1) ICOR documentation
Sent on: 10/12/1995 12:06:41
Re: Henry Srebrnik's search for ICOR documentation (Vol 5.134)
A very useful English-language secondary source on the Organization for Jewish Colonization in Russia (ICOR) is Melech Epstein, _The Jew and Communism 1919-1941_ (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, [1959]). Epstein was a founding editor of the Morgen Freiheit, later turned anti-Communist. Like any material from the period, his book has its axe to grind, but the index and notes are invaluable, and there is a fair amount of documentation. The interesting thing about Epstein's presentation is that he goes into the pre-Birobidzhan origins of ICOR.
There is reference to ICOR in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. Birobidzhan, though this entry does not mention Leon Talmy, the leading personality associated with the Birobidzhan-era ICOR. For material on Talmy (tes-alef-lamed-mem-yud), there is an entry in the _Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur_, which gives bibliographic and periodical references, including the substantial entry in Reyzen's Lexicon. Note that the first volume (alef through yud) of Reyzen appeared before the establishment of the Birobidzhan colony.
During 1929-30, the Freiheit featured serialized dispatches Talmy sent from Birobidzhan. (He had earlier toured with a delegation of American educators and "experts," among them the president of Brigham Young University, according to Epstein.) These reports were collected in book form as _Af royer erd: mit der "icor"-ekspeditsye in biro-bidzshan_ ("Frayhayt" bukhhandlung un farlag, 1931, 258 pp. + map). It was precisely in these years, in the aftermath of the Hebron massacre of 1929, that the Freiheit, ICOR, and other Communist-dominated organizations were polarized into rigidly anti-Zionist postures.
I wonder if Talmy, originally Leyzer Talminovitsky, may have conceived of his nom de plume as containing a counter-Zionist, or perhaps we should say para-Territorialist, subtext. There is a modern Hebrew name Talmi, synthesized from _telem_ (tav-lamed-mem), meaning furrow. This is a paradigmatic Israeli name, in which one's very identity is literally voiced in ideological connection to working the land. It would not be surprising that a leading figure in the Soviet colonization movement would parody the Zionist name, de-Hebraicizing it with an initial Yiddish tes in place of the Hebrew tav.
Besides Talmy's dispatches, the Freiheit is a good source for sundry data about the ICOR community in America. Ads were frequently run announcing various ICOR activities, speakers, etc.; and it is at least interesting to see whose support they could muster. E.g., the May 4, 1930, edition carries an ad for the May 10 ICOR concert at Carnegie Hall, featuring Izidor [sic] Belarsky ("bas fun leningrader opera"), choreographer Benyomin Tsemakh, and "velt berimter violinist" Maks Rozen, whose photo dominates the ad. This was of course Maxie Rosenzweig, former student of the celebrated Professor Auer (teacher of Elman, Zimbalist, Heifetz et al) and friend since childhood of George Gershwin. Second Avenue composer Yoysef Rumshinsky reports seeing the brothers Gershwin together with Max Rosen in the audience for Rumshinsky's _Oy, iz dos a meydl_ circa 1926. (Curiously, Rumshinsky did not copyright _Oy, iz dos a meydl_ until March 30, 1928 -- two days after the Soviet charter of Birobidzhan.) Standard Gershwin biographies all solemnly repeat the suspiciously apocryphal-sounding story that Maxie's school-assembly performance of "Humoresque" inspired young George to start piano lessons. The rest, as they say, is history, or at least a famous story by Fanny Hurst, followed by the "ethnic" John Garfield picture.
Ron Robboy
A very useful English-language secondary source on the Organization for Jewish Colonization in Russia (ICOR) is Melech Epstein, _The Jew and Communism 1919-1941_ (New York: Trade Union Sponsoring Committee, [1959]). Epstein was a founding editor of the Morgen Freiheit, later turned anti-Communist. Like any material from the period, his book has its axe to grind, but the index and notes are invaluable, and there is a fair amount of documentation. The interesting thing about Epstein's presentation is that he goes into the pre-Birobidzhan origins of ICOR.
There is reference to ICOR in the Encyclopaedia Judaica, s.v. Birobidzhan, though this entry does not mention Leon Talmy, the leading personality associated with the Birobidzhan-era ICOR. For material on Talmy (tes-alef-lamed-mem-yud), there is an entry in the _Leksikon fun der nayer yidisher literatur_, which gives bibliographic and periodical references, including the substantial entry in Reyzen's Lexicon. Note that the first volume (alef through yud) of Reyzen appeared before the establishment of the Birobidzhan colony.
During 1929-30, the Freiheit featured serialized dispatches Talmy sent from Birobidzhan. (He had earlier toured with a delegation of American educators and "experts," among them the president of Brigham Young University, according to Epstein.) These reports were collected in book form as _Af royer erd: mit der "icor"-ekspeditsye in biro-bidzshan_ ("Frayhayt" bukhhandlung un farlag, 1931, 258 pp. + map). It was precisely in these years, in the aftermath of the Hebron massacre of 1929, that the Freiheit, ICOR, and other Communist-dominated organizations were polarized into rigidly anti-Zionist postures.
I wonder if Talmy, originally Leyzer Talminovitsky, may have conceived of his nom de plume as containing a counter-Zionist, or perhaps we should say para-Territorialist, subtext. There is a modern Hebrew name Talmi, synthesized from _telem_ (tav-lamed-mem), meaning furrow. This is a paradigmatic Israeli name, in which one's very identity is literally voiced in ideological connection to working the land. It would not be surprising that a leading figure in the Soviet colonization movement would parody the Zionist name, de-Hebraicizing it with an initial Yiddish tes in place of the Hebrew tav.
Besides Talmy's dispatches, the Freiheit is a good source for sundry data about the ICOR community in America. Ads were frequently run announcing various ICOR activities, speakers, etc.; and it is at least interesting to see whose support they could muster. E.g., the May 4, 1930, edition carries an ad for the May 10 ICOR concert at Carnegie Hall, featuring Izidor [sic] Belarsky ("bas fun leningrader opera"), choreographer Benyomin Tsemakh, and "velt berimter violinist" Maks Rozen, whose photo dominates the ad. This was of course Maxie Rosenzweig, former student of the celebrated Professor Auer (teacher of Elman, Zimbalist, Heifetz et al) and friend since childhood of George Gershwin. Second Avenue composer Yoysef Rumshinsky reports seeing the brothers Gershwin together with Max Rosen in the audience for Rumshinsky's _Oy, iz dos a meydl_ circa 1926. (Curiously, Rumshinsky did not copyright _Oy, iz dos a meydl_ until March 30, 1928 -- two days after the Soviet charter of Birobidzhan.) Standard Gershwin biographies all solemnly repeat the suspiciously apocryphal-sounding story that Maxie's school-assembly performance of "Humoresque" inspired young George to start piano lessons. The rest, as they say, is history, or at least a famous story by Fanny Hurst, followed by the "ethnic" John Garfield picture.
Ron Robboy