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Chapter 4 Russian-Zionist Cultural Cooperation, 1916-18: leib Jaffe and the Russian Intelligentsia In 1916, Leib (Lev) Jaffe, the editor of the Moscow Zionist weekly printed in Russian, Evreiskaia zhizn ~ devoted a d ouble issue of the newspaper to the 25th anniversary of Hayim Nahman Bialik's literary career. Emboldened by the issue's popularity, in 1917 Jaffe decided to bring out a volume of Hebrew poetry in Russian translation under the title Evreiskaia antologiia: Sbornik molodoi evreiskoi poezii (Jewish Anthology: A Collection of Young Jewish Poetry) . In the same year Jaffe launched a literary journal, Sborniki Safrut, devoted to Jewish cultural life in Russia. Between 1917 and 1918 three volumes appeared 1 During the short period between the final days of tsarism and the formation of the new Soviet state, intellectuals in Russia used these outlets to engage in activities and form dialogues that later would seem contradictory. A close relationship between Zionists and the Russian and Russian-Jewish intelligentsia emerged at this moment. Because Jaffe attracted a group of Russia's m ost important poets and w riters, including Valery Bryusov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Aleksandr Kuprin, and Maksim Gorky, these volumes have lasting importance for Russian literature . Besides the luminaries of Russian culture already mentioned, Vladimir Korolenko, Fyod or Sologub, Sergei Bulgakov, Vladislav Khodasevich, and the Lithuanian poet Yury Baltrushaitis agreed to take part. In addition, such important Jews in the Russian elite as Mikhail Gershenzon, Andrei Sobol, Leonid Pasternak, and Samuil Marshak also participated. Remarkably, such renowned figures in Jewish national life and Zionist literature as Mendele Mocher Sforim, Baal Machshoves, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Shimon An-sky, Yosef Klausner, and Hayyim Grinberg were also represented. The cooperation of such a large group of Jews with varying degrees of Jewish identity makes it difficult to categorize these w riters simply as "Jewish nationalists" or conversely "members of the Russian intelligentsia." To define these individuals accurately, one would need several categories. Framed between those who expressed an exclusive Jewish identity and others who were fully assimilated into Russian culture, the majority of Jews in the Russian and 1 Although Sborniki Safrut was initially supposed to come out regularly, only three volumes ever appeared. The articles from volumes 1 and 3 were combined and republished in Berlin in 1922. 66 EMPIRE JEWS Jewish cultural elite probably fell between the two poles, basing their identities on varying degrees of attachment to Jewish and Russian culture. In 1917, there were still many Jews who felt that a synthetic identity, Russian-Jewish, was still possible and were intent on displaying dual loyalties2 Others, such as Jabotinsky, had chosen to abandon the Russian intelligentsia, adopting a Zionist identity entirely, while still others, such as Semyon Vengerov, had accepted full membership in the Russian intelligentsia, even going so far as to accept baptism in the Russian Orthodox Church3 The volumes themselves drew attention because, instead of serving political goals directly, the majority of the articles were devoted to aesthetics, albeit related to Jewish themes. Jaffe permitted cultural issues broadly understood to occupy a prominent place. In addition to translations, the Russians provided original stories and poems. There were illustrations by such artists as Natan Altman and Ephraim Moses Lilien, and articles dealing with questions of Jewish poetry and the role of the national poet. An example of the modest place held by politics is the fact that, although issue 1 of Safrut came out only a few months after the announcement of the Balfour Declaration, only one of the fourteen articles touched on this subject directly4 Russians and Jews joining together on behalf of Zionism may seem astounding given the fact that the already sharp contention over nationality politics had further intensified; 1917 was not 1905. Although the Provisional Government had legislated equality for all nationalities in one of its first laws, it had been careful not to single out Jews. The liberal Kadet Party, one of the bases of the Provisional Government, had always been afraid of seeming too pro-Jewish. The artistic intelligentsia had also become less tolerant toward the empire's national minorities over the decade. The shift was signalled by the so-called "Chirikov scandal" of 19085 Questions about Russian national iden2 I am thinking of those Jews in the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets)-Maksim Vinaver, Henrik Sliozberg, Vladimir Gessen-as well as the Socialists Lev Shtemberg and Leon Bramson. 3 Vengerov's mother reacted with deep sadness and regret to her son's conversion. See Pauline Wengeroff, Rememberings: The World of...

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