The Versatile Poet of Karaim Literature: Zachariasz Izaak Abrahamowicz

Abstract

Zachariasz Abrahamowicz, is a poet who came to the fore with his secular poems at the beginning of the twentieth century, the golden age of Karaim literature. In the article, his life and some of his poems are introduced and evaluated. The first period of Karaim works developed around religious themes, developed in different themes and structures from the beginning of the twentieth century to the 1940s. On the personal basis, the poems of “Zachariasz Abrahamowicz” in the aforementioned period left permanent traces in Karaim literature. Born in 1878, Abrahamowicz led a difficult and poor life and died at the age of twenty-five. Although the poet, who wrote his poems in Karaim, Polish, Ukrainian and Russian, is known as secular, the requirements of Karaim belief and love of god are felt in his poems. Abrahamowicz, who draws attention with his lyrical and didactic poems, reflected the traces of different identities in his soul and his loyalty to his roots, the importance he gave to the mother tongue, and the principles of life according to tradition and custom.

Combining the historical infrastructure provided by the Polish and Ukrainian lands and his devotion to his national roots, Abrahamowicz blended the elements of his religious identity with his traditional infrastructure and processed them in his works.

In this article, Abrahamowicz’s poems as “Hanuz Karaylar Eksilmed, Karay Edim Karay Barmen, Ullu Titinbe, Alğemi Tenrinin, Tsivre Tsivre, Tenrim Senin Ulanların, Tenrim Ki Biznin Atalarımıznı, Ulusum Yisrael, Taḫanun Ullu Kinge, Tuvğan Ana, Ey Neşer Neşer, Ne Fayda, Tigendi Yaz” were analyzed under three thematic titles.