Isaac Loeb Peretz

Isaac Loeb Peretz , 1852-1915, Jewish poet, novelist, playwright, and lawyer, b. Zamosc, Poland. A voice of the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment, Peretz was often accused of radicalism and once imprisoned for his socialist activities. In his first writings he described the material poverty and spiritual riches of European Jews. His early work was written in Hebrew and most of his later work in Yiddish. All of his writings are imbued with a warm understanding of Jewish life. His finest work is contained in his highly imaginative and sympathetic Hasidic sketches, such as Stories and Pictures (1900-1901, tr. 1906). Selections from his works were published (1947) in Yiddish and English.

Peretz, Isaac Leib (1852–1915), Jewish writer and lawyer. Born in Poland, he wrote first in Hebrew but later changed to Yiddish. Some of his short stories dealing with life in Hassidic villages were dramatized and produced by Ohel on its first public appearance in Tel Aviv in 1926. His dramatic poem Night in the Old Market was dramatized and produced in 1925 at the Moscow State Jewish Theatre.