Editing L. L. Zamenhof (section)

===Work on Yiddish language and Jewish issues===
[[File:1910-Universo-p322-llzdet.jpg|thumb|left|190px|Zamenhof at his desk in his [[Warsaw]] apartment, 1910]]
In 1879, Zamenhof wrote the first grammar of [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]]. It was partly published years later in the Yiddish magazine {{lang|yi-Latn|Lebn un visnshaft}}.<ref>[[Vilnius]], 1909; see Esperanto translation as {{lang|eo|Pri jida gramatiko kaj reformo en la jida}} (On Yiddish grammar and reform in Yiddish) in {{lang|eo|Hebreo el la geto: De cionismo al hilelismo}} (A Hebrew from the ghetto: From Zionism to Hillelism), {{lang|eo|Eldonejo Ludovikito}}, vol. 5, 1976</ref> The complete original Russian text of this manuscript was only published in 1982, with parallel Esperanto translation by [[Adolf Holzhaus]], in {{lang|eo|L. Zamenhof, provo de gramatiko de novjuda lingvo}} (An attempt at a grammar of neo-Jewish language), Helsinki, pp.&nbsp;9–36. In this work, not only does he provide a review of Yiddish grammar, but also proposes its transition to the Latin script and other orthographic innovations. In the same period, Zamenhof wrote some other works in Yiddish, including perhaps the first survey of Yiddish poetics (see p.&nbsp;50 in the above-cited book).

A wave of [[pogrom]]s within the [[Russian Empire]] in 1882, including [[Congress Poland]], motivated Zamenhof to take part in the [[Hovevei Zion|Hibbat Zion]], and to found a [[Zionism|Zionist]] student society in Warsaw.<ref name="maimon">{{cite journal |author=N. Z. Maimon |journal=Nica Literatura Revuo |issue=3/5 |date=May–June 1958 |title=La cionista periodo en la vivo de Zamenhof |pages=165–177 |url=http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Literaturo/Revuoj/nlr/nlr35/cionistau.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080719082100/http://donh.best.vwh.net/Esperanto/Literaturo/Revuoj/nlr/nlr35/cionistau.html |archive-date=19 July 2008 }}</ref> He left the movement following the publication of [[Unua Libro]] in 1887, and in 1901 published a statement in Russian with the title ''Hillelism'', in which he argued that the Zionist project would fail due to Jews not having a common language.<ref name="maimon"/>

In 1914, he declined an invitation to join a new organization of Jewish Esperantists, the TEHA. In his letter to the organizers, he said, "I am profoundly convinced that every nationalism offers humanity only the greatest unhappiness&nbsp;... It is true that the nationalism of oppressed peoples – as a natural self-defensive reaction – is much more excusable than the nationalism of peoples who oppress; but, if the nationalism of the strong is ignoble, the nationalism of the weak is imprudent; both give birth to and support each other".<ref name="maimon"/> The [[Hebrew Bible]] is among the many works that Zamenhof translated into Esperanto.

Zamenhof died in Warsaw on 14 April 1917,{{efn|name=fn1}} possibly of a heart attack,<ref>[http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections/esperanto/Planned_languages_Ludwig_Lazar_Zamenhof.htm "Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof – Founder of Esperanto"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924060531/http://www.onb.ac.at/ev/collections/esperanto/Planned_languages_Ludwig_Lazar_Zamenhof.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}, Department of Planned Languages.</ref> and was buried at the [[Okopowa Street Jewish Cemetery]]. The farewell speech was delivered by the chief rabbi and preacher of the [[Great Synagogue, Warsaw|Great Synagogue in Warsaw]], [[Samuel Abraham Poznański]], who said: "There will be a time where the Polish soil and nation will understand what fame gave this great son of God to his homeland."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.szukamypolski.pl/rzeznia.php?id=22 |title=Mapa Polski, mapa Wrocławia, turystyka, wypoczynek - SzukamyPolski.pl |website=www.szukamypolski.pl |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630123854/http://www.szukamypolski.pl/rzeznia.php?id=22 |archive-date=30 June 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Ludwik Zamenhof speaking.ogg|thumb|right|Zamenhof speaking at the [[World Esperanto Congress]] in Barcelona (Spain) in 1909]]