Part 18

About that time two young men, Tomaschewski and Golubok, of New York, started a theatre in New York. The troupe consisted of actors who had just arrived from London, where they found it too difficult to establish themselves. The first performance was given in the Fourth Street Turner Hall. As formerly in Russia, the Reformed Jews of the city used their utmost efforts to prevent the playing of a Jewish comedy, but in vain. It was given in spite of all remonstrances and threats. After that the theatre was permanently established in the Bowery Garden, under the name of the Oriental Theatre, which soon passed under the directorship of J. Lateiner. In 1886 another theatre, The Roumania Opera House, was opened in the old National Theatre, at 104-106 Bowery. It would not be profitable to enter into the further vicissitudes of the companies, their jealousies and ridiculous pretensions at equalling the best American troupes. Unfortunately, the authors upon whom they had to depend for their repertoires were Lateiner, Hurwitz, and other worthy followers of Schaikewitsch, who by rapid steps brought the Jewish stage down to the lowest degrees of insipidity. Not satisfied with producing dramas from a sphere they knew something about, they began to imitate, or rather corrupt, existing foreign plays, to give foolish versions of 'Mary Stuart,' 'Don Carlos,' 'Trilby,' and similar popular dramas. There were, indeed, some men who might have saved the stage from its frightful degeneration, but the theatre managers would not listen to them, preferring to pander to the low taste of the masses by giving them worthless productions that bore some distant resemblance to the performances in the lower grades of American theatres.

Only during a short period of time, early in the nineties, it looked as though things were going to be improved, for the managers accepted a number of adaptations and original plays by J. Gordin. Gordin belonged to that class of educated men who, though they had been carried across the ocean with one of the waves that bore the Jewish masses from Russia to the shores of the United States, had never stood in any relation whatsoever to their fellow-emigrants. He had been a Russian journalist, and in America he was confronted with the alternative of devoting himself to Judeo-German literature or starving. He naturally chose the first. Although he had had a good literary training, he had never before written a word in the vernacular of his people. At first he tried himself in the composition of short sketches from the life of the Russian Jews, and finding that his articles found a ready acceptance with the Judeo-German press, he attempted dramatic compositions. He has translated, adapted, or composed in all more than thirty plays, of which, however, only one has been printed. As his large variety of dramas give a good idea of the condition of the stage during its best period, they will be shortly mentioned here. Among the translations we find Ibsen's 'Nora'; among the adaptations we have Victor Hugo's 'Ruy Blas,' 'Hernani'; Lessing's 'Nathan the Wise'; Schiller's 'Kabale und Liebe,' under the name of 'Rōsele'; 'The Parnes-chōdesch,' from Gogol's 'The Inspector'; 'Elischewa' and 'Dworele,' imitations of two of Ostrovski's comedies; Grillparzer's 'Medea'; and 'Meir Esofowitsch,' on a subject taken from Mrs. Orzeszko's novel of the same name. Several of his plays display more original creative power. Of these it will suffice to mention: 'The Wild Man,' treating of the degeneration among the Jews; 'The Jewish Priest,' illustrating the struggle between the progressive Jews and the old orthodox factions; 'The Russian Jew in America,' dealing with the condition of the Russian Jews in New York; 'The Pogrom,' in which the late riots against the Jews in Russia are depicted.

Gordin and a few other men, such as Rosenfeld, Korbin, Winchevsky, might have introduced new blood and life into the Jewish drama, but the managers and the silly actors who in their pride permit their names to go down on the billboards as second Salvinis and Booths have willed otherwise. But then they are following in this the common course pursued by all dying literatures, and they are not, after all, to be blamed more than the public that permits such things, and the public in its turn is merely succumbing rapidly to the influence of American institutions, which before long will overwhelm peaceably, but none the less surely, the Jewish theatre and the Judeo-German language. Before the inevitable shall happen, they have attempted to cling to their old traditions; but it is only a very faint glimpse of their old life they are getting now, and in the very weak performances that one may still see on the Jewish stage there is already a great deal more of the reflex of their new home than the glow of their old. It is very doubtful whether the Jewish theatre can subsist in America another ten years.

Of late the theatre has been revived in Galicia and Roumania; if I am not mistaken, there exists also a Jewish theatre in Warsaw. The plays performed there are mainly the productions of Goldfaden, Lerner, and a few other writers of the older period. Occasionally a play is given there that has previously been played in New York. If the theatre is to survive in Europe, it will naturally develop quite independently from the American stage. It must remain more national if it is at all to be Jewish. And such we really find it to be. In addition to the several dramas mentioned throughout the book there might be added David Sahik's 'A Rose between Thorns' and Sanwill Frumkis's 'A Faithful Love,' which are among the best comedies produced in Judeo-German.

Excepting the peculiar development of the theatre in America, the Judeo-German drama has remained more or less a popular form of poetry. In the form of Goldfaden's farces we may see an evolution of the farcical Purim plays, while his historical dramas stand in very much the same relation to our time that the mysteries occupied two centuries ago. Similarly the theatre, even at its best, has remained of a primitive nature.

XVI. OTHER ASPECTS OF LITERATURE

In spite of the brilliant evolution of Judeo-German literature in the last fifty years, the older ethical works of the preceding period continue in power and are reprinted from time to time, mostly in the printing offices at Warsaw and Lublin. Among these we find a large number of biographies of famous Rabbis, testamentary instructions of wise men, essays on charity, faith, and other virtues, and an endless mass of commentaries on the Bible and other religious books. Most of these are translations from the Hebrew. Of late there have also begun to appear treatises on moral subjects written specially in the vernacular. We have had occasion to mention the works of Zweifel. There have also been written sermons of a more pretentious character in Judeo-German, and even the missionaries have used the dialect for the purpose of making propaganda among them: the first to attempt this were the English missionaries, the last have been emissaries from the Greek Church. Of course these have had no influence of any kind on the minds of the people. One of the most fruitful branches of the liturgical literature has been the Tchines, or Prayers. They are intended for women, and there is a vast variety of them for every occasion in life. Some of the older ones are quite poetical, being translations or imitations of good models. But many of the newer ones have been manufactured without rhyme or reason by young scholars in the Rabbinical seminaries of Wilna and Zhitomir. These were frequently in sore straits for a living, and knowing the proneness of women to purchase new, tearful prayers, have composed them to their tastes. They have hardly any merit, except as they form a sad chapter in the sad lives of Russian Jewish women. The old story-books and the prayers have been almost the only consolation they have had in their lives fraught with woe.

In one of Abramowitsch's novels a woman, purchasing a prayer from an itinerant bookseller, gives the following reason for being so addicted to them: "For us poor women, the Tchines are the only remedy for hearts full of sores and wounds; they furnish us with the only means of weeping to our hearts' content, and of finding relief for our saddened spirits in a warm stream of tears.... It is truly aggravating and painful to see men who do not understand and who do not wish to understand our hearts make light of women's Tchines and begrudge us the only consolation we have. Let them take a seat in the women's synagogue on a Saturday or some holiday, and let them watch the many poor, unfortunate women who have come away from their homes under difficulties:--one suffering an evil fate from her husband, another a forlorn widow; one heavy with child, another downhearted and exhausted from watching long nights at the bed of her sick, suckling babe; one with swollen, blistered hands from standing at the stove, and another with her face careworn, and pale from heavy slave's work, from walking eternally under a yoke;--let them watch all these sad, downtrodden women standing around the Reader, let them hear them wail and lament with eyes uplifted to their merciful, all-kind Father in heaven, bathing in tears and ready to tear their hearts out of their bosoms. If the men could see such a scene with their own eyes, they would, I am sure, never open their mouths again to ridicule the prayers of women."

Outside of these prayers and ethical treatises the most popular books since the middle of our century have been two elementary works,--one on arithmetic, teaching the rudiments of the art, the other a letterwriter. It is probably no exaggeration to say that a hundred editions of the latter book have appeared in print. It was composed by Lewin Abraham Liondor, and was intended as a guide for Judeo-German spelling and letter-writing by children and women. This has been almost the only text-book written in and for the vernacular. Liondor knew how to make it entertaining by having a series of connected stories in the form of letters and an occasional song interspersed in them. The book begins with an interesting dialogue in the form of letters between the letterwriter and the author, and ends with a number of letters from and to a schadchen, the go-between in marriage affairs. From the dialogue one can see what great popularity this humble work has had in its time. There have been issued in the last ten years a number of similar letterwriters, more in accord with the demands of the time, but the naïveté of Liondor's book has all disappeared in them, and they present no interest to the reader.

It has never occurred to Judeo-German writers to treat their language grammatically. They all started out with the idea that it was not a language, but merely a corrupted dialect which could not be brought under any grammatical rules. In this opinion they have persevered up to the present. Where they felt it, nevertheless, their duty to establish some kind of system, they have dealt only with orthography, and thus of late a few pamphlets on that subject, but of no scientific value, have been produced by them. Much greater has been the attempt of Judeo-German authors to furnish their people with text-books for the study of foreign tongues. As early as 1824 a Polish grammar appeared in Warsaw. Wherever the conditions have been favorable for it, the Jews have tried to learn the languages of their Gentile fellow-citizens. If they have so long persevered in the use of their dialect in Russia and Poland, the fault is with the Government and not with them, as we shall soon see. In the seventies Jewish youths were admitted liberally to the gymnasia and universities, and they eagerly availed themselves of the privilege and threw themselves with ardor upon the study of the Russian language. The most encouraging time for them was from the year 1874 to 1875, when all seemed to presage better days for them. The schools were crowded with ambitious children, and there were many left at home who had to get their Russian education privately or through self-instruction. To help these, a number of excellent text-books were written. Such were the books of Skurchowitsch, Lifschitz, Zazkin, Chadak, Feigensohn. All these appeared within the short period of two years. Later a number of other similar productions followed. Lifschitz also published at the same time a Russian-Judeo-German and Judeo-German-Russian dictionary, which is one of the most valuable stores of Judeo-German that we possess. Everything was preparing the way for the extermination of the native dialect in favor of the literary language of the country, when the short-sightedness of the Government drove them once more back into their separate existence.

Previous to the seventies there could be found only grammars for the study of German, French, and even English, but no works to make the study of Russian easy. Since the year 1881, when the forced emigration began, new interests have taken hold of the minds of the Jews. They have been scattered to the four winds, have formed colonies in Germany and France, but more especially in England, South Africa, and the United States. Most of those who have gone to their new homes, and who still intend going there, hardly know any other language than Judeo-German. But they must learn the tongues of their adopted countries, and we find a large number of text-books of all descriptions prepared for them. They have been driven also to Spanish America, and we find Spanish word-books and grammars written for them. Sadder still, they have begun to dream of returning to their former home in Palestine, and Arabic word-books have become their latest necessity. It must not be forgotten that this class of publications has no claim to scientific recognition; though they are sometimes written by educated men, they are meant to serve only for the immediate needs of the wandering Jew. They consequently reflect, like the belles lettres, the conditions under which the Jews are laboring.

At the dawn of the new era, in the first half of this century, few thought of the study of foreign languages. The masses were too ignorant in more essential things to be ready for that kind of instruction. It was more important that they be made acquainted with the most obvious facts around them. We saw how one of the most popular books of those days was 'The Discovery of America,' which also gave some facts in regard to physical geography. In the sixties, when books of instruction for the first time were being printed, history and geography were the first to receive the attention of those who wished to further popular instruction. Almost one of the very first to be issued then was Resser's 'Universal History,' and this was followed not long after by a primer on geography. Only after the riots, a more direct attempt was begun at the education of the people from the standpoint of their vernacular, and since then geographies and histories of the best foreign authors have been adapted to their humble needs. We find then, among others, a translation of Graetz's 'Popular History of the Jews.'

When we reach the nineties, we get a whole literature of popular science. We have Bernstein's 'Natural Science,' Brehm's 'Essays on Animals,' and a large number of other similar adaptations for this period. The most systematic distribution of such books was carried on by A. Kotik and Bressler, who published a series of text-books on the useful sciences. Among these are several on anthropology, on political economy, and even on Darwinism. But none of these can compare in literary value with the excellent essays of Perez, or even with some of the articles in the various periodicals. Within the last few years the popular stories of Tannenbaum in New York have become very popular in Russia, where nearly all of his works are being reprinted as soon as they have appeared in America. One of the most persistent kinds of this class of literature has been the one that gives instruction in popular medicine. We find such information teaching what to do in case of cholera in the first half of the century, and later for nearly forty years many such useful essays have been written by Dr. Tscherny. This exhausts the scanty collection of a scientific nature that has been produced for the masses.

Conditions have not been favorable in Russia for the development of a periodical literature such as the leaders of the people have always had in mind, and such as the writers now would like to see inaugurated. The Government has put so many obstacles in the way of their publications that they have nearly all been of an ephemeral nature, and have had successively to give place to new and just as short-lived periodicals. The earliest use of Judeo-German, at least of German written with Hebrew letters, we find in a gazette published in Prague in the beginning of the century; the next was a similar paper that was published in Warsaw in 1824. After that there ensued a long silence until the year 1848, when a constitution and the freedom of the press were announced in Austria. The happy news was brought to the Jews of Galicia by a Judeo-German proclamation issued by Jizchok Jehuda Ben Awraham in Lemberg. In a simple language the author tells his co-religionists of the change that has come over them, of the formation of a National Guard, of the Freedom of the Press, and of the Constitution. It proceeds to give the late occurrences in Lemberg, and expresses the hope of a close union with the Gentile population. "And to-day when the Gentiles cast away their hatred against us, we Jews who have always had good hearts shall certainly be one body and one soul with the Christians." A month later A. M. Mohr started a political gazette under the name of _Zeitung_, in which a corrupt German, rather than Judeo-German, was employed. This paper has subsisted, with some interruptions and various changes of form, up to the present time. The following year there was issued a rival paper, _Die jüdische Post_, which added a commercial column to the political news.

In Russia no periodical appeared until Zederbaum issued his supplement, _Kol-mewasser_, to the _Hameliz_ in 1863. This weekly was not only a gazette of political news, but also a literary magazine which, as we have seen, has fostered the Judeo-German literature and has made it possible for Abramowitsch and Linetzki to develop themselves. In 1871 its life was cut short. In 1867 a short-lived attempt was made in Warsaw to issue a weekly, _Die Warschauer jüdische Zeitung_, which followed closely the precedent set by the _Kol-mewasser_. Many of the contributors to the older magazine have written articles for the same. For some reason, emanating mainly from the censor, no periodical in Judeo-German was published in Russia during the seventies. The Jews were, however, not entirely without reading matter of that class, for at different times magazines and gazettes were issued for them abroad. The first of the kind was the _Jisrulik_, which appeared in Lemberg in 1875 under the joint editorship of Linetzki and Goldfaden. This differed from its predecessors in so far as it made the literary part the most important division in its columns. Most of the matter was furnished by the editors themselves, or rather by Linetzki alone, for Goldfaden's name does not figure upon it after the first few numbers. In less than half a year, the _Jisrulik_ was discontinued. From 1877 up to 1881 Brüll issued in Mainz a weekly, _Hajisroeli_, devoted to the interests of the Russian Jews. Upon its pages one may now and then find the names of some of the older writers, but on the whole it seems to have been only in distant contact with its countrymen at home. Another weekly of the same character was started in 1880 under the name of _Kol-leom_ in Königsberg. Only the next year Zederbaum succeeded in obtaining the Government's permission for his _Volksblatt_, which appeared uninterruptedly until 1889, some time after its chief contributors, Spektor and Rabinowitsch had discontinued their connection with it and had started annuals of their own. Since then, several new ones, all of them of very short duration, have seen daylight. At the moment of writing this, permission has been granted by the Russian government to a Zionistic society, in Warsaw, to publish a magazine under the name of _Bas-kol_.

There has been a steady progress in the periodical press, such as could be expected under the tantalizing restrictions attendant on a Judeo-German press in Russia. The _Volksblatt_ is both quantitatively and qualitatively an improvement over the _Kol-mewasser_, which in its turn is far superior to the gazettes preceding it. The _Hausfreund_ and the _Volksbibliothēk_, _Dās hēilige Land_, and _Die Jüdische Bibliothēk_ are all more systematic, more in accord with the modern form of periodicals, than the _Volksblatt_.