MICHA JOSEF
BERDYCZEWSKI (August 7, 1865-November 18, 1921)
He was born in
Mezhybozhe (Medzhybizh, Międzyboż), Podolia, the oldest son of R. Moyshe-Arn. At age eleven his mother died, and he
suffered great hardship. He spent his
youth in the town of Dubovka, Kiev region, where his father had moved. He married for the first time at age fifteen,
and after the wedding he left to study in the Volozhin yeshiva where he became
acquainted with early Zionist ideas—Ḥibbat tsiyon—and where he also took his first step as a Hebrew
writer. Several years later he left
Volozhin, returning home and unable to live in peace—neither with his
relatives, nor with his wife. He
wandered around for a lengthy period of time, until in 1890 he arrived in
Odessa where he was active in early Zionist circles. From there he sent his wife a document of
divorce, left for Germany, over the course of five years studied in Breslau and
Berlin, and graduated from the University of Bern (Switzerland). From 1902 to 1911, he lived in Breslau and
the last ten years of his life in Berlin.
He wrote in Hebrew, Yiddish, and German, as a columnist, critic,
novelist, and storyteller. He began
publishing Hebrew articles in 1884/1885; he wrote for Haasif (The
harvest), Hakerem (The vineyard), and Hamelits (The advocate)
between 1886/1887 and 1891/1892. He
published his Torah novelae in the journal Hamisdron (The typesetting
room) in Jerusalem and in the collection Bet hamidrash (The study
chamber), which he himself published. A
man with a fiery temperament and searching spirit, he raged in his writings
against traditional Judaism in the name of a new humanism. He came out publicly against Aḥad Haam and his conception of “spiritual
Judaism” with his own idea of a “Judaism of life.” Influenced by Nietzsche, he was the first of
a new generation of individualist Hebrew writers. When his first book of stories—entitled Miḥuts lateḥum (Out of bounds)—appeared in print, he published
an article, entitled “Reshut hayaḥid be’ad harabim” (The authority of the individual for the sake of the
many), in Otsar hasifrut (Treasury of literature) against a prejudicial
Jewishness, which led to a storm. His
call to re-evaluate all values, to return to nature and to the pleasure of
beauty, his protest against the idea of the “people of the book” and his
glorification of the sword and physical prowess literally portended a
revolution in Jewish society. Berdyczewski
then founded a publishing house “Tseirim” (Young ones) and published his
writings in chapbooks (later brought together in the anthology Baderekh
[On the road]).
From the time of
his stay in Dubovka (1901), he more often—under the influence of the living
Yiddish word and living Yiddish environment—wrote in Yiddish; he began wroting
in Yiddish in the 1880s or 1890s and the first published piece was “A mayse mit
a flig” (A story with a fly). He
published a series of short books, entitled for example: A mayse fun eynem vos
hot farsamt zayn vayb (A story about one who poisoned his wife) (Warsaw,
1902), 16 pp.; Shmuesn, kurtse mayselekh tsum leynen (Conversations,
short stories to read); Hagdomes tsu sforim (Prefaces to books) (Warsaw,
1902). He later published fictional
writings and current events articles in: Yud (Jew), Yudishe
folks-tsaytung (Jewish people’s newspaper), the anthology Hilf
(Help) (1903), Fraynd (Friend), Tog (Day) in St. Petersburg, Dos
lebn (Life), Lemberger tageblat (Lemberg daily newspaper), Nyu
yorker yidishes folksblat (New York Jewish newspaper), A. Reyzen’s Dos
yudishe vort (The Jewish word), Yudishe velt (Jewish world) (1913),
and articles on Jewish writers in Dos lebn (1914). His Yudishe ksovim fun a vaytn korev
(Yiddish writings from a distant relative)—“delivered to the publisher by Micha
Josef Bin-Gorion”—appeared in six volumes, written in the years 1902-1906; two
volumes of which were published in Warsaw in 1911 (vol. 1, 192 pp.; vol. 1, 166
pp.), republished in 1948 in New York; and six small volumes were brought out
by the publisher Y. Shitbl in Berlin (1924); and published in
Jerusalem in 1981, 225 pp. of Yiddish and 57 pp. of English. Also: Pirke
volozhin: Olam haatsilut, tsror mikhtavim meet bar-be-rav (Writings on Volozhin: The world of nobility, a bundle of letters from
a student) (Ḥolon, 1984), 81 pp. Characteristic of Berdyczewski’s Yiddish writings was simplicity and
sincerity. In his Yiddish writings, he
excelled at telling Hassidic stories which he wrote in a highly popular
tone. In the history of Yiddish style, Berdyczewski’s
Yiddish works will earn an honored place.
Among his Hebrew
writings, we need note the following: Meiri haketana (From my town); Maḥanayim (Two armies); and Urva paraḥ (Nonsense). When he was living in Breslau, he adapted
sources from Jewish homiletics and did thorough Talmudic research to do
so. In Berlin he published a number of
books in German, mainly Talmudic tales. His
writings have been published in Hebrew in twenty volumes. In 1921 when the first news arrived in Berlin
of the pogroms against Jews in Ukraine, he learned of the tragic death of his
father. He became ill and died of a
heart attack. In 1947 there opened in
Israel a “Micha Josef Berdyczewski House,” and in 1955 they celebrated there the
ninetieth anniversary of his birth with articles and treatises about his life
and works in the Hebrew press.
Sources: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon,
vol. 1 (with a bibliography); Universal Jewish Encyclopedia (New York,
1948); Z. Shazar, Or ishim (Light of personalities) (Tel Aviv, 1955),
see index; Aharon Ben-Or, Toldot hasifrut haivrit haḥadasha (History of modern Hebrew literature) (Tel Aviv,
1954), vol. 2, see index; Dr. Sh. Bernshteyn, Ḥazon hadorot (Vision of the generations) (New York, 1928), 28
pp.; Shmuel Niger, in Tsukunft (January 1922); D. A., in Yivo-bleter
36, p. 348 (Peretz’s review of Berdyczewski’s writings); M. Yafa, in Dorem
afrike (Johannesburg) (August 1955);
Yekhezkil
Keytelman
[Additional information from: Berl
Kagan, comp., Leksikon fun
yidish-shraybers (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986),
cols. 106-7.]
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