x
Journalism was a new phenomenon in the 19th century Romania. The first Romanian journals, among them Curierul Român in Bucharest and Albina Românească in Iaşi, were first published in 1829. The first Jewish journals in Romania were published during the second half of the19th century, and they mirror the Jewish minority's difficult evolution by the side of the Romanian majority in its progress towards state independence. The first stages in this process follows the Haskalah's principles of integration, while the second reflects the emergence of Journals influenced by the Wissenschaft des Judentums (Jewish Studies) cultural movement.
Scholars and Intellectuals, mainly from Galicia or Bessarabia, who had been educated in European universities or rabbinic seminaries, helped to modernize Jewish culture in Romania, and were the first to initiate and develop a press in Hebrew, Yiddish and Romanian in Bucharest and Iaşi in the1850s.
The first Yiddish newspaper published in Romania, and one of the first Yiddish newspapers in the world, was Korot Hayitim, Koyroys hoitim (Happenings of the Times). It was founded in Iaşi in 1855, edited by Loewenstein, and issued until 1871?. Another publication with a long life, and a Hebrew titlewas Hayoets, edited by Yekhiel-Mikhl Aziel and issued in Bucharest from 1874 to 1896. Licht (The Light), the first Yiddish literary review, was short-lived and published in Iaşi from 1914 to 1915.
Iuliu Barasch was one of the founders of Israelitul Român (The Romanian Israelite), the first Jewish bilingual newspaper published in Romanian and French in 1858, but only the brothers Elias and Moses Schwarzfeld succeeded in maintaining Jewish journals. They were journalists and historians who conducted research on the history of Romanian Jews, and edited several Jewish history reviews including, Fraternitatea (The Brotherhood, 1874–1896), Presentul (The Present), Anuar pentru Israeliți (Yearbook for Israelites,1877–1899),and Analele Societății Istorice Iuliu Barasch (Annals of the Iuliu Barasch Historical Society,1887–1889). However, the most important journal founded by Moses Schwarzfeld, and the longest lasting Jewish journal was Egalitatea (Equality), published for 51 years from 1889 to 1941.
In the pre-1919 period, the Union of Native Jews advocated integration of Jews in Romania. Accordingly, this association produced a weekly organ called Curierul Israelit (The Israelite Courier) in Bucharest from 1906 to 1948, with an interruption from 1941 to 1944. One of the contributors was the leader of the Jewish community, Wilhelm Filderman. Other examples include Revista israelită (The Israelite Review, 1886–1897,1908–1910) and Lumea israelită (The Israelite World,1902–1903,1905).
After 1900, the Zionists’ rolein community leadership became more significant. Hashmonea, the first Zionist journal was founded in 1914 by the Zionist students’ organization under the same name, and issued until 1939. It published translations from the Jewish literature and articles dealing with actuality issues such as the community organization, and antisemitism. Another particularly active group formed around the Hatikva journal founded in Galați in 1914 by Rabbi Iacob Nacht, Leon Gold, and Lascăr Şaraga and issued until 1919.
The most important newspaper representing the Jewish national orientations was Mântuirea (The Redemption), founded by A. L. Zissu in 1919 in Bucharest, and issued in two series: 1919-1922 and 1944-1948. Mântuirea was the continuation of Hatikva, promoted a radical agenda for a spiritual return to Judaism and Jewish nationalism. Mântuirea aimed to present varied opinions, while shaping Jewish national consciousness and opposing assimilation, and was regarded as the most influential Romanian Jewish newspaper in the interwar period.
The battle of ideas in Jewish politics and intellectual life between “assimilationists” and Zionists continued in the interwar period. Those two poles grouped and regrouped the Jewish intellectuals in debates on the situation of the Jewish intellectual, on defining Jewish identity, and on confronting antisemitism. In these disputes, published in the Jewish periodicals, especially in Curierul Israelit, edited by M. Schweig, which represented the orientation of the UER (Union of Romanian Jews) and the Adam review issued by Zissu's disciple Isaac Ludo. Active roles were played by Horia Carp, Gabriel Schaeffer, and the writer and journalist Felix Aderca.
The Zionist movement and its various parties promoted a number of periodicals in the central cities of the interwar greater Romania. The most important example was the Bucharest weekly, Renaşterea Noastra (Our rebirth) founded in 1924 by S. I. Stern. The journal's publication was stopped in 1942 by the Antonescu government, and was issued again from 1944 to 1948. From 1948 to 1954 it was published in Israel and edited by Stern Kochavi. In addition to those important Journals, there were also several journals of the Zionist parties, the best of which was Drumuri Noua that was published in Galați between 1926 and 1930 and edited by Leon Gold (Yehuda Ariel) who was the editor of the journal Hatikva. In Iaşi,Tribuna Evreiasca, another Zionist weekly was published between 1932 and 1940.
Besides, there were several literary journals, the most important among them Lumea Evree (The Jewish World,1919-1920) in which literary studies and translations from Hebrew and Yiddish literature were published, and Hashmonea, the above mentioned Zionist journal, set up in 1914 and issued until 1939. Hashmonea initiated also the founding of a children’s magazine Copilul evreu (The Jewish Child) issued from 1922 to 1939.
In 1929 Isaac Ludo issued the Adam review that gave particular attention to literary matters and political issues relevant to Romanian Jews. Regardless of the literary movements or political trends that they embraced, most Jewish writers and journalists living in Romania contributed to Adam. Besides, the review published articles by prestigious names from general Romanian society, such as the writers Tudor Arghezi and Camil Petrescu, the journalist N. D. Cocea and the literary critic Eugen Lovinescu. From 1933, its editors dedicated a significant share of each issue to articles on the rise of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany and to similar developments in Romania. Between 1937 and 1940 Horia Carp issued the journal Cultura, that was the official journal of the "The cultural Institute by the Coral Temple" in Bucharest.
Under the Communist regime, to the extent allowed by the government, Jewish religious institutions were able to pursue their activity. The Jewish press of the 1950s came under the ideological control of the regime, mainly through the Unirea (The Union) newspaper, which was used as a tool for anti-Zionist campaigns. The Jewish religious community published a trilingual journal in Romanian, Yiddish and Hebrew, Revista cultului mozaic din R.P.R.(Periodical of the Mosaic Religion in the Romanian People's Republic) issued from1956 to 1994. Its editor, the chief rabbi Moses Rosen, noted that the journal was the only Hebrew language publication in the socialist world. After the fall of communism in Romania, due to serious economic and social problems, the country's only Jewish periodical also disappeared, being replaced by other publications.
Pinkas Hakehillot, Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Romania, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem, 1969, Volume 1 , 138-139
Shas-Roman, “Di yidishe prese in Rumenye fun 1854 biz 1926,” in Filologishe shriftn, ed. Max Weinreich and Z. Rejzen, vol. 3 ,Vilna, 1929 , cols. 525–536
