Pioneers: A Tale of Russian-Jewish Life in the 1880s

Glossary

Glossary acrostic. A poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable, or word of each line or paragraph in the text spells out a word or a message. afn finger. (Yiddish). “By finger”; a text is committed to memory so well that a student knows the position of every word on every page and can identify what word is being pointed to. amen. (Heb.) “So be it” (expressing agreement ). amorets. (LK) “People of the land” (am ha-arets in Hebrew), a phrase used in Rabbinic Hebrew to refer to common, uneducated Jews, usually ignorant of higher scholarship, as distinct from Jews well-versed in texts. ay-yay-yay. (Yiddish) An exclamation, in this case denoting distress. Belinsky, Vissarion Grigorievich. (1811–48) Russia’s first professional literary critic. Buckle, Henry Thomas. (1821–62) English historian, author of a monumental History of Civilization (1857–61), in which history is treated as an exact science. Chernyshevsky, Nikolai Gavrilovich. (1828–89) Journalist, literary critic, and radical political thinker, whose celebrated revolutionary novel What Is to Be Done? was written while he was imprisoned in the Peter-Paul Fortress and published in 1863; it resulted in a sentence of hard labor for the author and his long exile to Siberia. choral synagogue. A large synagogue with a choir. dickey. A man’s separate or detachable shirtfront, apparel not traditionally worn by observant Jews. droshe. (LK) Remarks explicating a text. Fet, Afanasy. (1820–92) Russian poet whose lyrics dealt primarily with nature, love, and philosophical themes. gematria. The use of calculation of the numerical value of Hebrew letters, words, or phrases, and an interpretation or theory based on such calculation. Goles. (LK) Exile, or the displacement of the Jewish people from the Land of Israel. Gordon, Judah Leib. (1831–92) Russian Hebrew writer and leading poet of his time. goy. (LK) Although it meant “nation” in Biblical Hebrew, it has come to refer to members of other nations, i.e., non-Jews or Gentiles (pl. goyim). gymnasium. A school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools and American high schools. Harey-at. (LK) The first words of the Hebrew formula of betrothal: “You are consecrated to me [according to the law of Moses and Israel].” Ha-Shahar. (Hebrew) The Dawn, an independent Hebrew journal edited by Peretz Smolenskin, published in Vienna, that became the most effective literary platform for the Haskalah in its later period and for the nationalist movement in its early stages. Its aims were to disseminate Haskalah and fight against Hasidism and assimilationism . Hasid. (LK) “Pious” or “righteous,” frequently used as a term of respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. Here it refers to a follower of a Jewish mystical movement originating in the eighteenth century that promoted spirituality and joy as fundamental aspects of faith (pl. Hasidim). Haskalah. (Hebrew) The Enlightenment, an intellectual movement in Europe from 139 140 | Glossary the 1770s to 1880s that encouraged Jews to study secular subjects, learn European languages and Hebrew, and enter fields such as agriculture, crafts, as well as the arts and sciences. Hattot Ne’urim (Sins of Youth). By Moshe Leib Lilienblum (1843–1910), Jewish scholar and author whose description of his own material and spiritual struggles, published in Vienna in 1876, was the most controversial and influential book at the time for its open depiction of the conflict between rigid Orthodoxy and spreading rationalism. inyen. (LK) General Talmudic reference to the legal subject or matter being discussed . kapote. (Yiddish) A long dark caftan traditionally worn by East European Jewish men. khalyastre. (Yiddish) Band or gang. kheyder. A single-room school for ten to fifteen children where usually only the Torah and Talmud were studied. khoymer. (LK) Matter (i.e., not spirit). Krylov, Ivan. (1769–1844) Russian author of well-known animal fables. lamed-vovnik. (Yiddish) “Just or righteous man,” a mystical concept, rooted in the Talmud, and widely accepted by Hasidic Jews; one of thirty-six humble, righteous men without whom the world would come to an end. The name derives from the sum of the numerical values of the Hebrew letters lamed (30) and vav (6). Lebensohn, Abraham Dob Bär. (1789?– 1878) Russian Hebrew poet and grammarian , and the leading exponent of the Haskalah in Lithuania. Lebensohn, Micah Joseph. (1828–52) Son of Abraham Lebensohn; a Russian Hebrew poet and translator. Levinsohn, Isaac Baer. (1788–1860) Notable Russian Hebrew scholar, satirist, writer, and leader of the Haskalah who formulated...