Mordechai Tzvi Maneh

Mordechai Tzvi Maneh
Born	(1859-05-05)May 5, 1859 Radoshkevich, Russian Empire
Died	October 15, 1886(1886-10-15) (aged 27) Radoshkevich, Russian Empire
Pen name	Ha-Metzayer
Language	Hebrew
Notable works	Mas’at nafshi (1886)

Mordechai Tzvi Maneh (Hebrew: מֹרְדְּכַי צְבִי מאַנֶע, romanized: Mordek̲ay Z̲evi Manēh; 5 May 1859 – 15 October 1886),^[1] also known by the pen name Ha-Metzayer (Hebrew: הַמְצַיֵּ״ר, lit. 'The Painter'; also an acronym of הַבָּחוּר מֹרְדְּכַי צְבִי יָלִיד ראדוֹשְׁקבִיץ׳, lit. 'The young man Mordechai Tzvi, native of Radoshkevich'), was a Russian Hebrew lyric poet, translator, and artist.

Life and work

Mordechai Tzvi Maneh was born to a poor Jewish family in Radashkovichy, Vilna Governorate. His father, Moshe Maneh, was a melamed and tombstone engraver. As a child, he received a traditional cheder education, and was sent at the age of thirteen to study at a yeshiva in Minsk.^[2] Maneh's parents encouraged his early artistic talent and, in 1876, he enrolled in the Vilna Art School.^[3] While there, he began to write nature poetry and mastered the Russian and German languages.

In 1880 Maneh received an offer of admission to the prestigious Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. He remained there from 1881 to 1884, his studies subsidized by philanthropist A. Kaufman on the recommendation of Aleksander Zederbaum.^[4] During his time at the academy, Maneh published poetry and articles on the visual arts in the Hebrew publications Ha-Melitz and Ha-Tzfira, under the pseudonym Ha-Metzayer.

Maneh left for Warsaw in 1884, where he contributed to Ha-Asif and Knesset Israel [he].^[4] He soon, however, contracted a severe form of tuberculosis and was forced to return to his hometown, spending there the last two years of his life. Shortly before his death in 1886, Maneh composed his best-known poem, "Mas’at nafshi" (Hebrew: מַשְׂאַת נַפְשִׁי, lit. 'My Soul's Desire'), wherein he expressed his longing for the Land of Israel.^[3][4]

Death and legacy

Title page of Kol kitve Mordechai Tzvi Maneh

Kol kitve Mordechai Tzvi Maneh, an anthology of Maneh's work, was published posthumously in 1897 under the editorship of A. L. Schoenhaus.^[5] A ritual of frequent memorial ceremonies at Maneh's grave developed in his hometown, that continued to be observed for a number of decades after his death.^[3]

"Mas’at nafshi" was set to music by composer Chanan Winternitz [he], a version of which served as the musical opening to the 1970s Israeli television program Sharti Lach Artzi [he] The poem was translated into English as "My Longing" by H. H. Fein in 1934.^[6]

Streets in Tel Aviv, Haifa, Ramat Gan, and the Talbiya neighbourhood of Jerusalem bear his name.

External links

• Works of Mordechai Tzvi Mane (in Hebrew)

References

1. Galron-Goldschläger, Joseph, ed. (2019). "Mordecai Ẓevi Manne". Lexicon of New Hebrew Literature (in Hebrew). Ohio State University. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
2. Fein, Harry H. (1934). A Harvest of Hebrew Verse: Poems of the Cultural Renaissance and National Revival. Boston: Bruce Humphries. pp. 88–93. OCLC 239208995.
3. Holtzman, Avner (2008). "Mane, Mordekhai Tsevi". In Hundert, Gershon (ed.). YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Translated by Fachler, David. New Haven: Yale University Press.
4. Yehuda, Slutsky (2007). "Manne, Mordecai Ẓevi". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. Vol. 14 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-866097-4.
5. Molisak, Alina; Ronen, Shoshana (2017). The Trilingual Literature of Polish Jews from Different Perspectives: In Memory of I. L. Peretz. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-1-5275-0267-3.
6. Goell, Yohai (1968). Bibliography of Modern Hebrew Literature in English Translation. Jerusalem: Israel Universities Press. p. 34. ISBN 978-1-4128-1814-8.
7. "Мане, Мордехай Цви" [Maneh, Mordechai Tzvi]. Shorter Jewish Encyclopedia (in Russian). Vol. 5. 1990. pp. 81–82.