Yosef Haim Brenner wrote in the Jewish language even before there was a demand for it
By ALEXANDER ZVIELLIYitzhak Ben-Zvi, David Ben-Gurion, Yosef Haim Brenner; standing: A. Reuveni, Ya’akov Zerubavel (1912).(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Would Yosef Haim Brenner, a visionary Hebrew writer, editor, publicist and translator, approve of this recent extensive incursion into his private life? Maybe he would, because his biographer is frank and in Yosef Haim Brenner – A Life, writes in her subject’s own direct style and manner.Anita Shapira, professor emeritus at Tel Aviv University and founder of the Yitzhak Rabin Center for Israel Studies, traces Brenner’s life story accurately, without any of the postmortem embellishments that followed his tragic death at the hands of never-found Arab murderers.The story is moving because no holds are barred in exploring the life and death of this rather melancholic, pessimistic Hebrew writer, who throughout his life diligently described the precarious ghetto existence, plagued by discrimination, stagnation, ignorance and poverty. Brenner, who often suffered from bouts of depression, was like the hero of one of his novels, Bahoref (“In Winter”), in which a Jew, Feierman, is stranded in the middle of nowhere in heavy snow, forced off a train because he did not have a ticket. Feierman’s heart was on fire, but he was buried in the heavy snow of exile; the ticket symbolized the passport Brenner never received.Shapira brings to life a crucial epoch in Jewish history, from the Russian Pale of Settlement shaken by the 1905 revolution, Ottoman Palestine on the eve of World War I, the Yishuv during World War I, up to the first years of the British occupation. We meet many pioneers of the Second Aliya, who in Brenner’s words tasted the first fruits of their toil “while thorns were hurting their fingers.”Who was Brenner? Born on September 11, 1881, in Novi Mlini (meaning “new flour mills”) in northern Ukraine, he was the son of Shlomo, a melamed (teacher), and Chaya Raisa, a tavern owner and storyteller.The family’s original surname was Lubanov but in the fashion of the time was changed – since only sons were exempt from the czar’s army service.From heder at the age of three, the young Brenner wandered from one yeshiva to another, seeking the light of Torah, until he revolted – reading forbidden books and starting to write his stories in the spirit of the secular Haskala Movement.Brenner taught himself Russian and German, and enjoyed Tolstoy and Dostoevsky.After being slapped publicly at yeshiva and seeing his manuscripts burned, he abandoned the tradition for secularism, existentialism and Bund Socialism.The slave-like obligatory service in the czar’s army since 1901 (no exemption for him) had toughened his body and character.
In 1905, at the outbreak of the Russo- Japanese War, he deserted – refusing to fight in the Far East for the czar who persecuted Jews, yet demanded their service.He was caught but then rescued, crossing borders and finally landing in London, where a growing Jewish-Russian colony offered him a very modest writer’s salary.On October 17, 1905, Czar Nicholas II agreed to some reforms, a success of the revolution, but the angry reaction inspired pogroms of previously unknown scope and brutality – with more than 3,500 Jews killed and over 10,000 wounded.In addition to this national calamity, Brenner suffered a personal blow: Chaya Wolfson, his friend and admirer, who had helped him escape from Russia and saved his life, was murdered.Brenner suffered a bout of depression, but again found solace in writing. Masada, the London Hebrew Speakers Society, helped him found Hameorer, a monthly Hebrew publication. Why Hebrew? “Because it enriches your soul,” he answered, ending the prevalent Yiddish-Hebrew competition. Though not Zionist, it served all Jews to whom Hebrew was dear.The censor did not allow Hameorer to reach Russian subscribers, and Brenner faced both financial difficulties and lack of Hebrew material. As editor, he helped with typesetting, a profession that assured his daily bread. After American readers found his articles unsuitable for their needs and cut their subsidy, he closed down the publication, traveled to Lvov and finally reached – without any passport – Ottoman Palestine.Though Brenner tried to remain anonymous, he was soon discovered. A week of work on the soil proved that despite his sturdy build, he was not strong enough.Instead, he became the editor of Hapoel Hatza’ir, promoting Hebrew literature.Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and David Ben-Gurion also welcomed him in to edit Ha’ahdut, a Poalei Zion political journal; while Brenner did this for a while, he resented politics. In books like Breakdown or Bereavement or Between Water and Water, he concentrated on the life and thoughts of the time – the ordinary people of the Yishuv, and their difficulties.Shapira reaches deeply into the private as well as public aspects of Brenner’s life, his marriage to Chaya Broide and relationship with his son, Uri Nissan. In the summer of 1915, Brenner moved with his family to Tel Aviv, working as a Hebrew teacher at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium; he was remembered by his students as a serious lover of literature.During World War I, the family suffered a forced evacuation and, after many mishaps, settled in Hadera. The British victory brought them back to Tel Aviv and Chaya Broide started working as a kindergarten teacher, but later she and Uri left, moving to Germany for health reasons.The May 1921 Arab riots found the Yishuv unprepared. Brenner, two other writers and three other Jews lived in Mantura House, which stood alone in the heart of an Arab neighborhood, on the road between Mikve Yisrael and Sarona. They should have been evacuated, but were missed; Shapira posits that Brenner was hardly aware of the impending danger. On May 2, 1921, all six were found robbed, mutilated and murdered, not far from their home.Brenner’s tragic death was deeply mourned by the small Yishuv, and among Jews throughout the world. Menachem Poznansky took care of the manuscripts found in the abandoned house, and reserved all author’s rights for the family. A number of Brenner’s collected works appeared in successive editions.Chaya Broide lived to a ripe old age, first in Tel Aviv and then at Maoz Haim; their son was a founding member of Kibbutz Maoz Haim and a deputy Palmah commander in the War of Independence.What about the family he had left behind in Ukraine? When Brenner died, he was unaware that all of them had perished in the civil war that followed the Bolshevik Revolution.Shapira has done a tremendous job of collecting the extensive, accumulated material about Brenner. The biography provides accurate descriptions of his Hebrew novels and articles, as they were written at various stages of the author’s life – with snapshots of Brenner’s books, articles, translations of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and German works translated into Hebrew – a pioneering canon in the Yishuv’s educational and intellectual development. ■
