‘We are lacking “a man dieth in a tent”': Der nister’s search for redemption in the summer of 1947

On 9 June 1947, the Jewish migrant train from Vinnitsa to Birobidzhan stopped in Moscow. On the platform to greet the ‘Birobidzhanians’ stood the entire presidium of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee headed by Solomon Mikhoels, along with other Soviet Yiddish culture activists. The train was delayed for an entire day in Moscow, with Der Nister inside, making the acquaintance of his fellow travellers. It was there that he made friends with a representative of Birobidzhan named Abram Hershkov, who was in charge of transferring the Jewish orphanage from Vinnitsa to Birobidzhan. This trip does not easily fit into Der Nister’s way of life. Ever since he returned from Germany in 1925, he was careful to keep a distance from Soviet social life, including not participating in activities of the Yiddish publication editorial boards, whose tone in the 1930s and 1940s was set by his colleagues Peretz Markish, David Hofsbteyn, Itsik Fefer, Izi Kharik, David Bergelson, and others.