The Levick House Archives

Israel Rudnitzky was a respected writer, editor, and translator. During World War II, he fought as a soldier and partisan against Nazi Germany. After immigrating to Israel, he served as personal secretary to Itzik Menger, and for many years was secretary of the Yiddish Writers' Association. He published several books. Winner of the National Authority for Yiddish Culture Award for 2021.

Biography

Ephraim Schreier was a seraph and essayist, born in Tolomiec, Galicia. He spent the war in the USSR and immigrated to Israel from Munich in 1951. In Israel he published several books in Yiddish and Hebrew, "Art and Theater" and "Ali Aviv". The bulk of Schreier's archive is dedicated to the themes of art and aesthetics.

Mordechai Tzanin - linguist, writer, lexicographer and journalist. Cultural leader of Yiddish in Israel. Author of the great Yiddish-Hebrew-Yiddish dictionary, founder and editor of the newspaper "Letse Nays". Born in Poland. Arrived in Israel in 1941. Authored and published about forty volumes in Yiddish: stories, novels, novellas, reviews, biographies and more. Tzanin was one of the initiators and founders of the Beit Leivik. During the years that Tzanin headed the Association of Yiddish Writers and Journalists in Israel, extensive cultural activity was conducted at the house.

When the association numbered about 300 people, a rigorous membership process was followed. Today, we are surprised to find familiar names and names that have been forgotten but are part of the cultural and diverse mosaic of what is happening at home.

With the help of manuscripts, both lovers and literary scholars can trace the creative process, the searches, the doubts, the erasures and the secrets that were left behind and do not appear in the final publication of the book. With the help of manuscripts, we reconstruct the intimate creative moments of each writer.

The association operates with the help of donations from public bodies and with the help of members and foundations such as: the Abraham Lerner Foundation, the Ita Taub Estate Foundation. The association awards prizes to Yiddish creators and activists in the field such as the Leib Rubinlicht Prize, the Epstein Prize, and more.

In the 2000s, when a new generation entered the management of the house, a vital need was discovered to disseminate Yiddish studies. Over the years, a great deal of experience has been accumulated in this field, with classes held in groups of young people with Dr. Roni Cohen, a Yiddish "experience" with Tova Rashtik-Dodson, face-to-face and on Zoom, and the development of the unique intonation of the Yiddish language.

The fact that the leading members of the association also included journalists allowed for a close connection between the association's activities and dailies, seasonal newspapers and magazines in Israel and abroad, such as Lachishte Nays, Yisrael-Shtime, Yiddish Newspaper, Die Zukunft, Oifen Shwel, Nye Wegen, and more. A place of honor is reserved for the inauguration of the house, which took place in May 1970, in the presence of Prime Minister Golda Meir and Tel Aviv Mayor Yehoshua Rabinowitz, Mordechai Tzanin, Avraham Sutzkever, and more.

The minutes reflect the history of the Yiddish Writers' Association, its steadfast stand against the establishment that despised it. The democratic process of decision-making in the association over decades. The minutes tell us about our hostel, the achievements and difficulties, and its strengthening with members of the association in the face of waves of immigration from various countries.

The fascinating story of the giants of Yiddish literature is revealed in the personal correspondence they conducted with each other and with institutions in Israel and around the world. By examining the letters, one breathes a living, stylish, and relevant Yiddish for every period.