Welwel Zbarzer

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Welwel Zbarzer

Welwel or Wölwel Zbarzer (also: Zbarazer , Zbarzher or Zbarascher ; * 1826 in Zbaraż , Galicia ; † June 2, 1883 in Constantinople ) was actually called (Benjamin) Wolf Ehrenkranz . He was a popular Hebrew and Yiddish poet and folk singer , "as a lyricist and satirist, one of the most outstanding poets of Eastern Jewry ."

Life

Ehrenkranz was the son of a Schochet , received a thorough Talmudic training and was known for his sparkling wit from an early age.

He was married at the age of 19, but was not able to lead a quiet, sedentary life, but separated from his wife and, always in search of an economic livelihood, led an unsteady wandering life while traveling through Romania , southern Russia and Galicia . He alternately hired himself as a Hebrew teacher or clerk and tried his luck with all kinds of commercial transactions for a while.

In the meantime he wrote poetry continuously, for which he composed melodies himself. After all, as a modern “ Badchen ”, he performed his songs at celebrations, especially weddings, in domestic circles or in restaurants, which soon became very popular.

Publications

In 1856 his first purely Hebrew collection of songs, Chason l'moed , was published in Iași . The four-volume collection of Hebrew and Yiddish songs Makkel-Noam (“Stab der Milde”, Lemberg 1869–1878) has been preserved as his main lyrical work , including the satirical poem entitled “Gottes Bankrott”, which is known as “one of the most excellent satires of the World literature ”applies. Another well-known Yiddish reflective poem is “The Nightingale”: The lament of the bird in first person form, despite being imprisoned in a cage, to have to sing sweet songs for people in order to earn its food, reflects Ehrenkranz's own fate. The Yiddish works from this collection appeared transcribed in Latin letters in 1902 in Brăila , edited by J. Sotek.

Ehrenkranzens satirical works appeared in 1869 under the title Makkel Chowlim ("Staff of Strictness").

Late years

He also published " Haschachar " in Smolenskin's magazine and came to Vienna that way . There he continued to perform his songs in coffeehouses and restaurants, but suffered many humiliations and lived his life in great poverty. From there he moved on to Constantinople, where he lived in even greater misery, remarried and soon died.

In contrast to Berl Broder , Welwel Zbarazer was a supporter of the Haskala and represented its classic goals: promoting Hebrew, fighting for education, against ignorance and obscurantism , especially against miracle rabbis and hasidism .

expenditure

The Jewish Scientific Institute in Wilna published part of its correspondence in 1927 (Ed. Bernhard Wachstein ).

literature

  • Max Weissberg: Wölwel Zbarażer. The traveling singer of Galician-Jewish humanism. In: Mitteilungen zur Jewish Volkskunde = Mitteilungen der Gesellschaft für Jüdische Volkskunde 12, 1909, ZDB -ID 2256206-0 , pp. 65–69 and 103–118.
  • Salman Reisen : Leksikon fun of Yiddish literature and press. Warsaw 1914, pp. 435-439.
  • Honor wreath, Benjamin Wolf. In: Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. II, Druckerei Orient, Czernowitz 1927, pp. 103-104.
  • Michael Berkowicz: Wreath of Honor, Wolf. In: Georg Herlitz (Hrsg.): Jüdisches Lexikon . Vol. II, Jüdischer Verlag, Berlin 1927, Sp. 278 f.
  • Sol Liptzin: A History of Yiddish Literature. New York (NY) 1972, ISBN 0-8246-0124-6 .
  • Israil Bercovici : O sută de ani de teatru evreiesc în România ( Colecția Sinteze ). 2nd edition, Bucharest 1998, ISBN 973-98-2722-5 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Ehrenkranz, Benjamin Wolf. In: Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. II, Orient Printing House, Czernowitz 1927, p. 104.
  2. ↑ Ehrenkranz, Benjamin Wolf. In: Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. II, Orient Printing House, Czernowitz 1927, p. 103.
  3. ↑ Ehrenkranz, Benjamin Wolf. In: Salomon Wininger : Great Jewish National Biography. Vol. II, Druckerei Orient, Czernowitz 1927, pp. 103-104.
  4. ↑ Michael Berkowicz: Ehrenkranz, Wolf. In: Georg Herlitz (Hrsg.): Jüdisches Lexikon . Vol. II, Jüdischer Verlag, Berlin 1927, Sp. 278.
  5. ↑ Leo Wiener: Yiddish literature - History and criticism
personal data
SURNAME Zbarzer, Welwel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Honor wreath, wolf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hebrew and Yiddish folk singer
DATE OF BIRTH 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Zbaraz , Galicia
DATE OF DEATH June 2, 1883
Place of death Constantinople