Alter Druyanov ( he, אלתר דרויאנוב) (July 6 1870 – May 10, 1938) was a
Russian Jewish
The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest pop ...
writer, editor, translator, folklorist, journalist, historian of
early Zionism, and Zionist activist. His pen name derived from his birthplace,
Druya
Druya ( be, Друя; russian: Друя; pl, Druja) is a historic townlet in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, about 30 km northeast of Braslaw. It is located on the left bank of the Daugava River, Western Dvina, at the mouth of the Druyka River, oppo ...
, was variously transliterated as Druyanow, Drujanow, etc.) He wrote both in Yiddish and Hebrew languages.
[Shulamit Shalit, "Jewish Joke King"]
''Mishpokha Magazine'', no.14, 2004 [Stuart Schoffman]
"Pinch of Levity"
''Jewish Review of Books'', August 7, 2019 (a review of ''Sefer ha-Bedicha ve-ha-Chidud'')
Alter Druyanov was born in
Druya
Druya ( be, Друя; russian: Друя; pl, Druja) is a historic townlet in Vitebsk Region, Belarus, about 30 km northeast of Braslaw. It is located on the left bank of the Daugava River, Western Dvina, at the mouth of the Druyka River, oppo ...
(in
Vilna Governorate,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
, now in
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
) to a wealthy family of a Chasidic rabbi and merchant Eliakim Pesach (Hetzel Yankelevich).
Books
*''Ketavim le-toledot Chibbat Zion we-Jischuv Erez Israel'', vol. I Odessa 1918, vols. II, III, Tel Aviv 1925/1932, (annotated collection of documents of Hibbat Zion period of
Hovevei Zion
Hovevei Zion ( he, חובבי ציון, lit. ''hose who areLovers of Zion''), also known as Hibbat Zion ( he, חיבת ציון), refers to a variety of organizations which were founded in 1881 in response to the Anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian ...
under
Leon Pinsker
*''Sefer ha-Bedicha ve-ha-Chidud'' (ספר הבדיחה והחידוד, ), 1922 ()
*פינסקר וזמנו ("Pinsker and His Time")
References
Further reading
"ALTER DRUYANOV (AVROM-ABE OSHER)" from ''Yiddish Leksikon'', by Joshua Fogel
1870 births
1938 deaths
Yiddish-language writers
Yiddish-language journalists
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