SHMUEL RESSER (d. after 1880)
He was
born in Vilna. He later settled in
southern Russia, where he worked as a teacher in the crown Jewish schools of
Bakhmut and Taganrog. He began
publishing in Kol mevaser (Herald), for
which he wrote, in addition to correspondence pieces, popular science and
Jewish Enlightenment articles—issues: 29 (1863); 34 (1864); 18 and 38 (1865); and
15 (1871), among others. He was one of
the first history popularizers in Yiddish, although in a seriously Germanized
language. His first work in this field
was Eyne kurtse allgemeyne velt geshikhte
(A short general world history), “from Russian into ‘German’ in language pure
and simple, in stories translated for children (Vilna: Joseph Reuven Romm, 1863),
237 pp. At the advice of Avrom-Ber
Gotlober “to translate the ancient history of the people of Israel into simple
Yiddish,” Resser published his book Koyres
yisroel, di alte geshikhte fun dem folk yisroel (Annals of Israel, the
ancient history of the Jewish people) (Vilna, 1870), 104 pp. The “Khevre mefitse haskole” (Society for the promotion of Enlightenment)
gave him a subvention for this work—truly a rare instance in which the Society
supported the publication of a book in Yiddish.
The second request from Resser to help publish his finished translation of
Studnitsky’s Russian geography was rejected by the Society. Of Resser’s other works, the following are
known: Rabe, eyne vunderlikhe ertsehlung
fun dem groysen yudishen lehrer rabe bar nakhmani, in der tsayt fun reysh galuse
mar ukve (Rabah, a wonderful story of the great Jewish teacher Rabah bar Naḥmani,
in the time of Exilarch Mar Ukva) (Warsaw, 1876), 66 pp.; Di yeger und di indishe banditen in amerika, a roman in tsvey theyl
(The hunter and the Indian bandits in America, a novel in two parts) (Warsaw,
1878), 168 pp., subsequent printings (1880; Lublin, 1881); and a translation of
Gustav Emar, Di fartsaytige retsikhes
(Ancient persecutions). His work, In der ṭoydter ṿistenish, a kampf tsvishn
foter un zohn (In the dead wasteland, a struggle between father and son)
(New York: Hebrew Publ. Co., n.d.), 168 pp., may possibly be a translation of
someone else’s work.
Source: Zalmen Reyzen, Leksikon, vol. 4.
Berl Cohen
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