There was a profound tragedy in this incongruity.
The culture movement in Russia of the second quarter of the nineteenth century corresponds in its complexion to the early stage of the Mendelssohnian enlightenment in Germany, the period of the _Me'assefim_.

[1] But there were also essential differences between the two.

The beginning of German enlightenment was accompanied by a strong drift toward assimilation which led to the elimination of the national language from literature.

In Russia the initial period of Haskalah was not marked by any sudden social and cultural upheavals.
[Footnote 1: So named after the Hebrew periodical _ha-Me'assef_ "The Collector," which was founded in Berlin in 1784.

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