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Ahavat Ziyyon - First Hebrew historical novel set in biblical times by Abraham Mapu. Immensely influential, Ahavat Ziyyon, won immediate acclaim, going through at least 16 editions, and was translationed into many languages including English, French, German, Russian, Arabic, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, Ladino, and Yiddish. Ahavat Ziyyon reflects the influence of the plays of R. Moses Hayyim Luzzzatto (Ramahl, 1707-46). The story, set in the times of kings Ahaz and Hezekiah, is about Yoram and Yedidiah, two friends, one an officer in the army, the second a finance minister to the king. Ahavat Ziyyon begins with Yoram and his two wives, Hagit and Na’ama. Hagit, mother of seven children is not loved as much as her rival, who has been childless. Yoram goes off to war against the Philistines, when Na’ama is expecting their first child. He entrusts his family to the care of Yedidiah, making a pact that if Na’ama has a son and Tirza, Yedidiah’s wife, a daughter, they should wed. However, Hagit gives birth to a son. The story becomes involved, with Yoram captured, servants bringing a case to a judge who had loved Hagit but was rejected by her and now seeks revenge. A series of very involved events over a period of years occurs. Throughout the novel whatever is good comes from Jerusalem, whatever is base comes from Samaria. Waxman in his description of Ahavat Ziyyon writes “a real work of art . . . its greatest value lies in the vividness of description of life of the period. In this Mapu displayed great power. He actually resuscitated the life of a long-forgotten period. There is so much naturalness in the recital of the story that the reader is carried away from contemporary life to a distant time and place and becomes an onlooker of the events transpiring around him. It is marvelous how a man like Mapu who spent his life it the ghetto of Kovno with its crowded and muddy streets could visualize a life of beauty and pastoral tranquility as is described in some of the chapters of the novel.”
Abraham ben Jekuthiel Mapu (1808–1867) is considered the founder of the modern Hebrew novel. His second novel Ayit Zavu'a has a contemporary setting; the third novel, Hozei Hezyonot, depicts the period of the pseudo-Messiah, Shabbetai Zevi. Mapu also wrote textbooks. Ahavat Ziyyon was translated into English under various titles: Amnon, Prince and Peasant, tr. by F. Jaffe (1887); In the Days of Isaiah, tr. by A. M. Schapiro (1902); the same translation was published later under the title The Shepherd Prince (1922 and 1930); The Sorrows of Noma, tr. by J. Marymont (1919).
Bound with: Biblical riddles and solutions for students of Hebrew by Hayyim Zevi b. Abraham Zabludowski (d.1943). |
