A rare illustrated Yiddish textbook by Raphael Gutman

A lovely illustrated Yiddish chrestomathy, intended for second grade. Printed on cheap and brittle paper, this is a rare survival.

Raphael Gutman (1883-1943/44) was a well-regarded Jewish-Polish pedagogue from Sokoly. He studied philosophy and led a school for the Jewish community in Warsaw. Gutman wrote many successful Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian and Polish textbooks, some of which were reprinted several times, in both Poland and the United States.

Following the Nazi invasion of Poland, Gutman fled Warsaw with his family to Białystok, which was then occupied by the Soviet Union. About two years later, however, the Nazis also occupied Białystok and established the infamous Białystok Ghetto. Gutman was appointed secretary of the Judenrat in the ghetto. He probably died in the winter of 1943 or 1944. According to Yiddish Leksikon he committed suicide, but according to Sokoly: B'maavak l'hayim he was murdered by the Nazis.