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JEWISH BOOK ANNUAL
working simultaneously on Hebrew grammar with the rabbi. He
continued with both Zionist activities and the study of Hebrew in
Raseiniai in 1916-17, even helping to set up a Hebrew library in a
town nearby, which undoub ted ly inc luded the writings o f
Bialik.15 It was during this period of involvement with Hebrew
and Zionism that Steinhardt drew
Pogrom III
and towards the end
o f it that he sent it off, with the title
To Bialik,
to the Secession
exhibition.
Pogrom III
is not, however, the only evidence of Bialik’s influ
ence on Steinhardt at this time. His depictions o f old Jews — al
ways thin and suffering — studying and praying at night by the
light o f a single candle, or walking at night through the desolate
streets, recall Bialik’s depiction o f the shtetl. For instance,
Steinhardt’s depiction o f
Winter in Lithuania
o f 1916 (fig. 4)
portrays Jews old before their time — even the children on the
right are old — who appear like wraiths against the wooden hov
els of the town, while at the left the candle, the fish and the word
“Shabbat” on the pages o f a book suggest that despite their
misery, they continue to cling to their faith. This and similar pic
tures recall Bialik’s words at the beginning of “The Matmid” (The
Talmud-Student) o f 1894-95:
There are abandoned corners of our Exile,
Remote, forgotten cities of Dispersion,
Where still in secret burns our ancient light,
Where God has saved a remnant in a ruin o f ashes,
Pent and unhappy souls maintain the vigil
—
Spirits grown old beyond the count of time,
Grown old beyond the reckoning o f days.
In the same way, his various versions ofJews passing by a house
where a man is studying at night (e.g. K 25 and 33 and fig. 5),
recall the continuation o f this poem:
And when thou goest forth alone, at nightfall,
Wandering in one o f these, the sacred cities,
When heaven above is quick with breaking stars,
And earth beneath with whispering spirit-winds
—
Thine ear will catch the murmur of a voice,
15 Ibid., pp. 43, 45-46, quoting from the war diary. In his autobiography o f
1936-37, Steinhardt added that he read Bialik, M endele and Sholem
Aleichem at this time (p. 3).