14:47:55


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Bidding Information
Lot #    23484
Auction End Date    6/9/2009 10:05:00 AM (mm/dd/yyyy)
          
Title Information
Title (English)    Letter by Prof. Dr. Joseph Klausner
Title (Hebrew)    ëúá îôøåô' ã'ø éåñó ÷ìåæðø
Author    [Ms.]
City    Jerusalem
Publication Date    1949
          
Collection Information
Independent Item    This listing is an independent item not part of any collection
          
Description Information
Physical
Description		    [1] p., 280:221 mm., light age staining, creased on folds, ink on stationary, Ashkenazic script, signed, and dated.
          
Detailed
Description		    Letter by Prof. Dr. Joseph Klausner (1874–1958), literary critic, historian, and Zionist. Klausner was born in Olkienik, near Vilna, but in 1885 his family moved to Odessa where he attended a Hebrew day school. Already in his earliest years he evinced a passion for the Hebrew language, which was to be one of the main interests of his life. He was the youngest member of the Sefatenu Ittanu, a society for the revival of Hebrew as a spoken language, established in Odessa in 1891 and with his friends, who included Nahum Slouschz and Saul Tchernichowsky, he spoke only Hebrew. In 1897 he proceeded to Germany, where he studied Semitic and modern languages, history, and philosophy at Heidelberg. In the same year he participated in the discussion in the Jewish press in Russia with regard to the forthcoming Zionist Congress to be convened in Basle, strongly urging participation, and he attended this First Congress. At the age of 28 he moved to Warsaw to succeed Ahad Ha-Am as editor of Ha-Shilo'ah a position he held for 23 years (together with H.N. Bialik for volumes 13–21 and with Jacob Fichman for volumes 45–46). In Warsaw he became friendly with I.L. Peretz and up-and-coming writers such as Z. Shneour, Itzhak Katzenelson, Jacob Steinberg, and Y.D. Berkowitz, who would meet regularly in his home on Saturdays, and to whom he extended every encouragement and guidance. Ha-Shilo'ah, which had ceased publication in 1904 was revived in Odessa in 1907 and Klausner moved there. He lectured on Jewish history at the modern yeshivah in Odessa. After the Revolution in February 1917, he was invited to lecture at Odessa University, but following the Bolshevik Revolution in October he immigrated to Palestine, settling in Jerusalem in 1919. He took an active part in the Va'ad ha-Lashon, the Academy of the Hebrew Language, first as scientific secretary, then as editor of its proceedings, and later as president. He continued to act as editor of Ha-Shilo'ah when it was revived in Erez Israel, from 1921–26. When the Hebrew University was established, to his disappointment he was not appointed to the chair of Jewish history, as his views were considered too secular, but was appointed to the chair of Hebrew literature. It was only in 1944, at the age of 70, that he was appointed to the chair of the History of the Second Temple, endowed by his friends and admirers. From 1950 until shortly before his death he acted as editor in chief of the Encyclopaedia Hebraica and was responsible for volumes 2–5 and 7–8. He published his autobiography in 1946 (enlarged edition 1955). Klausner was active as a literary critic and philologist, as a historian, and as a Zionist.
          
Reference
Description		    EJ
        
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Listing Classification
Period
20th Century:    Checked
  
Location
Israel:    Checked
  
Subject
  
Characteristic
Language:    Hebrew
  
Manuscript Type
Letters:    Checked
  
Kind of Judaica