Yosef Haim Brenner

Joseph Chaim Brenner (; 11 September 1881 – 2 May 1921) was a Hebrew-language author from the Russian Empire, and one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature, a thinker, publicist, and public leader. In addition to his literary innovations and contributions, Brenner gained a reputation for his ascetic lifestyle and his courage to challenge social conventions, evident in his distinctive expressions such as "Nevertheless" and "The right to shout." These qualities, along with his tragic death during the 1921 riots, created a legendary aura around him, making him an almost mythical figure in the history of literature and culture in the Land of Israel.

Biography

Yosef Haim Brenner was born to a poor Jewish family in , Russian Empire (today part of Ukraine). He studied at a yeshiva in Pochep, and published his first story, ''Pat Lechem'' ("A Loaf of Bread") in '' Ha-Melitz'' in 1900, followed by a collection of short stories in 1901.

In 1902, Brenner was drafted into the Russian army. Two years later, when the Russo-Japanese War broke out, he deserted. He was initially captured, but escaped to London with the help of the General Jewish Labor Bund, which he had joined as a youth.

In 1905, he met the Yiddish writer Lamed Shapiro. Brenner lived in an apartment in Whitechapel, which doubled as an office for ''HaMe'orer'', a Hebrew periodical that he edited and published in 1906–07. In 1922, Asher Beilin published ''Brenner in London'' about this period in Brenner's life.

In 1913, Brenner married Chaya Braude, with whom he had a son, Uri.

Brenner immigrated to Palestine (then part of the Ottoman Empire) in 1909. He worked as a farmer, eager to put his Zionist ideology into practice. Unlike A. D. Gordon, however, he could not take the strain of manual labor, and soon left to devote himself to literature and teaching at the Gymnasia Herzliya in Tel Aviv. According to biographer Anita Shapira, he suffered from depression and problems of sexual identity. He was murdered in Jaffa in May 1921 during the Jaffa riots.

Zionist views

Brenner immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1909 and became one of the prominent figures of the Second Aliyah. At first, he aspired to work in agriculture in order to physically embody the Zionist ideal. However, unlike his friend and mentor A.D. Gordon, Brenner could not withstand the demands of farm labor and abandoned it after a week (some say he was forced to) in favor of less physically demanding work. Until 1914, he lived in Jerusalem, in the ''Ezrat Yisrael'' neighborhood, in a rented, monastic-style room near the ''Ahdut'' printing press. He was a member of the editorial board of the newspaper ''HaAhdut'' and published articles in other newspapers as well.

In his writing, Brenner praised the Zionist endeavor, though also affirmed that the Land of Israel was just another diaspora and no different from other diasporas - which of course happened to be the case at the time under the british mandate.

Writing style

Brenner was very much an "experimental" writer, both in his use of language and in literary form. With Modern Hebrew still in its infancy, Brenner improvised with an intriguing mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic, Yiddish, English and Arabic. In his attempt to portray life realistically, his work is full of emotive punctuation and ellipses. Robert Alter, in the collection ''Modern Hebrew Literature'', writes that Brenner "had little patience for the aesthetic dimension of imaginative fictions: 'A single particle of truth,' he once said, 'is more valuable to me than all possible poetry.'" Brenner "wants the brutally depressing facts to speak for themselves, without any authorial intervention or literary heightening." This was Alter's preface to Brenner's story, "The Way Out", published in 1919, and set during Turkish and British struggles over Palestine in World War I.

The Brenner Affair

At the end of 1910, Brenner published an article in the newspaper ''HaPoel HaTza'ir'' that sparked a wide public controversy, later known as "The Brenner Affair." The article offended the sensibilities of religious and traditional communities both in the Land of Israel and abroad. On the one hand, it contained a blunt and dismissive rejection of all religions, including Judaism; on the other hand, it expressed allegiance to Jewish culture, which Brenner saw as rooted in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. The uproar that followed did not subside for many months. The “Odessa Committee” ceased its financial support of the newspaper ''HaPoel HaTza'ir'', and in response, writers and workers from the Land of Israel rallied together and donated to ensure the paper's continued existence. The debates expanded in various directions, and hundreds of articles and letters were published in journals both in the Land of Israel and throughout the Diaspora concerning the affair and its aftermath.

Even after the controversy subsided and gave way to other disputes, the "event" continued to impact Brenner’s life. For example, when he began teaching literature at the Herzliya Gymnasium in 1915, his appointment faced opposition from the school’s supervisory board. As a compromise, a special instructor was assigned to oversee Brenner’s classes to ensure he followed the curriculum and did not incite against religion. Eventually, Brenner's teaching was found to be excellent and entirely appropriate, and he continued teaching at the Gymnasium, including Bible, Mishnah, and Hebrew language.

Literary activity

As part of his literary activity, Brenner played a key role in launching S.Y. Agnon into the Jewish literary and cultural consciousness by helping to publish his book ''And the Crooked Shall Be Made Straight''.

He translated from Russian into Hebrew Dostoevsky’s '' Crime and Punishment'' and Tolstoy’s '' Master and Man'', and from German into Hebrew two books by Gerhart Hauptmann as well as ''The Jews of Today'' by Arthur Ruppin. He also engaged in translating works of popular science.

In 1913, Brenner married kindergarten teacher Chaya Broide, and a year later their only son was born. Brenner named him Uri Nissan, after his friend Uri Nissan Gnessin, who had died about a year earlier. The marriage did not last long, and his wife left him, taking their son with her to Berlin.

In 1917, during the expulsion of Tel Aviv, when the Ottoman authorities expelled the residents of Tel Aviv and the Jewish residents of Jaffa, Brenner relocated to Hadera, returning to Jaffa only after the British conquest of the region.

From 1919, he edited the literary monthly ''HaAdamah'' (the Land in Hebrew), which was published as an appendix to ''Kuntres'', edited by Berl Katznelson.

Brenner was also a lecturer and teacher in the roadwork camps of the Yosef Trumpeldor Labor Battalion and was described as one of the most passionate and inspiring advocates for the unification of the workers' parties in the Land of Israel.

Commemoration

The site of his murder on Kibbutz Galuyot street is now marked by Brenner House, a center for Hanoar Haoved Vehalomed, the youth organization of the Histadrut. Kibbutz Givat Brenner was also named for him, while kibbutz Revivim was named in honor of his magazine. The Brenner Prize, one of Israel's top literary awards, is named for him.

Published works

* A collection of 6 short stories about Jewish life in the diaspora.
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** Yiddish: Warsaw, Literarisher Bleter, 1936.
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** Yiddish: Berlin, Yiddisher Literarisher Ferlag, 1923.
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** English:
In Eight Great Hebrew Short Novels
', New York, New American Library, 1983.
** Spanish: In ''Ocho Obras Maestras de la Narrativa Hebrea'', Barcelona, Riopiedras, 1989.
** French: Paris, ''Intertextes'', 1989; Paris, Noel Blandin, 1991.
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** English: London, Cornell Univ. Press, 1971; Philadelphia, JPS, 1971; London, The Toby Press, 2004.
** Chinese: Hefei, Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 1998.
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** English: Colorado, Westview Press, 1992.

See also

* Hebrew literature

References

Further reading

* Shapira, Anita (2014). ''Yosef Haim Brenner: A Life''. Tr. Antony Berris. Stanford. California: Stanford University Press.
*''Yosef Haim Brenner: A Biography'' (''Brenner: Sippur hayim''), Anita Shapira, Am Oved (in Hebrew)
* Yosef Haim Brenner: Background, David Patterson, ''Ariel: A Quarterly Review of Arts and Letters in Israel'', vol. 33/34, 1973

External links

Brenner's Hebrew works
in Project Ben-Yehuda

Institute for Translation of Hebrew Literature bio
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Brenner, Yosef Haim
1881 births
1921 deaths
Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery
Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the Ottoman Empire
Jews from Ottoman Palestine
Modern Hebrew writers
People from Chernihiv Oblast
People from Chernigov Governorate
20th-century Ukrainian Jews
Jewish writers from the Russian Empire
Immigrants of the Second Aliyah
People murdered in Mandatory Palestine