The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-16


eing,s and Gellert's work into pure He
brew. He has also translated into his
favorite tongue the Russian fable writer
Krilow; has written fables of is own,
and Hebrew commentary on the Bible
in twenty-four volumes. He loves the
fables because they teach the people and
are real criticisms; they are profol nd
and combine fancy and thought Many
of these are still in manuscript which is
characteristic of much of The work of
these scholars, for they have no money
and publishers do not run after He
brew books. Also unpublished, writing
in loving minute characters, he las a
Hebrew prayer book in many volumes
He has written hundreds of articles for
the Hebrew weeklies and monthlies.
which can seldom afford to pay their
contributors. At present he writes ex-
cIusvely for a Hebrew weekly published
in Chicago, Regeneration, the object
of which is to promote the knowledge
of the ancient Hebrew language and lit
erature and to regenerate the spirit Of
the nation" For this he receives no
pay. the editor being almost as poor as
himself. But he writes willingly for the
love of the cause, for universal good
for Reicherson in common with other
neglected scholars, is deeply interested
in revivifying what is now among
American Jews a dead language
when the national language and lit
erature live" he said, 1.-The nation lives
when dead, so is the nation. The holy
tongue in which the Bible was written
must not die. If it should, much Of the
the truth of the Bible, many of its
spiritual secrets, much of it's beautiful
poetry, would be lost. L have gone deep
into the Bible, that greatest book, all
my life and know many of its secrets.
He beamed with pride as he said these
words, and his sense of the beauty OF the
Hebrew spirit and the Hebrew literature
led him to speak Wonderingly of Anti
Semitism. All this was sweetly
said for about him there was nothing of
the attitude of complaint. His wife once
or twice during the interview touched
upon their personal condition, but Ter
husband severely kept his mind on the
universal truths and only when ques-
toned admitted that he would like a lit
tie more money in order to publish his
books and to enable him to think with
more concentration about the Hebrew
language and literature. There was no
bitterness in his reference 10 the neg
lect of Hebrew scholarship in the
Ghetto. His interest was impersonal and
detached and his regret at the decad
ence of the language seemed noble and
DISTINGUISHED; and, unlike some of the
other scholars, the touch of warm hui
rpopitu uac in, oynrvtI1ipoc ha
Contrasting sharply in many respects
with this beautiful old teacher is a man
who peddles from tenement house to
tenement house in the downtown
Ghetto, to support himself and his three
young children. s. d. Schwatrzberg, un-
like most of the submerged scholars, is
still a young man, only thirty seven
years old, but he is already discouraged,
bitter and Disconnected. He feels HIM
self the apostle of a lost cause.-The re-
generation in New York of the old He
brew language and literature. His great
enterprise in life has failed. lie has now
given it up, and the natural vividness
and intensity of his nature gets salts
faction in the strenuous abuse of the
Jews of the Ghetto.
Three years ago Schwartzbcrg came to
this country M4>.- a great idea IN riS
head. He had little money and he le-
cided he would establish a journal in
the interests of the Hebrew language
and literature. No laws would prevent
him here from speaking his mind in his
beloved tongue. He would bring into
vivid being again the national spirit of
the people, make them love with the
old fervor their ancient traditions and
language. 1t was the races spirit of hu-
manity and feeling for the ethical beau
ty, not the special creed of Judaism, for
which he and the other scholars care
little, that filled him with the enthus
ism of an apostle. In his monthly maya
zine, The Western Light, he put his
best efforts, his best thoughts about
ethical truths and literature. The poet
DolitN contributed in purest Hebrew
verse, as did many other Ghetto tights.
But it received no support, few bought
it and it lasted only a year. Then he
gave it up, bankrupt in money and hope.A
The failure left in SchwartZDcrg s soul
a passionate hatred of what he calls the
materialism of the Jews in America.