Schur, Zev Wolf
SCHUR, ZEV WOLF
SCHUR, ZEV WOLF (William ; 1884–1910), pioneer Hebrew writer and journalist in the United States. Born in Lithuania, he settled in the United States in 1888 and spent most of his life in poverty. A friend of Abraham *Mapu, Schur devoted himself to Hebrew literature, traveled and taught in many countries, including the Far East, and wrote about his voyages in the periodicals Ha-Meli?, Ha-Yom, and Ha-Sha?ar. His travelogues were collected in two books: Ma?azot ha-?ayyim (1884) and Masot Shelomo (1886/7). He was an ardent pioneer of the Hebrew press in America and, later, of political Zionism, participating in the Fourth Zionist Congress. Under his editorship the periodical Ha-Pisgah (1889–99), in which *Tchernichowsky made his literary debut, attracted the best Hebrew writers in America and some Hebrew writers from abroad. After it ceased publication, it was continued as Ha-Te?iyyah (1899–1900). Schur wrote several novels in Hebrew. His most important book is Ne?a? Yisrael (1897), a defense of Judaism against Christian attacks, against Reform Judaism, against socialism and anarchism. It affirms the twin axiom: the eternal existence of Jewry and the eternality of the Torah. Supporting nationalism, it was the first Hebrew work in America to react favorably to political Zionism.
bibliography:
ajyb (1904–05), 183; J. Kabakoff, ?alutzei ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit ba-Amerikah (1966), 131–210; Waxman, Literature, 4 (19602), 1266, 1299.
[Eisig Silberschlag]