SEFER HA-BESHT
Tel-Aviv, Hotsaat “keneset”, 1958. Item #31298
Original cover, 8vo, 389 pages, 25 cm. In Hebrew. Series: Beer ha-H? Asidut; Variation: Steinman, Eliezer. Beer ha-H? Asidut. SUBJECT (S) : Hasidim -- Ukraine -- Biography. Hasidim -- Legends. Hasidism. Baal Shem Tov, ca. 1700-1760. Steinman (1892-1970) was a “Hebrew writer. Born in Obodovka, Steinman was ordained a rabbi, and began to write at an early age, but it took some time before his first stories appeared in print. Steinman pursued literary work and was also a part-time Hebrew teacher in Odessa. He contributed regularly to Ha-Zefirah and worked on translations, which were not published until a later date. During this period, he began to publish long stories, as well as essays and articles. In 1920 he left Russia. During those unsettled times, having been mistaken for the Yiddish writer Baynush Steinman, a rumor was spread of his death, and he was eulogized in the Hebrew daily press and in literary periodicals, as well as in foreign-language publications. Steinman published "Teshuvah le-Maspidai, in Ha-Zefirah. Settling in Warsaw, he continued his regular contributions of stories, essays, and articles to Ha-? Efirah and wrote for Der Moment. Steinman founded the monthly, Kolot, which provided a forum for young writers. It was also the first attempt to compare the thought of R. Nahman of Bratslav and Aaron Samuel Tamares with those of St. Francis of Assisi, Ibsen, and others. During his Warsaw period he published a collection of stories, a novel, a collection of articles, and two Yiddish books of essays and stories on the pogroms against Ukrainian Jews. In 1924, Steinman settled in Tel Aviv. He wrote for Haaretz and Ha-Olam and, together with other young writers, became active in the Writers’ Union. On behalf of the Union he edited its literary collection Mesibbah and, afterward, its organ Ketuvim. Here he continued his attempts to find a synthesis between ancient and modern Jewish literature and culture, and world literature. He published stories and novels, including Zugot and Duda’im, and collections of essays: Ha-Yesod ba-Hinnukh, Meshihiyyut, Be-Mizreh ha-Zeman, and Sha’ar ha-Vikku’ah. When Ketuvim closed, he became a columnist for Davar, also contributing regularly to literary periodicals and collections in Israel and abroad. Steinman claims that the primary function of a critical essay is to improve man’s view on life and art, and that therefore it is permissible and desirable to apply present-day views in studying works of the past. His memoirs contain a great deal of literary gossip. In his reconstruction of the “conversations, ” Steinman aims at giving a very subjective account of the conversants’ views rather than a stenographic recording of their actual remarks. Steinman was the most prolific Hebrew writer of his generation” (Kressel in EJ, 2007) . Hinge repair. Chipping and cover edges. Bumped cover corners. Light yellowing to pages. Otherwise, good condition. (Heb-28-3).
Price: $100.00