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ZUTO 14.1 Berstein.Indd zutot 14 (2017) 99-111 ZUTOT: Perspectives on Jewish Culture brill.com/zuto brill.com/zuto ‘It Brings Generation to Generation:’ An Introduction and Annotated Translation of Ben-Zion Mossinson’s ‘Land and Language in the Evolution of Zionism’ Judah M. Bernstein New York University Abstract In 1916, Hebrew educator and Zionist official Ben-Zion Mossinson embarked on a mul- tiyear stay in America following his expulsion from Ottoman Palestine. He joined forces there with other prominent Eastern European and Palestinian Zionist envoys – Shemaryahu Levin, Menachem Sheinkin, and Baer Epshtein, to name a few – all of whom worked as itinerant propagandists, crisscrossing the country in search of potential donors and new recruits. While in America, Mossinson published his brief reflections on the history of Zionism and the essence of Jewish culture, ‘Land and Language in the Evolution of Zionism,’ and delivered speeches based on this article. ‘Land and Language,’ translated below from the original Yiddish, sheds light on the contours of Zionism in America during the war. Keywords Zionism – American Jewish history – ethnic nationalism – immigration and diaspora Ben Zion Mossinson was born in Andreyevka, Yekaterinoslav Province, in the Russian Empire in 1878. He received a thorough yeshiva education, and like many of his Jewish male and female peers in fin de siècle Russia, pursued aca- demic studies in Central Europe. In 1906, he earned a doctorate in philosophy * I would like to thank Gennady Estraikh for his kind help translating and interpreting Mossinson’s article. I also wish to thank Joshua Teplitsky for his generous guidance. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi �0.��63/�8750��4-���4�Downloaded069 from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:15:20AM via free access 100 Bernstein in Berne, Switzerland.1 As an adolescent he joined the Hibbat Zion move- ment, attended Zionist Congresses, and worked as a matif tziyoni, or a Zionist preacher, traveling throughout the Pale of Settlement in the service of Zionism. He moved to Palestine in 1907, becoming rector of Herziliyah, the Hebrew- speaking Zionist gymnasium in Jaffa. In 1912 Mossinson visited the United States for the first time to raise money for the gymnasium, giving speeches in New York City, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and elsewhere.2 Following his expulsion from Palestine in 1916, Mossinson spent another three years in North America, roving the continent to raise funds for Zionist causes. He arrived at a critical moment. Where the war had decimated Zionist operations in Europe, American Zionists under the leadership of attorney Louis Brandeis had garnered unprecedented support for the movement in the United States. During these years membership tallies grew, massive annual donations to Palestine-related causes were raised, and the movement won the backing of important cultural, political, and financial elites. In 1916, Brandeis was appointed to the United States Supreme Court, but he continued to over- see Zionist affairs. His allies, such as the federal judge Julian Mack, the Harvard law professor Felix Frankfurter, and the Reform rabbi Stephen Wise, managed day-to-day operations until the summer of 1921.3 Scholars who have sought to explain the movement’s growth during and immediately following the war have focused mostly on the activities and contributions of Brandeis and his associates, and have typically overlooked the influence of foreigners like Mossinson. Yet, the schedules of Mossinson’s speaking tours in America give the impression that Mossinson was more instrumental in spreading Zionist propaganda than most. Between November 1916 and March 1917, for example, Mossinson visited Jews in cities and towns in Washington, Oregon, California, Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, as well as locations in Canada. Upon his departure from the United States for Palestine in April 1919, Jewish newspapers estimated that over the course of his 39 month stay Mossinson had passed through 138 cities and towns, some as many as ten times. He delivered a staggering 638 lectures in total – 177 in 1916, 161 in 1917, 1 For details on Mossinson’s life, see the DYF editorial, ‘Dr. Ben Zion Mossinson’ (in Yiddish) April 25, 1919, as well as a second article about him published in the same issue. See also the entry on Mossinson in Encyclopedia for the Pioneers and Builders of the New Yishuv (in Hebrew) (Vol. 2, 645). Retrieved from http://www.tidhar.tourolib.org/tidhar/view/2/645. 2 For a report on a speech Mossinson delivered at Cooper Union in New York in 1912, see The New York Times, ‘Palestine to Solve Jewish Problem,’ January 23, 1912. 3 For Zionism in America during the war and under Brandeis, see M.I. Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust (New York 1976) 133–150. Downloadedzutot from Brill.com10/02/202114 (2017) 99-111 11:15:20AM via free access MOSSINSON’S ‘LAND & LANGUAGE IN THE EVOLUTION OF ZIONISM’ 101 224 in 1918, and 76 in the first four months of 1919. The press also credited him with raising half a million dollars for Zionist causes, making Mossinson one of the most productive propagandists of the war years.4 Observers agreed that Mossinson cut a magnetic presence on the dais. They praised his mellifluous voice, the ‘smoothness’ of his oratory, and the ‘imag- ery of [his] language,’ and marveled at the simplicity and accessibility of his speeches.5 His article ‘Land and Language’ suggests, however, that the content of Mossinson’s speeches were just as important as his speaking style.6 While the article may appear at first glance to be a generic statement of Zionist prin- ciples, when situated in an American context it becomes a commentary on the leadership of American Zionism as well as an appeal to its primarily immi- grant-based rank and file. In ‘Land and Language,’ Mossinson offered a ver- sion of Zionism that on one hand departed from the philanthropic-oriented Zionism articulated by more prominent figures of the movement during World War I, and, on the other, spoke to the cultural traumas of the immigrant experi- ence.7 Analyzing this piece, a version of speeches he often delivered, will thus provide insight into the variants of American Zionism during the war. 4 For totals, see DYF, ‘Dr. Ben Zion Mossinson’ (in Yiddish), April 25, 1919; Jewish Exponent, ‘Dr. Mossinsohn Leaves for Palestine,’ February 5, 1919. 5 Chicago Sentinel, ‘When Jews Get Together,’ February 10, 1916; Yidishe Velt, ‘Giant Crowd Hears Dr. Mossinson in Anshei Emes Synagogue’ (in Yiddish), September 8, 1916. 6 See Dos Yidishe Folk (henceforth DYF), September 14, 1917, for the original, and Maccabean, ‘Palestine and Hebrew in Zionism,’ October 1917, for Lotta Levensohn’s English translation. I translated Mossinson’s Yiddish original independently in order to verify Levensohn’s ver- sion, which I found to be, on the whole, a faithful rendering of Mossinson’s article. I pres- ent Levensohn’s translation below, along with my own emendations, suggestions of more accurate translations, and explanatory footnotes that shed light on Mossinson’s original piece. An article of Mossinson’s discussing themes similar to those in ‘Land and Language’ can be found in Jewish Advocate, ‘Palestine in Jewish Life,’ September 20, 1917. For a speech of Mossinson’s on the same topic, see, for instance, Yidishe Velt, ‘Dr. Mossinson’s Hebrew Lecture Thrills Audience’ (in Yiddish), September 30, 1916. 7 It is worth noting, however, that Mossinson also possessed great cachet among other sec- tors of American Jewry, specifically some Jews of Central European descent born in America or arriving long before the war, and second generation immigrants, or those who either migrated to America at a young age or were born in the United States to immigrant parents. This was at least in part because Mossinson proved articulate not just in Yiddish but also in German and English. In any case, understanding why these other Jews embraced Mossinson requires further analysis that cannot be presented here. I attempt to explain this phenom- enon in chapter 3 of my dissertation, ‘Birthland or Fatherland’: A New History of American Zionism, 1897–1929 (New York University 2017). zutot 14 (2017) 99-111 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 11:15:20AM via free access 102 Bernstein ‘Land and Language’ heralded the extinction of what Mossinson called the ‘philanthropic Zionist,’ or the Zionist who supports the construction of a refuge for the Jewish oppressed but feels no commitment or attachment to the land of Palestine and the revival of Hebrew. In so doing, Mossinson advanced an oblique criticism of the reigning figures of the Zionist movement in America at that time. When Mossinson wrote of Zionists who ‘emphasize their loyalty to their native countries, [and speak] not for themselves, but for their poor breth- ren “in the East,” ’ one detects a veiled admonishment of what he felt was the leadership’s inadequate interest in the Zionist cultural project. Such reputable, native-born Zionist doyens as Brandeis and Mack offered a version of Zionism in which the role of the American Jew was to support from afar the building of a refuge for oppressed Jews elsewhere. This refuge, Brandies and Mack pre- dicted, would ultimately evolve into an America in miniature in the Middle East, a progressive Jewish home in Palestine.8 Their Zionism did not encom- pass Mossinson’s almost mystical connection to the land or his firm commit- ment to fostering a Hebraic cultural renaissance there and in the diaspora. At the same time, Mossinson appealed to Eastern European immigrants and their children, a substantial portion of the movement’s rank and file. ‘Land and Language’ depicted the Jews as a people without a vernacular and lack- ing a land, bereft of a shared history and a usable past.
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