SCHUR, ZEV WOLF

SCHUR, ZEV WOLF (William; 1884–1910), pioneer Hebrew writer and journalist in the United States. Born in Lithuania, he settled in the United States in 1888 and spent most of his life in poverty. A friend of abraham mapu , Schur devoted himself to Hebrew literature, traveled and taught in many countries, including the Far East, and wrote about his voyages in the periodicals Ha-Meliẓ, Ha-Yom, and Ha-Shaḥar. His travelogues were collected in two books: Maḥazot ha-Ḥayyim (1884) and Masot Shelomo (1886/7). He was an ardent pioneer of the Hebrew press in America and, later, of political Zionism, participating in the Fourth Zionist Congress. Under his editorship the periodical Ha-Pisgah (1889–99), in which tchernichowsky made his literary debut, attracted the best Hebrew writers in America and some Hebrew writers from abroad. After it ceased publication, it was continued as Ha-Teḥiyyah (1899–1900). Schur wrote several novels in Hebrew. His most important book is Neẓaḥ Yisrael (1897), a defense of Judaism against Christian attacks, against Reform Judaism, against socialism and anarchism. It affirms the twin axiom: the eternal existence of Jewry and the eternality of the Torah. Supporting nationalism, it was the first Hebrew work in America to react favorably to political Zionism. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: AJYB (1904–05), 183; J. Kabakoff, Ḥalutzei ha-Sifrut ha-Ivrit ba-Amerikah (1966), 131–210; Waxman, Literature, 4 (19602), 1266, 1299. (Eisig Silberschlag)