Special Interview 50 Years of Brit Ivrit Olamit

The Brit Ivrit Olamit (World Hebrew Union) is a venerable body in Zionist public life, with 50 years of propagating Hebrew culture to its credit since it was founded by Chaim Nahman Bialik, the national bard, in Berlin in 1931.

In the last decade or more, however, says its recently-appointed chairman, Avraham Shenker, “This distinguished organization had fallen upon sad days.” The creation of the State of Israel meant that the Hebrew language was suddenly transformed from a slowly reawakening conveyance of Jewish culture to the workaday medium of a thriving sovereign state.

The focus in the diaspora, moreover, steadily shifted towards school education where “Ivrit” was taught as part of the classroom curriculum. The Hebrew-speaking circles and other adult-culture activities of the union seemed to hark back to the pre-state period of Zionism. Now, though, says Shenker, the Brit Ivrit Olamit (BIO) is taking on a new lease on life.

LAUNCHES ‘FRIENDS OF B.I.O.’

In part the rejuvenation effort is linked to that inescapable aspect of Jewish public life; fund-raising. No longer will it depend for its resources solely on the largess of the Israel Ministry of Education and the World Zionist Organization’s Education and Culture Department.

Shenker, a man with a wealth of experience in public life and Zionist affairs, has launched a “Friends of the BIO” organization with Israeli industrialist Haim Pollack of Polgat Industries as its president.

Shenker says his “basic criticism” of the WZO’s Education and Culture Department is “that it focuses almost entirely on education and hardly at all on culture.” The “Friends of BIO,” he explains, will enable it to broaden and deepen its activities in the fields of Hebrew language and culture throughout the diaspora.

SEVERAL PROJECTS OUTLINED

The ongoing and envisaged projects which Shenker proudly outlines include a prize for “Hebrew creativity in the diaspora” which will serve as a meaningful encouragement to Hebrew-language authors and poets living outside of Israel. It dovetails into the effort to increase the number of contributions by non-American Hebrew writers in the BIO’s prestigious quarterly, Bitzaron, published in New York City.

Another project is the establishment of more BIO clubs around the world, particularly in smaller communities, where Hebrew is the focus of study and communication and adults of all ages can come regularly to deepen their knowledge and interest in Hebrew culture. Shenker notes that 18 such clubs already exist in 18 countries. The most recent additions were in Stockholm and Uppsala in Sweden. He hopes more will open soon. In Jerusalem the BIO is working on new adult educational material for programs in these clubs.

The BIO is also active in supplying Hebrew cultural material to Jewish communities in Soviet bloc countries. In addition–and this is perhaps the most publicized aspect of BIO activities in recent years–its Hebrew Language academic seminar at Warsaw University last year proved a notable success. Just one upshot of that unique gathering of Jewish and Gentile Hebrew scholars was the plan by Prof. Tilech of Warsaw University to bring 10 of his doctoral (Hebrew) students to Israel next summer for courses at Hebrew University.

Another outcome is a Hebrew department opening at the University of Sarajevo in Yugoslavia, at the initiative of Prof. Moshe Werber, a Sarajevo scholar, who attended the Warsaw conference. The conference was one in a series of biennial Hebrew study symposia held by the BIO in conjunction with European university Hebrew faculties. The next is planned at the Sorbonne in Paris.

According to Shenker, “These scientific congresses, bringing together scholars from West and East Europe, have meant among other things a legitimation of the Hebrew Language in many Eastern European countries.” He noted that at the Warsaw meeting the Polish and Czech delegations were solidly gentile.

INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION PLANNED

BIO is now planning to form an international Association of Hebrew language Professors to maintain ties between Hebrew scholars around the would on an ongoing basis.

In the realm of publication, the BIO’s most recent contribution has been a one-volume anthology of Hebrew literature produced in Moslem countries over the past century or so. This work comes as a companion to the earlier and highly regard BIO anthologies of Hebrew writing in the Soviet Union (two volumes) and Hebrew writing in America (three volumes.)