A Literary Monument for the Vanished World of Lithuanian Jewry: The Work of the Yiddish Writer Chaim Grade Shay A. Pilnik Department of Jewish Studies McGill University, Montreal August, 2005 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts © Shay A. 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The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Table of Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 4 Résumé .................................................................................................................................. 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 1: The Poetics of Jewish Authority ................................................................................ 14 Theoretical Background ............................................................................................ 14 Rabbinic Leadership in Di agune ................................................................................21 The Heritage of Lithuanian Jewish Politics .................................................................... 24 The Image of Jewish Leadership in Di agune ........................................................ 29 The Supremacy of Torah in Lithuanian Jewish Culture ............................................ 36 Grade's Artistic Representation of Mithnagdism ................................. "..................... .42 Chapter II: Two Accounts of the Novaredok Musar Yeshiva ............................................ 54 The Lithuanian Yeshiva and the Musar Movement ........................................................ 54 The Radical Path ofNovaredok ................................................................................ 61 From Musernikes to Tsemakh atlas ................................................................................ 70 Grade's Shift from Poetry to Prose ................................................................................ 87 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 105 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 110 Acknowledgments This project would not have been possible without the help of many people. Firstly, l would like to express my gratitude to the teachers ofMcGill's Department of Jewish Studies who eased my transition to Montreal and guided me throughout the preparation ofthis thesis. l would especially like to thank Anna Gonshor and Esther Frank, who introduced me to the fascinating world of Yiddish literature, language and culture, as weIl as Professors Gershon Hundert and Lawrence Kaplan who guided my study of East European Jewish history and, particularly, the world of Lithuanian Jewish history and thought. l owe a great deal to my supervisor Eugene Orenstein, who guided me throughout the various stages of my work, providing invaluable feedback, thoughtful comments, editorial assistance and encouragement throughout this entire process. Eugene, it was a pleasure working with you - thank you for everything. l would also like to thank others whose hard work and generosity have helped me along the way. l was fortunate enough to receive the Morton and Bernice Brownstein Fellowship in Jewish Studies which provided much needed support for my studies. Thank you also to Miriam Rabkin for her editing work. l have no idea how this task could be carried out without the tireless help, support and entire devotion that my fiancée Orlee Hauser bestowed upon me. She helped me by editing this thesis, refining the language and style, and also gave me insightful comments on the original draft. l can not imagine how this pro cess could take shape without this extraordinary person, who welcomed me to McGill two years ago, and is soon to become mywife. Lastly, and most importantly, l would like to thank my parents Rachel and Israel Pilnik. My parents have given me an enormous amount of encouragement throughout this process. This work is a direct result of their care and support. Thank you both so much. Just before my thesis submission, my cousin Guy Peleg met his tragic death while hiking in China. My family and l have been stricken with grief and Guy is foremost in my thoughts at this time. This work is dedicated to his memory. 3 Abstract This thesis offers new perspectives on the Yiddish poet and novelist Chaim Grade, exarnining his reflections on the world ofhistoric Lithuanian Jewry from the outset ofhis career through his post-Holocaust novels. Chapter one explores the gap between the historical reality of interwar Vilna and its literary representation in his novel Di agune and questions the widely accepted view ofthis work as a credible historical source. Chapter two deals with Grade's depiction ofhis experience as a student in a Novaredok Musar yeshiva, contrasting the depiction ofthis yeshiva in the poem Musernikes (1938) and the novel Tsemakh atlas (1967). The writer's shift from a tierce condemnation of the Novaredok Yeshiva to a more moderate and affectionate view as a post-Holocaust writer is explained as the older Grade's attempt to reconcile his art and identityas a modem Jew with the religious world he had forsaken. 4 Résumé Cette thèse présente de nouvelles perspectives sur l' œuvre du poète et écrivain yiddish, Chaim Grade, examine ses pensées sur la communauté juive de la Lituanie historique, et retrace son travail à ses débuts, abordant également ses écrits après l 'Holocauste. Le premier chapitre traite de l'écart entre la réalité historique de Vilna pendant l'entre-deux­ guerres et la représentation littéraire dans son roman Di agune, mettant en doute l'opinion fort répandue selon laquelle cette œuvre constitue une source historique crédible. Le deuxième chapitre examine la représentation que fait Grade de son expérience comme étudiant au yeshiva de l'École Novaredok Musar, ce qui contraste avec la représentation de cette école dans le poème Musernikes (1938) et dans le roman Tsemakh atlas (1967). Le changement dans sa pensée d'une condamnation virulente du yeshiva Novaredok à une opinion plus modérée après l'Holocauste constitue son effort à concilier son art, son identité en tant que Juif dans le monde actuel et la religion qu'il a abandonnée. 5 Introduction At the end ofWorld War II, after five years as a refugee in the Soviet Union, the Yiddish poet Chaim Grade found himselfback in Vilna, the city ofhis childhood and youth. In Vilna (lovingly known in Jewish tradition as Yerushalayim deLita, "the Jerusalem of Lithuania"), the city famed for its long history as a center of Torah study and for its influential role as the cradle of the modem Jewish currents of Enlightenment, Hebraism, Yiddishism, Zionism and socialism, Grade was directly confronted with the enormity of the destruction and loss wreaked by the Holocaust. Overwhe1med by the annihilation of the entire Jewish community of Vilna by the Nazis, Grade realized that he was now the orphan ofhis family, neighbours and friends, ofthe entire rich and variegated Jewish cultural world which the Nazis had destroyed. In order to understand the intricate story of the Lithuanian Jewish writer, Chaim Grade, whose career encompassed various geographic locations