Yosef Haim Brenner

Yosef Haim Brenner was one of the first authors of fiction in Hebrew. The prestigious Brenner Prize, an annual Israeli literary award, is named in his honor.

Writer, translator

Childhood

Yosef Haim Brenner was born in 1881 in the town of Novye Mlyny in the Chernigov province. At that time, the town's population was about 3,000 people, ten percent of whom were Jews (around 70 families). His father's real surname was Lubanov, but he passed himself off as the deceased heir of the Brenner family to be considered the only son and thereby avoid service in the tsarist army.

Shlomo Brenner, father of Yosef Haim Brenner
The National Library Of Israel

Haya-Reisel Brenner, mother of Yosef Haim Brenner
geni.com

Little is known about Brenner's mother, Chaya-Raisa (Chaya-Reisel). She married Shlomo in 1880 when they were both eighteen years old. At that time, this was considered a relatively late age for a girl to marry, suggesting that she might have been either poor or not particularly beautiful. A year later, Yosef Haim was born, followed by three more sons and two daughters over the next twenty years.

When Yosef Haim was only nine and a half years old, he began his wanderings through the villages of Malorossiya in search of the "place of the Torah."

Shlomo Brenner disapproved of his son's interest in secular sciences. To shield him from the perceived corrupting influence of non-religious books, he sent Yosef Haim to study at a Hasidic yeshiva in Konotop, which was led by his brother. While there, Brenner wrote his first critical piece on Hasidism, filled with sharp critiques, unflattering descriptions, and epigrams aimed at the Hasidim. This work sparked a significant scandal. The yeshiva head, Yosef Haim's uncle, ordered the manuscript to be burned and publicly slapped him. This incident marked the beginning of a major conflict between Brenner and his father.

Cheder. European Jews
Jewish ethnographic expedition of S. A. An-sky
Russian Ethnographic Museum

Yosef Haim spent a year and a half in Gomel. Afterwards, he studied for a semester in Hlusk, where he was recognized as "an outstanding student of the Hlusk yeshiva." It was here that he first encountered the world influenced by the secular Haskalah (enlightenment) movement.

The synagogue in Gomel
Yosef and Margit Hoffman Judaica postcard collection.
The National Library Of Israel

Hlusk
Wikimedia

In Hlusk, he began reading Avraham Mapu's novel Love of Zion, regarded as the first novel written in Hebrew. This sparked his interest in secular literature and science.

Following this incident, the father sent Yosef Haim to Pochep.

He would later write the story There, which depicts the suffering of a child far from home, living with strangers, in poverty and humiliation.

Konotop, Goskatalog

Pochep

Rabbi Yehoshua Nathan Gnessin, the head of the Pochep yeshiva and the town rabbi, was an enlightened and passionate man who deeply loved both the Torah and his community. Thirteen-year-old Yosef Haim became one of his youngest students. Rabbi Gnessin quickly assessed his abilities and placed him in the most advanced class.

Gnessin was not only known for his good character and erudition but also for his remarkable tolerance and understanding of his students' interests. He allowed them to read books and magazines in Hebrew, and he even subscribed to these publications himself. After reading them, he would pass them on to his students.

One of the popular newspapers Gnessin had at home was Hamelitz.

One day, a fire broke out in Rabbi Gnessin's house, destroying the most precious possession: the library. People rushed to help, throwing beautifully bound volumes out of the windows. During the chaos, the rabbi's sons noticed a stranger they had never seen before, holding two Torah scrolls and shouting, "Rabbi, where should I take the Torah scrolls?" The stranger was Brenner. This incident marked the first meeting between Yosef Haim and Rabbi's son Uri Nissan Gnessin, who would later become another influential writer.

The young people formed a friendship that greatly influenced their development as individuals. They supported and inspired each other in their desire to write, devoting most of their time to literary pursuits. They even began publishing a newspaper for yeshiva members called The Monkey (Ha-Kof). Following The Monkey, they started a monthly publication named The Flower (Ha-Perach). Brenner described life at the Pochep yeshiva: "There ... there ... gentlemen! I began to sense ... to feel, there I began to sing ... and feel the lack of education in a different way."

In Pochep, a circle of young people formed around Brenner and Gnessin, a group of sympathetic friends that included Gershon Ginsburg, Shimon Bikhovski, Shimon Hillel Kruglyakov, and others who played a role in Brenner’s life. This group of yeshiva students broke into the secular world, began writing literature in Hebrew, and sought to learn Russian, though without much success. Despite living in Pochep and not speaking Russian, they managed to take the first step toward receiving a secular education. It was within this circle that Brenner first emerged as a leader, writer, editor, and publisher.

Brenner lived in Pochep for over two years.

Uri Nissan Gnessin (center) with Itzhak Alterman (left) and Shimon Bikhovski (right)
gnazim.org

Uri Nissan Gnessin stayed in his parents' house in Pochep while the brave and naive Brenner ventured to the big city of Bialystok. It was 1897, and Yosef Haim was only fifteen years old. His uncle, David Narodsky, a Torah copyist, lived in Bialystok and could provide him with housing and care. Brenner told his father that he was going to study at the local yeshiva.

Brenner suffered from loneliness: in Pochep, his friends boosted his self-esteem, but in Bialystok, he had no one. He consoled himself by corresponding with his Pochep friends and writing stories.

In March 1898, Brenner returned to Pochep for nine months. Here he found several students and earned extra money by teaching. In his free time, he managed to learn both Russian and German. In Pochep, Yosef Haim first learned the Latin alphabet. He read extensively in Hebrew, including magazines, and the poetry of Haim Nachman Bialik, claiming that "our literature gives me great courage and strength."

Yosef Haim Brenner
gnazim.org

Bialystok, Surazhskaya street
Goskatalog

Postcard from Yosef Haim Brenner to his friend Uri Nissan Gnessin in Pochep
The National Library Of Israel, Abraham Schwadron Collection

"There are but very few enlightened people here," he wrote from Bialystok to his friend Uri Nissan in Pochep. It was very difficult for him to make acquaintances, so he began to educate himself, buying Russian language textbooks written in Yiddish.

"I humbly ask you, dear friends, to answer me immediately, because I am waiting for your letter with impatience. Please write to me about the matter I am asking you. Forgive me all my misdeeds, and I hope to God that from now on I will become a completely different person. Your sad friend, Yosef Haim Brenner."

Letter from Yosef Haim Brenner in Russian
The National Library Of Israel, Abraham Schwadron Collection

Soldier in the Russian Tsar's Army

In 1898, Brenner moved to Gomel to continue his education. Here he advanced so much in his Russian studies that he began reading Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Turgenev, though he liked Turgenev the least. In Gomel, Brenner also became involved with the Jewish socialist movement Bund and joined it.

In the autumn of 1901, Yosef Haim was drafted into the Russian army. Two years later, during the Russo-Japanese War, he deserted. With the help of Bund comrades, he managed to escape to London.

"I totally disagree with the theory in your letter regarding "literature for literature's sake," the purpose of man, and so forth. My view of life is completely different. In brief: we must sacrifice ourselves and reduce the evil of the world, the evil of hunger, slavery, dismissal, hipocrisy, and so forth. We must understand everything, understand and distance ourselves from mysticism and fantasies. We must heighten realism and sanctity in the world. We must reform the life of the Jewish people for it to be normal. And these torments of the soul are the result of my doubts in general: Can there be reform? Are we moving forward? ...
You write a historical poem - and I do not understand it. Can we divert our attention from the present for even a moment? Are you aware of the situation of our young people? Do you know that we are The Last of the Mohicans? Are you aware that our people are going to die? Do you know that the world is sick? Do you know that despair kills? Do you have eyes?
Uri Nissan!"

Brenner to Gnessin,
in Anita Shapira, Yosef Haim Brenner: A Life.

In London, Brenner lived in Whitechapel, in an apartment that also served as the office of the magazine Ha-Meorer (The Awakener), which he edited and published from 1906 to 1907. Brenner learned the trade of typesetting, and in the magazine, he did everything with his own hands except for the production of paper. This magazine had a great influence on the development of Hebrew.

In 1904, he wrote the book Around the Point, which was published in the monthly Ha-Shiloah under the literary editorship of Hayim Nahman Bialik.

In 1909, Brenner immigrated to Palestine and became one of the leaders of the Second Aliyah, the second wave of Jewish repatriation to their historical homeland.

Gomel
Goskatalog

Bund newspapers and leaflets
Yad Vashem

A Bundist demonstration in 1905
YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

Portrait of Chava Wolfson. helped Brenner flee from the Russian authorities to England
The National Library Of Israel

February 1906 issue of Ha-Meorer. It published an announcement about the opening of a publishing house in Pochep
Ha-Meorer

Palestine

In 1909, Brenner emigrated to Palestine (then part of the Ottoman Empire). Initially, he wanted to engage in agriculture to realize the Zionist idea. However, Brenner could not bear farming and abandoned it after a week. He returned to literature and began teaching in a gymnasium. According to his biographer, Anita Shapira, he constantly suffered from depression.

On November 24, 1910, Brenner published an article in the newspaper Ha-Poel Ha-Tsair (The Young Worker), which caused a wide public reaction. In it, he called for focusing on the issue of Jewish life rather than Jewish religion. He expressed disdain for all religions, equating the New Testament (the main book of Christians) with the Old Testament (the book of Jews). Both the secular and religious communities considered Brenner a "provocateur" and a "secret missionary."

Even after the controversy died down, this event continued to affect Brenner's life. In the gymnasium where he taught, a special teacher was appointed to ensure Brenner did not incite against religion.

In 1913, Brenner married Chaya Broide, a teacher, and they had a son, Uri Nissan, named after the writer Uri Nissan Gnessin.

Yosef Haim Brenner was killed in May 1921 during riots in Jaffa. His father, Shlomo Brenner, was killed in pogroms two years earlier.

In addition to his literary pursuits and innovations, Brenner was known for his ascetic lifestyle and courage to go against conventions. These qualities, along with his tragic death, made him a legendary figure in the history of Israeli literature and culture.

Most of Yosef Haim Brenner's works are available only in Hebrew and have not been translated into other languages.

Yosef Haim Brenner's house in Jaffa
Harvard Library

Yosef Haim Brenner with his sisters and brothers
The National Library Of Israel

Yosef Haim Brenner and his wife Chaya Broida Brenner
gnazim.org

Chaya Broida Brenner and Uri Brenner
gnazim.org

Yosef Haim Brenner
Harvard Library

A group photo of Hebrew writers in Jaffa. The photo shows, from right to left: Shmuel Yosef Agnon; David Shimonovich (Shimoni); Alexander Ziskind Rabinovitch; Yosef Haim Brenner
The National Library Of Israel

Yosef Haim Brenner (seated left) and David Ben Gurion (seated center)
The National Library Of Israel

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AUTHOR - EKATERINA ZHILINA

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