From Leksikon fun der Yidisher
Literatur, Prese, un Filologie
(Lexicon of Yiddish Literature,
Press, and Philology)
Zalmen Reyzen, editor
Vilna: Vilner Farlag fun B. Kletskin, 1926
Volume 1, Pages 700-710
(See Yiddish Version Here)
Translated from the Yiddish by
Tina Lunson
Edited by Mindy Liberman
Yankev (Jacob) Dinezon
(1856[1]–August 29, 1919)
Born in Nay Zhager (New Zhager), Kovno region, into a Hasidic family. His father, Binyumin Dinezon, a scholarly Jew and in the last years of his life a failed businessman, gave him a traditional Jewish education, at age four already attending a cheder, at seven beginning Talmud study. From earliest childhood on, he demonstrated a passion for writing, and Mikhl Gordon, a close friend of his parents’ house, was kvater” at D’s circumcision (the person who brings the baby to the room where the circumcision is held) and carried him in his arms, predicted a literary career for him. When he was 12, his father died, and he was taken in by an uncle on his mother’s side, Isaac Eliashev, who lived in Mohilev on the Dnieper. He was an observant Jew but no stranger to secular knowledge and an excellent mathematician. D studied in the yeshiva there until age 16, was one of the best students, known for his scholarship, and later studied by himself in the besmedresh (study house) of the famous orthodox patron Reb Shimen Tsukerman, who also welcomed D into his home as a frequent guest. In Tsukerman’s library, D found a great treasury of books that satisfied his thirst for reading and knowledge.
At that time D also began an acquaintance with Hebrew Enlightenment literature. A great influence on him then was the home of the wealthy and educated Mohilev family Hurevitsh [Hurewic; Hurevits, Horowitz, Gurevitz], especially the wife Bodana Hurevitsh, who hired D as a Hebrew teacher for her children. It was at the Hurevitsh home that D was first exposed to secular learning and also learned Russian and German. He quickly became a member of the household, and they gave him various assignments in their business as well. Once he was sent from the Hurevitsh house to Vilna with a message for Bodana Hurevitsh’s sister Devorah Romm, where, in the famous printing house, he met outstanding maskilim, among them Issac Meyer Dik. By that time, D had already published letters and articles in Ha-Magid (The Preacher) and Ha-Melits (The Advocate) but was already an enthusiastic follower of the Yiddish language as a means of enlightening the folk masses.
He presented a series of natural science lessons at the Mohilev Talmud Torah, after the style of [Aaron] Bernstein, volunteering together with friends from among the city’s progressive youth. He even had a few of them published in brochure form (Duner un blits (Thunder and Lightning), 1876; Regn un Shney (Rain and Snow) and others). He wrote a large novel in Yiddish titled Beoven avos (For the Sins of the Fathers), in which he depicted the tragedy of a young Jewish woman who was destroyed by the fanaticism and ignorance of her parents. (Taken from Mohilev reality, the same subject was dealt with by D’s friend who later became a revolutionary, Eliezer Tsukerman, in his story “Oylem hafukh” (“The Upside Down World”) in Ha-Shahar (Morning), VI.)
Acquainted with D’s novel in manuscript form, the Vilna “enlighteners” like Sh. Y. Fayn, A. M. Dik, and others accepted the young writer warmly, and the printing firm Romm bought the manuscript from him, paying the highest honorarium standard at the time, that is, as much as Dik received: two rubles for a printer signature. However, the novel was confiscated by the censor and was never published. In order to cover the cost of the honorarium that he had received for the forbidden Beoven avos, D prepared in six weeks—between Passover and Shavuos—his second novel Ha-ne’ehavim veha-ne’imim, oder, Der shvartser yungermantshik (The Beloved and Pleasing, or, the Dark Young Man), (Vilna, 1877, 240 pages). The success of that work, which, by the way, did not please the author, was extraordinary. Within a short time, the novel reached an unheard-of number of 10,000 copies, and it was later reprinted several times in the thousands. It was rare for a work of Yiddish literature to make such a deep impression on the Jewish audience. And the heroes and heroines of the novel were, for many years, a by-word for many people.
During that time, D experienced a major tragedy—an unfortunate love for his pupil, the Hurevitsh daughter. He was faithful to that first and last love for his entire life and never married. The writer Smolenskin also made a strong impression on him in his comments about D’s article “Hahergl v’habikures” (“Habit and Control”), Ha-Shahar, VI, stating that a “maskil (a follower of the Jewish Enlightenment) who writes in Yiddish is like two contrasts in one person.” He retreated from literature for a long time and considered leaving Mohilev and going to the Breslau rabbinical seminary, but it was too hard for him to separate from the Hurevitsh family.
At the beginning of the 1880s, when Bodana’s family moved to Kiev, he moved there with them as bookkeeper and cashier in the Hurevitshes’s office. At the end of 1885, D arrived in Warsaw, where he resided with his sister, who ran a business selling beautifully crafted writing instruments. Not counting his feuilleton “Vos zogt der oylem” (“What Does the Public Say?”) with which he greeted the publication of Zederbaum’s Dos yudishes folks-blat (The Jewish People’s Paper), 1881, 1–3, explaining the need for a Yiddish newspaper, he only began publishing once again at the end of the 1880s.
When Dr. Skomorovski turned to Heinrich Graetz for permission to translate his Folkstimlekhe geshikhte der yuden (Popular History of the Jews) into Yiddish and the famous historian answered with a refusal that sullied the Yiddish language (Dr. Skomorovski published Graetz’s answer in Ha-Tsefirah (The Dawn) and Ha-Melits (The Advocate), D came out with a sharp and courageous article, “Profesor grets un der yudisher Zhargon oder ver mit vos darf zikh shemen? ” (“Professor Graetz and the Jewish Jargon or Who Should be Ashamed of What?”) (enclosure to the Yudishes folks-blat, 1888, No. 2), in which he defended the Yiddish language with a whole series of arguments and did not hesitate to also attack Graetz as a historian who in his History, in general, ignored the Russian Jews. The editor of the Folks-blat [Yisroel Levi] took Graetz on, particularly on the last point, even giving in to D in the question of Graetz’s attitude to Yiddish.
Dinezon returned to the language question in his larger article “Di Yudishe shprakhe un ire shrayber” (“The Yiddish Language and Her Writers” (in Hoyz-fraynd (House-Friend) I), and he demonstrated his knowledge of Old Yiddish literature as well. (And in vain did Reb Katsin, in his overly strenuous paper in Sholem Aleichem’s Yudishe Folks-bibliotek (Jewish Folk Library) I, pose the idiotic question, “How did he know that Eliahu Bokher was the author of the Bova-bukh (Bovo d’Antona)?”) He came out against the arrogance of the Hebraists and contempt for Yiddish from the side of the learned by saying that “one can better influence the masses with their own simple Yiddish language.” He also wrote narratives and sketches from Jewish folk life (“Kreplekh zolstu esn” (“Go Eat Kreplach”), a sketch in Sholem Aleichem’s Yudishe Folks-bibliotek I; Yon-kiper (Yom Kippur), a larger novella in Hoyz-fraynd II), and his big novel Even negef, oder, a shteyn in veg (Stumbling Block, or, A Stone in the Road), Vilna, 1890, 358 pages). In addition to these was a long list of other fiction works that were only published later or remained in manuscript, including the children’s story Avigdorl.
A defining moment in his life was his befriending in 1887, meeting I. L. Peretz, whose Bekante bilder (Familiar Pictures) D published at his own expense. That acquaintanceship soon became an intimate, touching friendship, which filled the entire rest of D’s life and pushed all of his other interests into the background. He also helped the great poet in his literary undertakings, for example, in the publication of the Yudishe Bibliotek (Jewish Library), where he published his third great novel, Hershele (Warsaw, 1891, 200 pages).
His long children’s story Yosele (Progress Press, Warsaw, 1899, 188 pages) created a big stir. Later D, from time to time, printed stories in Yud (The Jew), Yudishe Folks-tsaytung (Jewish People’s Newspaper), Fraynd (Friend), Tsukunft (Future), and others. He earned a living as an announcement agent for Yiddish and Hebrew newspapers, but he gradually withdrew from actively publishing his literary efforts. Although he did not stop writing, he rarely published his work but gave a lot of time and effort to the literary concerns of his colleagues—the Yiddish writers. The little room in Warsaw, where he lived for years, became a literary center for both Warsaw writers and those who came from elsewhere.
After Peretz’s death, which made the deepest impression on D, he gave himself entirely to the work of the Jewish orphanages and schools, which began to be built during the time of the war and the expulsions. Together with V. Medem, the representative of the Bund), (General Jewish Workers’ Union in Lithuania, Poland, and Russia), and Raykhman [Yisroel Vesher-Raykhman], the representative of the Poale-tsien), (Workers of Zion), he was the person most concerned with the Yiddishistishe), (Yiddishist) schools in Poland, and his death was a great blow, not only for Yiddish literature but also for the young Yiddish schools movement.
Several thousand people participated in his funeral procession with dozens of delegations from unions and organizations, and he was buried next to Peretz. Over the grave of Peretz, D, and An-sky in 1925 was erected the monument Ohel Perets (Peretz’s Tomb).
D is considered the creator of the sentimental novel in Yiddish literature. Although Dik had already written many stories in the sentimental style, D was the first to attempt a long novel in Yiddish. He also stood closer to modern times with its problems than the old writer from the Haskalah. However, Dik’s main quality—the moralizing and criticism of customs—also brought Dinezon closer to the founder of secular Yiddish fiction writing, making him Dik’s direct heir.
His chief goal was to enlighten the ordinary readers, awakening in them good feelings, love and sympathy for the weak, and regard for a loving heart. On the other side, he sought to make repugnant to the reader evil and false people, depicting them in black colors (Der shvartser yungermantshik). Drawing upon the ideals of the Haskalah movement, he defended the ideas of education and religious tolerance to his readers and also explained manifestations of the natural environment and so on. D’s style and manner in his first novels are primitive, the depiction of the heroes is exaggerated, and the language is not free of Russianisms, but they have the great merit of being accessible and comprehendible to the ordinary reader whom D had most pointedly in mind, and he was their household author.
Moreover, the depictions of the characters, even in D’s first novels, were completely successful artistically, as were several sketches of community and Hasidic life. Dinezon’s merits were even more apparent in his third novel, Hershele, which generally stands on a higher level in the detail of realistic representation.
Beginning in the 1890s, D’s creative work became even more complete artistically. From long novels, he moved to stories and sketches written in a soft and tender tenor. His favored heroes were ordinary women and children. The fate of an unfortunate orphan is described in his fine work, Yosele. Also concerning children’s lives was the series “Kindershe neshomes” (“Children’s Souls”) (in the supplements to Fraynd, 1904), and others.
Excelling among his other longer works were Alter: a roman in eyn teyl (Alter: A Novel in One Part) (in the supplements to Fraynd, 1903, pp. 40-276), Falik un zayn hoyz (Falik and His House) (Fraynd, 1904), Der krizis: dertseylung fun soykherishn lebn (The Crisis: A Story of Merchant Life) (Warsaw, 1903, 104 pages); “Yosl Algebrenik” (“Yosl the Algebra Man”) (in Tsukunft), and others. Dinezon’s newer work was not entirely free of sentimentality either, but the real, heartfelt lyricism and the kind, touching love for people that can be felt in everything that D wrote gives his work a special charm, and his gift for tender feminine depictions possesses a special place in Yiddish literature.
No collected publication of D’s work has come out to date. However, around 1912, D began to prepare such a publication and had even permitted the first volume to be set in type under the title Goles bilder (Pictures from the Exile), which contained the long stories Falik un zayn hoyz and Der krizis, but in the end, for reasons unknown to us, the plan was not realized.
He also left a large amount of work that was never published, such as Eym habonim, oder, di sheyne Rokhele (Mother of Sons, or, Pretty Rachel), a novel in four parts, 750 pages; Maysim b’kol yom (Everyday Deeds), a novel in two parts, 508 pages; Khelmo toyvo khazay: eyne kritishe ertseylung fom lebn gegrifn forgeshtelt in a kholem (I Had a Good Dream: A Critical Story of Life from a Concept in a Dream), written in 1880, 200 pages; Far likht bentshn (Before Blessing the Candles), part one, 175 pages; Reb Berl der groyser, a kheyder mayse (Reb Berl the Great: A Cheder Story); Kheyder yunglekh, an emese mayse (Cheder Boys, A True Story); Vegn Robinzon Kruze: oykh mayn ersht verk (About Robinson Crusoe: Also My First Work); Tsushnayder (Fabric Cutter); Yon-kiper motiven (Yom Kippur Motifs); Der zeyger (The Clock); Di milkhome (The War). The Seyfer zikorn (Book of Memories) also mentions a work of his in Yiddish, Miriam ha-khashmonoyes (Miriam the Hasmonean). Also never out in book form is his story A brif tsu a mekhaber (A Letter to An Author), published under the pseudonym N. N. in a series of feuilletons in the Yudishe Folks-blat in 1885 and where he depicts in the form of a letter from a Jewish student a heartrending tragedy based on the abnormal Jewish education of Jewish children in Lithuania.
Among D’s other literary works of note are his translation of Graetz’s Popular History of the Jews (except for the first volume, which was translated by J. J. Lerner in 1885) and his reworking of the first volume of the four-volume World History (first published as a supplement to Yud in 1900; it was later reprinted many times. The Hebrew Publishing Company, New York, came out with parts in different books, like Egipten (Egypt), Bavl (Babylonia), Indyen (India), Khine (China), for example, as well as his series of articles, Di Mormonen: zayer religion un zayer geshikhte (The Mormons: Their Religion and Their History) (in the supplements to Fraynd, 1904, pp. 200-227).
In separate publications, several of his short stories were also printed, such as Shimshon Shloyme mit zayne ferd, oder, a kholem fun a gevezenem shmayser (Shimshon Shloyme and His Horses, or, A Dream of a Former Coachman) (Kleyne folks-bibliotek (Small People’s Library), Warsaw, 1905, 15 pages) and from his many holiday stories, Tuvyele: a shvues mayse (Tuvyele: A Shavuos Story) (Progress Publishers, 16 pages); Gitele’s yom-kiper (Hebrew Publishing Company). His story Yosele was also published in the edition Finf niftorim (Five Who Have Passed Away) with a sketch about Dinezon’s life and work by M. Ben-Yakov and with pictures and embellishments by Uriel Birnbaum (Der kval Publishers, Vienna, 1920, p. XVI and 147), and also in a special reworking for schools by Jacob Levin (Hebrew Publishing Company, NY). The countless letters D wrote over many decades to almost all Yiddish and Hebrew authors also have a special value to Yiddish literature. Those letters, which are an important part of his creativity, especially in the last period of his life when he sought through them to quiet his too-early-silenced writing talents, are, unfortunately, not collected. Only certain ones of them have been published, as in Shalit’s Lebn (Life) I-IV, in the collection Shriftn (Writings) V in Bikher Velt (Book World), 1922, p. 327, and 1923, pp. 222 and 414. His colossal archive, which contains thousands of letters from Yiddish writers and personalities, represents an enormous treasure for the history of our intellectual culture over the last 50 years and remains unpublished at the disposal of the Dinezon Committee. Only a very small number of them were published by Sh. Rozenfeld in the three volumes of his journal Der Khoydesh (The Month), 1921.
Of great interest are his still unpublished memoirs about I. M. Dik and Mendele Moykher-Sforim, and about Yiddish theater. Also of importance for his biography are his “Erinerungen fun kindershen lebn” (“Memories of Childhood”) (Der yud, 1900, pp. 5-14) and “Mayne erste kinder-yohren biz mayn ershter probe tsu shraybn” (“My Earliest Childhood Years until my First Attempts to Write”) (in Pinkes (Record Book), 145-168). Of his few memoirs about Peretz, only one chapter was printed in Tog (Day), New York, Passover, 1924.
Seyfer zikorn; Kritikus (Critical) (Dubnow), in ВОСХОДЪ (Voskhod) (Sunrise), 1890, II; F, in ВОСХОДЪ (Voskhod), 1893, II–III; L. Wiener, YL (The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century); Ben-Kalman, in Dos tsvansigste yorhundert (The Twentieth Century); I. L. Peretz, Oyfzatsen un felyetonen (Essays and Articles), idem, in Ahiasef, 1904; Bal-Makhshoves, Geklibene shriftn (Collected Works) I; Dr. M. Pines, Di geshikhte fun der yudisher literatur (History of Yiddish Literature) I; JE (Jewish Encyclopedia), IV; ЕЭ Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона (Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary) VII; S. Niger, D der brifshrayber (D the Letter Writer), in the collection Shriftn (Writings) V; S. L. Tsitron, Dray literarishe doyres (Three Literary Generations) I; idem, “D un Levande” (“D and Levande”) in Shalit’s Lebn (Life), III–IV, “Perets, D, un An-sky” (“Peretz, D, and An-sky”), Lebn, VIII; M. Litvakov, “Tsvey doyres: D un azoy vayter” (“Two Generations: D and Others” in Kultur un bildung (Culture and Education) 24; Dr. Jacob Grinfeld in Fraynd, N. Y., 1919, X; An-sky, Ben-Avigdor, and others in Ilustrirte velt (Illustrated World), 1919, 9; Yankev Fikhman, in Meveyres (Transitions), 1919; idem, in Moment, 1924, 227; David Frishman, Haynt (Today), 1919, 205; Dr. Gershon Levin, ibid; H. D. Nomberg, Moment, 1919, 205; V. Medem, Fun mayn notits-bukh (From My Notebook); Lazar Kahan, Lodzer folks-blat (Lodz People’s Newspaper) 1919; Menakhem and A. Glants, Tog (Day), New York, Nov. 7, 1919; Z. Shneour, Moment, September 1920; Bal-Dimyon, Morgen zhurnal (Jewish Morning Journal), 1923; A. Kacyzne, “Dos problem Dinezon” (“The Dinezon Problem”) in Literarishe bleter (Literary Pages), 22; N. Mayzel, ibid, 78; Roza Laks-Peretz, ibid, 42–43; S. Dubnow, Tog, New York, 1925; S. An-sky, Pyonern (Pioneers), part 2, chapter 25.