Memories and Scenes: Shtetl, Childhood, Writers

Jacob Dinezon was born in New Zagare, Lithuania, in the early 1850s. His father died when he was twelve, and he was sent to live with an uncle in the Russian town of Mohilev. An excellent student, Dinezon was hired by a wealthy family to tutor their young daughter. While living in their household, he became a trusted member of the family and was soon promoted to bookkeeper and manager of the family business. Through this family, Dinezon was introduced to the owner of a famous Jewish publishing company in Vilna called The Widow and Brothers Romm, which published his first novel, The Dark Young Man, in 1877. The book became a runaway bestseller. Moving to Warsaw in the 1890s, Dinezon quickly became a prominent figure in the city's Jewish literary circle. He befriended almost every major Jewish writer of his day, including Sholem Abramovitsh (Mendele Mocher Sforim; 1835-1917), Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916), and I. L. Peretz (1852-1915). These writers are the classic writers of modern Yiddish literature, and Peretz became Dinezon's closest friend and confidant. Over the next twenty years, Dinezon published several works of fiction, including A Stumbling Block in the Road, Hershele: A Jewish Love Story, Yosele: A Story from Jewish Life, Falik and His House, and The Crisis: A Story of the Lives of Merchants. He wrote sentimental novels about urban life in the Russian Empire and focused on the emotional conflicts affecting Jewish life as modern ideas challenged long-established religious practices and traditions. The plight of his characters often brought tears to the eyes of his devoted readers and remained in their memories long after they finished his stories. During the First World War, Jacob Dinezon helped found an orphanage and schools to care for Jewish children made homeless by the fighting between Russia and Germany. He died in 1919 and is buried in Warsaw's Jewish cemetery beside I. L. Peretz.

Scott Hilton Davis is a lifelong storyteller, filmmaker, author, and collector of Jewish short stories written in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Scott began his acting career as a child performing in Jewish skits and plays in Los Angeles, California, and now offers his stories and talks to synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, cultural clubs, and religious school audiences across the country. Scott is the author of a collection of eight original short stories entitled "Chanukah Tales from Oykvetchnik" and "Souls Are Flying! A Celebration of Jewish Stories." Convinced of the historical, cultural, and ethical significance of stories by Sholem Aleichem, I. L. Peretz, Sholem Abramovitsh, and Jacob Dinezon, Scott began using storytelling to bring the works of these beloved Jewish writers to new audiences. As part of this effort, he published the first English translation of Jacob Dinezon's autobiographical short stories, "Memories and Scenes: Shtetl, Childhood, Writers," and established a website to honor the life and career of this important Yiddish writer. Scott is also an Emmy Award-winning producer of documentaries and dramas for public television. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina.