Yehuda Friedlander

BEMISTEREI HASATIRA – Hebrew Satire in Europe in the Nineteenth Century – Volume 1, 1984 The Haifa Municipality Avraham Kariv Prize in Literary Criticism, 1992. The study of Modern Hebrew Satire as a literary genre is one of the most attractive fields of research in modern Hebrew literature and culture. Hebrew satire reflects the complexity of the cultural, religious and social controversy between the world of Orthodox Jewry and Hebrew Haskalah (Enlightenment) in Europe in the 19th century. This volume deals with three satirical works: Qol Mehazzezim by Tuvia Guttman Feder (1760-1817), Herev Nokemet Neqam Berit, by Meir Israel Breslaw (1785?-1839), and Bidvar Hazequqot Lehilutz by an unknown writer. Feder's satire is directed against a Yiddish translation of the book of Proverbs by Mendel Leppin from Stanow (1749-1826). Feder claims that the translation was artistically poor. He opposed Yiddish as a language for scholars. Breslaw's satire is very didactic, and focuses on the Hamburg Heichal controversy (1818). It was written as a satirical parody of the Halachik book Elle Divrei Haberit (These are the Words of the Covenant- 1819) published by rabbis in Altona against the reform temple in Hamburg. The third work, first published in this volume, is a shrewd scholarly-religious satire dealing with the Jewish law of Halitzah (Levirate). The satire attacks the rabbinic Orthodox establishment that ignores human need both of the husband and wife.