Chaim Grade ( yi, חיים גראַדע) (April 4, 1910 – June 26, 1982) was one of the leading

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 ve ...

writers of the twentieth century. Grade was born in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...

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 ...

and died in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. He is buried in Riverside

Cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a bu ...

, Saddle Brook, New Jersey. Grade was raised Orthodox-leaning, and he studied in

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 a ...

as a teenager, but ended up with a secular outlook, in part due to his poetic ambitions. Losing his family in 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; ...

, he resettled in New York, and increasingly took to fiction, writing in Yiddish. Initially he was reluctant to have his work translated. He was praised by

Elie Wiesel Elie Wiesel (, born Eliezer Wiesel ''Eliezer Vizel''; September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in F ...

as "one of the great—if not the greatest—of living Yiddish novelists." In 1970 he won the

Itzik Manger Prize The Itzik Manger Prize for outstanding contributions to Yiddish literature was established in 1968, shortly before Itzik Manger's death in 1969. Manger "was and remains one of the best-known twentieth-century Yiddish poets." The Prize has been des ...

for contributions to Yiddish letters.

Life

Chaim Grade, the son of Shlomo Mordecai Grade, a

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 ...

teacher and ''maskil'' (advocate of the

Haskalah The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

, the European Jewish Enlightenment), received a secular as well as

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 ...

religious education. He studied for several years with Reb Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, the

Chazon Ish Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz (7 November 1878 – 24 October 1953), also known as the Chazon Ish () after his magnum opus, was a Belarusian-born Orthodox rabbi who later became one of the leaders of Haredi Judaism in Israel, where he spent his ...

(1878–1953), one of observant Judaism's great Torah scholars. In 1932, Grade began publishing stories and poems in Yiddish, and in the early 1930s was among the founding members of the "Young Vilna" experimental group of artists and writers. He developed a reputation as one of the city's most articulate literary interpreters. He fled the German invasion of

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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and sought refuge in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. In the

he lost his wife Frumme-Liebe (daughter of the Rabbi of Glebokie) and his mother Vella Grade Rosenthal (daughter of Rabbi Rafael Blumenthal). When the war ended, he lived briefly in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

before relocating to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 1948. Grade's second wife, Inna (née Hecker), translated a number of his books into English; she died in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on May 2, 2010. Several books were also translated to

and published in

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 ...

Works

Grade's postwar

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meani ...

is primarily concerned with Jewish survival in the wake of the

. Grade's most highly acclaimed novels, '' The Agunah'' (1961, tr. 1974) and ''

The Yeshiva ''The Yeshiva'' is an English language, English translation by Curt Leviant of the Yiddish language, Yiddish novel ''Tsemakh Atlas'' (צמח אטלס) by Chaim Grade. It was published in two volumes in Yiddish and also in translation. It was also ...

'' (2 vol., 1967–68, tr. 1976–7), deal with the philosophical and ethical dilemmas of Jewish life in prewar

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, particularly dwelling on the Novardok

Mussar movement The Musar movement (also Mussar movement) is a Jewish ethical, educational and cultural movement that developed in 19th century Lithuania, particularly among Orthodox Lithuanian Jews. The Hebrew term (), is adopted from the Book of Proverbs (1 ...

. These two works were translated from the original

into English by

Curt Leviant Curt Leviant (born 1932, ViennaHarry Zohn, ''Österreichische Juden in der Literatur'' (Olamenu, 1969), p. 37.) is a retired Jewish Studies professor, as well as a novelist and translator. Personal life and career His parents were Jacques and Fen ...

. Grade's short story,
My Quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner
" describes the chance meeting of a Holocaust survivor with an old friend from the mussar Yeshiva. The narrator has lost his faith, while the friend has continued to lead a pious and devoted religious life. The former friends debate the place of religion in the postmodern world. The character Hersh Rasseyner is based on

Gershon Liebman Gershon Liebman (1905 – 8 March 1997) was a leader of the Novardok Yeshiva movement after World War II, and ''rosh yeshiva'' of Novardok in France, where he created 40 Torah institutions. He devoted his life to rebuilding the Novardok style of ...

, a friend of Grade's from yeshiva who built Navardok yeshivas all over France. Grade recounted that he had a short conversation with Liebman, and created this story on what he imagined Liebman would say to him if he had the words. The story has been made into a film, ''

The Quarrel ''The Quarrel'' is a 1991 Canadian film directed by Eli Cohen and starring Saul Rubinek and R. H. Thomson. The film was written by David Brandes and Joseph Telushkin. Plot Two estranged friends – one a rabbi and the other an agnostic write ...

'', and a play. While less famous than

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 ...

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 ...

, Chaim Grade is considered among the foremost stylists in Yiddish. His work is now hard to find in English.

Literary estate

His papers were very numerous and consumed much space of the apartment he shared with his wife Inna in the

Amalgamated Housing Cooperative Amalgamated Housing Cooperative, originally the Amalgamated Cooperative Apartment House, is a pioneering American limited-equity cooperative apartment complex organized under the provisions of the ''Private Housing Finance'' (PVH) law, article IV ( ...

in the Northwest

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

. The public administrator of his papers, Bonnie Gould, made requests to several institutions, including

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

and the

YIVO Institute for Jewish Research YIVO (Yiddish: , ) is an organization that preserves, studies, and teaches the cultural history of Jewish life throughout Eastern Europe, Germany, and Russia as well as orthography, lexicography, and other studies related to Yiddish. (The word ' ...

to assist in cataloging Grade's papers. By the end of August 2010, the papers had been transferred to YIVO's offices, for sorting. In 2013 the Public Administrator of Bronx County awarded the YIVO Institute and the

National Library of Israel The National Library of Israel (NLI; he, הספרייה הלאומית, translit=HaSifria HaLeumit; ar, المكتبة الوطنية في إسرائيل), formerly Jewish National and University Library (JNUL; he, בית הספרים הלא� ...

rights to the estate. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, the assets of the estate will be permanently housed at YIVO in New York City. Materials will be shared and made available to the National Library of Israel once its new building opens in Jerusalem in 2020. YIVO and the National Library of Israel have agreed to digitize the entire archive and make it accessible online.

Bibliography

;Fiction
"Mayn krig mit Hersh Raseyner"
("My Quarrel With Hersh Rasseyner") 1951. Translated i
Treasury of Yiddish Stories''
Irving Howe and

Eliezer Greenberg Eliezer Greenberg (December 13, 1896 – June 2, 1977) was a Bessarabian-born Jewish-American Yiddish poet and literary critic. Life Greenberg was born on December 13, 1896 in Lipcani, Russian Empire, the son of Ezekiel Greenberg and Ethel H ...

, eds. New York: Viking Press, 1954. *
Der shulhoyf
' 1958. Includes ''Reb Nokhemel der Malve,'' ''Shrifrele,'' and ''Der brunem''. Translated, ''The Well'', Philadelphia: JPS, 1967. *
Di agune
' 1961. Translated, '' The Agunah'', New York: Twayne Publishers, 1974. *
Tsemakh Atlas
' name(2 volumes) 1967-68. Translated, ''

'', Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1976-77. *''Di kloyz un di gas'' (''The Kloyz and the Street'') 1974. Translated, ''Rabbis and Wives'', New York: Knopf, 1982. (Republished as ''The Sacred and The Profane''). Contains three short novellas: "The Rebbetzin", "Laybe-Layzar's Courtyard", and "The Oath". The fourth story, ''Zeydes un eyneklekh'' ("Grandfathers and Grandchildren"), was translated in ''Have I Got a Story for You: More Than a Century of Fiction from the Forward'', New York: W.W. Norton, 2016. *''Der shtumer minyen'' (''The Silent Minyan'') 1976. Short stories. Untranslated. Excerpt translated a
"The Abandoned Sanctuary"
for Yiddish Book Center. ;Memoir *
Der mames shabosim
', 1955. Translated, ''My Mother's Sabbath Days'', New York: Knopf, 1986. . Portion republished in ''The Seven Little Lanes''. New York: Bergen Belsen Memorial Press, 1972, which contains the texts “On strange soil,” “The seven lanes of the Vilna ghetto,” and the story “My quarrel with Hersh Rasseyner.” ;Serialized stories published in Yiddish newspapers *''Froyen fun geto'' (''Women of the Ghetto'') c. 1960's. Published in ''Forverts''. *''Beys harov'' (''The Rabbi's House'') c. 1960's-70's. Published in ''Der Tog'' and ''Forverts''. Currently being translated, forthcoming from Knopf. *''Fun unter der erd'' (''From Under the Earth'') c. 1980-82. Uncompleted serialized novel published in ''Forverts''. ;Poetry
''Yo'' (''Yes'')
1935.
''Musernikes'' (''Musarists'')
1939.
''Doyres'' (''Generations'')
1945. Contains poems in ''Yo'' and ''Musarnikes''. *''On the Ruins''. 1947.
''Pleytim'' (''Refugees'')
1947. *
Farvoksene vegn
' (''Overgrown Paths''). 1947. *
Der mames tsavoe
' (''My Mother’s Will)''. 1949. *
Shayn fun farloshene shtern
' (''The Glow of Extinguished Stars''). 1950. Translated in "The Golden Peacock: A Worldwide Treasury of Yiddish Poetry", Ed. Joseph Leftwich, 1961. * *''Der mentsh fun fayer'' (''The Man of Fire''). 1962. Translated in "An Anthology of Modern Yiddish Poetry", Ed. Ruth Whitman, 1966. *''Parchment Earth''. 1968. *''Af mayn veg tsu dir'' (''On My Way to You''). 1969.

Awards

* 1967:

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.Grade among the writers' and painters' group "Jung Vilna"Chaim Grade and VilniusEnglish Translation of The Yeshiva available to read onlineComplete works of Chaim Grade in Yiddish, digitized
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Grade, Chaim Yiddish-language poets 20th-century poets Writers from Vilnius Soviet emigrants to the United States Soviet Jews 1910 births 1982 deaths Itzik Manger Prize recipients