Zechariah Choneh Bergner () (27 November 1893 – 20 August 1976), better known by his pen name Melech Ravitch (), was a Canadian

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 ...

poet and essayist. Ravitch was one of the world's leading Yiddish literary figures after the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. His poetry and essays appeared in the international Yiddish press and in anthologies, as well as in translation.

Life

Life in Poland

Bergner was born in 1893 to Efrayim and Hinde Bergner in Redem,

Eastern Galicia Eastern Galicia ( uk, Східна Галичина, Skhidna Galychyna, pl, Galicja Wschodnia, german: Ostgalizien) is a geographical region in Western Ukraine (present day oblasts of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil), having also essential h ...

. Leaving home at age 14, he served in the

Austrian army The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria. The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of nati ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and lived in

Lemberg Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in Western Ukraine, western Ukraine, and the List of cities in Ukraine, seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is o ...

and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. Emboldened by the 1908 Czernowitz Language Conference, he became involved in the

Yiddishist movement Yiddishism (Yiddish: ײִדישיזם) is a cultural and linguistic movement which began among Jews in Eastern Europe during the latter part of the 19th century. Some of the leading founders of this movement were Mendele Moykher-Sforim (1836–191 ...

and began writing poetry. Together with a fellow poet

Shmuel Yankev Imber Shmuel Yankev Imber (Russian language, Russian: Шмуэль Яков Имбер, Hebrew language, Hebrew: שמואל יעקב אימבר, Polish language, Polish: Samuel Jakub Imber, also: Samuel Jacob Imber; 24 February 1889 – 1942) was a Jew ...

, he strove to promote the aesthetic ideals of neo-romanticism in Lviv Jewish literary centers, inspired by Jewish writers such as

Arthur Schnitzler Arthur Schnitzler (15 May 1862 – 21 October 1931) was an Austrian author and dramatist. Biography Arthur Schnitzler was born at Praterstrasse 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, capital of the Austrian Empire (as of 1867, part of the dual monarchy ...

and

Stefan Zweig Stefan Zweig (; ; 28 November 1881 – 22 February 1942) was an Austrian novelist, playwright, journalist, and biographer. At the height of his literary career, in the 1920s and 1930s, he was one of the most widely translated and popular write ...

. His earliest poetry appeared in '' Der yidisher arbeyter'' in 1910. Other work of the period included the 1912 collection ''Oyf der Shvel (On the Threshold) and 1918's ''Spinoza''. From the early 1920s he was an active contributor of poems and essays to major Yiddish periodicals, under the name Melech Ravitch. Moving to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

in 1921, he belonged to

Di Chaliastre Di Chaliastre or Khalyastre (, from Polish "halastra" - gang) was a Jewish avant-garde expressionist-futuristic group of poets, who worked in Warsaw between 1919 and 1924. The poets wrote in Yiddish and published a namesake magazine. The name of ...

("The Gang"), a

modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...

literary group which included

Uri Zvi Greenberg Uri Zvi Greenberg ( he, אוּרִי צְבִי גְּרִינְבֵּרְג; September 22, 1896 – May 8, 1981; also spelled Uri Zvi Grinberg) was an acclaimed Modern Hebrew poetry, Israeli poet, journalist and politician who wrote in Yiddish ...

and

Peretz Markish Peretz Davidovich Markish ( yi, פּרץ מאַרקיש ) (russian: Перец Давидович Маркиш) (7 December 1895 (25 November OS) – 12 August 1952) was a Russian Jewish poet and playwright who wrote predominantly in Yiddish. ...

. He was a co-founder of the Yiddish

literary journal A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letters ...

' and served as secretary of the Yiddish Writers' Union, which then included

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 ...

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

, and

I. J. Singer Israel Joshua Singer (Yiddish: ישראל יהושע זינגער ; November 30, 1893, Biłgoraj, Congress Poland — February 10, 1944 New York) was a Polish-Jewish novelist who wrote in Yiddish. Biography He was born Yisruel Yehoyshye Zinger ...

. He was a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

and patron of the Jewish Vegetarian Society.

Life in Australia and Canada

Ravitch visited Australia in 1933 to investigate the feasibility of the

Kimberley Plan The Kimberley Plan, was a failed plan by the Freeland League to resettle Jewish refugees from Europe in northern Australia before and during the Holocaust. With rampant anti-Semitism in Europe, the Freeland League for Jewish Territorial Coloni ...

, and moved there in 1935. After 1938, he moved to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, New York City, and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, before settling in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, where he lived until his death. He briefly served as head of the Jewish Public Library and revived the Yidishe Folks-Universitet (Jewish People's Popular University), which he ran from 1941 to 1954. His life in Australia has been documented by Anna Epstein.Anna Epstein,''Melekh Ravitsh: The Eccentric Outback Quest of an Urbane Yiddish Poet from Poland,'' Real Film and Publishing,(Melbourne) December 2019.

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ravitch, Melech 1893 births 1976 deaths Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent Canadian poets by language Canadian publishers (people) Jewish Canadian writers Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Polish emigrants to Canada Writers from Montreal Yiddish culture in Canada Yiddish-language journalists Yiddish-language poets People from Radymno People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria Austro-Hungarian Jews Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I