EINSTEIN ALBERT: (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1921

EINSTEIN ALBERT: (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1921

‘A disease is definitely being healed here’

 

 

EINSTEIN ALBERT: (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1921. T.L.S., A. Einstein, one page, 4to, Pasadena, California, to Mark Carter, Chairman of the ORT (Organisation for Rehabilitation through Training) in Los Angeles, on the printed stationery of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. Einstein states that the efforts of the ORT Society for the social recovery of Eastern Jewry 'are of great importance for the entire Jewish people' and continues 'A disease is definitely being healed here, which has brought distress to our people for centuries. I sincerely wish your endeavours success and energetic help from the local people', further remarking 'I myself attended an unforgettable performance of the “Dybuk” by the “Habimah” and I am convinced that the high artistic level of the game of the “Habimah” will also cause enthusiasm here'. A letter of good content. Some very light, extremely minor staining to the edges, caused by the minor remnants of former mounting to the verso, G

 

The Organisation for Rehabilitation through Training (ORT) is a global education network driven by Jewish values. Founded in Saint Petersburg in 1880 to provide professional and vocational training for young Jews it has since developed to promote education and training in communities worldwide and its activities throughout its history have spanned more than 100 countries and five continents.

 

The Habima Theatre has been officially considered the national theatre of Israel since 1958 and is one of the first Hebrew language theatres, originally founded in Russia in 1912. Encountering difficulties under the Soviet government and authorities, the theatre left the Soviet Union in 1926 to tour abroad, including in the United States, where some of the actors chose to stay the following year. Other members of the company took the theatre to Mandate Palestine in 1928 and the company finally settled in Palestine in 1931, the same year as the present letter. In 1945 it built a theatre in Tel Aviv.

 

The Dybbuk (or Between Two Worlds) is a play by Shloyme Ansky, authored between 1913-16 and originally written in Russian and later translated into Yiddish by Ansky himself. A Hebrew version was prepared by Hayim Nahman Bialik and staged in Moscow at Habima Theatre in 1922. The play became a canonical work of both Hebrew and Yiddish theatre, being further translated and performed around the world.