Book Launch: Der Nister’s The Primordium
Der Nister (the Hidden One) is the penname of Pinkhas Kahanovitch – one of the most important Yiddish writers of the early twentieth century. Der Nister’s Der Kadmen (1910) is a meditation on the dialectics of being & nothingness, & one of the boldest experiments in writing Jewish myth in modernity. A kabbalistically-suffused myth about creation by a master of Yiddish modernism, the book takes readers deep into the mind of G-d preceding creation & His precarious and tortured quest for self-consciousness & expression – in the face of cosmic silence and nothingness. In collaboration with Monash University’s Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation (ACJC), this launch will include the exhibition of paintings from the book, presentations by Nathan & Tunni, & performance by Yiddish band The Bashevis Singers. Signed books & limited-edition prints will be available for purchase.
To dive deeper into the Kabbalistic foundation of this text, join Dr Nathan Wolski on Thursday 26 September 7.30pm at Beit Midrash Oz for an evening of mystical exploration.
About the Authors
Der Nister (Pinkhas Kahanovitch) is one of the most important Yiddish writers of the early twentieth century. Der Nister’s literary output was vast, including children’s literature, poetry, translations of classics, & short stories, & his enigmatic mystical-symbolist tales are widely considered among the greatest of Yiddish novels. Born in Barditshev, though he lived in Kyiv, Berlin & Moscow, among other places, Der Nister died in a Soviet gulag in 1950.
Dr Nathan Wolski is the Liberman Family Lecturer in Jewish Studies with the Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation, Monash University, Australia. He is the author of A Journey into the Zohar: An Introduction to the Book of Radiance (SUNY, 2010), the translator of The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 10 (Stanford, 2016), & with Joel Hecker, The Zohar: Pritzker Edition, Volume 12 (Stanford, 2017), and more recently, Kabbalistic Yiddish: Aaron Zeitlin’s Mystical-Messianic Poetics (Cherub, 2020). See: https://research.monash.edu/en/persons/nathan-wolski
Tunni Kraus is a Melbourne-based multidisciplinary artist. Since completing his Masters in Public Art at RMIT in 2010, Kraus has continued his studies in the form of apprenticeships and training with master scribes of varied traditions in Australia, Asia & the Middle East, most recently focusing on the sacred, scribal practices associated with Hebrew. He has exhibited extensively in Australia and abroad, including MONA FOMA – Tasmania (2013), McClelland Sculpture Gallery – Victoria (2014), Oi! – Hong Kong (2017) and Musrara Mix – Jerusalem (2020).
Image: Projections, Tunni Kraus, oil on board, 40cm x 40cm, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.