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Dcgan to arrive from Japan.
It is a remarkable fact that He
brew, which was then still an un
spoken tongue, became to Stybel
the natural medium of his commer
cial contacts. His first letters to
American leather merchants were
likewise written in Hebrew'. These
American contacts led him to as
sume the foremost place among
h either merchants in Russia during
the first World War. The fortunes
made in these business ventures
were soon invested in non-profit
Hebrew publishing. No single per
son has done as much for the en
richment of our Hebrew literature.
Stybel is responsible to a great ex
tent for the rapid and remarkable
progress of Hebrew in Palestine.
Abraham Joseph Stybel engaged
a great group of writers, scholars,
linguists and translators in order
to carry out this gigantic task, and
make available to Hebrew readers
translations of Homer, Plato and
Aristotle, Ovid and Virgil, and Sen
eca. the writings of Dante, Milton
and Shakespeare, Spinoza and
Leibnitz. From English literature
Stybel published translations of
Carlyle, Emerson, Dickens, Wilde,
Shaw and Galsworthy; from the
French — Balzac, Flaubert, Hugh
and Zola; from Scandinavian litera
ture—Ibsen, Strindberg and Ham
sun; from the German—Goethe,
Schiller, and Heine, and from the
Russian—Tolstoy, Dostoevsky and
Chekhov. To the Jewish youth in
the Diaspora and Palestine, as well
as to the average Hebrew reader,
Abraham Joseph Stybel became a
legendary figure, who, made avail
able to them the rich and vast lit
erary treasures of the East and
West, both ancient and modern.
The new direction that Hebrew
literature took, thanks to Stybel’s
publishing efforts, was best re
flected in the quarterly Hatekufah,
which he founded in Moscow in
1917. Stybel engaged as editor of
compendium of Hebrew literary
creativity, David Frishman, novel
ist. critic, translator and poet, one
of the keenest and most brilliant
masters of Hebrew letters. Each
volume of the Hatekufah enriched
Hebrew literature with outstand
ing works in every field of en
deavor. The Hatekufah published
the contributions of such masters
of Hebrew prose and poetry as M.
1. Ben-Gouryon (Berditchevsky)
and Hillel Zeitlin, the glorifiers and
expounders of Hasidic lore; Chaim
Nachman Bialik, greatest modern
Hebrew poet; Saul Tchernickow-
sky, Nahum Sokolow, Yakob Ka
lian, S. J. Agnon, G. Shofman, Da
vid Shimonowitz. Jacob Fishman,
Eliezer Steinman. The Hatekufah
introduced young writers who have
since taken their place in modern
Hebrew literature; M. Shoham,
Yehuda Bourla, Ch. Hazzaz. Uri-
Zevi Greenberg, and many others.
The 31 volumes of the quarterly
published so far represent a ver
itable treasury of Jewish knowl
edge, and no important Jewish li
brary is complete if it does not con
tain the Hatekufah.
As early as 1920, Abraham Jo
seph Stybel extended his activities
to the U. S. where he launched
the monthly Miklat, which al
though short lived, is still remem
bered as the best edited monthly
ever published in Hebrew, in Dia
spora or in Palestine.
It was Abraham Joseph Stybel’s
lot to carry out his plans under the
most trying conditions. Ten pub
lishing houses which he founded in
1917 were caught in the turmoil
of the Russian Revolution, when
Abraham Joseph Stybel lost two-
thirds of his wealth and invest
ments.
He went to Poland, where he im
mediately resumed his publishing
activities in Warsaw, later extend
ing them to America, Germany and
Palestine.
In the course of 15 years Abra
ham Joseph Stybel spent over two
million dollars on the gargantuan
undertaking. His efforts for the
revival of our Hebrew spiritual
heritage were motivated solely by
an unselfish love and idealism.
In 1939 Abraham Joseph Stybel,
a refugee from Poland, came to
America for the second time. In
1945 he renewed the Hatekufah
which was especially dear to him.
The Hatekufah was to mirror again
the growth and development of
modern Hebrew’ Literature all over
the world. The most important
Hebrew writers participated in the
first volume of the renewed Hatek
ufah. Again he succeeded in se
curing the participation of promi
nent writers and scholars, such as
Yakob Kahan, E. Steinman. Dr.
Jacob Klatzkin, Prof. L. Sonne,
Prof. Louis Finkelstein, and others.
Abraham Joseph Stybel planned
to resume book publishing. He
also intended to assemble his own
scattered essays and belles-letters.
Humble to the point of self-nega
tion, he sacrificed his own consid
erable literary talents for the sake
of others.
He made provisions in his will
for the continuance of his efforts in
Hebrew publishing by his heirs.
(Copyright, '47—JPS)
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