YEKHEZKL
DOBRUSHIN (December 10, 1883-August 11, 1953)
He was a literary research,
playwright, poet, and prose author, born in the village of Mutyn, Ukraine. His father Moyshe, a timber merchant, came
from Shchadryn, Byelorussia. He studied
Mishna and text commentators with itinerant teachers, as well as Hebrew and
Russian with tutors. In 1902 he moved abroad,
studied there in the free Russian high school, and subsequently continued his
education at the Sorbonne. He was
chairman of the Parisian organization of the Socialist Zionist Party. After passing his examinations with the law
faculty, he returned home in 1909 to care for his parents. He then became ill with a serious foot
ailment, laid in bed in Kiev until 1912, and then spent much time in
Crimea. In 1916 he settled in Kiev. In 1917 he was active in the united socialist
party. He was one of the founders of the
“Kultur-lige” (Culture league), as well as a member of its central committee
and its executive bureau. He was a
teacher of Yiddish literature in the Jewish state people’s university, in the
teachers’ seminary, and in other higher educational institutions. He began his literary activities in Hebrew in
Hatsfira (The siren), and in Yiddish
in Vokhnblat (Weekly newspaper)
edited by Hillel Tsaytlin. From 1920 he
was living in Moscow where he was active in local Jewish cultural
institutions. He was secretary of the
first Jewish writers’ organization in Moscow.
Having received the title of professor, he gave lectures at the University
for Nationalities of the West, in the academy for education, in the Jewish
state chamber theater, in the theatrical studio of the Kultur-lige, and in the
Jewish section of the Second Moscow University [now, Moscow State Pedagogical
University], among others. During WWI,
he published poetry and literary criticism in Petrograd’s Togblat (Daily newspaper). Beginning in 1918 he developed a broad and
creative work in a variety of fields—literature, theater, and pedagogy. He took
an active part in publishing and editing the publications of the “Kultur-lige: the
children’s magazines Kling klang
(Cling-clang) in 1923 and Pyoner
(Pioneer) in 1927-1928; the anthology Eygns
(One’s own) in 1918-1920; Oyfgang
(Arise) in 1919; Baginen (At dawn) in
1919; Bikher-velt (Book world) in
1919; the journal Shtrom (Current) in
Moscow in 1922-1924; Yungvald (Young
forest) in 1924-1927; the althology Sovetish
(Soviet) in 1934-1941; and the Moscow newspaper Eynikeyt (Unity), 1942-1948. He wrote on the topic of the Yiddish
classical writers and about Soviet Yiddish writers from the oldest to the
youngest. As a playwright he accomplished
much for the Yiddish State Theater in Moscow.
Aside from his own plays, he adapted for the stage a string of works by
Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Sholem-Aleykhem, Goldfaden, and others, such as: Masoes benyomin hashlishi (The travels of Benjamin the Third), Dray pintelekh (Three dots), Di
kishefmakherin (The sorceress), Dos
tsente gebot (The tenth commandment), Menakhem-mendl
(Menakhem Mendl), and Tevye der milkhiker
(Tevye the dairyman), among others.
His first
booklet of poems and one-act plays appeared in print in Vilna in 1912. He would
later publish numerous books, but in all of the genres he produced one senses a
poetic soul. There is a distinct sense for the times. For example, when there
began in the Soviet Union the migration of the Jews onto the land, he would
note this with his own distinctive eye. In the late 1920s he was visiting all
the new Jewish settlements in Crimea, finding there images for his work. Thus
was born his play Arum a baydl, agro-pyese
in 2 bilder (Around a cabin, an agricultural play in two scenes) (Moscow:
Shul un bukh, 1928), 54 pp., and a sketch cycle Erd-lebn (Life on the land) (Khakov: Central Publishers, 1929), 62
pp. The migrants dubbed one of their settlements “Dobrushino.” In Crimea and in
the other ethnic Jewish regions of Ukraine, people would name the Jewish villages
cropping up after the most prominent community leaders who had accomplished a
great deal in the realm of Jewish land accommodations. After the war these
names were changed to new ones, but the map of Crimea (changed faster than all,
so that they would assume a Ukrainian or Russian word).
Dobrushin also invested a
great deal in the development of the Yiddish theater. He served as literary
director of the Moscow Yiddish State Theater. He also wrote original dramatic
works. Over the years, the Moscow and other theatrical troupes staged his plays
and one-acts works for children; Dobrushin also brought out numerous one-act
and short plays for children, many of which were tendentious propaganda. A great
number of theatrical works in the field of playwrighting and theater arts
belong to Dobrushin. In 1939 his monograph Benyomin
zuskind (Benyomin Zuskind), 60 pp., appeared from Moscow publisher “Der
emes”; in 1940, Mikhoels der aktyor
(Mikhoels the actor), 128 pp. In 1932 his collection of articles in which a
major part is taken up by his essay “Sholem-aleykhems dramaturgye”
(Sholem-Aleichem’s playwriting). For the Moscow anthology Yidn in fssr, zamlbukh (Jews in the USSR, collection) (Emes, 1935),
he penned a piece entitled “Yidishe teater-kultur in ratn-farband” (Jewish
theater culture in the Soviet Union). Shortly before his arrest, he brought out
his last book, Di dramaturgye fun di
klasiker (Goldfaden, Mendele moykher-sforim,
sholem-aleykhem, y. l. perets)” (The playwriting of the classical authors:
Goldfaden, Mendele Moykher-Sforim, Sholem-Aleichem, Y. L. Perets) (Moscow:
Emes, 1948), 190 pp. He was one of the most beloved of teachers in the Jewish
theatrical studio. On March 31, 1939 he was awarded by the Soviet government
with an “honorary degree” “for extraordinary service in the development of
Soviet theatrical art.”
In the history of Soviet
Yiddish literature, Dobrushin acquired an extraordinary reputation for his
literary criticism and research work. This began with two short books— Aleksander blok, etyud (Study of
Aleksander Blok) (Kiev: Jewish Section, State Publ., 1921), 28 pp.; and Gedankengang (Reasoning) (Kiev:
Kultur-lige, 1922), 135 pp.—published 1921-1922 in Kiev. From that point
forward, not a single important literary phenomenon transpired without his
judgment. All well-known writers, 1920s-1940s, found a reflection in Dobrushin’s
articles. His last great work was the monograph Dovid bergelson (Dovid Bergelson) (Moscow, 1947), 341 pp.
His
contribution was important as well to the publication of the works by the
Yiddish classical authors. When “Emes” publishers undertook to bring out the
collected writings of Sholem-Aleichem in 1935-1938 in fifteen volumes,
Dobrushin wrote the prefatory remarks to volumes 1, 2, 3, 9, 14, and 15. He had
begun his research on Sholem-Aleichem’s creative work before the Revolution. He
published articles in anthologies dedicated to the second and third anniversaries
of Sholem-Aleichem’s death, which appeared in Petrograd and Kiev in 1918 and
1919. Dozens of articles about Sholem-Aleichem were published under his pen.
Dobrushin
was also well-known as an indefatigable researcher into Jewish folklore. In the
Moscow anthology Sovetish, he
published work on the Yiddish lullaby and on classic as well as Soviet folklore
among the Jewish masses. Virtually every collection of Yiddish folk songs and folk
tales, published in the Soviet Union by an assortment of publishers, was
accompanied with an article or commentary by Dobrushin. Over the course of many
years, Professor Dobrushin read cycles of lectures on literature and folklore
in colleges in Moscow, Kiev, and Odessa.
During WWII he was evacuated
to Uzbekistan. He was a leading member
of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in Moscow, particularly of its Historical
Commission. After the war he wrote a
great deal about Yiddish writers who died on the battlefields. He was arrested in early 1949. He suffered
the punishment of exile to a camp near the Siberian city of Abez, and there he
died.
Among his
books thus far not mentioned: Benkende
neshomes (Homesick souls), a collections of poems, one-act plays, and
images (Vilna: Yunge kunst, 1912), 64 pp.; Esterke
(Little Esther) (Kiev: Kunst-farlag, 1914), 52 pp.; Ven gefiln vakhn (When feelings awaken), a drama (Vilna, 1914); In gortn (In the garden), a children’s
play (St. Petersburg, 1916; second edition, Kiev: Kiever farlag, 1918); A mayse mit a kholem (A story with a
dream), a children’s play, written with Dovid Hofshteyn (Kiev, 1919), 20 pp.; Farnakhtn, lider (Evenings, poems)
(Kiev, 1921; second edition, Lodz, 1921), 44 pp.; A zun mit a regn, lider (A sun with rain, poems), children’s poetry
(Vilna: Tsentraler shul organizatsye, 1921), 16 pp.; Got der fayer, yugnt plakat in dray bilder (The ardor of God, a
youth placard in three scenes) (Moscow, 1922), 30 pp.; Yungvarg, instsenirung (Young people, a dramatization) (Moscow:
Central People’s Publishers, USSR, 1927), 30 pp. (including musical notation by
A. Pulver); Moyshke harmat, kinder
dertseylung (Little Moyshe the cannon, a children’s story) (Moscow: Central
People’s Publishers, USSR, 1929), 69 pp.; Sholem-aleykhems
dramaturgye (see above), offprint from Tsaytshrift
(Periodical) 2-3 (Minsk, 1929); Der
gerikht geyt, komedye in dray aktn akhtsn bilder (The trial is on, a comedy
in three acts and eighteen scenes) (Minsk: Central People’s Publishers, USSR,
1930), 79 pp.; Afn 62-tn (With the 62nd),
a play in three acts (Minsk: Central People’s Publishers, USSR, 1931), 58 pp.; Kinder-teater (Children’s theater)
(Minsk, 1931), 47 pp.; In iberboy,
literarish-kritishe artiklen (Under reconstruction, literary-critical
articles) (Moscow: Emes, 1932), 293 pp.; Kolvirtisher
teater, eynakter un sketshn (Collective farm theater, one-act plays and
sketches) (Moscow: Emes, 1932), 30 pp.; Kolvirtishe
kinder, fraye fartseykhenungen (Collective farm children, free jottings)
(Moscow: Emes, 1932), 55 pp.; Sovetishe
dikhtung (Soviet poetry) (Moscow: Emes, 1935), 165 pp.; Pyesn (Plays) (Moscow: Emes, 1937), 184
pp.; Freydele, kinder-pyese in dray aktn
(Freydele, a children play in three acts) (Kharkov: Central Publ., 1937), 29
pp.; Undzere mentshn, fartseykhenungen
(Our people, jottings) (Moscow: Emes, 1942), 30 pp.; Heyse hertser, fartseykhenungen (Warm hearts, jottings) (Moscow:
Emes, 1943), 29 pp.; foreword to Sh. Kupershmid, comp., Folkslider fun der foterlendisher milkhome (Folksongs from the
fatherland’s war) (Moscow: Emes, 1944), 32 pp.
His translations include:
Anatole France, Tayis (Thaïs) (Kiev,
1920; second edition, Warsaw, 1922-1923; Moscow: Emes, 1937), 185 pp.; Émile
Verhaeren, Filip der tsveyte (Philip II [original: Phillipe
II]); Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Edipus
der kinig (Oedipus the king [original: Ödipus und die Sphinx, or Oedipus and the sphinx]; Victor Hugo, Gavrosh
(Gavroche), adapted for Yiddish (Moscow: Central People’s Publishers, USSR,
1927), 64 pp.; Victor Hugo, Han der
islender (Han d’Islande [Han of Iceland]); and others. He compiled: Deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (Declaimer of
Soviet Jewish literature) (Moscow: Emes, 1934), 410 pp. (with Yoysef Rabin); Folks-mayses (Folktales) (Moscow: Emes,
1939), 62 pp.; Yidishe folkslider
(Yiddish folksongs) (Moscow: Emes, 1940), 486 pp. (with Avrom Yuditski); Evreyskiye narodnye pesni (Jewish folksongs)
(Moscow, 1947), 279 pp.
He contributed to the collections: Tsum ondenk fun sholem-aleykhem (To the memory of
Sholem-Aleykhem) (Petrograd: Sholem-aleykhem fond, 1917); and Mikhoels, 1890-1948 (Mikhoels,
1890-1948) (Moscow: Emes, 1948). His
work was also included in: Teater-bukh
(Theater book) (Kiev, 1927); Osher shvartsman, zamlung gevidmet dem
tsvantsik yortog fun zayn heldishn toyt (Osher Shvartsman, collection dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of
his heroic death) (Moscow: Emes, 1940); Far der bine: dertseylungen, pyeses,
lider (For the stage: stories, plays, poems), with musical notation
(together with Elye Gordon) (Moscow: Emes, 1929); Deklamater fun der sovetisher yidisher literatur (see above); Farn heymland in shlakht! (For the
homeland in battle!) (Moscow: Emes, 1941); Far
kleyne kinder (For small children) (Kiev, 1918); Klingen hemerlekh (Ringing gavels) (Moscow: State Publ., 1925); Lider (Poetry) (Riga, 1941).
Aleksander Pomerants
[Additional information from: Berl Kagan,
comp., Leksikon fun yidish-shraybers
(Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers) (New York, 1986), col. 184; and
Chaim Beider, Leksikon fun yidishe
shrayber in ratn-farband (Biographical dictionary of Yiddish writers in the
Soviet Union), ed. Boris Sandler and Gennady Estraikh (New York: Congress for
Jewish Culture, Inc., 2011), pp. 90-92.]
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