SOURCE: Goldsmith, Emmanuel S. “The Emergence of Yiddishism” and “The Growth of Yiddishism.” In Architects of Yiddishism at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: A Study in Jewish Cultural History, pp. 45-69, 259-75. Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press/London: Associated University Presses, 1976.

In the following essays, Goldsmith traces the emergence, development, and growth of Yiddish literature around the world.

Alexander Zederbaum (1816-1893), the publisher of the first Hebrew newspaper in Russia, was embarrassed at the thought of publishing a Yiddish newspaper. At first his Hamelitz, which began appearing in 1860, contained only articles in Hebrew and in German in Hebrew characters. When the newspaper failed to sell, however, Zederbaum decided to issue a newspaper in Yiddish that would be called Kol Mevaser, together with Hamelitz. More than any other single factor, Kol Mevaser, which appeared from 1862 to 1871, contributed to the standardization of Yiddish orthography and the development...