Showing results by narrator "Adam Cherson" in All Categories

Originally published in German in 1862 and then translated in 1912 by philosopher and rabbi Meyer Waxman, PhD, this work is considered to be one of the first, if not the first modern proposal for a Jewish homeland in Judea. Written in the form of 12 informal letters to a bereaved lady, the book summarizes arguments pro and against the proposal using quotes and anecdotes involving prominent European social leaders of the time, accompanied by brilliant insights into human nature.

Daybreak tells the story of Sonia, a chemistry student from the Pale studying in Bern, on the night following Bloody Sunday (a labor demonstration which turned into a massacre in St. Petersburg, January 2, 1905). Speaking vernacular Yiddish, she and her fellow students seek to obtain news of the day's events in St. Petersburg while deciding what to do next with their young lives. Sonia retires to sleep and is visited in her dreams by echoes and figures from her past life, with whom she dialogues. At daybreak, Sonia makes a momentous decision.