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THE HASKALAH MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA

BY

JACOB S. RAISIN, PH.D., D.D.

Author of "Sect, Creed and Custom in Judaism," etc.

PHILADELPHIA

THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA

1913

TO AARON S. RAISIN

Your name, dear father, will not be found in the followingpages, for, like "the waters of the Siloam that run softly," youever preferred to pursue your useful course in unassuming silence.Yet, as it is your life, devoted entirely to meditating, learning,and teaching, that inspired me in my effort, I dedicate this bookto you; and I am happy to know that I thus not only dedicate it toone of the noblest of Maskilim, but at the same time offer you someslight token of the esteem and affection felt for you by

Your Son,

JACOB S. RAISIN

CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER I. THE PRE-HASKALAH PERIOD

CHAPTER II. THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION

CHAPTER III. THE DAWN OF HASKALAH

CHAPTER IV. CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS

CHAPTER V. RUSSIFICATION, REFORMATION, ANDASSIMILATION

CHAPTER VI. THE AWAKENING

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

TOBIAS COHN (1652-1759)

ISAAC BÄR LEVINSOHN(1788-1860)

MAX LILIENTHAL (1815-1882)

ALEXANDER ZEDERBAUM(1816-1893)

PEREZ BEN MOSHEH SMOLENSKIN(1842-1885)

MOSES LÖB LILIENBLUM(1843-1910)

PREFACE

To the lover of mankind the history of the Russo-Jewishrenaissance is an encouraging and inspiring phenomenon. Seldom hasa people made such rapid strides forward as the Russian Jews. Fromthe melancholy regularity that marked their existence a little morethan two generations ago, from the darkness of the Middle Ages inwhich they were steeped until the time of Alexander II, theyemerged suddenly into the life and light of the West, and some ofthe most intrepid devotees of latter-day culture, both in Europeand in America, have come from among them. Destitute of everythingthat makes for enlightenment, and under the dominion of aGovernment which sought to extinguish the few rushlights thatscattered the shadows around them, they nevertheless snatchedvictory from defeat, sloughed off medieval superstition, and,disregarding the Dejanira shirt of modern disabilities, compelledtheir countrymen to admit more than once that

Similar movements were started in Germany during the latter part