Y. D. Berkowitz – Letters Collection

Y. D. Berkowitz – Letters Collection
Forty-six letters and postcards written by Yitzchak Dov Berkowitz, addressed to three writers: Author Dov Kimhi (Meller), the poet Ephraim A. Lissitzky and the linguist Yitzchak Avineri.
Yitzchak Dov Berkowitz (Slutsk 1885-Tel Aviv 1967), Yiddish and Hebrew author and translator, was known mainly for translating Sholem Aleichem's writings. In 1906 Berkowitz married Esther, Sholem Aleichem's daughter. He moved with the family to Galicia and from there to Switzerland, where they stayed for a year and a half. Thereafter he lived alternately in Russia and in Warsaw, Vilnius and Odessa, during which time he was involved with different literary and journalistic works. When World War I broke out he arrived with Sholem Aleichem's family in Copenhagen and then in the USA, where he lived until he immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1928. Most of the letters in this lot were written during the period 1914-1928 and sent from the USA, some of them on stationery of the "Sholem Aleichem Fund", "Shtiebel Publishing USA", "HaToren" and "Mikra'ot Ketanot" – all of these literary enterprises with which Berkowitz was involved. After arriving in Eretz Israel, he co-edited the weekly periodical "Mozna'im", and some of the letters are on behalf of that periodical; all of the other letters were sent from Tel Aviv in the 1940s and 50s. The letters are written in a very poetic, rich language and handwritten by Berkowitz in his aesthetic handwriting. The letters concern mainly literary and some personal matters, and allow us a glimpse into the literary philosophy of Berkowitz and his belletristic outlook. In a postcard dated 1906, Berkowitz discovers that the poet Ephraim Lissitzky is a childhood friend of Slutsk, from a letter that Lissitzky sent him. Berkowitz replies, "…I had a friend… this I sometimes remember when I sit at twilight time in a dark corner…" He ends the postcard saying "I may soon be in America – but not for good. In the country of 'business' there is no room for literature".
In a letter dated May 1926, Berkowitz writes to his friend Dov Kimhi, "Thank you for your beautiful gift 'Sefer HaKilionot' ["Zutot", Jerusalem, 1926] in which I could not find the humour which prevailed your first stories. Where is it? Did you forget to add salt to your dish?.."
In another letter, dated January 24 1928, Berkowitz writes [one month prior to his arrival in Eretz Israel] to his friend Lissitzky, "It is true – I am going to Eretz Israel, although this trip means much hardship for me. My situation and the situation in Eretz Israel do not make it easy. But what has been done is irreversible – I have decided to go…"
Forty-six handwritten and typewritten letters, plus a "Brit Rishonim", Tel Aviv questionnaire. Sizes and conditions vary.