Yitzak L. Peretz (1853-1915)

Yitzak Peretz is widely regarded as the greatest of the Yiddish writers, the man who made Yiddish Literature a modern phenomena. He moved beyond the folk settings of Mendele and Shalom Aleichem and presented a synthesis of the Eastern European shtetl culture with the modern American Jewish experience.

Born on the outskirts of a chassidic community, Peretz was a child prodigy, able to study Talmud at only 6 years old. A lawyer in Poland until he was disbarred in 1887 due to his socialist leanings, Peretz only began writing at the age of 35. While Mendele and Shalom Aleichem wrote for the masses, Peretz's works were very political and very sophisticated. Through often-bitted satire, many of Peretz's stories d emand social action from their readers. For example, Bontsha The Silent condemns meekness and apathy, Three Gifts frowns on martyrdom as having no real practical value, and If Not Higher preaches that acts of charity are of more val ue than prayer and piety. Higher even than Heaven, he says, is social action here on Earth.

Peretz founded a school of literary disciples who carried on his work even after he suffered a major dissilusionment and near-breakdown towards the end of his life. Unlike Shalom Aliechem, Peretz did not live off the proceeds of his wri ting alone - he was also the minister of cemetaries in Warsaw, Poland.

Peretz's themes are perhaps the most relevant to modern Jews. His social action themes are especially appealing to my generation as we deal with our frustrations with trying to make change in an age of unclear enemies, all along trying to overcome the "slacker/generation X" sterotypes wrongly assigned to us. Peretz's themes of identity - does something make you a Jew even if you don't observe religious customs, is there something to Judaism beyond Torah - have always been important iss ues to American Jewry.