Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 20.djvu/858

* YIDDISH. 726 YOGA. larizing the sciences and bringing some of tlie greatest works in foreign literatures witliin the reach of the Yiddish public. In belles-lettres they have shown but little originality, their woik being plainly influenced by the popular French and Russian realists. Prominent in the ranks of Yiddish journalism is Abraham Cahan, who has also written successfully in Bnglish (The Imported Bridegroom, 1898; Yekl, 1899). J. Rombro, better known by his nom-de-plume of Philip ]^rantz, has gained reputation as an editor and writer on topics of general history. Z. Libin has shown in his sketches of Ghetto life a finished art approaching that of the French masters. Jlorris Winchevsky is in style probably the most original and effective of the group of Yiddish journalists. J. Goido, Leon Kobrin, and B. Feigenbaum may also be mentioned. Of writers not identified particularly with the lib- eral movement, the best known are Alexander Harkavy, Abraham Tannenbaum, Selikowitsch, Seiil'ert" and A. M. Sharkansky. The last has produced much acceptable verse, in imitation largely of foreign models, but revealing a good sense "of form. Eliokim Zunser, originally one of the class of badchens who, in their capacity as rhapsodists, moralists, and clowns, constitute a picturesque feature of orthodox Jewish wed- dings, has gained wide note as the writer of songs whose fervent national spirit is made to atone for their utter lack of poetic art. Indis- putably first, however, among writers of verse is Morris Rosenfeld. who has become known to the non-Yiddish public through translations of his poems into English {Songs from the Ghetto, Boston, 1898), and into German {Lieder aus dcm Ghetto, Berlin, 1899). Rosenfeld was born in Russia in 18G2, and came to the United States by way of England. Here he worked for a num- ber of years as an operator in a clothing shop. From the sweatshop and the tenement he has drawn most of his themes, and the pervading tone in his verse is one of deep melancholy. His poems dealing with Jewish life specifically bear the same cast of despondency, often verging on despair. Y'et at times he has shown himself capable of turning his fine lyric powers to the singing of the joys of life — nature, love, children. His language approaches closely to the German, and, transliterated, offers no very great difficulties to one familiar with that language. His com- plete works in Y'iddish were published in 190.'?. The Yiddish drama also received its fullest development in America. In the beginning of the eighteenth century two Yiddish plays. The Hale of Joseph and the Ahusuerus Play, ajjpeared in print. Tliese were performed in private Jew- ish homes, especially on the festival of Purim. In 1878 Goldfaden," the father of the .Jewish theatre, who had first performed in Rumania with an itinerant company of actors, established tlie first Jewish theatre in Odessa. This met with great success and soon found imitators in other large towns of Russia. But the Govern- ment closed these theatres in 1883 and the actors had to seek their audiences across the Atlantic, where in the same year Tomaschewski and Gohi- bok started n Jewish theatre in New York. Now there are four such theatres in New Y^ork, and the companies frequently make tours of the other large towns. The Yiddish drama, however, up to 1800 wn- "f 1 >irv low order from the artistic point of view. Writers like Hurvvitz, Lateiner,. and others supplied the public with concoc- tions of melodrama, comic opera, and fabu- lous Jewish history, which were received with great favor. A great advance in artistic stand- ards began with the work of Jacob Gordin (q.v.), who has dealt skillfully and in a thoroughly realistic manner with niunerous phases of Jewish life in Russia and America. Creditable work has been done by younger writers, of whom Z. Libin has been mentioned above. BiELiOGK.4Piiy. Griinbaum, "Die Jiidisch- deutsche Litteratur," in Winter and Wunsche, Jiidische Litteratur, vol. iii. (Treves, 1896) ; id., JUdisch-deuisehe Chrestomathie (Leipzig, 1882) ; Karpeles, flesehichte der jiidischen Litteratur,. vol. ii. (Berlin, 1886) ; Wiener, The History of Yiddish Literature in the Nineteenth Century (New Y'ork, 1899) ; Harkavy, Dictionary of the Yiddish Language (ib., 1898) ; Gerzon, Die jii- disch-deutsche Sprache (Frankfort, 1902). YING-TSE, ying'tse'. A treaty port of Slanchuria. See Niu-CHWANG. YIN- YANG, yen'yang' (Chin, yin, shade,, darkness -- yang] light). The two primordial forces, essences, or principles developed from the self-existing T'ai-yi or 'Great Monad,' by the action and interaction of which, according to Chinese cosmogonie theories, the universe has been produced and cosmic harmony is maintained. The terms yang and yin primarily mean 'light and darkness,' but they are also taken to rep- resent 'heaven and earth.' 'male and female,' 'positive and negative,' 'odd and even.' etc., and the whole conception — doubtfully associated with the name of Confucius, but elaborated by Chu- Hi (q.v.) and his school in the twelfth century — bears a striking resemblance to the Pythagorean theory of number as the principle of order, and of the ten 'fundamental opposites' of that system. ( See Pythagore.xisii. ) In Japanese these two principles are known as In-yo. YO-CHOW, yo'chou'. A walled city in the Province of Ilu-nan, China, having the rank of fu, and capital of a department of the same name. It is situated near the point where the Tung-ting Lake connects with the river Y^ang-tse. Its inhabitants have long been noted for their turbulence, and their hostility to foreigners. It is now thrown open to foreign trade, the small foreign population making their settlements be- tween the city and the river. The trade is princi- pally transit. YOGA, yo'gii (Skt., conjunction, concentra- tion, religious or abstract contemplation). The name of one of the orthodox systems of phi- losophy of the Hindus. While the liasis of this system", the Sankhya (q.v.). is cluelly concerned in teaching the tattras. or princi])Ies of creation, and the successive development of the latter, the main object of the Yoga is to establish the doctrine of a Sujireme Being, and to teach the means by which the human soul may become permanently united with it. This Lord, or Supreme Hcing, is defined by Patanjali (q.v.), the reputed founder of the system, as "a par- ticubir I'uruxa. or spirit, who is untouched by afTections, works, the result of works, or deserts: in wliom the germ of omniscience reaches its ex- treme limit: who is the preceplor of even the first, because lie is not limited by time; and