1. Roskies, David G., “The People of the Lost Book: A Cultural Manifesto,” Orim 2, no. 1 (1986): 7–34.Google Scholar

2. Alter, Robert in “The Jew Who Didn't Get Away: On the Possibility of an American Jewish Culture,” Judaism 31 (1982): 274–286Google Scholar; Ozick, Cynthia, “Toward a New Yiddish,” in Ozick, Art and Ardor: Essays (New York, 1983), pp. 153–171Google Scholar—even in the caveat added (pp. 151–152) in 1983 to the views she had originally expressed in 1970 (see Ozick, , “America: Toward Yavneh,” Judaism 19, no. 3 [1970]: 264–282)Google Scholar; Shaked, Gershon, Ein makon aḥer (Tel-Aviv, 1988)Google Scholar, “Alexandria,” pp. 138–184.Google Scholar

3. See, e.g., Alter, Robert, “The Inner Migration of Hebrew Prose,” in The Legacy of Jewish Migration: 1881 and Its Impact, ed. Berger, David (New York, 1983), pp. 100–101Google Scholar; Mikliszanski, J. K., Toledot hasifrut ha'ivrit beamerikah (Jerusalem, 1967), pp. 8–29Google Scholar; Kabakoff, Jacob, Ḥalutzei hasifrut ha'ivrit beamerikah (Tel-Aviv, 1966), pp. 11–15Google Scholar; Ribalow, Menahem, ed., Antologiah shel hashirah ha'ivrit beamerikah (New York, 1938)Google Scholar, introduction: “Hashirah ha'ivrit beamerikah,” pp. 2–7Google Scholar; Epstein, Ephraim, Soferim 'ivrim beamerikah, 2 vols. (Tel-Aviv, 1952), 1:5–8.Google Scholar

4. The ubiquitous nature of this theme, from Wasserman to Kafka, from Delmore Schwartz to Philip Roth (and see the comment by Cynthia Ozick quoted at the end of this essay, n. 110), can be extended to include many American writers, including black writers as well as others.

5. Mikliszanski, , Toledot hasifrut, pp. 7–8.Google Scholar

6. Gershon Shaked, at a symposium on American Judaism (“Babylonia or Alexandria?”) at Hebrew Union College, Jerusalem, 23 April 1990.

7. Ribalow, , Antologiah, “Hashirah ha'ivrit beamerikah,” p. 3Google Scholar; Alter, , “Inner Migration,” p. 100Google Scholar. Even their contemporaries were not terribly impressed by their work. Mordecai Ze'ev Raizin wrote, in 1901, that “American Hebrew literature will not be able to raise itself from its current low level,” although he allowed for the chance that the new immigration from Russia would bring fresh talent to American shores. Raizin, M. Z., “Sefat 'ever vesifrutah beamerikah,” Hashiloaḥ 8 (1901): 549.Google Scholar

8. Ribalow, , Antologiah, “Hashirah ha'ivrit beamerikah,” pp. 4–5.Google Scholar

9. Ibid.; Kabakoff, , Ḥalulzei hasifrut, p. 14.Google Scholar

10. Deinard, Ephraim, Kohelet amerikah [English title: Koheleth America: Catalogue of Hebrew Books Printed in America, 1735–1925] (St. Louis, 1926), p. 1.Google Scholar

11. Ibid., pp. 1, 10, 13, 17–18, 30, 50, 56–57.

12. Ginsburg, Shimon, “New York,” in Ribalow, Antologiah, pp. 163–166.Google Scholar

13. Ribalow, , “Mitat sedom umerḥavyah,” Sefer hayovel shel “Hadoar” (New York, 1927), p. 10.Google Scholar

14. Ibid., pp. 10–11, 14.

15. Ibid., pp. 10, 14.

16. Ibid., pp. 14–15.

17. Ibid., pp. 11, 15.

18. Alter, , “Inner Migration,” p. 97Google Scholar: “… with rare exceptions, their efforts to acclimate Hebrew literature to the American scene were strained, self-conscious, and artistically unconvincing.” See also Epstein, , Soferim, 1:5, 8–9Google Scholar; Mikliszanski, , Toledot hasifrut, p. 122Google Scholar; and see below, n. 37.

19. Sefer hashanah (hereafter cited as SH) 2 (1935)Google Scholar, preface (“Lasefer”), unpaginated.

20. Rudy, Zvi, “Hayehudim bapilosofiah shel yameinu,” SH 1 (1930): 117–118.Google Scholar

21. Goldenberg, Avraham, “Hayehudi haeropi,” SH 1 (1930): 16Google Scholar. The allusion is to a line in Gordon's poem “Hakitzah 'ami”: “Be a man abroad and a Jew in your tent.”

22. Goidenberg, Mordecai, “Shirei milḥamah,” SH 1 (1930): 213–215.Google Scholar

23. Ribalow, Menahem, “Havai haḥayim veḥavayat hasifrut,” SH 1 (1930): 7.Google Scholar

24. Ibid., p. 8.

25. Ibid., p. 9.

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29. Waxman, Meir, “Harabanut veharabanim beamerikah,” SH 1 (1930): 309–316.Google Scholar

30. Ivensky, Mikhl, “Tenu'at hapo'alim hayehudim beamerikah,” SH 1 (1930): 324–335.Google Scholar

31. It is not clear why it took five years to produce the second volume, and why a further three years elapsed between the second and third volumes. It is possible that financial considerations played a role; the Yearbook depended on support from donors and received funding from at least one foundation. It is likely, too, that it was technically difficult to edit and produce a book of that scale, and with so many authors, rapidly. See the preface to volume 2, and the list of contributors published at the back of the volume. There seems to have been an ongoing relationship with Reform movement figures (help is acknowledged from the Lucius N. Littauer Fund of the CCAR and from the Cincinnati Cultural Foundation).

32. Preface to volume 2.

33. For example: Touroff, Nissan, “Pilosof boded (leyovel hashiv'im shel Santayana),” SH 2 (1935): 117–125Google Scholar; Rader, Joseph, “Tziyurei hamikra shel Michelangelo,” SH 2 (1935): 171–177Google Scholar; Twersky, Yohanan, “Freud hatza'ir,” SH 3 (1938): 163–174Google Scholar; Regelson, Avraham, “Elohei-hatev'a bashirah haamerikayit,” SH 3 (1938): 294–305Google Scholar; Rabinowitz, Isaiah, “Eugene O'Neill—meshorer hametziyut,” SH 3 (1938): 318–325.Google Scholar

34. Sokolow, Nahum, “Haleumiyut ha'ivrit miktokh haenoshiyut,” SH 2 (1935): 25–47.Google Scholar

35. Ibid., pp. 20–25.

36. Efros, Israel, “Vigvamim shotekim” (1932)Google Scholar; Lissitsky, Ephraim, “Medurot do'akhot” (1937)Google Scholar. Benjamin Silkiner had pioneered the Hebrew “Indian” poem in 1910, with “Mul ohel timorah.” On Silkiner, see Kabakoff, Jacob, “B. N. Silkiner and His Circle: The Genesis of the New Hebrew Literature in America,” Judaism 39, no. 1 (1990): 97–103Google Scholar. Lissitsky and others also wrote “black” poems along similar lines (e.g., Lissitsky, 's “Beoholei kush” and “Yisrael beshittim,” the latter published in SH 7 [1944]: 283).Google Scholar

37. Bavli, Hillel, “The Modern Renaissance of Hebrew Literature,” in The Jews: Their History, Culture and Religion, ed. Finkelstein, Louis, 2 vols., 3rd ed. (Philadelphia, 1966), 2:918Google Scholar; Kabakoff, , Ḥalutzei hasifrut, pp. 17–18Google Scholar; Epstein, , Soferim, p. 10Google Scholar; Alter, , “Inner Migration,” p. 101Google Scholar: “It is not surprising that some of the immigrant Hebrew poets should have tried to discover on these shores a new kind of pastoral landscape, producing quasi-epics or balladic lucubrations on Indian and Negro life. Such dalliance with American exotica was of course a self-conscious act of willed acculturation, a symptom of the problem rather than a solution to it.”

38. Halevy, Avraham Zvi, “Yonim 'al pasei 'ilit,” SH 4 (1939): 186.Google Scholar

39. Ribalow, , Antologiah, “Hashirah ha'ivrit beamerikah,” pp. 8–11.Google Scholar

40. Ibid., p. 7.

41. See, e.g., Gross, Naftali, “Hasifrut haidit beamerikah,” SH 3 (1938): 385Google Scholar; “The monotonal symphony of the older generation has fissioned into a medley of melodies … realism, expressionism, symbolism.… Their poems and stories are individualistic expressions of men's souls in the contemporary city: moods, images, tender yearnings … intimacies of the heart, intricacies of experience, and despair.”

42. Wisse, Ruth, “Die Yunge: Immigrants or Exiles?” Prooftexts 1, no. 1 (1981): 45–46.Google Scholar

43. Frank, Herman, “Hamatzav hakalkali shel hayehudim beamerikah,” SH 2 (1935): 319–326Google Scholar: Engleman, Uriah Zvi, “Hayehudi bata'asiyah haamerikayit,” SH 2 (1935): 330Google Scholar; see also Rubinow, Isaac M., “The Economic and Industrial Situation of American Jewry,” Jewish Social Service Quarterly 9, no. 1 (12 1932): 28–37.Google Scholar

44. Ivensky, Mikhl, “Hayehudim vehamahalakh heḥadash,” SH 3 (1938): 368.Google Scholar

45. Mirsky, Rabbi Shmuel K., “'Al hadarshanut vesifrut haderush beamerikah,” SH 3 (1938): 393–394.Google Scholar

46. Persky, Daniel, trans., “Ḥukat artzot haberit shel amerikah,” SH 3 (1938): 404–415.Google Scholar

47. Ginsburg, Shimon, “Ner neshamah (idiliah amerikayit),” SH 4 (1939): 20–37.Google Scholar

48. Ibid., p. 37.

49. Wallenrod, Reuven, “Beḥug hamishpaḥah,” SH 4 (1939): 38–77.Google Scholar

50. Pilch, Judah, “Hakolelim hayehudim beamerikah,” SH 3 (1938): 396–403Google Scholar; Frank, Herman, “Hakehillah hamit'havah,” SH 4 (1939): 379–387Google Scholar; idem, “Tenu'at hamerkazim beartzot haberit,” SH 5 (1940): 363–370Google Scholar; Ivensky, Mikhl, “Hamisdarim hayehudiim beamerikah,” SH 4 (1939): 388–404.Google Scholar

51. Scharfstein, Zvi, “'Esrim veḥamesh shenot ḥinukh 'ivri beamerikah,” SH 2 (1935): 296–311Google Scholar; idem, “Sifrei limud uzeramim ḥevratiim,” SH 4 (1939): 260–275Google Scholar; Blumenfield, Shmuel, “Mishnat Dewey vehaḥinukh ha'ivri,” SH 5 (1940): 291–300.Google Scholar

52. Engelman, Uriah Zvi, “Leḥeker hamishpaḥah hayehudit beamerikah,” SH 3 (1938): 369–380Google Scholar; idem, “Simanei ziknah beyahadut amerikah,” SH 5 (1940): 341–352.Google Scholar

53. Silberschlag, Eisig (Yitzhak), “Biyemei Isabella,” SH 4 (1939): 151–176Google Scholar; continued in SH 5 (1940): 76–102.Google Scholar

54. Twersky, Yohanan, “Herzl,” SH 4 (1939): 106–144.Google Scholar

55. Preil, Gabriel, “Washington ma'aleh zikhronot,” SH 4 (1939): 180.Google Scholar

56. Ibid.

57. Ibid.

58. See, e.g., Preil, Gabriel's “Shirei Vermont,” SH 5 (1940): 109–110.Google Scholar

59. E.g., Efros, Israel's poem on the American Gold Rush, excerpts published in SH 5 (1940)Google Scholar as “Le-eretz hazahav,” pp. 27–35Google Scholar; and published in full as Zahav (1942).Google Scholar

60. See the opening statement of purpose, by Mirsky, Shmuel, in the new Orthodox journal, Talpiot 1, no. 1 (1943): 1.Google Scholar

61. Ribalow, Menahem, “Kohelet,” SH 5 (1940): 161, 168Google Scholar. Emphasis in the original.

62. Bavli, Hillel, “Mul hamifratz,” SH 5 (1940): 36–38Google Scholar; idem, “Demuyot beharim,” SH 6 (1942): 338–344.Google Scholar

63. Waxman, Meir, “Rashi, mefaresh hamikra,” SH 5 (1940): 115–138Google Scholar; Mirsky, Shmuel, “Rashi uveit midrasho,” SH 5 (1940): 139–150.Google Scholar

64. Touroff, Nissan, “Ḥokhmat hapartzuf,” SH 5 (1940): 186–209.Google Scholar

65. Zeitlin, Aharon, “Nakam veshilem,” SH 5 (1940): 69–72.Google Scholar

66. Rosenfeld, S., “Ḥurban hayahadut befolin,” SH 5 (1940): 311–324.Google Scholar

67. Weinryb, Dov (Bernard), “Meah shanah shel hagirah yehudit leamerikah,” SH 5 (1940): 327–340Google Scholar; Naamani, Israel, “Artzot haberit uve'ayat haplitim hayehudim,” SH 5 (1940): 371–378.Google Scholar

68. Shvarts, A. S., “Kan,” SH 6 (1942): 382.Google Scholar

69. Hefterman, A., “Hageulah beor haagadah,” SH 7 (1944): 172–181.Google Scholar

70. Tartakower, Aryeh, “Sakh hakot shel ḥurban,” SH 7 (1944): 441–455.Google Scholar

71. Shneour, Zalman, “Luḥot genuzim,” SH 6 (1942): 253Google Scholar. The poem was not published in its entirety until 1948.

72. Preil, Gabriel, “Azlu milim,” SH 6 (1942): 384.Google Scholar

73. Ibid.

74. Touroff, Nissan, “Hapsikhologiah shel milḥamah,” SH 6 (1942): 7–31.Google Scholar

75. Heschel, Abraham Joshua, “Yir'at shamayim,” SH 6 (1942): 61–72.Google Scholar

76. Efros, Israel, “Begermaniah ha'atikah,” SH 7 (1944): 208–209.Google Scholar

77. Efros, , “'Am,” SH 7 (1944): 210.Google Scholar

78. These included several anthologies, a joint collection on Yiddish and Hebrew literature, Aḥisefer, a short-lived quarterly, Mabu'a, and two jubilee volumes for Hadoar. See Kressel, Getzl, Leksikon hasifrut ha'ivrit badorot haaḥaronim, 2 vols. (Merhavia, 1967), 2:855–856Google Scholar; Encyclopaedia Judaica, 14:149–150.Google Scholar

79. Efros, , “Yoter ḥeresh meḥalom,” SH 8/9 (1946): 85.Google Scholar

80. Efros, , “Maḥar yakum el,” SH 8/9 (1946): 86.Google Scholar

81. Efros, , “Uleaḥar hashiv'ah,” SH 8/9 (1946): 88.Google Scholar

82. Zeitlin, Aharon, “”Al efer umah shenisrefah,” SH 8/9 (1946): 129–130Google Scholar. The titles of his other poems in the volume are “Shir kelot hakitzin” (p. 126)Google Scholar, “Shir haneḥamah” (p. 127)Google Scholar, and “Demut tzel bevarshah” (pp. 128–129).Google Scholar

83. Preil, Gabriel, “Aviv benyu-york,” SH 8/9 (1946): 173–174Google Scholar. His poem in the same volume entitled “What the Heart Sees” (“Maḥazot shebalev.” p. 174Google Scholar) is, on the other hand, much closer to his normal literary style.

84. Ressler, Benjamin, “Ḥayal shav min hamilḥamah,” SH 8/9 (1946): 131–142.Google Scholar

85. Lestchinsky, Jacob, SH 8/9 (1946): 523–545.Google Scholar

86. Hefterman, A., “Ha'ayarah hayehudit beamerikah,” SH 8/9 (1946): 546–557.Google Scholar

87. See, e.g., Gordon, Milton, Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion and National Origins (New York, 1964), pp. 181–182Google Scholar, citing studies by Kennedy, Ruby Jo Reeves, “Single or Triple Melting Pot? Intermarriage in New Haven, 1870–1940,” American Journal of Sociology 49, no. 4 (1944)Google Scholar; idem, “Single or Triple Melting Pot? Intermarriage in New Haven, 1870–1950,” ibid., 58, no. 1 (1952); and Goldman, Benjamin and Chenkin, Alvin, The Jewish Population of New Orleans: 1953 (Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, 1954).Google Scholar

88. Zeitlin, Aharon, “Himnon lamedinah,” SH 10/11 (1949): 9.Google Scholar

89. Ribalow, Menahem, “Besha'ar habayit hashlishi,” SH 10/11 (1949): 13–27.Google Scholar

90. Ibid., pp. 18–20, 26.

91. Ibid., p. 19.

92. Ibid., pp. 26–27.

93. Lissitsky, Ephraim, “Hitler lifnei kes-hamishpat,” SH 10/11 (1949): 156–162.Google Scholar

94. Shvarts, A. S., “Harav vehadayan,” SH 10/11 (1949): 212–217.Google Scholar

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96. Prager, Moshe, “Shirat haavadon leyahadut eiropah,” SH 10/11 (1949): 583–616.Google Scholar

97. A piece of trivia that relates to the question of “community” among the American Hebraists is the fact that Zvi Scharfstein's son, Ben-Ami Scharfstein, married the daughter of Israel Efros, and settled in Israel in 1955. Ben-Ami Scharfstein taught philosophy at Tel-Aviv University, where Israel Efros, his father-in-law, was appointed the first rector in 1954. See Jerusalem Post, 12 04 1990.Google Scholar

98. Ozick, , “Toward a New Yiddish” p. 152.Google Scholar

99. Alter, , “Inner Migration,” p. 97.Google Scholar

100. Raizin, , “Sefat 'ever,” pp. 175, 467, 546Google Scholar; Touroff, , “Hayaḥid veharabim baomanut uvasifrut,” pp. 193–214.Google Scholar

101. Bavli, , “Modern Renaissance of Hebrew Literature,” p. 919.Google Scholar

102. Kabakoff, , Shoḥarim vene'emanim (Jerusalem, 1978), p. 164.Google Scholar