Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
24
Life:Lwów-Berlin-Kraków
immensesensitivity,andinfactThonfeltthatitbecamehisownhome,
fromanearlyage.43“Inthishousethethreeofuswereraised:Mordechai
Braudeinhisownhome,andMordechaiEhrenpreisandmeashisfriends.
Soweweretogethersincetheageofsixtilladulthood.Inthishousewe
werestudyingandpreparedourselves,withdiscussionsanddisputes,forour
complicatedrolesinlife,whichawaitedeachofus.”44Ehrenpreisremembered
anotherplacewheretheyusedtomeetandhavelongwalks:theJesuitpark
inLwów.There,duringthe1880s,thethreeclosefriendswentarminarm
immersedindeepandvividconversations.Maturebeforetheirtime,they
weremoreseriousthantheirpeers.Therelationsbetweenthemwerenever
severeduntilThon’sdeath.Healsonotedthatsincetheirearlyyearsthethree
ofthemhadastrongsenseofmission:toreleasetheirpeople,theJewish
people,fromexternalandinternalslavery.45Duringtheirdailywalkstheyhad
stormydiscussions.Brauderememberedthelonghoursoftheirdiscussions
regardingJudaism,andthefateoftheJewishpeople.Thethreesomewere
deeplyindebtedtoJudaism,butalsowereinfluencedbymodernideas,
science,Haskalah,andnationhood.Braudementionedthedifferencebetween
them:hewantedtofindthegoldenmiddlebetweentraditionalJudaismand
scienceandforEhrenpreisthistensionbetweentraditionandmodernism
wasmaterialforliterature,butforThonthecontradictionbetweenthesetwo
worldswasasourceofspiritualpain.TheysharedthewilltoformaJewish
worldviewthatwouldbethefoundationfortheirnationalconsciousness,
however,asBraudewrote,whilehewasconservativebothhisfriendstend
tomuchmoreradicalandrevolutionaryopinions.Nevertheless,allthethree
wantedtobeactiveandstrugglefortheirideas.46
AllthreewereeagertoobtainknowledgebesidesJudaicstudies,which
wouldenablethemtostudyataGermanuniversity,andthenecessarystep
wastopassthefinalexaminationsofGermangymnasium.Braude,asason
ofawealthyfamily,hadnumerousprivateteachersandthenecessarybooks,
howeverbothThonandEhrenpreishadtostudybythemselves.Fortunately,
43AsopposedtoBraudewhowrotethattheymetattheageoften,Thonwritesthat
theywerefriendsfromtheageofsix.ThonandEhrenpreiswerefriendsfromsuchan
earlyageprobablybecausetheywererelatives,sharedthesamegreatgrandmother(Thon,
“Demuyotmi-Lvov,”349),andaftersomanyyearsoffriendshipThonaddedBraudeto
thethreesomegroupfromtheageofsix.
44Thon,“Demuyotmi-Lvov,”365.
45Ehrenpreis,Beynmizrah,15.
46Braude,“Zikhronotavshel,”77-78,81-84.