The Jewish Languages Bookshelf

In the first decade of the 20^th century, the varied Yiddish book market included, among other genres and styles, crime and detective stories. At a certain stage, these publications, which were mostly adapted or translated from other languages, became bestsellers.[1] Yet, so far, they have attracted little scholarly attention.

The range of Yiddish crime stories included works of high literary quality, alongside trivial works devoid of any literary value. Generally, such works attempted to contend with the evil lurking around every corner and inspire confidence in the eventual triumph of the good and righteous. Their consumption traversed the boundaries of gender and social class.

The appearance of the word ‘mystery’ (Geheimnis) in the title of a work pointed out its sensational nature^[2] and, indeed, from the mid-19^th century, Yiddish writers used it to attract readers. By 1918, at least 35 books, booklets, and stories (most translated or adapted from foreign languages) serialized in the press featuring this word in their titles had been published. The Yiddish-speaking intelligentsia dismissed these stories, drawing a direct—albeit not always justified—connection between sensational works and shund literature.[3]

Following the 1905 Revolution and alongside the popular local tales of bandits and Cossacks, Russian translations and adaptations of European and American detective stories began to appear. These included stories featuring Sherlock Holmes, Nat Pinkerton and Nick Carter. Despite, and possibly due to, the foreignness of the heroes and the setting of events far from Russia’s borders, demand for these stories in booklets grew steadily. In 1907, the price of a booklet ranged from 15 to 20 kopeks with circulation figures of between 5,000 and 10,000 per booklet. By 1908, the peak of the so-called ‘plague of booklets’, the price had fallen to five kopeks or less per booklet, and circulation figures had increased, on occasion rising as high as 50,000 or even 60,000 copies.[4]  At the height of circulation in 1908, the number of booklets in each series reached 123 for Pinkerton stories and 218 for stories concerning Sherlock Holmes.[5]

Parallel to the upsurge of crime and detective stories in Russia, similar works appeared in Polish (largely in the years 1908–14). These stories were published in illustrated booklets with colorful bindings and sold at affordable prices. Four series of Sherlock Holmes stories were printed in Lvov (Lemberg), Kraków (both in Austrian Galicia) and Warsaw and circulated throughout the former Polish territory. The initial printing of 5,000 copies of each booklet apparently failed to meet demand; subsequently, dozens of these booklets were repeatedly reprinted. The series of booklets were bound together in thick volumes numbering thousands of pages.[6]  Aside from Sherlock Holmes, these stories featured Nick Carter, Nat Pinkerton, Harry Dickson, Ethel King (Holmes’ ‘partner’) and even Stefan Wenke, the ‘famous Warsaw detective’.[7]

Yiddish writers exploited the potential of attractive titles and, alongside wondrous events of various kinds, they deliberately utilized titles containing words from the vocabulary of mystery and crime, even though these do not always accurately reflect the content of the work; indeed, at times there is no link between the two.[8]

In the first years of the 20^th century, the Warsaw publisher Yehude Leyb Morgenshtern published dozens of anonymous booklets containing serialized stories. Amongst these are those bearing appealing titles, including stories of crime and romance involving intricate plots of kidnapped children relocated after many years, usually in tragic circumstances; sons and daughters discovering that their mothers and fathers are not their biological parents; siblings reunited after being separated for many years or not knowing of the other’s existence; pairs of lovers unable to be together; violent kidnappings; property takeovers; inheritance theft; false testimonies; acts of robbery, murder and more. The names of the protagonists are generally international, with no definitive national identity (Peter, Adolf, Max, Franz, Anton, Charlotte, Margarita, Adela and so forth), and the geographic settings range from Galicia and France to as far away as New York. There is a noted lack of religious identification, and only seldom are the characters identified as Jews.

These are only some samples of the growing Yiddish popular publications between the 1870s and the outbreak of World War I.

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In 1907 the Warsaw educator and businessman Magnus Krinsky started publishing a weekly illustrated literary journal Roman-tsaytung (Novel Newspaper, Warsaw, 1907–8). From its beginning, the journal published three stories by Edgar Allan Poe[9] and four by Arthur Conan Doyle in Yiddish translation (clearly indicating the names of these writers but usually without the name of the translator[s]). The hero of Conan Doyle’s stories is Sherlock Holmes, but only the title of the last story is similar to that of the source text: ‘Di gut-bezitser fun Reyge’ (‘The Landowners of Reigate’; ‘The Reigate Squires’).[10] The other stories carry more enticing titles than the original texts.[11] Apart from the changes in titles, the translations, apparently the fruit of the editor’s pen, contain only minor alterations.

In 1907, the first and (apparently) last booklet in what was intended to be the collected stories of Sherlock Holmes was published: a precise translation of the story ‘Der shtendiker patsient’ (‘The Permanent Patient’, or ‘The Resident Patient’).[12] Soon after the appearance of a new daily newspaper, Haynt, in Warsaw, in January 1908, the title pages of the existing popular daily, Yidishes tageblat (1906–11), announced the intention to publish a new series of stories, ‘Di greste velt-geheymnisen’ (‘The Greatest World Mysteries’), from the tales of Sherlock Holmes, Nat Pinkerton and others. The first story, serialized in 13 installments, was a further translation of the story ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, titled in Yiddish ‘A keniglikhe fotografishe karte’ (‘A Royal Photographic Card’), without the opening of the source story.[13] The decision to begin the series with this story appears to have been motivated by the fact that it does not feature an act of murder as well as by the Warsaw origins of the heroine, who succeeds in deceiving the acclaimed detective. For reasons unknown, this story was also the last in this promising series.

At the same time, series of Yiddish booklets bearing the name of the famous detective appeared on newspaper stands. These booklets, which lacked the name of the author, included tales of various bizarre murders lacking any connection to Conan Doyle’s works. None of these booklets indicated the year of publication. One series of such booklets was published at the initiative of the Vigoda publishing house by Hatsefira printers in Warsaw (c. 1907–8). Each story was divided into three booklets, a total of 47 pages per story, sold for the minimal sum of three kopeks each.[14] Another series was published in Kraków and circulated across the Russian border. Here there was even a slight change in the name of the hero: the addition of a vowel indicates that the ‘e’ in Holmes should be pronounced. They appeared in single booklets of 21 pages each and were sold at the relatively high price of 10 kopeks per booklet.[15] These stories and their predecessors were probably translated from two similar series in Polish: one was published in Warsaw in the years 1907–9 (52 booklets) and the other in Kraków, 1908–9 (86 booklets). The latter series was, in turn, probably translated from a German counterpart titled ‘Aus den Geheimakten des Welt-detektivs’ (‘From the Mysteries of World-Detectives’), of which 230 booklets appeared from 1907. So, too, dozens of such booklets appeared in Russian from 1902, and mainly in the years 1908–10. The colorful cover pages of the Yiddish booklets were also copied from the German series, apparently via translation into Polish or Russian.[16]

Simultaneously, other booklets of a similar format circulated in Galicia and Congress Poland. These featured the hero Maks Shpitskop: Der kenig fun detektivs, der viner Sherlock Holmes (Max Shpitskop: The King of Detectives, the Viennese Sherlock Holmes). Shpitskop was an original Jewish response to the figure of the famous British detective, as well as to Russian and Polish imagined detective figures. Like his British counterpart, Shpitskop  also has an assistant, a Jew known by his last name Fuks (no first name); the two work from an office in Vienna named ‘Blits’ (Lightning). Shpitskop’s work is not connected in any way to his Jewishness, but when presented with the opportunity he immediately comes to the defense of his people.[17] An example of such a story is Aliles dam (Dos blut bilbl) (The Blood Libel) (see Fig. 1), in which the detective and his assistant expose the story of the murder and disappearance of a Christian child, an event that gave rise to a pogrom and engendered great fear among the Jews of a Galician town. The booklets, written in Germanized Yiddish, were published in Kraków by the Jüdischer Roman-Verlag and printed by Josef Fisher, also without any indication of the year.

Amongst his childhood memories, Isaac Bashevis Singer mentions these Max Shpitskop booklets together with the Sherlock Holmes ones that he read as a young boy in Warsaw.[18] The name of the author of the Shpitskop series does not appear on the booklets but, based on a recently published article, it is highly possible that they were penned by Yoyne Krepel (1874–1939), a Galician writer and editor, the son-in-law of the printer Yosef Fisher and later an activist closely associated with the Jewish Orthodox party Agudes Yisroel.[19] By contrast to the series discussed above, which, inspired by similar booklets in Polish, ‘adopted’ the character of Sherlock Holmes, it would seem that these stories about Detective Shpitskop were inspired by popular stories about the Viennese detectives Josef Müller (created by the writer Auguste Groner) and Dagobert Trostler (Balduin Groller); the latter is similar to Sherlock Holmes in terms of character and the plots in which he is involved.[20] Although Jewish content such as that found in the story about a blood libel or in Geroybt tsu der shmad (Kidnapped for Conversion) cannot be found in the writings of these authors, the possibility should not be ruled out that they served as inspiration.

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In an angry letter, a reader of Roman-tsaytung complained that a serious newspaper should include within its pages shund, in the form of detective stories. In response, the acting editor and prominent translator A. L. Yakobovits seized the opportunity to acquaint readers with the writers Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe, the character Sherlock Holmes and his contribution to society, specifying that these stories were considered belles lettres. Yakobovits warned readers against the widely circulating booklets translated from Russian and Polish bearing the name of the famous detective but not attributed to any specific author: in his opinion, these (and not the original detective stories) constituted a danger to the still relatively inadequate field of Yiddish literature and should be avoided as much as possible.[21]

A satirical review, in the form of a short story set in the office of a known London detective, portrayed Sherlock Holmes as nothing more than a good for nothing. The review ends with a wish, ‘Let us hope that he will no longer rule over minds’.[22] A similar conviction informs another satirical story by the writer Zalman Vendrof, who warns potential readers against the superficiality and worthlessness of reading unrealistic detective stories and newspaper reports about police stations and courts.^[23]

In January 1909, a theater troupe starring Ester Rokhel Kaminsky staged a drama in four parts, titled ‘Sherlock Holms’, in the Muranuv theatre in Warsaw.[24] On the Sabbath, the day before Tisha B’Av 1910 (13 August), the play ‘Sherlock Holms’, a comedy in four acts staring Yulius Adler and translated from German by Anshl Shor, premiered at the Great Theater in Łódź which was managed by Y. G. Zandberg.[25] The editor of the Lodzer tageblat, Lazar Kahan, described the latter as a refreshing innovation within the dull landscape of Yiddish theatre. He added that the play could not be compared with the common shund booklets so detrimental to the literary value of both the hero and the author.[26]

Just as European belles lettres found their way to Yiddish readers through translations and adaptations even before the invention of the printing press, so, too, in the second half of the 19^th and the first decade of the 20^th century, did the popular genre of crime literature. As newspapers in all languages became more readily available to growing readerships and provided up-to-date details on a variety of topics, including detailed reports from police stations and courts, such information contained therein—combined with the development of European crime stories and the popularity already enjoyed by folk tales concerning bandits and criminals—inspired writers, translators and publishers to adapt into Yiddish tales of suspense and drama from the wider world. Their circulation, in the form of detective booklets and stories serialized in Yiddish (and Polish) newspapers and journals, reached a peak in the years 1908–10 with Sherlock Holmes and Max Shpitskop at the top. After World War I, this literature was pushed to the sidelines of the Yiddish book market in Poland. It is possible that Jewish readers began to read such works in Polish. However, a more likely explanation for this change resides in the fact that silent movies became the main supplier of crime and detective stories for entertainment purposes among the general and Jewish publics.

[1] A first and expanded version of this chapter was published as ‘Sherlock Holmes in the Pale of Settlement: Yiddish Crime Stories 1860–1914’, in Leket: Yiddish Studies Today, ed. Marion Aptroot, Efrat Gal-Ed, Roland Gruschka, and Simon Neuberg (Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf University Press, 2013), pp. 253–278. A revised version can be found in Nathan Cohen, Yiddish Transformed: Reading Habits in the Russian Empire, 1860-1914, New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2023, chapter three, ‘New on the Shelf: Crime and Detective Stories’, pp. 222-247.

[2] Patrick Brantlinger, ‘What Is “Sensational” about the “Sensation Novel”?’ Nineteenth Century Fiction 37 (1982): 1–28. The characteristics of the sensational story are similar to those of the gothic novel (which was widespread in 18^th-century England, France, and Germany): they create an atmosphere of dread combined with elements of mystery. For general information on this literary genre, its characteristics, and circulation, see Jerrold E. Hogle ed., The Cambridge Companion to Gothic Fiction. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002). Regarding sensation and crime literature (as well as westerns and war stories) in Great Britain see, for example, Patrick Brantlinger, The Reading Lesson: The Threat of Mass Literacy in Nineteenth-Century British Fiction. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998), pp. 142–165.

[3] This number is only partial and is based upon the catalogue of the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem and the Historical Jewish Press project https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/newspapers/jpress  Undoubtedly a wider search would reveal additional titles. The source of the term shund, which played a crucial role in Yiddish cultural history, is the abattoir; the word originally designated the stench of a skinned animal’s arcass. In 19^th-century Germany, Schund was used in a literary context to describe a work of low literary value that was considered morally harmful to its readers. By the end of the 19^th century, the term was also used in the Yiddish literary sphere. See Chone Shmeruk, ‘Letoldot sifrut “hashund” beyidish’. Tarbiz 52 (1983), pp. 325–350 [in Hebrew]; Ellen Kellman, ‘Dos yidishe bukh alarmirt! Towards the History of Yiddish Reading in Inter-War Poland’. Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry 16 (2003), pp. 213–242.

[4] Between 1907 and 1915, 6.2 million copies of Nat Pinkerton booklets, 3.9 million copies of Sherlock Holmes booklets and 3.1 million copies of Nick Carter booklets were sold. See Jeffrey Brooks, ‘Readers and Reading at the End of the Tsarist Era’, In Literature and Society in Imperial Russia, 1800–1914, edited by William Mills Todd III, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1986), pp. 144–46; and idem, When Russia Learned to Read, Literacy and Popular Literature, 1861–1917. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1985), pp. 141–43, 148, 366–67.

[5] Brooks, When Russia Learned to Read, pp. 366, table 18.

[6] Anna Martuszewska, ‘Literatura obiegów popularnych’, In Słownik Literatury Polskiej XX Wieku, edited by Alina Brodzka et al. (Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1992,) pp. 580–582, as well as Janusz Dunin, Papierowy Bandyata: Książka kramarska I brukowa w Polsce. (Łódź: Wydawnictwo Łódzkie, 1974), pp. 191–220. The wide scope of the printing of these booklets and their circulation is discussed in Janusz Dunin and Zdzisław Knorowski, Polskie Powieściowe serie zeszytowe: Materiały bibliograficzne. (Łódź: Universytet Łódzki, 1984).

[7] Martuszewska, ‘Literatura obiegów popularnych’, p. 581; Anna Martuszewska, ‘Kryminalna Powieść’, in Słownik Literatury Polskiej XX Wieku, ed. Alina Brodzka et al. (Wroclaw, Warszawa, Kraków: Ossolineum, 1992), pp. 481–482.

[8] Several examples: An early booklet by a female author, Frume Dereizin [?], Der retseyekh un di retseyekhte (The Murderer and the Murderess), Zhitomir 1875, indeed tells a story of two people who committed a terrible crime. However, the main purpose of the story was to criticize traditional matchmaking and the superficiality characteristic of interpersonal relationships. A story in installments titled ‘Der shreklikher merder’ (‘ The Terrible Murder’) by Khayim Molits (1861–1924) was published in issues 5, 6, and 7 of the Yudishes folks-blat (1888), yet before the suspenseful plot even began to be revealed, publication ceased, in all likelihood due to the writer’s migration. A booklet by the popular author Avrom Yitskhok Bukhbinder (186?–97), Der kinder merder (The Infanticide) (Vilna, 1891), is a tale of disappointed love and revenge that culminates in the tragic deaths of its heroes. Di geheyme libe order di shreklekhe merderay ( The Secret Love or the Terrible Murder) (Lublin, 1895) is a complex story by Shimen Voltsonek (1856–??). At the center of the story are attempts to take control of property and earn money through guile. The title of Di farshtelte merders, oder bal-tshuve (The Disguised Murders, or [the] Repenting Sinner) (Piotrków, 1905), ostensibly indicates that this is a crime story, although in fact it is a popular adaptation of a gothic novel with Jewish heroes.

[9] Eight additional stories by Poe were published slightly later (1910) in the monthly journal Eyropayishe literatur, edited by Avrom Reyzen.

[10] Issues no. 5–7 (1908), 139–46, 177–82, 207–12.

[11] Di shkrelikhe geheymnis (The Terrible Mystery; ‘The Adventure of the “Gloria Scott”’), issues no. 1–5 (1907), 21–26, 57–60, 85–90, 119–24 ; ‘Di froy miten revolver’ (‘The Woman with a Revolver’; ‘The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton’), issues no. 26–27 (1907), 821–26, 849–58; and ‘Mis Irene Adler’ (‘Miss Irene Adler’; ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’), issues no. 29–32 (1907), 919–923, 941–46, 967–76, 999–1,004. It should be noted that as in the following publication of this story (see below) the editors almost completely avoided the explicit use of the term ‘Bohemia’ in the title and body of the story, apparently for political reasons.

[12] Sherlok Holms der berimter sishtsik: zayne ksovim fun Conan Doyl—Der shtendiker patsient (Sherlock Holmes the Famous Detective: The Writings of Conan Doyle—The Permanent Patient) (Warsaw, Edelsteyn), 1907.

[13] The announcement was published almost daily in the second and third weeks of May 1908. The story was published between 4 June and 2 July 1908.

[14] The whole series is titled: Sherlok Holms: Hekhst interesante vunderlikhe ertsehlungen fun velt berimten geheym-agent Sherlok Holms (Sherlock Holmes: A Highly Interesting, Wonderful Tale of the World-Famous Secret Agent Sherlock Holmes). The title page of the booklet includes a portrait of Holmes and next to him portraits of Nat Pinkerton and Nick Carter (although I am not aware of translations of any of the stories concerning Pinkerton and Carter into Yiddish) and also an illustration characteristic of the title of the story. In the National Library in Jerusalem and in the YIVO Library in New York, I was able to find three series (totaling seven booklets) bearing the titles: Der froyen-merder (The Woman-Murderer) (nos. 1–3); Der aristokratisher bandit (The Noble Bandit) (nos. 4–6); and Der mord fun firshtin Malkolm (The Murder of Duchess Malkolm) (nos. 7–[9]).

[15] This series is titled Sherlok Holmes: Der berimter veltdetektiv (Sherlock Holmes: The Famous World-Detective). The title page resembles the Warsaw publications. The price is noted in heller and in kopeks. It would seem likely that the relatively high price resulted from the distance between the place of printing and the places of marketing. It is possible that this is a slightly later publication than that discussed above (c. 1909). The titles that I have been able to see are: Sherlok Holmes in Vin (Sherlock Holmes in Vienna) (no. 1); Sherlok Holmes un dos tsirkus Angelo (Sherlock Holmes and the Angelo Circus) (no. 2); Tsvishen himel un erd (Between Heaven and Earth) (no. 3); Der farloyrener kapitan (The Lost Captain) (no. 4); Der masenmerder (The Mass-Murderer) (no. 9), in which Sherlock Holmes is studying medicine in Brooklyn, New York; and Di mapole funem prof. Flaks (The Overthrow of Prof. Flaks) (no. 10).

[16] On the German series, see: https://bit/ly/2mcHt4U. On the Polish and Russian series, see Dunin, Papierowy Bandyata, 84–86, 89–91; George Piliev, ‘Introduction’, In Sherlock Holmes in Russia. Edited and translated by Alex Auswaks. (London: Robert Hale, 2010), pp. 16–19.

[17] 15 booklets were published in the series: (1) Geroybt tsu der shmad (Kidnapped for Conversion); (2) Banknotn felsher (Banknote Forgers); (3) Aliles dam (Dos blut bilbul) (The Blood Libel); (4) A rethzelhafter mord (A Mysterious Murder); (5) Der shmugler (The Smuggler); (6) Der gefelshter testament (The Forged Will); (7) Der shpion (The Spy); (8) Der medkhen handler (The Maiden Merchant); (9) Der bank-aynbrekher (The Bank Robber); (10) Di kinder-merderin (The Child Killer); (11) Der toydten-greber (The Dead Digger); (12) Dos geheymnis fun a milyoner (The Mystery of a Millionaire); (13) Di dertrunkene kale (The Drowned Bride); (14) Der misyoner (The Missionary); (15) Di nakhtvandlerin (The Night Wanderer). All these booklets are found in the Vladimir Medem Library in Paris, and I offer my heartfelt gratitude to Ms Natalia Krinitska for her help in obtaining them. Two booklets, numbers 4 and 12, are found in the National Library of Israel, Jerusalem. The year of publication is not noted on the booklets. In the years 1909–11, these stories were printed in installments in the New York paper Di varhayt, and there Shpitskop was called ‘the Galician detective’. In the 1920s, these booklets appear to be the source for a series titled Viliamson: Der kenig fun detektivs, der Parizer Sherlok Holmes (Williamson: The King of Detectives, the Parisian Sherlock Holmes) (Warsaw).

[18] Isaac Bashevis Singer: ‘Fun der alter un nayer heim’, Forverts, 15 November 1963.

[19] Dovid Sheynberg, ‘Yoyne Krepel un zayne yestires’, Afn shvel 374–75 (2017): 41–48. I am grateful to Mr Sheynberg for bringing his findings to my attention.

[20] On these writers and their heroes, see Mary W. Tannert and Henry Kratz (trans. and eds.), Early German and Austrian Detective Fiction: An Anthology (Jefferson, North Carolina and London: McFarland & Company, 1999).

[21] Noel [A. L. Yakobovits], ‘Vegen der Sherlok Holms Literatur’, Roman-tsaytung,29 (1907), pp. 923–26. Notably Yakobovits himself, a known translator, was forced to translate shund novels for the daily popular press as a source of income. See also A yidishe tokhter, ‘Lebedike shotens’ (Living Shadows), Gut morgen, 26 May 1910 and 15 June 1910, p. 2 (in both issues). I would like to thank Dr Nurit Orchan for bringing this review and others mentioned here to my attention.

[22] Etienne Zshaliklerk [?], ‘Der sof fun Sherlok Holms’ (‘The Demise of Sherlock Holmes’), Vokhen-zshurnal ‘di naye velt’ 158 (1910), pp. 481–486.

[23] L.B., ‘Vi azoy der izvotshtishik hot derkent dem groysen sistshik’, Gut morgen, 26 June 1911, p. 3.

[24] According to announcements in the newspaper Undzer leben (Warsaw) from 22 January.

[25] Lodzer tageblat, 13 August and 25 August 1910.

[26] Y. Lazar [Kahan], ‘Teater un muzik: “Sherlock Kholms…,”’ Lodzer tageblat, 17 August 1910.

This post is based on research undertaken during Professor Jean Baumgarten’s stay at the OCHJS as an Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages Visiting Fellow in Hilary Term 2024.

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Old Yiddish texts produced during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries contain numerous references to Jewish mystics. During this period, the Kabbalah became a major component of the literature read and studied by less-educated readers. Through numerous fragments taken from the Sefer ha-Zohar and the Lurianic Kabbalah, it occupied a special place within the corpus of Old Yiddish ethical literature. The popularization and vernacularization of kabbalistic ideas and texts testify to the transformation undergone by traditional Ashkenazi rabbinical culture during the early modern period. 

Take one example: the bilingual (Hebrew/Yiddish) or monolingual (Yiddish) prayer books called Tikkunim, which contain various liturgical components (pizmonim, bakashot, tehinot, zmirot, mizmorim); excerpts from biblical, rabbinical and kabbalistic texts; pieces of ethical advice taken from ha-sifrut ha-musar, especially those on repentance (teshuva); and stories (mayses, sippurim). It may be said that the Tikkunim combine three different types of texts: those intended for reading (leyenen), prayer (betn, oren) and study (lernen).

Some Old Yiddish Tikkunim are connected to specific feasts. One such example is the Tikkun Leyl Shavuot (Layla de-kala) (Frankfurt am Main, 1728). Kabbalists were inspired by the midrashic imagery of Shavuot as a mystical ‘marriage’ between God and Israel. The Tikkun Leyl Shavuot is often printed alongside the Tikkun Leyl Hoshana Rabbah(Amsterdam, 1708; Frankfurt am Main, 1725). The last day of Sukkot is called leyl ha-hotam, ‘night of the seal’, when heavenly edicts signed on Rosh ha-Shanah and sealed on Yom Kippur are executed by angelic forces. This day, also known as Hoshana Rabbah, is the last possible moment to repent one’s sins. Another example of an Old Yiddish Tikkun linked to a particular feast is the Tikkun le-Erev Rosh Hodesh, also known as Tikkun Yom Kippur Katan (‘the minor Yom Kippur’), first discovered in sixteenth-century Safed. The intention of the text was to make the day before Rosh Hodesh a day of fasting, prayer and penance for wrongdoing—similar, in many ways, to Yom Kippur. The night was to have two dimensions: the ritual of studying in the synagogue and the popular custom or ritual, as mentioned in the Sefer Hasidim, of checking one’s shadow (when standing in front of the moon, one’s shadow foretells one’s life story for the coming year).

We also find manuals of penitential prayers for repairing a transgression or a sin (refue tsu di neshome), such as Tikkun Teshuva (Amsterdam 1701) and Tikkun Shabbat (Prague, 1650 and 1660), a spiritual and physical preparation for the entry into Shabbat. Additionally, there is Tikkun Shlomo or Tikkunei Shabbat (Amsterdam, 1731), based on Lurianic traditions with rules and customs (Dinim, hanhagot and minhagim). Furthermore, Tikkun Seder ha-Tevila (Prague, circa 1600) contains prayers in Hebrew, sometimes accompanied by interlinear translations and explanations in Yiddish, for purification after niddah and keri, along with ritual immersion the day before Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur.

There are Tikkunim recited by men and women before bed and first thing in the morning. Chapbooks were created to be read before going to sleep (Kriyat Shema ‘al ha-mita) and included a confession (vidui) to repent, praise God and ask for protection against yetser ha-ra’, bad dreams, demons, and also for a good awakening and the rebuilding of the Temple. Examples include the Ovn zegn (Amsterdam, 1676), Nakht leynen (date and place of publication unknown), Seder kriyat shel layla (Frankfurt am Main, 1710), Taytsh nakht krishme [kriyat Shema] (Prague,1719) and booklets related to the ritual of Tikkun hatsot, performed at midnight to mourn the destruction of the Temple and to pray for the coming of the Messiah (bilingual, n. p.,1790). Then there are the prayers for when one wakes up, such as the Seder Shomerim la-Boker. (‘morning watchers’). Of additional note is the Tikkun Shalosh Mishmarot (1692; ‘Prayers for the Three Night Vigils’), lamentations in remembrance of the order of the service (mishmarot ve-ma’amadot) in the Temple which express hope for its restoration with the coming of the Messiah. This booklet was written in the style of supplications (Tekhines and bakoshes) by a learned woman and translator, Laza of Frankfurt, based on the Hebrew edition compiled by her husband, Yaakov ben Mordekhay of Schwerin (1691).

Some collections of Tikkunim, such as the Tikkun Kriyah le-Yom ve-Layla [in Hebrew] (Amsterdam, 1666), are connected to Nathan of Gaza’s and Shabbatai Tsevi’s penitential prayers and practices. There is also a Yiddish edition of Sabbatean penitential practices, Tikune teshuve erets tsvi (two editions in Krakow (1666), three editions of which are in Amsterdam (c. 1680; 17th century; 1687-1701), with an Haskama from Aryeh Leyb ben Zekhariah Mendel, who disseminated Nathan of Gaza’s doctrines in Poland. This booklet contains a list of sins and transgressions with their respective corrections and punishments preceding the messianic liberation.

There are a few treatises summarizing and combining these different textual traditions. These include the Seder Tefila le-Olam ha-Ba by Yehiel Mikhael Epstein (Frankfurt am Main, 1697), the Kohelet Shlomo by Solomon Zalman ben Moshe Raphael London (Amsterdam, 1744) and the Tikkunei ha-Moadim by Aryeh ben Yehuda Seligman of Binswangen (two volumes: Fuerth, 1725, and Fuerth, 1729). The originality of this type of chapbook lies in its ability to incorporate a large number of kabbalistic prayers and commentaries in Old Yiddish. The Tikkunei ha-Moadim, for example, contains, without doubt, the largest and most diverse collection of ‘vernacular kabbalah’ in Old Yiddish literature. The most important part includes prayers connected to rituals: Sefirat ha-omer(25b); Seder tevila (38b); Seder leyl shavuot (40b); Seder teshuva le-rosh ha-shana (60a); Tikkun teshuva (62b); Seder teshuva le-yom kippur (66b); Tikkun le-sukkot (68a); Seder tikkun le-hoshana rabbah (82a); and Leyl hoshana rabbah (91a).

Another interesting aspect of the Tikkunei ha-Moadim concerns the translation of ‘classical’ mystical texts. For instance, we find in it adaptations of the Idra Rabba (57a-58b) and Idra Zutta (96b-98a) from the Zohar (III, 127b-145a, 287b-296b) which illustrate how kabbalistic textual traditions were embedded in a popular text. Before the translation of the Idrot into Yiddish, there are two texts. The first is an Old Yiddish translation of the Sefer Yetsira (51a), an important text of ancient Jewish mysticism and the reading of which is included in the ritual. The second is a testimony on the origin of the minhag to stay awake for studying and praying during the night of Shavuot. Mystical narrations (mayses, sippurim and shevahim) are an essential channel of transmission of kabbalistic doctrines and moral lessons. These stories migrated from the Zohar and hagiographical narratives to popular literature, from Aramaic and Hebrew to Yiddish. We find in the Tikkunei ha-Moadim (45a) a story, Mayse godl ve-nore oyf taytsh, taken from the Iggeret Alkabetz, a letter by Shlomo Alkabetz transcribed in Yosef Caro and entitled Maggid Mesharim: Eleh divrei hakham ha-shalem ha-mekubal ha-elohi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz (Lublin, 1646; Amsterdam, 1704 and 1708, 2a-4a), and later disseminated in many texts. This letter appears also in the Hebrew edition of the Tikkun leyl shavuot ve-leyl hoshana rabbah(Frankfurt am Main, 1725). At the end of the letter, we find a Yiddish version of the story in question, referred to as eyn vunderlekhe mayse (‘a wonderful story’). One day in 1534 in Adrianople, Shlomo Alkabetz and Yosef Caro were seated in their circle (havruta) and decided to stay awake the whole night to study. At midnight, a heavenly voice, the Maggid—in the Yiddish texts, the Shekhina—was heard from the throat of Yosef Caro saying that they must gather a minyan to pray and study Torah and Mishna. Here is part of the story translated from the Yiddish original:

A wonderful tale that happened during the night of Shavuot. There was a great sage, Rabbi Shlomo Halevi Alkabetz, who created the Lekha dodi [religious hymn recited at the entry of Shabbat] and was among Yosef Caro’s circle. He wrote the Beith Yosef founded on the Arba‘a Turim. These two sages with five students were together during the first night of Shavuot. Rabbi Shlomo Alkabetz said: We have learnt verses from the Torah, Prophets and Hagiography with great concentration (kavone) and melody. We started to study the Mishnayot, so we merit that the Shekhina rest on the Pious Rabbi Yosef Caro. The Divine presence spoke with a strong and sweet voice and all the students seated around Caro heard the voice but without understanding. The voice was amplified, deeper and stronger, so we all fell on our faces and our souls were shaken from great fear and anguish. The voice told us: ‘My dear and loved ones, peace and respect on you, the best to you, and to your parents in this world and the world to come, because you have your heart set on crowning me during this night, which did not happen for years. You put again this crown as it was a long time ago. Strengthen yourselves, my beloved friends, know that you are among the praised sons in the palace of the Holy King, Blessed be He, and the voices of the Torah and the steam that comes out of your mouths have passed through many skies. And the angels and seraphim and holy hayyot stayed silent and the Holy One, Blessed be He, has heard your voices. And I am the Second One [after the Creator], as a mother who punishes her sons and I came to speak to you. And when you will be ten, a minyan to pray, you will be more praised. Blessed are you who avoided the sleep and erased it from your eyes. You are not like those who are drinking and sleeping in their bed. You are united to God who rejoices with you. Be strong my sons and be happy with my love, my Torah and my devotion. And do not stop studying because a thread of grace is stretched between you. And the Torah you study is heard and taken by the Holy Name, Blessed be He. Raise my sons and recite in a loud voice: Blessed be the Name of Honor and His kingdom forever and ever as in Yom Kippur.’ And we stood up trembling and did what He asked. And then He told us again: ‘Praised are you my beloved sons and go back to your study.’ We didn’t stop [to study] for a short while. It is what we heard and even more that we can’t describe. And we all cried with tears of joy. And we didn’t stop studying with great joy until the light of the day shone.               

These Jewish chapbooks show how Kabbalah began to be disseminated, albeit very partially, among ‘simple’ readers (hediot, hamon ‘am, gemeyne layt, proste yidn) in Old Yiddish (taytsh) throughout early modern Ashkenazi society. Although these sources constitute only a minor and limited corpus, they nonetheless enable us to broaden our understanding of the transmission of the Kabbalah; study the dynamics of dissemination of texts from Aramaic (loshn targem) and Hebrew (loshn koydesh) to Old Yiddish (loshn ashkenaz), as well as from learned culture to popular culture; and uncover some previously unknown facts concerning the piety, spirituality and religious practices of the Jewish people. Above all, these sources allow us to recognize the inventiveness, technical skill and creativity of a remarkable group of often-anonymous cultural agents (patrons, authors, printers, translators, editors and peddlers) who participated in the uninterrupted transmission of traditional Jewish sources. Long underestimated, Jewish popular literature, especially Old Yiddish mystical texts, of the early modern period now can be seen as having paved the way for Sabbateanism and later Hasidism.