to actualize, it faced a number of obstacles. The nascent Yiddish press helped to neutralize and overcome them.
Aided by pre-scientific prejudice, Yiddish was denied the status of language and was deemed a "jargon." Its cultivation was opposed by many who saw a direct and necessary relationship between speaking Yiddish and social and intellectual backwardness. Jewish distinctness of dress, manners, attitudes, way of life generally -- including speech -- was for many maskilim ('enlighteners') a principal cause of anti-Semitism. When Jews made the majority tongue their own, they thought, their harmonious integration into general society would ensue. Thus it was folly for the folk to insist on "its own" language, when it could make "its own" the local non-Jewish language. Since Yiddish was merely a "corrupt form" of German, the Jew could, it was thought, by holding on to Hebrew for spiritual and intellectual needs and using German (or Russian or Polish) for all other purposes, enter the general society and be true to himself and his past. Many maskilim cultivated Hebrew -- familiar to the Jew, respected by all, suitable for abstract thought -- as a medium for secular expression. A minority of intellectuals adopted Russian as their literary language. Thus, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have witnessed language conflict of varying degrees of intensity among Jews in Eastern Europe and in the lands to which they immigrated, especially the Land of Israel. The Yiddish press was an active combatant in this conflict, which cannot be studied without taking into account the enormous range of its activity.
The rise of Yiddish literature is related not only to linguistic conflict , but also to its antithesis, the multilingualism which dominated Eastern European Jewish intellectual life for several crucial generations. The Yiddish press and modern secular Yiddish literature are facets of a larger cultural development which included Hebrew journalism and letters and Russian- and Polish-language press and literature by and for Jews. The Yiddish writer who could write only Yiddish is a late development. Yiddish journalism began in a world where virtually all Jewish writers were at least bilingual.
The Yiddish press may, from one perspective, be seen as an expression of linguistic self-assertion. In a larger historical context it may be viewed as a reflection of a profound cultural change in Jewish life and a means by which that change expressed itself. Zionism, socialism, territorialism, folkism, anarchism, communism, Yiddishism, Hebraism, cultural autonomism, Polonism (and other varieties of assimilationism) can all be seen as varying forms of a single process whose origins lie in the industrial revolution and its complex effects. A highly integrated centuries-old traditional culture (which Max Weinreich has termed derekh hashas ('the talmudic way of life') was severely shaken by urbanization and secularization. But, as Weinreich has so convincingly shown, the folk-tongue weathered the transition to modern times, rooted though it was in the shtetl culture. The Yiddish press both facilitated this modernization process and is evidence of it.
The obvious advantages of Yiddish throughout the period of social and cultural breakup were its almost exclusive use by the masses of Jews and, consequently, its vitality. The maskilim gradually concluded that Yiddish was an inevitable instrumentality for their educational program. In writer after writer, what is at first tolerated as a a means comes to be valued for itself. But champions of Yiddish among the learned were few in the mid-nineteenth century.
Kol-mevaser (Odessa, 1862-1873), the first Yiddish periodical in modern times, like modern Yiddish literature itself, was born in the most unencouraging circumstances. Its publishers, Aleksander Tsederboym and his son-in-law, Y.-A. Goldnblum, were Russifiers, opposed to the cultivation of Yiddish for any but the most rudimentary and utilitarian functions. Like most maskilim of the 1860s, they were contemptuous of Yiddish. The first Yiddish periodical crops up in the Ukraine with a Hebrew title, as though this would magically disinfect it. It is a "Baylage tsum Hamelits in yudish-doytsher shprakhe," a supplement to the prestigious Hebrew-language maskilic organ, Hamelits. This very same Hamelits had started to appear half in Hebrew and half in German written in Jewish letters. The bilingual Hamelits pleased neither the Hebrew- nor the German-reading audience. Tsederboym was pressed by contemporary enthusiasts for Yiddish such as Y.-M. Lifshits and others (including Mendele) to consider the needs of the vast solely Yiddish-reading population. In his decision to issue Kol-mevaser as a Yiddish weekly, Tsederboym gave impetus to a release of energies which had long been pent up. He himself eventually grew attached to his Yiddish-language journal, despite his initial contempt for Yiddish.
To track subsequent journals with any degree of sure-footedness, one needs to keep the historical and geographical contexts in mind, particularly the multilingualism referred to above and the cross-fertilization which accompanied it. As pointed out by Malakhi (Yidn in ukraine, Vol. 2, New York, 1967, p. 128), Sholem-Aleykhem modeled his Di yudishe folks-biblyotek (Kiev, 1888-1889) on the yearbook, a popular form in the 1880s and particularly on the successful Hebrew-language Heasif (1884-1888; 1893). Contemporary Hebrew writers were not unaware of the European cultural scene. Achad Haam's Bene-Moshe group founded the Hebrew journal Hashiloach (1896-1926) "striving to make it the Hebrew equivalent of high-culture European journalism, like The Nineteenth Century " (Lucy Dawidowicz, The Golden Tradition, p. 53). The example of Russian literary journals and miscellanies doubtless influenced the first truly European Yiddish journal, Di yidishe velt (Vilna, 1913-1916). (Kirzhnits has called Yidishes folks-blat {St. Petersburg, 1881-1890} "the first modern European periodical in Yiddish," but, important as it doubtless is, it lacks the sophistication of Di yidishe velt .) Europe and America provided models for every conceivable kind of periodical. Familienzeitschrift appeared on the title of a periodical for the first time in Germany in 1840 (see E. A. Kirschstein, Die Familienzeitschrift , Charlottenburg, 1937). By 1887 Mortkhe Spektor had adopted the principle of a "family magazine" in his Der familyen fraynd (Warsaw, 1887-1888). A further stage of domestication is implicit in the title of a later journal, Di yudishe familye (1902), a periodical worth looking at closely.
In the first issue of Di yudishe familye, the editor complains that the only popular literature in Yiddish is cheap reprints of romances that always end in death or marriage. "Mir viln frier far alemen az dos folk zol visn un kenen zayn eygn lebn mit zayne felern un mayles." The folk must become aware of its own life with all its shortcomings and merits. It can be helped in this by fiction which reflects that life truthfully. Imaginative writing was part of the enlightener's program, though he hardly needed to teach Yiddish readers to enjoy stories. They already possessed that ability.
Once its audience had been created, the Yiddish periodical could not be squelched, regardless of external obstacles. Once Yiddish writers had tasted the joys of reaching millions with their words, mere governmental suppression could not hold them back. During the period when the Tsarist authorities halted publication of Yiddish-language periodicals, writers like Y.-L. Perets contributed stories to the radical Yiddish press in New York--the Abend blat and Di tsukunft (see NL 7:245). When it was illegal to publish in Yiddish in Russia, journals were printed in Cracow, which was then in Austria-Hungary, for distribution across the border in Russia.
WRITERS VS. JOURNALISTS
Owing to their small numbers and common interests, Yiddish journalists and Yiddish litterateurs have invariably been organized together in one association. In the largest of all Jewish writer groups (outside present-day Israel), the Association of Jewish Writers and Journalists in Warsaw (which included Hebrew writers), there was nonetheless a distinct section known as the Literatn-klub . Such a situation was quite unusual. Most Yiddish journalists regarded themselves as serious writers and most of the serious writers depended on the daily press for at least part of their income. Despite this common dependency, the creative writer's relationship to the press was, for a variety of reasons, often a strained one. This strain was often the principal pressure behind the establishment of literary journals.
Though the pattern differs from period to period and country to country, there is always a sense of "lower" and "higher" within journalism and as between journalism and "literature." Not only did a weekly literary supplement add prestige to a daily, but a literary monthly raised the status of a weekly - - as we see in the case of Di yudishe velt (1928) vis-a-vis Literarishe bleter. The problem, however, was not simply that of pecking order. The feeling grew that the daily press occupied too large a cultural space. In castigating Jewish America for its materialism and inner corruption, Noyekh Shteynberg complained that "Dos yidishe amerike lebt zikh oys gaystik in di tsaytungen." ('Jewish America lives spiritually in the newspapers.') {Idish amerike, New York, 1930, p. 11} The book, the journal and the serious play were continually counterposed to the omnivorous daily newspaper, whose immense success was regarded as a danger. For Shteynberg, the daily press represented external civilization threatening internal culture.
A steady diet of journalism may have endangered the inner life of the reader, but more immediate to the writer was his relation to the newspaper as actual or potential employer. The writer's criticisms of the daily press were many, and sometimes they smacked of sour grapes. Shteynberg complained that "if a writer doesn't work for a newspaper, he is overlooked." More than a decade earlier than Idish amerike, Shteynberg together with the poet Zishe Vaynper edited a journal, Der onhoyb ('The Beginning') {New York,1917-1918}, aimed at attracting beginning writers and others who wished to be independent of "professional anarchists, socalists and onshikenishn ('nuisances') who happen to dominate today's press." Whether out of a desire to avoid politics or because they wanted a more prestigious or less philistine outlet than the daily newspaper, writers established independent, non-ideological journals.
In Montreal in 1925, Yisroel Rabinovitsh, a leading editor of the Keneder odler, attempted to create a prestigious literary journal. However, his Kanade (q.v.) lasted for only three issues. In 1921, writers on the staff of the Buenos Aires daily, Di idishe {yidishe} tsaytung, published a monthly entitled Argentine, in which they presented their best belletristic and publicistic works, those which were "more polished than those appearing in the dailies" (Rozhanski, p. 365). The literary group Zeglen ('Sails'), publisher of the journal of the same name, refused to admit to its ranks members of the editorial staffs of any of the dailies. Its program was "to free writers from the hegemony of journalists and literature from the influence of the press, for the modernization and polishing of Yiddish form and style" (Rozhanski, p. 365). Zeglen is reported to have created a furore but left few permanent traces. In Argentina, as in America, the Yiddish daily press was enormously successful and supplied as much serious writing as the average reader required. The Zeglen group dispersed because of inter-generational conflict, but it is doubtful whether it could have long continued outside the powerful orbit of the daily press.
Tension between writers and partisan journals gave rise to purely literary periodicals such as Di fraye shtunde (New York) as early as 1904. More often, partisanship spurred the creation of new partisan journals. Rozhanski (p. 364) tells us that in the turbulent twenties in Argentina, the pro-Communists, in order "to create jobs outside the three dailies," opened a "literary front" by establishing a series of cultural-political organs (e.g. Royte shtern, Nayvelt , Der idisher poyer, Pyoner).
Nakhmen Mayzl has claimed that the phenomenon of Di yunge was principally "a 'revolt' against the Yiddish press, which had treated Yiddish literature and Yiddish writers like stepchildren" (Tsurikblikn un perspektivn, p. 35). Mani-Leyb and Dovid Ignatov, members of the Yugend circle, refused to write for the daily press (see Reyzn 4:39). Khayim Aleksandrov, two years before the appearance of Di yugend {1907), had criticized the American Yiddish press, blaming it for the low level of taste in America ("Di yidishe literatur in amerike," Dos lebn, St. Petersburg, 1905). Presumably it was to raise that level that Di yunge sought avenues of expression independent of the daily press.
In the relations between literature and journalism or journals and newspapers, we must not look for a single pattern, and certainly not for an intractably philistine daily press. Rozhanski (p. 371 ff.) has claimed that in Argentina newspapers and journals were on a higher level than books, and dailies on a higher level than non-dailies. This is dramatically opposed to what we would normally expect. To the degree to which it is true, it can only be explained by the power of the dailies to monopolize talent.
Poets may have been piqued by the insensitivity of newspaper editors to their work or by the vulgarity of the daily press, but it would be wrong to imply that the press was indifferent to literature. Niger has described the situation in America very well: "The Jewish immigrants in America, as in England (the transit center for many of them) lived a freer and more secular life than they had in the Old Country. Despite the conditions of the sweatshop, they found ways to enjoy the pleasures of this world, including the pleasures of reading stories. This desire was aided by the fact that in America they had become accustomed to reading, first weeklies, and then dailies. The press in general played a large role in disseminating Yiddish belles lettres. The press was the intermediary between the readers and the writers, the trashy and the "'literary' ones." (Dertseylers un romanistn, p. 98)
Joshua A. Fishman summarizes the audience-press relationship as follows: "...the Yiddish press represents the acme of mass Yiddish literacy. With the double exception of a very few extremely popular authors, on the one hand, and Yiddish commentaries and translations of religious staples, on the other hand, the masses of Yiddish readers associated Yiddish with the newspaper and the newspaper alone. Thus, whereas even the most popular of Yiddish books and booklets may have reached only hundreds of thousands of readers, the Yiddish press reached millions and did so regularly." As regards the author-press relationship, Fishman writes that "most Yiddish authors were / are also the mainstays of the Yiddish periodical press. The modern world of Yiddish books is to a large extent a by-product of the Yiddish press, for had not the latter subsidized the former (both in the sense of paying wages / honarariums to the authors and being the first arena in which new books, in serialized fashion, saw the light of day) the books themselves would frequently not have appeared." Fishman concludes that "for the lion's share of readers of the press, the books remained unseen and unknown and only the press itself remained to typify the world of Yiddish-in-print." (Never Say Die, p. 33)
In both Europe and America it was customary to publish novels in installments in the daily press or in their weekly supplements. Y.-Y. Zinger in the Warsaw Haynt, Yitskhok Basheyvis in the New York Forverts and Avrom Reyzn in the Forverts and the New York Tog have been steady fare for tens of thousand of readers. The Yiddish dailies and weeklies also gave literary premiums to new subscribers, thereby disseminating the works of classic authors such as Mendele (whose collected writings in Yiddish were offered to readers of Der moment) and Sholem-Aleykhem (published in low-price editions for readers of both the Forverts and the Morgn-frayhayt). In 1911 the New York satirical weekly Der groyser kundes sold Perets' miscellany Yidish (two volumes bound in one) for $.50 and gave it away free to new subscribers. On balance it seems that the Yiddish press did more good than harm to Yiddish literature. The relationship was one of mutual strengthening. In America especially, where immigrants earned more than their brothers and sisters in Europe, the habitual newspaper reader might occasionally buy a literary magazine. But it can not be sufficiently emphasized that the literary journal in Yiddish was cultivated by a minority for a minority.
THE YIDDISH JOURNAL AND THE ARTS
The creation of literary journals was not merely a revolt against the press. It was closely bound up with the cultural reawakening associated with the Czernowitz Conference in 1908 and its aftermath. Literary journals were necessary handmaidens of a conscious worldwide effort to cultivate the Yiddish language as a serious literary vehicle. Di yugend {1907-1908} in America and Literarishe monatshriftn {1908} and Di nay tsayt {1907-1908} in Europe are devoted solely to literature, which enjoys a certain autonomy. This is quite remarkable, since less than two decades earlier didacticism still reigned in Yiddish literature.
Periodicals devoted wholly to imaginative writing, with or without prose criticism and book reviews, indicate a certain level of literary culture and help us to relate Yiddish literature to the larger literary (and not merely Jewish) scene. It is no accident that in sketching the terrain of American Yiddish writing, Moyshe Shtarkman defines its several trends or schools by naming groups associated with specific literary journals (see Hemshekh antologye, New York, 1945, p. {14}). Moreover, he names no fewer than three groups of writers after the journals for which they wrote: Feder, Fayln and Tsuzamen / Leym un tsigl. He dates the proletarian stream from Yung-kuznye, seeing it broadening through the later publications of the Proletpen. group. It is unquestionable that American Yiddish writing was to some degree shaped by literary journals which themselves expressed the esthetic and other loyalties of loosely or closely bound groups of writers.
The history of the two most important American Yiddish literary groupings, Di yunge ('Young Ones') and Inzikhistn ('Introspectivists') can perhaps best be written with reference to their publications. The evolution of a distinctly American, esthetically self-conscious school of Yiddish writing can be traced from Di yugend (1907-1908) through Literatur (1910), Dos naye land (1911-1912), Shriftn (1912-1916), Di naye heym (1914), Fun mentsh tsu mentsh (1915), Velt ayn velt oys (1916) and Ist-brodvey (1916). The introspectivists make their debut with a manifesto in the miscellany In zikh (1920), and their individualism, rhythms and imagery are evident in a number of publications, mainly Inzikh (1920-1940), but also others (e.g. Kern, 1930).
Turning from schools of writers to individuals, we note, for example, that the career of Yankev Glatshteyn as a prose writer started with his installments of Ven yash iz geforn in Inzikh in 1934. Yitskhok Basheyvis won recognition from the discriminating readers of Globus and Svive in the 1930s and 1940s. Z. Libin got his start in Di tsukunft. A. Raboy first published his Her goldnberg - - hailed as the first broad treatment in Yiddish of Jewish life in America - - in Shriftn 4. His second and third works of fiction appeared in Der indzl (1917) and Shriftn 5 (1919), respectively. The importance of the little magazines and miscellanies for the struggling Yiddish creative writer can hardly be exaggerated.
The development of a modern Yiddish literary consciousness went hand in hand with the growth of interest in all the plastic arts. Writers and artists interacted, often planned journals together and saw their efforts as related. We see this in the activities of Yankl Adler and other Lodz figures who wrote as well as painted and drew. Mark Shvarts may also be mentioned in connection with Lodz. Mark Shagal {= Marc Chagall} is another painter who is close to Yiddish literature and theater. A number of journals devoted space to the fine arts. In this connection we can mention Milgroym (Berlin), Ufgang (Warsaw) and Shriftn (New York). Bleter 40 was to have included art works. Di naye renesans (New York) was a short-lived effort to cultivate the savoir-faire necessary to buyers of paintings.
A look at Ezra Lahad's "Bibliography of Yiddish Drama" (in Yidishe teater in eyrope, New York, 1971, pp. 323-381) makes clear the role of literary journals in the history of Yiddish drama and theater. Journals could print plays that were too "literary" or too experimental for the stage. The best of the journals printed plays: Der yud, Perets' Di yudishe vokhnshrift and Di yudishe biblyotek , Di yudishe velt, Hemshekh, Ringen, Globus, Shriftn and many others. Journals also reviewed plays and published photographs of theatrical settings, helping to make theater an integral part of the Yiddish cultural enterprise.
PULSE-TAKING
Yiddish culture has not only experienced a phenomenal growth; it has been self-consciously aware of itself all the way along. In a typical self-measuring article, "Fun peretses Yudishe biblyotek biz Varshever shriftn" (Literarishe bleter 9, March 4, 1927, 161-163), Nakhmen Mayzl noted that in Poland alone in 1927 there were fifteen dailies (with a total printing of over 100,000) and forty weeklies (with a total printing of 100,000). A year later Maks Erik dated the beginning of Yiddish academic scholarship with the Pinkes of 1913 (in Di yudishe velt, May 1928). In 1929, in another pulse-taking essay, Aleksander Mukdoyni asserted that America was merely the sponge that soaked up Eastern European creativity. There may have been some measure of truth in this claim, but we cannot help but note that more literary journals were produced in the U.S.A. than in Poland and more literary innovations were first registered in the U.S.A. However, without immigrants from Eastern Europe the Yiddish readership was fated to grow smaller and smaller. The physical and cultural destruction wrought by Hitler and Stalin have irreparably altered the characteristic act of self-appraisal. Yiddish culture today knows that its condition is critical. Yet as long as quality journals continue to find writers and readers; as long, indeed, as Yiddish little magazines continue to appear anywhere, Yiddish enthusiasts will continue to take heart.
SELECTION OF ENTRIES
Yiddish Literary and Linguistic Periodicals and Miscellanies: A Selective Annotated Bibliography aims to serve students of Yiddish language and literature as well as students of related disciplines such as Jewish folklore, Eastern European Jewish history, Jewish onomastics and others. It is a selective guide to Yiddish periodicals, excluding dailies, which were wholly or partly literary. It annotates the most important journals and, frequently, gives sample contents. It helps the librarian or collector to ascertain the scarcity or availability of items. In most instances, it says where the item can be found. It also cites references where more information about the journal can be sought. Where the item has been noted in bibliographies or reference works, this too is often recorded. It lists the contributors to each journal, sometimes copiously and sometimes selectively. At the very least it tries to list a few representative names. It also records (alphabetically rather than chronologically) the editors of the periodical.
In choosing items for inclusion, I have sought: 1) the most important Yiddish literary and linguistic periodicals and miscellanies, those which every student of Yiddish literature and language should know, and 2) a representative body of periodicals, including amateurish efforts, short-lived experiments, bibliophilic rarities and weeklies, monthlies and quarterlies of partly literary character.
The principal emphasis in this bibliography is literary, but no major Yiddish linguistic periodical has been omitted. Students of Yiddish linguistics need to be aware of YIVO publications, principally the current Yidishe shprakh, the earlier Filologishe shriftn and Yidish far ale. They should also know the Kiev and Minsk serials of the 1920s and 1930s (Shriftn, Tsaytshrift, Lingvistishe zamlung, Di yidishe shprakh). Today Yiddish linguistic scholarship of merit can be found in the English-language Field of Yiddish (1954- ), Jewish Language Review (1981-87), Oxford Winter Sudies in Yiddish (1-3, 1987-1991) and the Hebrew-language Massorot (Jerusalem).
The total number of periodicals which might have been included in this bibliography for one reason or another would have swelled the list to several thousand. A complete list of Yiddish periodicals does not exist, but were we to have one, we would find that few of its items totally fail to interest someone. In a sense, every Yiddish publication is at least of linguistic or sociological interest. For certain purposes, indeed, exhaustiveness might be desirable. I have assigned priority to the general user's needs and have been selective.
Pinye Kats has written that in Argentina "Jews are the only immigrant national group which has created its own literature in its language" ("Der argentiner tsvayg fun der yidisher literatur," Argentinish, Vol.1, Buenos Aires, 1975, p. 283). Whether or not we can fully accept this statement, it is true that Eastern European Jews in Argentina and other Latin American countries have maintained an intensive cultural life in Yiddish. For the student of this phenomenon of an ethnic literature in the midst of an Hispanic world, all Latin American Yiddish periodicals are of interest. For the general student of Yiddish literature, however, Latin America is of secondary importance. South Africa and Australia, with their far smaller Jewish communities and less intensive Yiddish cultural life, are even less important. The geographical focus of this bibliography is necessarily Eastern Europe and North America.
In listing items separately, as one obviously must, genealogies and historical relationships are obscured. Were the periodicals in this bibliography to be compressed into family clusters, their number would decrease appreciably and their connections with one another would become clearer. Thus Bikher velt (Kiev) leads to Kultur-lige (Warsaw), which leads to Bikher velt (Warsaw), which in turn brings us to Literarishe bleter (Warsaw) and, finally, to Di yudishe velt (Vilna, 1928). Kol-mevaser leads us to Yudishes folks-blat. Most of the Montreal journals are inter-related. The leftists in America were fond of creating a multiplicity of publications, many involving the same persons. It is useful to know that the following New York leftist publications constitute a "family cluster": Spartak, Yugnt (1926), Yung-kuznye, Yunyon-skver , Signal, Yidish-amerike, Morgn frayhayt, Der hamer, Yidishe kultur. There were, of course, disputes within "families," which sometimes accounts for the proliferation of journals. In the Soviet Union, ideological and organizational shifts caused changes in the names of periodicals (e.g., Yidishe shprakh became Afn shprakhfront), or the creation of new ones (e.g., Prolit was succeeded by Farmest, which in turn became Sovetishe literatur). Use of the Index of Places will often help to uncover the close relations between periodicals appearing in the same place.
The following kinds of publications, all relevant to Yiddish literary history in one degree or another, are for the most part excluded from this bibliography. I list them here for the benefit of students of Yiddish literature who need to be aware of the variegated and extensive array of publications which concerned themselves with Yiddish writing.
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EXCLUDED CATEGORIES
1. Dailies
The great dailies all had literary supplements, which appeared at a variety of frequencies - - daily, twice-weekly, weekly, monthly or other - - and which are no less important to the bibliographer than are journals. Supplements may be sections within a newspaper or separate offprints. Unfortunately, many of the special supplements of the great dailies of the early 1900s have not been preserved (see Yekhiel Sheyntukh, Hasifrut, Vol.2, 879). The poet Y.-Y. Sigal edited the weekly supplement of Keneder odler for many years. Der khoydesh (q.v.) was a monthly supplement of the Warsaw Haynt, and Dos leben of the St. Petersburg Fraynd. In the Kaunas daily Folksblat, Yoysef Gar {= Y. Gama, pseudonym} edited the literary section called "In der velt fun literatur un kultur," which was unique in that it also reported regularly on Lithuanian literature. Haynt (Warsaw) published many of Sholem Ash's novels serially before they appeared as books. Yitskhok Basheyvis (Isaac Bashevis Singer) has serialized many novels in the New York Daily Forverts; such serialization has been common. Literary materials, of course, did not appear only in Sabbath and holiday issues. The student of Yiddish literature should at least know the following dailies: Folksblat (Lodz), Forverts (New York), Fraynd (St. Petersburg), Haynt (Warsaw), Keneder odler (Montreal), Dos lebn (St. Petersburg), Moment (Warsaw), Morgn-frayhayt (New York), Morgn-zhurnal (New York), Di prese (Buenos Aires), Der tog (New York), Der tog (Vilna), Tageblat (Lodz), Undzer ekspres (Warsaw), Der veg (Warsaw), Dos vort (Warsaw). This by no means exhausts the list of dailies which printed the works of important writers or commented intelligently on literary events. Note the subtitle of the St. Petersburg Dos lebn: Teglikhe politishe un literarishe tsaytung ('Daily Political and Literary Newspaper').
2. General weeklies
This is a huge category and I have been very selective in admitting items belonging to it. Virtually all general weeklies have some literary content and the level, as in all popular media, can vary widely both within a weekly and among different weeklies. I omit items such as Penimer un penimlekh (Buenos Aires), Di yidishe tsaytung (Antwerp / Brussels) and the bi-weekly Idishe folkstsaytung (Rio de Janeiro).
3. Provincial literary journals
A glance at the Index of Places (at the back of this volume) will show how few provincial centers are represented in this bibliography and how relatively few items are indicated for such centers. Provincial is meant in an objective, non-demeaning sense, as referring to 'the parts of a country removed from the capital and the populated, cultural centers' (Webster's New World Dictionary, 1956). Throughout Poland, Belorussia and the Ukraine in cities like Lomza, Bialystok, Pinsk, Czenstochov, Babrujsk, Grodno and many others, there existed a vigorous daily press and innumerable journals of every conceivable sort, including literary ones. Like a number of the Lvov {Lemberg} and Kaunas {Kovno} journals included here, these were largely of a regional character. Smaller centers such as Kobrin, Stanislav, Kolomey and Siedlce had weeklies, if not dailies, and likewise many specialized (including literary) periodicals. Shayn 1974 has over a thousand items for Poland alone between 1918 and 1939. Many of these are provincial journals with literary content.
4. Trade journals
As unlikely as it may seem, Yiddish periodicals devoted to the professional and other interests of particular occupations and trades sometimes contain literary materials. This is either because the members were interested in such matters or the editors (often professional writers) were, or both. Thus, in the Argentinian annual, Der holts-industryal (1896-1956), edited for many years by the writer, G. Sapozhnikov, one finds that stories, poems and essays take up the greater part of each volume. The authors are such celebrated writers as H. Leyvik, Avrom Sutskever, Khayim Grade, Yoysef Opatoshu as well as Argentinian and other South American writers. There are also book reviews and notices in this Oysgabe fun fareyn far holts- un ayzn- industryaln in argentine. The Argentine textile manufacturers were no less literary and the same editor edited their Zamlbukh (q.v.) on the occasion of their association's twenty-fifth anniversary. Similarly, there is a literary section in Der triko-fabrikant (Paris, ca. 1962).
5. Pinkeysim and related items
There is a huge and invaluable store of writing on the destroyed Jewish communities of Europe, much of it in Yiddish, which includes books, monographs, miscellanies, anthologies and periodicals. This corpus contains a good deal of imaginative writing as well as critical and scholarly studies. Though some of this material bears the character of the serial or the miscellany, I have included almost none of it. The single exception is Shriftn far literatur, kunst un gezelshaftlekhe frages (Kassel, 1946?), q.v. The reader should also be aware of In gang / Khoydesh zhurnal far literatur un kunst {Rome, 1947 -1948}, a temporary gathering point for writers after the Holocaust. It does not contain much belles lettres. Of enormous interest to students of Yiddish folklore is Sh. Bastomski's contribution to Zalmen Reyzn, ed., Pinkes far der geshikhte fun milkhome un okupatsye, Vilna, 1929, cols. 879 - 944. Yankev Zizmor's shorter pieces (cols. 873 - 878) are also valuable. This pinkes is indispensable to students of Jewish Vilna.
6. Anthologies
The line dividing certain miscellanies from anthologies proper is often hard to draw. I do not strain for absolute consistency here, and thus include anthology-like miscellanies if they are at least partly collections of current writing. I include Ukraine, In fayerdikn doyer, In shotn fun tlies (JPSU #1111, 1113, 1114), but not, for example, Di haynttsaytike proletarishe yidishe dikhtung in amerike (Minsk, 1932 {JPSU #1131}). I include no item which calls itself an anthology. I frankly admit that Af naye vegn (New York, 1949), which I do admit, could be regarded as an anthology. (Excluding chrestomathies, school texts, collections for declamation, etc., there are at least thirty or forty Yiddish literary collections which are unambiguously anthologies.)
7. Party and organizational organs
Without political parties and organizations of various kinds subsidizing them, the Yiddish press would have been a fraction of what it has been. Yiddishist organizations, naturally, have emphasized Yiddish in all their pubications. The parties of the Jewish left (Bund, Poyle-tsien, anarchists, etc.), with their pro-Yiddish orientation, have supported Yiddish periodicals, as has the General Zionist movement for its Yiddish-speaking following. The category "Party and organizational organs" is enormous and shades off in opposing directions: to the purely ideological organ at one end of the continuum and to the full-blown literary journal at the other end. Some of the best literary journals are party-sponsored without being party vehicles. I generally omit periodicals which are strong on ideology and weak on literature. The territorialist journal )Dos vort {Vilna, 1907} and its successor Undzer veg were largey political, but its feuilletons and articles, written by people like Y.-L. Perets and Shmuel Niger, have literary relevance. Y.-Kh. Brener's feuilleton "Tsvey mol" is reprinted here from the Jewish World; Niger has a feuilleton on Ash's Got fun nekome. For some idea of the great variety of organizations and institutions which published Yiddish periodicals in Poland alone between 1918 and 1939, see Shayn 1974, pp. 482-483 (Index to Organizations). Shayn's list is by no means complete.
The leftist Ikuf (Yidisher kultur farband) subsidized Yidishe kultur (New York), just as its rival, the equally Yiddishist CYCO (Central Yiddish Cultural Organization) supported Di tsukunft. The Jewish labor movement in America for many years supported the New York Daily Forverts, just as the Israeli General Federation of Labor, the Histadrut, supported Di goldene keyt. Neither the Forverts nor Di goldene keyt were ever organizational organs in the narrow sense.
8. Journals purely about literature
With a fair number of significant exceptions, periodicals which contain no belles lettres are omitted. I could not, of course, leave out Filologishe shriftn or other scholarly journals which examine rather than present literature. Nor could I, by and large, omit journals with good review sections. But a narrowly focused item such as Problemen fun leninishn etap in literatur-kentenish. 1: tsu der problem fun klasn-kamf, Minsk: Byelorussian Academy of Sciences, 1932, 105 pp. {= Literatur-visnshaftlekhe serye, 3} (JPSU #945) I felt I should omit.
I exclude Bleter funem seminar far yidishistik bam folks-universitet / kultur-lige (1 - 2; 1929 {Warsaw}), which is the only publication of its kind in Yiddish and of pedagogical interest. Since it contains only summaries of lectures on Yiddish language and literature, it seemed expendable.
9. Miscellanies of reprinted materials
Collections such as In shlakhtn (Moscow / Kharkov / Minsk, 1931; see JPSU #962) are omitted since they reprint articles which appeared elsewhere. But it is worth noting that such collections are often very useful.
10. Holiday issues
Holiday journals and miscellanies (= yontef-bleter ) are a distinct publishing genre. A complete listing of such items would number in the many hundreds since numerous dailies, publishing firms and institutions issued special publications on Passover, Purim, Chanuka, Rosh-Hashana, Sukot, Shavuot or some other holiday. Purim issues are invariably humorous, but the other holidays are also occasions for humor and satire. Many of the most important holiday issues, such as Perets' (q.v.), were subterfuges for spreading radical ideas. The Bund's publishing company, Di Velt, issued holiday periodicals. In the years before World War One, Reyzn, Nomberg and Moyshe Taytsh issued many separately-titled holiday publications. From the 1950s into the 1970s Hersh Shishler edited Yon-tef bleter in Johannesburg: "Dershaynt yedn erev yontef un khanike" ('appears every holiday and Chanuka'). Here we find New Year's greetings, reprinted classics, bad jokes and advertisements. But there is always literary content to these publications. For typical holiday issues, see Shayn 1974 #141, 172, 178, 179, 359, 362, 367, 371, 418. I include A bletl grins (Warsaw, 1907), q.v.
11. Literary calendars
Like the almanack in colonial and nineteeth-century America (cf. Poor Richard's Almanac), the Yiddish literary calendar was a popular medium for information and entertainment. Yiddish calendars also competed with one another in their literary wares. The Russian and Yiddish poet, Shimen Frug -- the first to write patriotic and nature poems in Yiddish -- edited, together with the agronomist, M. Veler, Der landarbeter luekh / far kolonistn un gertner (Vilna, 1901). In addition to agricultural and horticultural matters, it included stories and poems of farm life (Frug was born and raised in the oldest Russian Jewish agricultural settlement). A few more representative literary calendars than Frug's are included here (e.g., Yidisher literarisher kalender, q.v.). The names Gershom Bader and Moyshe Frostik are associated with a number of calendars.
12. Orthodox literary journals
Here and there one finds orthodox periodicals which described themselves as "literary." These require a separate study, which could perhaps be related to the effort of Ben-Tsien Alfes and others to stem secularization by appropriating fictional strategies for traditionalist ends. Yugend kreften / Ortodoksish literarish zhurnal (Warsaw, 1926), which I have omitted, and others like it might be worth looking at. Relevant, too, would be the "Yiddish Issue" of Beys-yankev / Literatur familyen zhurnal {8, Nos. 71-72}, Lodz / Cracow / Warsaw, 1931, edited by Shloyme Birnboym. I have included Der flaker (Warsaw, 1926), where one finds work by Shmuel Nadler, who edited the literary section of Ortodoksishe yugend bleter / Khoydesh zhurnal gevidmet di problemen fun der ortodoksisher yugend, Warsaw, 1928 - ? . There must have been such sections in other religious journals as well. Of central interest would be the articles by Heshl Klepfish in the orthodox daily Dos yudishe togblat (Warsaw, 1929-1939). Klepfish commented widely on world literature for his traditionalist but not obscurantist readers.
13. One-man journals
The Yiddish literary press includes quite a few one-man performances, which I include when the performer is Sholem-Alekhem or Y.-.L. Perets, but exclude when it is Khayim-Nosn Fisherman, editor and sole contributor to Germize (1 - 6; 1945-1946 {New York}; see NL 7:399). There have been innumerable ephemeral one-man periodicals. In 1926 in Warsaw, for example, Leon Hokhshteyn (who later became editor of the humor section of the Warsaw Ekspres), produced first his Dos hayrats-glik / Vekhntlekher familyen-zhurnal far literarur, ilustratsye, mode un hayrats-inyonim(1 - 5; February 5 - April 20, 1926. //; see BY 1926 #92) and then his Ilustrirte undzer velt / Ilustrirter familyen-zhurnal far literatur, kunst, teater, mode, sport un veltlekhe inyonim(1 - 2; June - July 15, 1926. //; see BY 1926 #80). In the same year and again in Warsaw, M. Goldberg issued his short-lived Ilustrirter zhurnal / Vokhnblat far literatur un kunst(1 - 6; April 2 - May 6, 1926. //; see BY 1926 #81). According to Yankev Pilovski (A yid af der velt, Tel-Aviv, 1970, p. 343), the editors of Zid-amerike (Santiago, 1935-1936), M.-D. Giser and Noyekh Vital, were also virtually the only contributors to their journal as well. Such instances seem not to have been rare.
14. Publishers' and booksellers' house organs
In this category I would list a periodical such as Literarisher khoydesh (New York, 1, 1 - 2, 3 / 4; December 1930 - March / April 1931//?), which called itself A zhurnal far literatur un frayer kritik, but was essentially a commercial publication for Biderman's Bookstore at 182 Second Avenue in New York City. Msoyre bleter is the house organ of a religious publisher.
15. Latin-letter journals
I have not included any of the journals which experimented with romanization, a curious and passing episode in the history of Yiddish. The significant items in this category would include Undzer shrift (New York, 1912), the first Latin-letter journal in Yiddish. It was hailed by such worthies of the Yiddish world as Avrom Reyzn, Khayim Zhitlovski and Aleksander Harkavi. Notable, too, is Onhoyb (Vienna, 1923). Post-World-War Two romanizations in the liberated zones of Germany were expedients adopted because of a shortage of Jewish type. See David L. Gold, {92} "Successes and Failures in the Standardization and Implementation of Yiddish Spelling and Romanization," in Joshua A. Fishman, ed., Advances in the Creation and Revision of Writing Systems, The Hague, Mouton, 1977, pp. 307-369
16. Bilingual journals
With the single exception of Gedank un lebn (q.v.), included because of its occasional scholarly interest, all items in this bibliography are in Yiddish only. There have been a great number of bilingual and trilingual journals one of whose languages has been Yiddish. These journals may contain valuable literary materials. One immediately thinks of the Hebrew-Yiddish-English Jewish Book Annual (New York). A most interesting experiment is the Hebrew-Yiddish literary miscellany Chol varuach / measef (Holon, Israel, 1964, 323 pp.), edited by G. Kresl and L. Olitski.
17. Children's and young people's periodicals
I exclude all children's and young people's journals, even though important writers (e.g., Der Nister, Mani-Leyb) wrote original works for them and works appearing in them are often suitable for adult readers. For many years Shmuel Niger was the editor of Kinder zhurnal (New York, 1919 - 197?) and he invited such writers as Yankev Glatshteyn and Kadye Molodovski (to mention only two) to contribute. In all the major Yiddish centers -- Warsaw, Vilna, New York, Paris, Buenos Aires - - children's journals have been published. Among the best of such journals have been Grinenke beymelekh (Vilna, 1919-1939) and for older children and youth, Der khaver (Warsaw, 1920-1939). Argentiner beymelekh (Buenos Aires, 1939-?) also deserves to be mentioned as one of the better journals for young people. The Bundist daily Folkstsaytung (Warsaw, 1921-1939) published a children's journal, Di kleyne folkstsaytung, as a Friday supplement (from 1926). The best Yiddish writers in Poland wrote for it. There were approximately 1300 issues of the children's supplement Kinderblat (also called Undzer kinder-blat) of the Kaunas {Kovno} Folksblat, which printed works by its young readers as well as for them. There also have been a great many one-time publications for children, e.g. Grin-grin (Brisk, 1926).
18. Humorous and satirirical magazines
With the exception of Der kibitser and Der groyser kundes, which are of literary importance, I exclude all humorous and satirical journals, good and meretricious alike. There have been a great many such periodicals (which I distinguish from the one-time humorous holiday issues in that they appear throughout the year) and able writers have sometimes written for them. A distinct bibliography of such items should be compiled. Many of the dailies and general weeklies have had humor sections, sometimes with the format of a separate journal.
Typical humorous journals are Der mekhabl (Warsaw, 1919-1926), Pipifoks (London, 1899-1900) {cited in YPGB #159}, Der kundes (Buenos Aires, 1930 - ?), Der blufer (Warsaw, 1926-1936) (a continuation of Der mekhabl ), Der humorist (New York, 1920) and Shpilkes (Paris, 1961-1965). The range here is considerable. Der blufer has tasteless jokes, bad cartoons and little literary relevance. This does not seem typical. A separate category is one-time humorous publications which are not necessarily holiday issues, e.g. Af datshe (Warsaw, 1927) and Melave malke (Warsaw, 1921). In the latter, the Association of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Warsaw lampoons its own members.
19. Theatrical publications
Most of the serious theatrical journals have been included here, especially those edited by M. Vaykhert, but I have omitted a great many items which do have some literary relevance. I have not included Kalmen Marmor's Der idisher kunst fraynd (New York, 1916), H.-A. Del's Teater un kunst (New York, 1926-?), Teater-bukh (New York, 1928) {in honor of the eleventh season of the Moris Shvarts Teater, 1928 / 1929}, N. Bukhvald's Gezang un kamf (New York, 1926). Nor have I included publications of amateur theatrical groups or of individual theaters. There have many local and short-lived theater periodicals, such as Riga's Unzer teater / zhurnal far teater un kunst, edited by Y. Roznboym from November to December, 1926 (cited in BY 1926 #46) or the London ones cited in YPGB.
20. Others
I have also, for a variety of reasons, excluded a great many items which do not fit any of the preceding categories. For instance, there is a large group of miscellanies which commemorate some special event. The Buenos Aires Di idishe tsaytung published a 193-page literary miscellany on the occasion of inaugurating its new building in April 1928.
I omit Untervegns / Khoydesh-zhurnal far literatur un gezelshaftlekhe inyonim (1 - 3; March - July 1934 {New York}), a short-lived, ill-defined literary-political little magazine with more pretensions than substance -- though for some students it might have been of some interest. I do not include Brazil's first Yiddish literary periodical, Literarishe tsaytshrift (Rio de Janeiro, 1924), which merely reprinted writers from abroad. If I were being inclusive I would not omit, as I have done, Der proletarisher gedank (New York, 1923). Avrom-Ber Tabatshnik published his first poem here, but the journal is not quite literary enough to merit inclusion.
There have been a great number of Yiddish little magazines produced by circles of Yiddish enthusiasts, persons with or without claims to talent but eager to promote and cultivate literary use of the Yiddish language. Since the Holocaust such periodicals tend to be heavily nostalgic and, often, sentimental. But even in such periodicals, several of which are here represented, there are nuggets to be discovered. One of the last of this kind (not included here) is Undzer eygn vinkl / peryodishe literarishe heftn (New York, September / October 1964 - ), which altered its name in 1976 to Undzer eygn vort and in 1978 entered its fifteenth year. In short, many difficult-to-classify but valuable items have not been included in the present compilation.
THE ENTRIES
Title
The Yiddish title is romanized according to the original spelling. When this differs from Standardized Yiddish Orthography {= SYO}, the standard transcription is given in brackets immediately afterwards. The bracketed forms also correct hyphenation where the SYO rules of hyphenation are not followed. The title is translated into idiomatic English. Where the periodical has an English title of its own, this is noted in the description.
Subtitle
The great majority of Yiddish periodicals have subtitles and these are given in both the original and SYO transcriptions and idiomatically translated. Subtitles frequently change during the life of a periodical and where applicable this is noted in the annotation. Generally, the subtitle given is the original one, though exceptions are made here and there in favor of long-standing and familiar subtitles.
Place
Places of publication are given in English and generally reflect present realities. Thus, Lviv (not Lemberg), Kaunas (not Kovno), Chernovtsy (not Cernauti or Czernowitz). However, I prefer Vilna to Vilnius and St. Petersburg to Petrograd (= Leningrad). If a periodical was published in two or more places simultaneously, the names of these places are separated by slashes { / }. If publication in two or more places was consecutive, this is indicated by semi-colons { ; }.
Publisher
Publishers are indicated for miscellanies and, selectively, for serials. In serials, such information when given is part of the annotation. Names of publishers are simplified and generally consist of a last name only.
Dates of Miscellanies
Miscellanies are described like ordinary books: place of publication, publisher and date. In a very few instances where only the Jewish year is known and it is, for example, 1924 / 1925, I give only 1924.
Collation
All publications appearing more than once or indicating through numeration or other means the intention to do so are here treated as serials. The information presented in this section generally consists of the following distinct parts: (a) 1, 1 - 2, 3 means Volume One, Number One to Volume Two, Number Three (I, 1 - II, 3). Only Arabic numberals are used. The above is often followed by a number of whole issues {= 29 issues} and / or the consecutive numeration {= 1 - 29}. Double numbers are indicated by a slash, e.g. 2 / 3. (b) A semi-colon separates the numeration from the dates: 1, 1 - 2, 3; June 1923 - July 1928. If the numeration is unknown, only the dates are given. (c) If the periodical is no longer being published, double slanted bars ( // ) follow the period after the dates. (d) If there is any question regarding the accuracy of any of the collation data -- and not merely regarding the termination of the periodical -- a question mark ( ? ) follows the double slanted bars.
Literary periodicals in particular tend to appear irregularly regardless of their announced frequencies. Subtitles often register intended frequencies, which is one reason why they change so much. The volume is generally, but not always, the same as the yorgang 'year' (usually, but not always, the Jewish year beginning in Tishre and ending in Elul).
Pagination
The number of pages is given for miscellanies. This does not include preliminary and supplementary pages and is thoroughly rationalized, e.g. 110 pp. (rather than iv + 110 + {2}, etc.).
Editors
Editors are listed alphabetically rather than in the order in which they served as editors. Where possible, the chronological facts are given in the annotation. Although all periodicals are presumably edited by someone, not all of them indicate who this is. Sometimes, the members of an editorial board are given, but such a body can be anything from an advisory group to an active committee of editors. Normally I do not regard members of a kolegye 'collegium' as editors. We are sometimes apprised only of the identity of the farantvortlekher redaktor 'responsible editor'. He has since Tsarist times been familiarly known as the zits-redaktor, since he would have to "sit" {this is an untranslatable Yiddish idiom} in prison if the journal incurred the displeasure of the authorities. This individual is normally not an active editor in the accepted sense, but fulfils an administrative or political function ancillary to editing proper.
It can be assumed that editors also contributed to the journals they edited. Indeed, there are instances where they filled an entire periodical with their own work, employing a number of pseudonyms.
Annotation
The core of this reference and perhaps its least conventional feature is the annotations. I have not strained to achieve detached objectivity. I am aware that bibliographical sobriety frowns upon discursiveness, much less occasional whimsy. My intention is to stimulate the user's interest in the materials described.
Not Seen
When I have not seen at least a photographic reproduction of even a single issue of an item, I write "Not seen" at the end of the annotation. Originally I excluded such items, but inclusion is doubtless an excellent way to help bring them to light. With a few exceptions, what I have not seen is not easily seen.
See
There are hundreds of articles about specific journals and their editors scattered throughout books and periodicals. They constitute an invaluable research aid. Only a few of them are studies in depth. Some are no more than the superficial responses of contemporaries, but even these have their uses. This bibliography contains about two hundred references to articles on and reviews of specific periodicals. I would like to see this feature of the bibliography grow.
Sources
Under Sources I list encyclopedias, reference works, monographs, special studies and other works where the item is briefly cited. I do not attempt to cite all works where the item is noted.
Repositories
In this section I list a few of the libraries where the item concerned may be found. If possible, I cite a library in Israel (generally the Jewish National and University Library) and at least one in the United States. Unfortunately, in a number of instances I have not been able to indicate a repository. Where I have detailed information regarding a library's holdings, I give this, e.g., JNL: 1-5. An incomplete run is indicated by square brackets, e.g, {JNL} or JNL: {1 - 20}. Items sometimes get lost within libraries. I have tried to find substitute repositories where catalogued items have been reported as lost.
Transcription
When spelling or finer points of phonology are not under discussion, there is a consensus among students of Yiddish that, wherever romanization is required, the Standardized Yiddish Romanization is used (see Jewish Language Review 5). Although the main principles of this system are well-established, many of its finer points require elucidation. Moreover, in not a few instances, the system offers the romanizer no guidance at all. Many problems of romanization arose during the compilation of this bibliography. How they were confronted is explained below.
Names
In surnames and in the titles of periodicals, daytshmerish went equally far and much further than in given names. The older the periodical the more likely that its title had daytshmerish elements (a daytshmerish title {e.g. Tageblat }, however, need not indicate daytshmerish contents). I attempt to present titles in their original form, with the corrected Standard Yiddish form in brackets to the right. Where bibliographical exactitude is not required, I sometimes silently correct older spellings, including non-standard hyphenation. Fir 'for' always becomes far and yudish, idish 'Yiddish / Jewish' becomes yidish. But, of course, I cannot alter such rooted daytshmerish titles as the familiar Forverts (< G. Vorwaerts ), whose StY equivalent is Foroys (a common title in a later period).
The extent to which the romanizer standardizes non-standard given and surnames is a matter of personal taste. I uniformly delete the excrescent NHG-origin e in "Bergelson", "Epelberg", "Goldfaden", "Reyzen", "Ringelblum", "Rozenfeld" (= Berglson , Eplberg , Goldfadn , Reyzn , Ringlblum , Roznfeld ), but more authentic Yiddish forms would be Goldfodem and Royznfeld . I accept the common Yiddish spelling Landoy for "Landau", though the truly Yiddish form is Lande . I do not alter "Shapiro" and "Boreysho", though widespread pronunciation demands Shapire and Boreyshe .
In short, I offer compromise forms. If we imagine a continuum from "pure German" to "pure Yiddish" for, say, the name "Rosenstein", the Yiddish end would give us Royznshteyn . My compromise is Roznshteyn . In the continuum Edelstadt - Edelshtadt - Edlshtat - Eydlshtot , I choose Edlshtat . Names are not as readily standardized as are other lexemes, for obvious reasons. Ginzburg , a widespread form, is phonologically anomalous in Standard Yiddish. We should have Gintsburg (and we could even go as far as the indigenous Yiddish form Gindzshprik ). But Ginzburg is fairly entrenched and I leave it as it is. The z form is even more glaring in the name of the famous bard, Elyokum Tsunzer, which ideally should be transcribed Lyokem Tzundzer .
Given Names
One of the reasons why daytshmerish did not go so far in given as in surnames is that Jews with non-Jewish given names generally also had Jewish ones (e.g. Maks {< G. Max } Vaynraykh = Meyer Vaynraykh). Among Yiddish writers we find very few non-Jewish given names. The vast majority have given names of Hebrew-Aramaic origin and the romanization of such names is often problematic. The crux of the matter lies in the divergent pronunciation of identical lexemes in Whole as distinct from Merged Hebrew-Aramaic. To cast the same problem into cultural terms, the divergence is that between an ufruf-nomen 'the name by which a male is called to read from the Tora', and the same individual's rufnomen 'colloquial name'. An Aharon {= Whole Hebrew} is also an Arn {= Merged Hebrew, which is part of Yiddish}. .*see jlr r1219/5
The problem is further complicated by dialectal variation. Should we use the NEY Yitskhok, as the YIVO and Uriel Weinreich in his dictionary do, or the equally genuine CY Yitskhek? Should we say Shie (or Shue) rather than Yehoshue, thereby confusing the reader accustomed to identifying the owner of the name by the initial Y.? Shie is certainly the familiar spoken form. Here, too, I attempt to follow a via media so as to best serve the majority of readers. I recognize that "Yisroel" in real life is often Srol (or Srul), but few persons who answer to the name would agree to veering scribally from the full form. Similarly, "Yekhiel", "Eliezer" and "Mikhoel" are pronounced Khil, Leyzer and Mikhl. With these three, however, we have the phenomenon of writers such as Khil Aronson, Leyzer Treyster and Mikhl Likht who wrote their given names as they were actually sounded. But even within the Soviet Union, where phoneticization of given names went furthest, not every "Eliyohu" was an Elye nor was every "Yikhezkl" a Khaskl or Khatskl.
I have heard of a Mikhoel in Vilna, a Mikhl in the Ukraine and a (*see q300, JLR2) Mekhl in Galicia; of the three, Mikhl was doubtless the most widespread rufnomen, but a search through the Nayer leksikon fun der yidisher literatur reveals only a few writers who spelled their name as did Mikhl Likht. We do not have the authority to alter Natan Mark's name to Nosn Mark, since he insisted on Natan. Modern Hebrew has altered indigenous Yiddish pronunciations in more instances than this. Alongside Leyzer Volf we have Eliezer Greenberg. Perhaps all Yerakhmiels were Rakhmiel (or Rakhmil), just as most Eliyohus were Elyes. But we are not justified in making a man whose name was Shimon (with {o}, reflecting the Polish form Szymon) into a Shimen or vice-versa. This is not a question of a dialectal variant but of a Yiddish form which has assimilated Polish influence and another which has not. On the other hand, even though Vaysnberg often signs himself Y.-M., I always record his name as Itshe-Meyer . Moreover, I use the StY Itshe-Meyer despite the fact that in his own CY dialect he would be Itshe-Mayer.
Thus, I do not claim that one should not use romanizations which reflect pronunciations which authors themselves would not have used. I simply say that with regard to given names of Hebrew-Aramaic origin, one should proceed with caution and accept transcriptions which reflect Whole Hebrew pronunciations unless, as in the case of the three writers cited above, the Merged Hebrew forms have found expression in the writer's own spelling of his name.
I do not believe that we can be completely consistent regarding given name transcriptions. I represent "Yehudo" and "Yehudis" as Yude and Yudes , "Yosef" as Yoysef , "Aharon" as Arn , which will delight Ausbau proponents and disturb others. I write Mordkhe , but recognize that the pronunciation is Mortkhe . Although I adopt Shmuel, Khayim and Binyomin, I recognize that Shmul, Khayem and Binyomen are also possible. There is, doubtless, value in a standard Latin-letter transcription for given names as for all other lexemes, but there is little consensus on this score among potential users of this bibliography. I propose that the debate on this matter continue, but that in the meantime we render "Jerusalem" as Yerushelayim rather than, say, Rishelayim , and "Israel" as Yisroel.
Hyphenation of Names
Double given or family names are hyphenated: Arye-Leyb , Koyen-Tsedek , Fishman-Zilbershteyn. Composite pseudonyms and double initials are likewise hyphenated: Bal-Makhshoves , Mani-Leyb , Sholem-Aleykhem , Y.-L. Perets , Y.-N. Shteynberg . But I write Der Nister, Der Lebediker. In titles: Shloyme bikl-yoyvl-bukh and Yitskhok-nakhmen shteynberg-gedenkbukh.
Suffixal -lekh, -likh, -lakh in Titles
The traditional spelling of the last vowel in words like khoydeshlikh is with a yud (i.e., as elsewhere, sheva is represented by a yud ). Under German influence, however, this sheva came to be represented by an ayen (i.e., the "equivalent" of German e ) among many Yiddish-writers in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and, at times, even where German required a letter other than e (as in this case; cf. German monatlikh ). This Germanism was incorporated, unfortunately, into the Standardized Yiddish Orthography (e.g., khoydeshlekh ). In conformity with the SYO, I do not alter words with -lekh . When this morpheme is spelled -likh (whether because the writer followed traditional spelling or because he was influenced by German), I transcribe it as -lekh .
Much the same applies to the diminutive ending -lakh . In many varieties of Yiddish, this ending is pronounced -lakh . The SYO, however, chose the spelling -lekh . I transcribe -lekh as such and I alter non-standard (though authentic) -lakh to -lekh in conformity with the SYO.
Capitalization
Names are capitalized throughout, e.g. Moyshe Nadir. Titles are capitalized on first word only, e.g. Afn shvel.
Other points
Although I write Ist-brodvey, in actual pronunciation the t is not sounded.
Non-standard plural -en or -n often occurs in titles, especially in older journals. In brackets in the StY form I correct to -es (e.g., frages rather than fragen).
I prefer shraybers 'writers' as the plural of shrayber. The correct article before renesans is der.
KEY TO REFERENCES AND SOURCES
AJPC Jewish Newspapers and Periodicals on Microfilm Available at the American Jewish Periodical Center, Cincinnati, 1957.
BEN-YOSEF "Bibliography of Yiddish Publications in the U.S.S.R. During 1941-1948," in Jewish Literature in the Soviet Union During and Following the Holocaust Period, Jerusalem, 1960, pp. 41-72.
BIKL Bikl, Shloyme. Rumenye, Buenos-Aires, 1961, pp. 404-49.
BRISMAN Brisman, Shimeon. A History and Guide to Judaic Bibliography, Cincinnati, 1977.
BY 1926/1927 Biblyografishe yorbikher fun yivo, Vol. 1 (1926), 162-171.
EJ Encyclopaedia Judaica, Vols. 1-16, Jerusalem, 1972.
FELDMAN 1937 Feldman, Leybl. Yidn in dorem-afrike, Vilna, 1937.
FELDMAN 1956 Feldman, Leybl. Yidn in yohanesburg, Johannesburg, 1956.
FUKS Fuks, Khayim-Leyb. Lodzh-shel-male, Tel-Aviv, 1972.
GK Di goldene keyt 1-141 (1948-1945), Tel-Aviv.
GLATSHTEYN Glatshteyn, Yankev; Niger, Shmuel; Rogof, H., eds. 75 yor yidishe prese in amerike / 1870 - 1945, New York: Y.-L.- Perets-Shrayber-Fareyn, New York, 1945.
GREENBAUM Greenbaum, A.A. Jewish Scholarship and Scholarly Institutions in Soviet Russia, Jerusalem, 1978.
GYS Vaynraykh, Maks. Geshikhte fun der yidisher shprakh, vols. 1-4, New York: YIVO, 1973.
JPSU Shmeruk, Khone, ed. Jewish Publications in the Soviet Union, Jerusalem, 1961.
KAN Kan, Leybl, "Biblyografye fun maks vaynraykhs verk," in For Max Weinreich on His Seventieth Birthday, The Hague: 1964, 287-305.
KIRZHNITS Kirzhnits, A. Di yidishe prese in der gevezener ruslendisher imperye (1823-1916), Moscow, 1930.
KSU Kirzhnits, A. Di yidishe prese in ratn-farband (1917-1927), Minsk, 1928.
KULTBUKH Kultbukh bikher-katalog 1932 / 1933. Warsaw, 1932.
LAJC Bibliography of Yiddish Periodicals, Los Angeles: Yiddish Language Department of the L.A. Jewish Community Library, Los Angeles, California, 1958 {mimeographed}.
MALAKHI 1967 Malakhi, A.-R. "Di yidishe prese in dorem-rusland," Yidn in ukraine, Vol. 2, New York, 1967, pp. 49-121.
MARK "Yidishe peryodishe oysgabes in lite," in Yankev Shatski, ed. Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsvey hundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese, 1686-1936, New York, 1937.
MAYZL Mayzl, Nakhmen. Tsurikblikn un perspektivn, Tel-Aviv, 1962.
MISHKIN Mishkin, Lea. "Defuse shikago beivrit uveyidish," in Sh. Ravidovitsh, ed. Pinkas shikago, 1952, p. 79.
NL Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur. Vols. 1-8, New York, 1956 - 1981.
NOSN MARK Mark, Nosn. Yidish-literatur in rumenye fun ir onheyb biz 1968, Haifa, 1971.
REYZN Reyzn, Zalmen. Leksikon fun der yudisher literatur un prese, Warsaw, 1914.
REYZN 1914 Reyzn. Zalmen. Leksikon fun der yidisher literatur, prese un filologye, Vols. 1-4, Vilna, 1926-1929.
ROZHANSKI Rozhanski, Shmuel. "Dos yidishe gedrukte vort un teater in argentine," in Hirsh Trivaks, ed. Yoyvl-bukh, Buenos Aires, 1940.
RUBINSHTEYN Rubinshteyn, Nokhem. Dos yidishe bukh in sovetn-farband in 1932, Minsk, 1933.
SABLE Sable, Martin H. Latin American Jewry: A Research Guide, Cincinnati: HUC Press, 1978.
SHAYN 1963 Shayn, Yisroel. Biblyografye fun oysgabes aroysgegebn durkh di arbeter-parteyen in poyln in di yorn 1918-1939, Warsaw: Yidish-bukh, {1963}.
SHAYN 1974 Shayn, Yisroel. "Materyaln tsu a biblyografye fun yidishe peryodike in poyln, 1918-1939," in Shikl Fishman, ed. Shtudyes vegn yidn in poyln 1918-1939, New York: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 1974, pp. 422-483.
SHTARKMAN Shtarkman, Moyshe. Geklibene shriftn, Vols. 1-2, Tel-Aviv, 1979-1980.
SLUTSKI Slutski, Shloyme. Avrom Reyzn - Biblyografye, New York, 1960.
TAMBUR Tambur, Volf. Yidish-prese in rumenye, Bucharest: Kriteryon, 1977.
UNGER Unger, Menashe. "Biblyografye fun der yidisher prese in erets-yisroel," in Yankev Shatski, ed. Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsvey hundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese 1686-1936, New York, 1937.
WEINREICH Weinreich, Uriel & Beatrice. Yiddish Language & Folklore / A Selective Bibliography for Research, 'S-Gravenhage, 1959.
YPGB Prager, Leonard. "A Bibliography of Yiddish Periodicals in Great Britain," Studies in Bibliography and Booklore 9:1 (Spring 1969), 3-32.
ZILBERTSVAYG Zilbertsvayg, Zalmen. Leksikon fun yidishn teater, Vols. 1-6, Warsaw, Mexico City, New York, 1931-1969.
KEY TO REPOSITORIES
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS {FIRST EDITION}
Had I waited until I was absolutely certain that all errors had been avoided and no gaps remained, publication of this bibliography would have been delayed indefinitely. I am especially grateful to Alfred Greenbaum for pressing me to complete it. He has helped in numerous other ways: scrutinizing journals in libraries in the United States and Israel, checking the dates of scores of items and writing entries for many of the Soviet periodicals. He has also been a perceptive critic of the work as a whole, reading the manuscript several times and making numerous valuable suggestions.
The late Ezra Lahad was extremely generous with his time, helping me to solve innumerable bibliographical puzzles, frequently by recourse to his own rich private collection. This bibliography owes much of its accuracy to his bibliographical expertise. If I have succeeded in achieving a high degree of uniformity and correctness in the matter of transcriptions, I owe this success to the demanding standards of David L. Gold. He has also read and commented upon several early versions of the manuscript. Mordkhe Schaechter, too, has helped with regard to transcription problems. My transcriptions have not been as innovative as both Gold and Schaechter would have wished and I take full responsibility for the results.
This bibliography was originally conceived by Khone Shmeruk and myself as part of a larger Guide to Yiddish Literature. Several of Shmeruk's original suggestions have been incorporated into this work. Arye Pilovsky and David Neal Miller, also, have made useful comments.
I thank Myron Weinstein, former Acting Head, Hebraic Section, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. for his cooperation. Libby Kahana of the Bibliographic Service of the Jewish National and University Library was helpful, as was Shlomo Greenbaum of Jerusalem.
Elchanan Adler of the University of Haifa Library, whose patience rivals his resourcefulness, made it possible for me to compile this work by computer. His assistant, Lou Tribus, proved an invaluable troubleshooter on several occasions. Zion Yarom and his able staff at the University of Haifa Computer Center were always ready to assist me. In particular I would like to thank Rachel Fried, Shay Gavrieli, Itsik Kalimi, Ilan Rav, Felix Shmidel and Naomi Shor. David Bukay and the late Joseph Shepfer gave this project their full support.
I owe my deepest thanks to my wife, Barbara, and to my children, Clara and Moshe, for their sympathy and support during the long and trying period in which this bibliography was in preparation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (1ST CORRECTED EDITION)
I have benefited from reviews of the first edition by Dina Abramowicz (in Judaica Librarianship 1, Fall 1983); Susan J. Freiband (in American Reference Book Annual 1984); and Khone Shmeruk and Agnes-Romer Segal (in Studies in Contemporary Jewry 1, 1984, 519-522).