SCHWADRON (Sharon), ABRAHAM

SCHWADRON (Sharon), ABRAHAM (1878–1957), Israeli folklorist, collector, and Hebrew writer. Born in Zloczow (Zlochev), Galicia, into a well-known ḥasidic family, Schwadron grew up in a Zionist atmosphere. He studied with his uncle Shalom Mordecai Schwadron, the gaon of Berezhany, but also finished high school and studied chemistry at the University of Vienna. In 1927 Schwadron settled in Ereẓ Israel, where he devoted himself to publicist pursuits and to his unique collection of autographs and portraits of great Jews, which he began in his youth and bequeathed to the Jewish National and University Library, Jerusalem.

Schwadron's publications include "De naturae saltibus," on philosophy (in Archiv fuer systematische Philosophie, 19 no. 1 (1913), 50–64); stories such as Die banalen Ansichten und der tragische Tod des Ziegenbocks Jaraz (1924), and Zikhronot me-Olam ha-Ḥatulim (1914); translations into German, for example of Bialik's famous poem "Be-Ir ha-Haregah" (Nach dem Pogrom, 1920); and music, including tunes for the Passover Haggadah and for poetry by *Raḥel. However, he was mainly concerned with Zionist polemics and the basic principles of Zionism which he interpreted in the light of his particular point of view. His approach to Zionism, which he termed radical, "cruel," and maximalist, was based on the principle that the complete solution to the Jewish problem was through the settlement of millions of Jews in their homeland. Schwadron's campaign of incessant and aggressive admonition, reflected in Mauschelpredigt eines Fanatikers (1916), Von der Schande eurer Namen (1920), and Aus der Zionisten-Predigt eines Fanatikers (1925), was at first conducted in German and owed much of its style to the influence of Karl *Kraus, with whom he cooperated in Die Fackel.

After he had settled in Ereẓ Israel he continued in the same vein in Hebrew, acquiring a pungent polemical style in that language as well. He published hundreds of critical and admonitory articles in almost every Hebrew newspaper, making *Aḥad Ha-Am and his followers, such as those in the *Berit Shalom movement, his main target. He also published some pamphlets, including Torat ha-Ẓiyyonut ha-Akhzarit ("The Doctrine of Cruel Zionism," 1944), and began to publish his collected writings, Mi-Shenei Evrei ha-Sha'ah ("From Both Sides of the Hour," 1946).

bibliography:

Schweizerischer Verband der Freunde der Hebraeischen Universitaet Jerusalem, Zum Andenken an Josef Chasanowitsch und Awraham Scharon (1960).

[Dov Sadan]