Building Modern Jewish Culture

In the midst of the violent conflicts of 1918 ambitious plans for new cultural formations emerged on the territory of the former Russian Empire. The most important Jewish community organization was the Kultur-Lige. Founded to 'organize the Jewish masses and develop Yiddish culture', the association's first meeting took place at the Kyiv apartment of the Yiddish writer David Bergelson. 'Leagues for Yiddish culture' were simultaneously founded in such places as Vilna (Vilnius), Warsaw, Moscow, Berlin, and New York. Scores of Yiddish books came out under the imprints of the Kultur-Lige publishing houses in Kyiv and Warsaw. However, it is less well known that he activity of the Kultur-Lige covered not only literature, journalism, and linguistics, but also the visual arts, music, theatre, and education. The goal of the Kultur-Lige was nothing less than the development and stewardship of Jewish secular national culture in its entirety.