Hillel Zeitlin (1871–1942) was a

Yiddish Yiddish (, or , ''yidish'' or ''idish'', , ; , ''Yidish-Taytsh'', ) is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated during the 9th century in Central Europe, providing the nascent Ashkenazi community with a ver ...

and

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

writer and poet. A leading pre-Holocaust Jewish journalist, he was a regular contributor to the Yiddish newspaper ''Moment'', among other literary activities. He was the leading thinker in the movement of pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

"philosophical

Neo-Hasidism Neo-Hasidism, Neochassidut, or Neo-Chassidus, is an approach to Judaism in which people learn beliefs and practices of Hasidic Judaism, and incorporate it into their own lives or prayer communities, yet without formally joining a Hasidic group. O ...

".Green, Arthur; Mayse, Ariel Evan (March 8, 2016).
'The Great Call of the Hour': Hillel Zeitlin's Yiddish Writings on ''Yavneh''
. ''In Geveb''. Retrieved 2019-11-10.

Biography

He was born in the

Mogilev Governorate The Mogilev Governorate () or Government of Mogilev was a governorate () of the Russian Empire in the territory of the present day Belarus. Its capital was in Mogilev, referred to as Mogilev-on-the-Dnieper, or Mogilev Gubernskiy. The area of the ...

of the

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. ...

(present-day

Gomel Region Gomel Region or Gomel Oblast or Homiel Voblasts ( be, Го́мельская во́бласць, Homielskaja vobłasć, russian: Гомельская область, Gomelskaya oblast) is one of the regions of Belarus. Its administrative center i ...

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

Chassidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (), is an Orthodox Jewish Hasidic dynasty. Chabad is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, particularly for its outreach activities. It is one of the largest Hasidic group ...

family. Already in his childhood, he was recognized for his particularly sharp and analytical mind. When Zeitlin turned 15, his father died and he decided to become a Hebrew teacher. His exit from the world of the

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

exposed him to the works of the scholars of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

. He began studying in earnest the works of both

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

philosophers (

Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly known as Maimonides (); la, Moses Maimonides and also referred to by the acronym Rambam ( he, רמב״ם), was a Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah ...

Gersonides Levi ben Gershon (1288 – 20 April 1344), better known by his Graecized name as Gersonides, or by his Latinized name Magister Leo Hebraeus, or in Hebrew by the abbreviation of first letters as ''RaLBaG'', was a medieval French Jewish philosoph ...

Spinoza Baruch (de) Spinoza (born Bento de Espinosa; later as an author and a correspondent ''Benedictus de Spinoza'', anglicized to ''Benedict de Spinoza''; 24 November 1632 – 21 February 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese-Jewish origin, b ...

etc.) and non-

ones such as

Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

Nietzsche Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (; or ; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, Prose poetry, prose poet, cultural critic, Philology, philologist, and composer whose work has exerted a profound influence on contemporary philo ...

and others. During this period in his life, he began questioning his

religious beliefs A belief is an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to take i ...

and eventually drifted toward

secularism Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on Secularity, secular, Naturalism (philosophy), naturalistic considerations. Secularism is most commonly defined as the Separation of church and state, separation of relig ...

. After World War I, Zeitlin gradually returned to

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

and began leading an

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

lifestyle. The reason(s) for this drastic change in his life is not completely clear but may have had something to do with the suffering of Jews during the war. In any case, he shifted from a tragic philosophical outlook to a mystical and spiritual viewpoint. One of Zeitlin's mystical essays prompted a booklet in opposition by Rabbi

Yiḥyah Qafiḥ Yiḥyah Qafiḥ ( he, רבי יחיא בן שלמה קאפח; ar, يحيى القافح also known as Yiḥyah ibn Shalomo el Qafiḥ and as Yahya Kapach (his Hebrew name)) (1850–1931), known also by his term of endearment ''"Ha-Yashish"'' (En ...

. Zeitlin's shift notwithstanding, he remained independent and unconventional in his beliefs and actions. He did not, for instance, hesitate to eulogize his former friend the great writer and thinker

Yosef Haim Brenner Yosef Haim Brenner ( he, יוֹסֵף חַיִּים בְּרֶנֶר, translit=Yosef Ḥayyim Brener; 11 September 1881 – 2 May 1921) was a Hebrew-language author from the Russian Empire, and one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature. Bi ...

, who was an ardent secularist. Zeitlin quoted a wide variety of Hasidic sources, but did not live in a Hasidic community or identify with a particular Hasidic group (although he did visit several prominent Hasidic Rebbes). Zeitlin endeavored to preserve what he called the "treasure" at the core of Hasidic teaching (which he considered to be obscured in his day by pseudo-intellectual trivialities and excessive concern for outward appearance), and to make it accessible not only to Jews of his era but to non-Jews. He considered the core of Hasidim to consist of three "loves": love of God, of Torah, and of Israel. Just as his intended audience consisted of assimilated Jews and non-Jews, he adopted novel formulations of these loves: "love of Torah" would come to encompass inspiring works of "secular" art and literature, while "love of Israel" would be transformed into "love of humanity" (despite which Israel would still be recognized as the "firstborn child of God"). Zeitlin's religious ideal also contained a socialist element: the Hasidim he pictured would refuse to take advantage of workers.Mayse, Ariel Evan (December 19, 2018).
The Development of Neo-Hasidism: Echoes and Repercussions – Part I: Introduction, Hillel Zeitlin, and Martin Buber
. ''Lehrhaus''. thelehrhaus.com. Retrieved 2019-11-10. Zeitlin also grew close to the territorialist movement and lent his support to the "

Uganda proposal The Uganda Scheme was a proposal presented at the Sixth World Zionist Congress in Basel in 1903 by Zionism founder Theodor Herzl to create a Jewish homeland in a portion of British East Africa. He presented it as a temporary refuge for Jews to ...

". Zeitlin was of the opinion that it would be impossible to settle in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

without removing the half a million

Palestinian Arabs Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

and so the

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

proposals would fail. He was a practical territorialist and his writings took on more urgency after the notorious

pogroms A pogrom () is a violent riot incited with the aim of massacring or expelling an ethnic or religious group, particularly Jews. The term entered the English language from Russian to describe 19th- and 20th-century attacks on Jews in the Russian ...

in Kishinev and

Homel Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the ori ...

. When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

began the

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

of Jewish People in Poland in 1942, Zeitlin was 71 years old. He was murdered by Nazis in the

Warsaw ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (german: Warschauer Ghetto, officially , "Jewish Residential District in Warsaw"; pl, getto warszawskie) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the G ...

while holding a book of the

Zohar The ''Zohar'' ( he, , ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work in the literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah (the five ...

and wrapped in a

Tallit A tallit ''talit'' in Modern Hebrew; ''tālēt'' in Sephardic Hebrew and Ladino language, Ladino; ''tallis'' in Ashkenazic Hebrew and Yiddish language, Yiddish. Mishnaic Hebrew, Mish. pl. טליות ''telayot''; Heb. pl. טליתות ''tallitot' ...

and

Tefillin Tefillin (; Modern Hebrew language, Israeli Hebrew: / ; Ashkenazim, Ashkenazic pronunciation: ), or phylacteries, are a set of small black leather boxes with leather straps containing scrolls of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah. Te ...

. Most of his family was also murdered; the only survivor was his elder son Aaron, who had settled in New York in 1939. His sons,

Aaron Zeitlin Aaron Zeitlin (3 June 1898 – 28 September 1973) was a Jewish American educator and writer. He authored several books on Yiddish literature, poetry and parapsychology. Biography Zeitlin was born in Uvarovichi, Russia (now Belarus) to Hillel Zeit ...

(1898-1973) and Elchanan Zeitlin (1902-1942), were also Yiddish writers.Krutikov, Mikhail; Pinsker, Shachar (June 27, 2011).
Zeitlin Family
"

The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe ''The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe'' is a two-volume, English-language reference work on the history and culture of Eastern Europe Jewry in this region, prepared by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and published by Yale Uni ...

. Retrieved 2022-10-29.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Bar-On, Shraga,
Hillel Zeitlin in Search of God: An Analysis of Zeitlin's Meditation ‘The Thirst’
, in: D. Schwartz and A. Sagi (eds.), ''Faith: Jewish Perspectives'' (Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2013), pp. 478-499. * Green, Arthur (2012). ''Hasidic Spirituality for a New Era: The Religious Writings of Hillel Zeitlin''. The Classics of Western Spirituality. New York: Paulist Press. * Meir, Jonatan, "Hillel Zeitlin's Zohar: The History of a Translation and Commentary Project", ''Kabbalah: Journal for the Study of Jewish Mystical Texts'' 10 (2004): pp. 119–157. In Hebrew. * Shapira, Anita (1999). ''Land and Power: The Zionist Resort to Force, 1881-1948''. Stanford University Press. . *Zeitlin, Hillel; Meir, Jonatan (2006). ''Rabbi Nahman of Bratslav: World Weariness and Longing for the Messiah''. Two essays by Hillel Zeitlin; introduction and critical notes by Jonatan Meir. Yeriot: Essays and Papers in the Jewish Studies Bearing on the Humanities and the Social Sciences, no. 5. Jerusalem: Ornah Hes. In Hebrew.

External links

“The Great Call of the Hour”: Hillel Zeitlin’s Yiddish Writings on Yavneh by Arthur Green and Ariel Evan Mayse
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeitlin, Hillel 1871 births 1942 deaths People from Karma District People from Rogachyovsky Uyezd Belarusian Jews Jewish philosophers Yiddish-language journalists

Inmates The Inmates are a British pub rock band, which formed after the split of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In 1982, they had a medium-sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with their cover of Jimmy M ...

Nazi-era ghetto inmates People who died in the Warsaw Ghetto Polish civilians killed in World War II Neo-Hasidism

Biography

See also

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links