''Ha-Melitz'' or ''HaMelitz'' (Hebrew: ) was the first

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

newspaper in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. It was founded by

Alexander Zederbaum Aleksander Ossypovich Zederbaum (; August 27, 1816, Zamość – September 8, 1893, Saint Petersburg) was a Polish-Russian Jewish journalist who wrote primarily in Hebrew. He was founder and editor of ''Ha-Melitz'', and other periodicals published ...

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

in 1860.

History

''Ha-Melitz'' first appeared as a weekly, and it began to appear daily in 1886. From 1871, it was published in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Publication was suspended several times for lack of support or by order of the authorities. In 1893, Leon Rabinowitz succeeded Zederbaum as the editor. ''Ha-Melitz'' was a representative of the progressive or ''

haskalah The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Euro ...

'' movement, and even so severe a critic as

Abraham Kovner Abraham, ; ar, , , name=, group= (originally Abram) is the common Hebrew patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father of the special relationship between the Jew ...

admitted that it had been "more useful to the Jews than have the other Hebrew newspapers" (''Ḥeḳer Dabar,'' p. 52 ff., Warsaw, 1866). While it was not so literary or scientific as some of its contemporaries, ''Ha-Melitz'' usually had more news and debates of interest, and was consequently more popular. J. A. Goldenblum was for many years associated with Zederbaum in its publication.

Abraham Shalom Friedberg Abraham Shalom Friedberg ( he, אַבְרָהָם שָׁלוֹם פְרִידְבֶּרְג; 6 November 1838, Grodno – 20 March 1902, Warsaw), known also by the pen name Har Shalom ( he, הַר שָׁלוֹם) and the acronym Hash ( he, הַ״ ...

and

Judah Leib Gordon Judah Leib (Ben Asher) Gordon, also known as Leon Gordon, (December 7, 1830, Vilnius, Lithuania – September 16, 1892, St. Petersburg, Russia) (Hebrew: יהודה לייב גורדון) was among the most important Hebrew poets of the Jewish En ...

were the best known of its associate editors. Almost every prominent Hebrew writer of its times contributed to it. Several collections of literary and scientific articles appeared as supplements to ''Ha-Melitz'' in Zederbaum's time: ''Ḳohelet'' (Saint Petersburg, 1881), ''Migdonot'' (1883), ''Melitẓ Aḥad Minni Elef'' (on the occasion of the appearance of No. 1,000; Saint Petersburg, 1884), ''Leḳeṭ Amarim'' (1889), and ''Arba'ah Ma'amarim'' (1893). Among similar publications issued by Zederbaum's successor were ''Ha-Yeḳev'' (Saint Petersburg, 1894), ''Ha-Osem'' and ''Ha-Gat'' (1897), and ''Ha-Gan'' (1899). ''Ha-Melitz'' was intermittently published until 1903.

References

Online version.

External links

Online, searchable Hamelitz editions
from the

Historical Jewish Press Historical Jewish Press is an online archive of historical newspapers written and published by Jews. The database enables, through digitization, virtual access to the Hebrew press in most of its years of existence, starting from mid 19th Century to ...

Newspapers published in the Russian Empire Hebrew-language newspapers Haskalah Mass media in Odesa Mass media in Saint Petersburg 1860 establishments in Ukraine Jews and Judaism in Odesa {{Russia-newspaper-stub

History

See also

References

External links