Ber Borokhov: The Bridge between Yiddish Linguistic Research and Zionist Politics, 1907-1917

The historiography of Borokhov’s legacy has suffered from a fracturing of his activity in two: Zionist theoretician and founding leader of Poaley-Tsion on the one hand, and pioneering researcher into Yiddish linguistics on the other hand. I will review his career in research and Zionist politics, by emphasizing where, when, and how his Yiddish linguistic analysis, archival and library research, and philological publications fit into his overall biography. This revised look at a life that was cut short at age thirty-six is needed, because the retrospective examination of Borokhov, including the publications of Matityahu Mintz, the only historian who studied Borokhov’s life seriously in detail, neglected to underscore that the main activity during the last decade of Borokhov’s life was Yiddish linguistic research. Moreover, Yiddish linguistic researchers to date have only dealt with Borokhov superficially.

My review will dwell on an assessment of two studies, “Tsu der natsyonaler frage in belgye” (The National Question in Belgium, 1908) and “In kamf far yidishe rekht” (Fighting for Jewish Rights, 1916). His Poaley-Tsion party colleagues in Russia at the time of his death appreciated his Yiddish research and wrote on his gravestone, erected in Kiev in December 1918: “Er hot oysgelernt zayn folk shraybn” (He taught his people to write), and quoting from his “Ufgabn fun der yiddisher filologye” (Tasks of Yiddish Lingusitic Research, 1913): “Di ershte zakh far yedn ufvakhndikn folk iz vern a har iber zayn eygener shprakh” (The first task of each awakened people is to master its own language).