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From 1835-1914 there was a great flourishing of Jewish literary and
culture. There was a flowering of Jewish literature in all three
languages, Hebrew, Yiddish and Russian. Bialik, Perets and Shneur all
wrote in Hebrew and Yiddish, the historian Shimon Dubnov wrote in all
three languages. The poetry of Bialik was a combination of lyric power and
the spirit of the ancient prophets of Israel, and the nature poetry of
Shaul Chernihovsky overflowed with romantic vitality.
There was the renown Habimah theatre and the Jewish Chamber Theatre,
two Jewish theaters that achieved world recognition during their tours
abroad. The Habimah was the first theatre company giving performances in
Hebrew started in Bialysotk in 1912, the founder and director was Nahum
Zemach, a teacher of Hebrew. Years later when there were threats of
closing it down, Gorki, Chaliapin, and Stanislvaski came to its defense.
Lenin made note that the Habimah had to be allowed to exist. Stanislavski
of the famous acting method, said, “If it were not for my gray hair I
would start to learn Hebrew.” “Support the theatre in that marvelous
language,” he wrote.
There were many famous writers, the most “Jewish” of Russian
writers was Isaac Babel 1894-1941. Then there was Boris Pasternak
1890-1960 author of Doctor Zhivago, his father was the well known artist
Leonid Pasternak. Boris Pasternak whose book Doctor Zhivago was
prevented from being published in Soviet Russia, came out in Russian
outside the country and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1958. He declined
the prize after being persecuted by official government and writers
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