Remaining Alive in Silence? Melekh Ravitch as Yiddish Catalyst: Montreal, 1941–54

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Remaining Alive in Silence? Melekh Ravitch as Yiddish Catalyst: Montreal, 1941–54
Abstract
The leading member of a group of wartime refugees who settled in Montreal between 1938 and 1948 was the Warsaw Yiddish poet and essayist Zekharye Khone Bergner, who wrote under the pseudonym Melech Ravitch (1893–1976). The author focuses on Ravitch's literary and cultural activities in Montreal from his arrival in 1941 to 1954, notably his activity as head of the Jewish Public Library as well as his writing. The author suggests that while Ravitch had been among the most prominent and vocal proponents of Yiddish culture in prewar Poland, his relationship with Yiddish would shift in Montreal against a wider background of global change. That is, while he continued to write and publish widely in Yiddish, including new poetry as well as his own memories of the Jewish world he had known, he would not promote Yiddish culture as a core expression of Jewishness as he once had. Ultimately, the author argues, Ravitch sought out and participated in a revitalization of wider Jewish culture in Yiddish but not necessarily for Yiddish.
Publication
East European Jewish Affairs
Volume
Vol. 46
Issue
no. 2
Pages
192-209
Date
2016
Language
en
Citation
Margolis, Rebecca. “Remaining Alive in Silence? Melekh Ravitch as Yiddish Catalyst: Montreal, 1941–54.” East European Jewish Affairs Vol. 46, no. 2 (2016): 192–209.
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