The Noah Cotsen Library of Yiddish Children's Literature

Children’s literature was a thriving subset of Yiddish publishing in Eastern Europe and America. The Yiddish school movement produced primers and anthologies, abridged school editions of classic Yiddish novels, and new works for children by leading Yiddish writers and educators. Many of the books were beautifully illustrated by important artists like El Lissitsky, Nota Koslowsky, and Zuni Maud. Writers tried their hands at Yiddish translations of classic works for children, including Andersen’s fairy tales, Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, Kipling’s Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, and Felix Salten’s Bambi.

The Noah Cotsen Library of Yiddish Children’s Literature includes about 800 titles. Among the most historically interesting are the Soviet children’s books, which represent a difficult chapter in Yiddish literature. Like all Soviet publications, children’s books were subject to strict ideological supervision, and it is possible to watch the authors’ initial enthusiasm for post-revolutionary culture harden into propaganda and at last give way to a palpably desperate praise of Stalin. The career of the very gifted Leib Kvitko, which ended on August 12, 1952 with Stalin’s execution of thirteen Jewish writers and intellectuals, provides an example.

Among the most beloved Yiddish children’s books: Mani-Leib’s Yingl Tsingl Khvat (Young Tongue Scamp), the story in rhyme of an adventurous schoolboy; Chaver Paver’s Labzik, a dog story – a socialist dog, but one with a sense of humor; and Sholem Aleichem’s Dos meserl (The Little Knife), about a boy who covets a pocketknife. Kadia Molodowsky, a major Yiddish poet, wrote for children as well as adults, and her songs were sung in Yiddish schools on three continents. Ida Massey translated nursery rhymes and poems by Robert Louis Stevenson and A. A. Milne, in addition to writing her own thoughtful poems about childhood and motherhood. Yudel Mark, author of a series of textbooks (and, for adults, a major Yiddish dictionary), wrote several short books about medieval Jewish figures. There are also many charming stories and poems for very young readers.