Biography · Spiritual Formation · Primary Source

AZR in Russia: Brainin, Tolstoy, and the Revolution

How the doctrine of labor, socialism, and the decision to make aliyah were born

Three memoir chapters, "Searching for a Path," "Social Influences," and "Revolution and Pogroms," reveal the spiritual formation of AZR in Russia: his acquaintances (Brainin, Zunzer), the Tolstoyan root of his "religion of labor," and the decision to make aliyah in the wake of the 1905 revolution. "Memoir Chapters" · Project Ben-Yehuda · Public Domain

A Searching for a Path: Brainin and Zunzer

Supported at his father-in-law's table in Romanovo, AZR taught himself Russian (from the Mandelstam dictionary), and read Dickens ("David Copperfield"). In those days he became acquainted with a fellow townsman:

"In those days I became acquainted with my fellow townsman Reuven Brainin, who was at that time a young and enlightened fellow." AZR, "Searching for a Path," "Memoir Chapters"; Project Ben-Yehuda. (Brainin too was a native of Lyady.)

Distinction: Here AZR records only a brief acquaintance (fellow townsmen, he lent him a book). In his autobiography he dismisses as an "impossible fabrication" what has been written about a significant "relationship" between himself and Brainin (who was much younger), see "Autobiography." The two sources are consistent: a brief acquaintance, yes; significant connection/influence, no.

The early path of teaching (melamed work): Minsk (5637/1877) → Lubz (5638/1878), where he met the remarkable autodidact Meir-Hillel Zunzer (who learned Russian, German, law, and bookkeeping by heart from dictionaries) → the village of Astashin.

Genealogical detail: This chapter relates that AZR's father had already died by this period (mid-1870s, near 1877): "After my father's death, of blessed memory, I traveled with my mother to the villages to collect the debts the peasants owed my father." This roughly dates the death of the father (Tsvi-Hirsh), and confirms that his mother Golda was widowed by ~1877. AZR notes that he saw no hatred of peasants then: "Everywhere we came we were treated with respect." For a distinction from other biographical inaccuracies, see "Autobiography."

B The Social Spark: "In the Shadow of Money"

The young Baruch Stolpner (of Homel) introduced AZR to socialist thought and sharpened his literary taste. The result was a landmark in Hebrew literature:

"The first social sketch in our literature"

"Under his influence I wrote the sketch 'In the Shadow of Money'; this is the first social sketch in our literature." AZR, "Social Influences," "Memoir Chapters"; Project Ben-Yehuda.

C Tolstoy through Feinerman: "Labor is a sacred thing"

To Poltava came Feinerman, a disciple of Tolstoy, who had spent two years at Yasnaya Polyana and even converted (later regretting it, just as Tolstoy himself regretted the advice: "I shall never forgive myself for this"). His influence on AZR was decisive, and here lies the root of his "religion of labor":

"The influence Feinerman exerted upon me at that time was very great. Simple, honest labor became in my eyes a sacred thing." Ibid.

In this ardor he even placed his son Tsvi (aged 12) to learn the trade of coppersmithing, but when he found him weeping and miserable, he learned the pedagogical lesson "that one cannot force a child… into something not according to the bent of his soul."

Ideological starting point: This chapter documents the Tolstoyan source of AZR's doctrine, the sanctity of simple labor, which underlies his image as "the grandfather of the Working Youth" (see "AZR and the Labor Movement"), his vegetarianism and morality (see "Vegetarianism," "Morality"), and the affinity with Tolstoy that he also documented in the biography he wrote of him.

D Revolution and Pogroms, 1905: The Decision to Make Aliyah

The 1905 revolution brought AZR to the edge. He described the great railway strike, the workers as "the heroes of the day" (who even fixed food prices), and the fear of pogroms that accompanied "freedom":

"Freedom is freedom and a pogrom is a pogrom. They are by no means a contradiction in terms…" AZR, "Revolution and Pogroms," "Memoir Chapters"; Project Ben-Yehuda.

Despite the optimism that seized many (his acquaintance L. tried to persuade him that a "Land of Israel" would arise within Russia), AZR had already resolved otherwise:

The Decision to Make Aliyah

"I was ready to leave Russia and exchange its freedom for the wildness of Turkey, and in my mind I had already pitched my dwelling there in the Land of Israel." Ibid.

On October 17, 1905, the imperial manifesto (the constitution) came, and the joy of the Jews. But the procession to free the political prisoners ran into Cossacks, and the police chief gave the order "Strike!", and the Cossacks beat women and children. This violence, against the backdrop of the wave of pogroms, strengthened AZR's decision to make aliyah (he emigrated in 1906; see "Autobiography" and "Jaffa Exile").