''HaMelitz'' (Hebrew: ) was the first

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

newspaper in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. It was founded by Alexander Zederbaum in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

in 1860.

History

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

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

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

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

'' movement, and even so severe a critic as Abraham Kovner 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, ''HaMelitz'' 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 and Judah Leib Gordon 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 ''HaMelitz'' 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 ''HaYeḳev'' (Saint Petersburg, 1894), ''HaOsem'' and ''HaGat'' (1897), and ''HaGan'' (1899). ''HaMelitz'' was intermittently published until 1903.

References

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 the late 18th Cent ...

Newspapers published in the Russian Empire Defunct Hebrew-language newspapers Haskalah Mass media in Odesa Newspapers published in Saint Petersburg 1860 establishments in Ukraine Jews and Judaism in Odesa Newspapers established in 1860 Newspapers disestablished in the 1900s Publications disestablished in 1904 Defunct newspapers published in Ukraine Defunct newspapers published in Russia Defunct Jewish newspapers {{Russia-newspaper-stub

History

See also

References

External links