He saw Reform Judaism of Western Europe which had retained nothing of Jewish culture except the modernized superficialities of the synagogue.

Repelled by this spectacle, Smolenskin decided from the very beginning to fight on two fronts: against the fanatics of orthodoxy in the name of European progress, and against the champions of assimilation in the name of national Jewish culture, and more particularly of the Hebrew language.

"You say," Smolenskin exclaims, addressing himself to the assimilators, "let us be like the other nations.

Well and good.

Let us, indeed, be like the other nations: cultured men and women, free from superstition, loyal citizens of the country.