Linguistic Limbo: Writing and Rewriting in Hebrew and Yiddish By Yaakov Herskovitz A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Near Eastern Studies) in The University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Professor Shachar Pinsker, Chair Associate Professor Maya Barzilai Professor Mikhail Krutikov Professor Anita Norich Yaakov Herskovitz [email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6993-9740 © Yaakov Herskovitz 2019 Acknowledgements In my quest to reconfigure the formation of Hebrew and Yiddish literature through self- translation I was fortunate to have chosen the University of Michigan as my academic home. Shachar Pinsker, Maya Barzilai, Mikhail Krutikov and Anita Norich were not only advisors, but also mentors to all facets of academia and life. I cannot thank them enough for their academic rigor, intellectual inspiration, warmth and friendship, the combination of which is all too rare, and I am truly blessed to have them as my mentors. Shachar has guided me through what many times felt like a joint inquiry into the dynamics of Jewish bilingualism, giving me insight into his scholarly practice and sharing his invaluable experience. Maya with her friendship and keen eye made me feel that she is as invested in my work as I am. Anita was as loving as she was intellectually demanding, a wonderful balance. Misha was infinitely generous with his immense knowledge and his acute eye for the narrative arc of my project as a whole. I owe my committee more than words can express. The warm academic community of our Ann Arbor campus was a welcoming intellectual home; I was fortunate to learn with and from so many exquisite scholars who have been not only helpful in this journey, but also became friends along the way. Sara Blair, Jonathan Freedman, Elliot Ginsburg, Julian Levinson, Devi Mays, Rachel Neis, and so many others who were there with advice, a good word and encouragement along the way. I also would like to thank my peers, fellow graduate students who were always there to lend an ear and who together braved our first ii conferences: Sara Feldman, Nadav Linial, Chen Edelsburg, Eyal Bassan, Roni Henig, Guy Ehrlich, Yael Kenan, Oren Segal and Avery Robinson. This dissertation could not have been completed without the generous support of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Michigan. Starting with the Endelman Fellowship, the Frankel Center was supportive beyond belief, providing the ideal home for my graduate studies, in more ways than I could imagine. It was home to many scholars who taught me so much, and the many fellows of the institute who passed through and created an intellectually stimulating environment. I want to thank Deborah Dash Moore and Jeffrey Veidlinger, the directors of the Frankel Center throughout my time at Michigan, for their leadership and support. I also wish to thank the Rackham Graduate School at the University of Michigan for the support in presenting my work at conferences as well as writing fellowships. I was privileged and thankful to receive the Dissertation Completion Fellowship from the Association for Jewish Studies, a fellowship which allowed me to write this work under the best conditions possible. My dissertation relied on extensive archival work; I thank the Gnazim Archive, the National Library Archive and the Israel State Archives. All were helpful in locating and accessing the materials which are the bedrock of this work. I wish to thank the institutions without which nothing, including this dissertation, would be possible: coffee shops. Thank you to Comet Coffee, Mighty Good Coffee, Lab, Roos Roast, iii the Espresso Bar (z”l), Cafelix and Nahat. All these establishments kept the strong cappuccinos flowing, the americanos and pour-overs crisp and sharp. They were the fuel behind this work. With love I wish to thank my families, the Herskovitz and Statman families for their love and support, forever, and in the last six years. To my mother Pearl who read all I wrote. To my lovely children who make this all more fun: Ido, Carmel and Alma. And to Yael, who has been with me through so much joy and hardship, none of this would happen as it has without you. iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................................... ii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................................. vii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... viii Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1 Roast Goose or Barley Stew? – Language as Sustenance ......................................................................... 1 Not Entirely New ...................................................................................................................................... 9 A Monolingualism to Come – On the Elusiveness of the Monolingual ................................................. 13 Three Writers – Three Bilingual Poetics ................................................................................................. 17 Chapter One: Travels from Yiddishland to Hebrewland ............................................................................ 24 Erecting a Bilingual Monument .............................................................................................................. 24 From 1903 to 1908, or: The Inception of Nomberg’s Layered Language .............................................. 29 Czernowitz and Changing Bilingualism ................................................................................................. 39 Travel Languages .................................................................................................................................... 44 Verter farkishefn – Language Reality and Language Fantasy ................................................................ 49 Land of the Dead ..................................................................................................................................... 59 Chapter Two: Aharon Reuveni and the Search for Monolingualism .......................................................... 63 Language, Passport and Borders ............................................................................................................. 63 A Hebraist, Sans Hebrew – The Life of Reuveni.................................................................................... 67 Writing Yiddish, Publishing Hebrew ...................................................................................................... 71 Ad Yerushalayim – Language Failure Embodied in a Trilogy ................................................................ 76 Return of the Yiddish .............................................................................................................................. 91 Where the Jackals Speak ......................................................................................................................... 98 Conclusion, or: A Yiddish Tree Falls in a Forest of Hebrew ................................................................ 102 Chapter Three: The Untranslatable Shtetl – Zalman Shneour's Hebrew-Yiddish Rewritings .................. 108 Shneour vs. Asch: In Search of Recognition ........................................................................................ 108 Self-translating and Re-translating: Six Decades of Bilingualism ........................................................ 112 v Learning How to Read: Shneour’s Tasks of Self-Translation .............................................................. 116 Illiterate Literacy: Russian Alphabet in Yiddish Spelling .................................................................... 127 Shneour Rewriting Bialik ..................................................................................................................... 132 Two Languages, Numerous Versions ................................................................................................... 139 Conclusion: Two Bilinguals Across the Ocean .................................................................................... 144 Restive Monolingualism – A Conclusion ................................................................................................. 147 Nomberg Past and Future ...................................................................................................................... 147 Hebrew Meets its Limits – From Fliegelman to Foygelman ................................................................ 149 Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 158 vi List of Figures Figure 1: Ohel Peretz Today 26 Figure 2: Draft of Letter by Reuveni to Mandatory Official, 1932 65 vii Abstract This dissertation offers new modes of understanding Hebrew-Yiddish literary bilingualism by redefining ‘where’, ‘by whom’ and, most importantly, ‘how’ Jewish bilingualism was created. Focusing on three writers who wrote extensively in both Yiddish and Hebrew—Hirsch Dovid Nomberg, Aharon Reuveni, and Zalman Shneour—this project offers an account