THE RUSSIAN MENDELSSOHN (ISAAC BAER LEVINSOHN) It was in the hot-bed of the most fanatical species of Hasidism that the first blossoms of Haskalah [1] timidly raised their heads.

Isaac Baer Levinsohn, from Kremenetz in Podolia (1788-1860), had associated in his younger days with the champions of enlightenment in adjacent Galicia, such as Joseph Perl, [2] Nahman Krochmal, [3] and their followers.

When he came back to his native land, it was with the firm resolve to devote his energies to the task of civilizing the secluded masses of Russian Jewry.

In lonesome quietude, carefully guarding his designs from the outside world which was exclusively hasidic, he worked at his book _Te'udah, be-Israel_ ("Instruction in Israel"), which after many difficulties he managed to publish in Vilna in 1828.

In this book our author endeavored, without trespassing the boundaries of orthodox religious tradition, to demonstrate the following elementary truths by citing examples from Jewish history and sayings of great Jewish authorities: [Footnote 1: A Hebrew term meaning "enlightenment." It is a translation of the German _Aufklaerung_, and was first applied to the endeavors made in the time of Moses Mendelssohn (died 1886) to introduce European culture among the Jews of the ghetto.] [Footnote 2: Died 1839.