Russian Roots of Hebrew Literature: Rina Lapidus. Birch in a Desert Wind: Russian Influences on Hebrew Literature, Vols. 1-2, publisher: Carmel Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel, 2009–2023

Beginning at the end of the 18 th century, thousands of jews began settling in the Russian Empire, and even before that, several jewish communities lived within its territories which were annexed from Belarus, Ukraine and Poland.These Russian jewish communities were more conservative than their counterparts in Central Europe, well-versed in the jewish literature, but also familiar to some extent with the surrounding Russian culture.Russian literature of the 18 th century, and onward, was among the richest and prominent in the world.jews living in the Russian territories were enthusiastic about it, translated it to Hebrew and Yiddish, and were influenced by it.as a result, Hebrew and Yiddish literature, written in Russia, bore the stamp of Russian literature.In other words, thus was born Hebrew and Yiddish literature, which discussed jewish topics, but the content of which was shaped using narrative techniques found in Russian literature.It is this topic that Professor Rina lapidus of Bar Ilan University in Israel addresses in her work.The research on the influences between the different literatures and cultures constitutes an important pillar in humanities research.In over two hundred years of studying inter-literary influence, many studies have been written in this field.