Israel Isidor Elyashev ( yi, ישראל איסידאָר עליאַשעװ, 1873–1924) was a

Jew 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""Th ...

ish

neurologist Neurology (from el, νεῦρον (neûron), "string, nerve" and the suffix -logia, "study of") is the branch of medicine dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of conditions and disease involving the brain, the spinal c ...

and the first

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 ...

literary critic. He introduced the world to the works of the great contemporary Yiddish classical writers: Sholem Rabinovich, better known as

Sholem Aleichem ) , birth_date = , birth_place = Pereiaslav, Russian Empire , death_date = , death_place = New York City, U.S. , occupation = Writer , nationality = , period = , genre = Novels, sh ...

, Mendele Mocher Sefarim,

Isaac Leib Peretz Isaac Leib Peretz ( pl, Icchok Lejbusz Perec, yi, יצחק־לייבוש פרץ) (May 18, 1852 – April 3, 1915), also sometimes written Yitskhok Leybush Peretz was a Polish Jewish writer and playwright writing in Yiddish. Payson R. Stevens, Cha ...

and Nachum Sokolov; along with modern Hebrew writers including Chaim Nachman Bialik, and

Sholem Asch Sholem Asch ( yi, שלום אַש, pl, Szalom Asz; 1 November 1880 – 10 July 1957), also written Shalom Ash, was a Polish-Jewish novelist, dramatist, and essayist in the Yiddish language who settled in the United States. Life and work Asch ...

, among several others. Elyashev was originally from

Kaunas Kaunas (; ; also see other names) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the largest city and the centre of a county in the Duchy of Trakai ...

, Lithuania. In his youth, he studied with Rabbi

Simcha Zissel Ziv Simcha Zissel Ziv Broida ( he, שמחה זיסל זיו; 1824–1898), also known as Simhah Zissel Ziv or the ''Alter of Kelm'' (the Elder of Kelm), was one of the foremost students of Yisrael Salanter and one of the early leaders of the Musar m ...

at the Talmud Torah in

Grobiņa Grobiņa (; german: Grobin) is a town in South Kurzeme Municipality in the Courland region of Latvia, eleven kilometers east of Liepāja. It was founded by the Teutonic Knights in the 13th century. Some ruins of their Grobina castle are sti ...

, Latvia, but was eventually expelled from the school for his "heretical tendencies." He went on to attend a high school in Switzerland, and he then studied medicine and biology in Heidelberg and Berlin. Elyashev's pen name was Bal-Makhshoves ( he, בעל מחשבות), meaning "Master fThoughts" or "The Thinker". Elyashev is best known for his work as a literary critic, writing in Yiddish. He translated

Theodor Herzl Theodor Herzl; hu, Herzl Tivadar; Hebrew name given at his brit milah: Binyamin Ze'ev (2 May 1860 – 3 July 1904) was an Austro-Hungarian Jewish lawyer, journalist, playwright, political activist, and writer who was the father of modern p ...

's ''

Altneuland ''The Old New Land'' (german: Altneuland; he, תֵּל־אָבִיב ''Tel Aviv'', " Tel of spring"; yi, אַלטנײַלאַנד) is a utopian novel published by Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, in 1902. It was published six ye ...

'' from

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

into Yiddish, upon Herzl's personal request. His Yiddish translation of Herzl's work is the language that by far- most of European Jewry had read of Herzl's calling for a Modern Jewish State. His attitude to Jewish literature, Yiddish, and Hebrew is summed up by something that he wrote in 1918:

have two languages and a dozen echoes from other foreign languages, but… we have only one literature. And therefore the reader who seeks to become acquainted with the currents of Jewish life, to comprehend the spirit of the Jewish individual and multitude and how they find expression in Jewish literature, that reader does not separate Hebrew writers from Yiddish ones. …All are representatives of our literature, all embody a piece of Jewish life in their writings; all of them are Jewish artists.The Great Jewish Language War
at www.hagshama.org.il

Elyashev was also politically active, as a forerunner of the

Zionist Movement 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 Jew ...

. He participated in the

First Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress ( he, הקונגרס הציוני הראשון) was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) held in Basel (Basle), from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attende ...

, held in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in August 1897, as a delegate from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Notes

External links

''Bal-Makhshoves'', YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern EuropeBaal-Makhshoves books
in the

Yiddish Book Center The Yiddish Book Center (formerly the National Yiddish Book Center), located on the campus of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, is a cultural institution dedicated to the preservation of books in the Yiddish language, a ...

collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Elyashev, Israel Isidor 1873 births 1924 deaths Lithuanian Jews Zionists Yiddish-language writers Translators to Yiddish Physicians from Kaunas 20th-century translators Writers from Kaunas