Lev Levanda | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Yehuda Leyb Levanda June 1835 Minsk, Russian Empire |
Died | 18 June 1888 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire | (aged 52–53)
Pen name | Ladnev |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | Russian and Yiddish |
Alma mater | Vilna Rabbinical School |
Lev Levanda ( Russian: Лев Осипович Леванда, romanized: Lev Osipovich Levanda, Yiddish: יהודה לייב לעוואַנדאַ, romanized: Yehuda Leyb Levanda; June 1835 – 18 June 1888) was a Russian author, belletrist, and publicist. His sketches were often published under the pen name Ladnev. [1]: 273
Levnada's literary work made him a leading figure in the circles of the Russian-Jewish intelligentsia. [2] Originally a vocal proponent of the assimilation of Jews into Russian culture, Levanda became a strong supporter of their emigration to Palestine following the 1881–82 pogroms across the Russian Empire.
Lev Levanda was born to a poor Jewish family in Minsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus). After spending three years at a state-sponsored school for Jews in his hometown, he entered the Vilna Rabbinical School in 1849, graduating in 1854 with a teacher's diploma. [3] He thereafter returned to Minsk and was appointed a teacher at the government-run Jewish school. He taught there until 1860, when he was appointed uchonyi evrei ('adviser on Jewish affairs') to the Governor-General of Vilna, Mikhail N. Muravyov, a position he held until his death. [4] In this role he assisted with programs to study Jewish life and edited Russian-language state textbooks for Jewish children. [5] Levanda was instrumental in exposing false witnesses in a ritual-murder trial of several Jews from the shtetl of Shavl in 1861. [6]
Upon his arrival in Vilna, Levanda participated in the publication of the first Russian-language Jewish journal, Rassvet ('Dawn'), edited in Odessa by Osip Rabinovich, as well as its successor, Zion. [7] His first novel, Shop of Imported Far-East Groceries, appeared in the pages of Rassvet in 1860. [1] Levanda's The Warehouse of Groceries: Pictures of the Jewish Life, a work of belles lettres, was serialized in Rassvet, and published as a book in 1869 (a Hebrew translation was published five years later). [3]
A supporter of the Russification of Eastern European Jewry, in 1864 Levanda was appointed editor of the region's official newspaper, Vilenskie gubernskie vedomosti ('Vilna Provincial News'), with a mandate to justify Muravyov's russifying campaign. [8] Following the banning of Rassvet and Zion, he began to contribute under a pseudonym to a number of liberal Russian newspapers in St. Petersburg and Vilna, including the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti. [1] In a series of articles, Levanda argued that the acquisition of civil rights hinged on the assimilation of the Jewish masses into Russian culture. [9]
In the 1870s and 1880s, he contributed to the Russian Jewish journals Evreiskaia biblioteka (Еврейская библиотека, 'The Jewish Library'), Russkii evrei ('The Russian Jew'), and Voskhod ('Sunrise'). In 1876 he published a collection of sketches under the title "Sketches of the Past," followed later by a number of stories, such as "The Four Tutors" and "The Amateur Performance", in Russkii evrei, Yevreiskoe Obozrenie ('The Jewish Review'), and Voskhod. [10] He published over twenty articles on Jewish life in Poland with the title "The Vistula Chronicle" in Russkii evrei. [11] [12] Other works of this period include "Essays of the Past" (1875), originally published in 1870 in Den ('The Day'); "Types and Silhouettes" (1881); and the historical novels The Wrath and Mercy of the Tycoon (1885) and Avraam Yosefovich (1887). [10]
He published his best-known work, Seething Times, set in the northern Pale of Settlement against the background of the Polish Uprising of 1863, in three instalments between 1871 and 1873 in Evreiskaia biblioteka. [13] [14] In the novel, young Westernized Jews were urged by the hero, Sarin, to abandon Polish orientation (after 500 years of unhappy experience with the Poles) and become Russians. [2] The book was released as a book in 1875 under the title Seething Times: The Novel of the Last Polish Uprising. [15]
Levanda's political views changed dramatically following the 1881–82 pogroms across the Russian Empire, and the Russian state's hostile indifference to them. [16] [17] With the subsequent rapid growth in Polish anti-Semitism, Levanda began writing about the rebuilding of a Jewish state in Palestine. [3] He became a leading activist for the Hibbat Zion movement and maintained close links with Leon Pinsker, author of the influential Zionist manifesto Auto-Emancipation. In "The Essence of the So-Called 'Palestine' Movement" (1884), Levanda discussed the ideas of Jewish self-determination as a "practical solution" to a "vicious cycle," [18] and in 1885 published an important reconsideration of the position of the Jews in Russia, entitled "On 'Assimilation'". [8]
In early 1887, his mental condition began to deteriorate sharply, showing signs of major depressive disorder. As a result, he was transported that May to St. Petersburg, where he was placed in a psychiatric hospital. [7] He died there less than a year later. [19]
Although a popular writer, contemporary critics considered Levanda untalented and unrefined. [1]: 63–65 [20]
An elegy in Levanda's memory, in Yiddish and Russian with accompaniment on the piano, was published in Vilna upon his death. [21]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Lipman, J. G. (1904).
"Levanda, Lev Osipovitch". In
Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.).
The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 17–18.
{{
cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)
Lev Levanda | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Yehuda Leyb Levanda June 1835 Minsk, Russian Empire |
Died | 18 June 1888 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire | (aged 52–53)
Pen name | Ladnev |
Occupation | Writer |
Language | Russian and Yiddish |
Alma mater | Vilna Rabbinical School |
Lev Levanda ( Russian: Лев Осипович Леванда, romanized: Lev Osipovich Levanda, Yiddish: יהודה לייב לעוואַנדאַ, romanized: Yehuda Leyb Levanda; June 1835 – 18 June 1888) was a Russian author, belletrist, and publicist. His sketches were often published under the pen name Ladnev. [1]: 273
Levnada's literary work made him a leading figure in the circles of the Russian-Jewish intelligentsia. [2] Originally a vocal proponent of the assimilation of Jews into Russian culture, Levanda became a strong supporter of their emigration to Palestine following the 1881–82 pogroms across the Russian Empire.
Lev Levanda was born to a poor Jewish family in Minsk, Russian Empire (now Belarus). After spending three years at a state-sponsored school for Jews in his hometown, he entered the Vilna Rabbinical School in 1849, graduating in 1854 with a teacher's diploma. [3] He thereafter returned to Minsk and was appointed a teacher at the government-run Jewish school. He taught there until 1860, when he was appointed uchonyi evrei ('adviser on Jewish affairs') to the Governor-General of Vilna, Mikhail N. Muravyov, a position he held until his death. [4] In this role he assisted with programs to study Jewish life and edited Russian-language state textbooks for Jewish children. [5] Levanda was instrumental in exposing false witnesses in a ritual-murder trial of several Jews from the shtetl of Shavl in 1861. [6]
Upon his arrival in Vilna, Levanda participated in the publication of the first Russian-language Jewish journal, Rassvet ('Dawn'), edited in Odessa by Osip Rabinovich, as well as its successor, Zion. [7] His first novel, Shop of Imported Far-East Groceries, appeared in the pages of Rassvet in 1860. [1] Levanda's The Warehouse of Groceries: Pictures of the Jewish Life, a work of belles lettres, was serialized in Rassvet, and published as a book in 1869 (a Hebrew translation was published five years later). [3]
A supporter of the Russification of Eastern European Jewry, in 1864 Levanda was appointed editor of the region's official newspaper, Vilenskie gubernskie vedomosti ('Vilna Provincial News'), with a mandate to justify Muravyov's russifying campaign. [8] Following the banning of Rassvet and Zion, he began to contribute under a pseudonym to a number of liberal Russian newspapers in St. Petersburg and Vilna, including the Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti. [1] In a series of articles, Levanda argued that the acquisition of civil rights hinged on the assimilation of the Jewish masses into Russian culture. [9]
In the 1870s and 1880s, he contributed to the Russian Jewish journals Evreiskaia biblioteka (Еврейская библиотека, 'The Jewish Library'), Russkii evrei ('The Russian Jew'), and Voskhod ('Sunrise'). In 1876 he published a collection of sketches under the title "Sketches of the Past," followed later by a number of stories, such as "The Four Tutors" and "The Amateur Performance", in Russkii evrei, Yevreiskoe Obozrenie ('The Jewish Review'), and Voskhod. [10] He published over twenty articles on Jewish life in Poland with the title "The Vistula Chronicle" in Russkii evrei. [11] [12] Other works of this period include "Essays of the Past" (1875), originally published in 1870 in Den ('The Day'); "Types and Silhouettes" (1881); and the historical novels The Wrath and Mercy of the Tycoon (1885) and Avraam Yosefovich (1887). [10]
He published his best-known work, Seething Times, set in the northern Pale of Settlement against the background of the Polish Uprising of 1863, in three instalments between 1871 and 1873 in Evreiskaia biblioteka. [13] [14] In the novel, young Westernized Jews were urged by the hero, Sarin, to abandon Polish orientation (after 500 years of unhappy experience with the Poles) and become Russians. [2] The book was released as a book in 1875 under the title Seething Times: The Novel of the Last Polish Uprising. [15]
Levanda's political views changed dramatically following the 1881–82 pogroms across the Russian Empire, and the Russian state's hostile indifference to them. [16] [17] With the subsequent rapid growth in Polish anti-Semitism, Levanda began writing about the rebuilding of a Jewish state in Palestine. [3] He became a leading activist for the Hibbat Zion movement and maintained close links with Leon Pinsker, author of the influential Zionist manifesto Auto-Emancipation. In "The Essence of the So-Called 'Palestine' Movement" (1884), Levanda discussed the ideas of Jewish self-determination as a "practical solution" to a "vicious cycle," [18] and in 1885 published an important reconsideration of the position of the Jews in Russia, entitled "On 'Assimilation'". [8]
In early 1887, his mental condition began to deteriorate sharply, showing signs of major depressive disorder. As a result, he was transported that May to St. Petersburg, where he was placed in a psychiatric hospital. [7] He died there less than a year later. [19]
Although a popular writer, contemporary critics considered Levanda untalented and unrefined. [1]: 63–65 [20]
An elegy in Levanda's memory, in Yiddish and Russian with accompaniment on the piano, was published in Vilna upon his death. [21]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Lipman, J. G. (1904).
"Levanda, Lev Osipovitch". In
Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.).
The Jewish Encyclopedia. Vol. 8. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 17–18.
{{
cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)