Micha Josef Berdyczewski |
| Micha Josef Berdyczewski (later: Ben-Gurion) (1865 - 1921; b. Medzibezh, Podolia) was the descendant of a line of Chassidic rabbis. His father served as the rabbi of Medzibezh during his childhood. As a young man, Berdyczewski began reading Haskalah writers and the ensuing struggle between modern ideas and the concepts and forces of traditional Judaism animated his writings throughout his life. In 1886 he began studying at the Volozhin Yeshiva. It was here that he began his literary career, infuriating his teachers. Berdyczewski left Russia for Germany (1890) and spent two years in Breslau, studying at the rabbinical seminary and the university. In 1892 he moved to Berlin, where he combined both Jewish and secular studies. Berdyczewski `s revolutionary ideas took shape under the impact of his studies in philosophy while in Germany. After studying in Berne for two years, Berdyczewski returned to spend four of his most productive years (1896-1900) in Berlin. Stimulated by his opposition to both Ahad Ha-Am and Herzl, and encouraged by his friends and other Hebrew writers there, Berdyczewski published in many of the leading Hebrew journals, vigorously attacking all accepted ideologies. In 1900 Berdyczewski firmly established himself in the history of Hebrew literature with the publication of nine volumes of articles and stories. After a short stay in Warsaw, he returned to Germany and Breslau and devoted himself to literary work, continuing through times of poverty and infirmity, until his death. In Breslau he continued to write in Hebrew, but embarked upon several new ventures - writing articles and stories in Yiddish, systematically collecting rabbinic legends, studying the origins of Judaism with particular emphasis on the Samaritan tradition and writing an as yet unpublished diary in German. After the war he was deeply shocked at the news of the pogrom in Doubovo and his father`s murder. Nevertheless, Berdyczewski wrote some of his major stories after the war, notably his short novel, Miryam, which he completed shortly before his death. |
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Books Published in Hebrew |
| From Home and Away, Tushia, 1899 [Mi Bayit U-Mi-Hutz] |
| Two Camps, Tushia, 1899 [Mahanayim] |
| From My Little Town, Tushia, 1900 [Me-Iri Ha-Ketanah] |
| Nonsense, Tushia, 1900 [Urvah Parah] |
| From Two Worlds, Tushia, 1902 [Mi-Shnei Olamot] |
| Not Long Ago, Ha-Sefer, 1909 [Me-Ha-Avar Ha-Karov] |
| The Valley of Life, Tushia, 1912 [Mi-Emek Ha-Haim] |
| Collected Works, Stybel, 1925 [Kitvei Micha Yosef Ben Gurion (Berdyczewski)] |
| Collected Works, Dvir, 1960 [Kitvei Micha Yosef Ben Gurion (Berdyczewski)] |
| Collected Works, Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 1996 (three volumes published to date) [Ketavim] |
| The Thunder of Beauty,(stories) Hakibbutz Hameuchad, 2009 [Ra`am ha- Yufi] |
Books in Translation |
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Miriam : a novel about life in two townships English: Tel Aviv, Institute for the Translation of Hebrew Literature, 1983 Miriam and other stories English: New Milford/London, The Toby Press, 2004 Collected Stories English: Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1976 Individual poems have been published in: English, French, German, Portuguese, and Yiddish. Last updated: 18.08.09 |
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