''Ha-Tsfira'' () was a

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 ...

-language newspaper published in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in 1862 and 1874–1931.

History

The first issue of ''Ha-Tsfira'' appeared in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...

, in 1862, edited by Chaim Selig Slonimski. ''Ha-Tsfira'' was the first Hebrew paper with an emphasis on the sciences. The paper closed down after six months when Slonimski became principal of the rabbinical seminary in

Zhytomyr Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

, and the government began censorship of Hebrew books. It reopened in 1874 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, and began to be published in Warsaw in September 1875. Coverage of news and politics was introduced after the

First Zionist Congress The First Zionist Congress () was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization, Zionist Organization (ZO) held in the Stadtcasino Basel in the city of Basel on August 29–31, 1897. Two hundred and eight delegates from 17 countries and 2 ...

. From 1886, the paper began to appear as a daily. The driving spirit behind this change was Slonimski's assistant,

Nachum Sokolov Nahum ben Joseph Samuel Sokolow ( ''Nachum ben Yosef Shmuel Soqolov'', ; ) was a Jewish-Polish writer, translator, and journalist, the fifth President of the World Zionist Organization, editor of '' Ha-Tsfira'', researcher, Zionist leader and st ...

, who was later appointed editor-in-chief. ''Ha-Tsfira'' became part of a network of important Hebrew periodicals, among them '' Ha-Shahar'', ''

Ha-Asif ''Ha-Asif'' () was a Hebrew language, Hebrew-language yearly journal, published in Warsaw by Nahum Sokolow, Naḥum Sokolow. Its first volume appeared in 1884; it continued to appear regularly every year until 1889, when the fifth volume came out ...

'', ''

Ha-Shiloaḥ ''Ha-Shiloaḥ'' () was a Hebrew language, Hebrew-language literary journal, founded by Ahad Ha'am and the Ahi'asaf Publishing House in 1896. He edited the journal until December 1902, whereupon it came under the editorship of historian Joseph Kla ...

''. Some of the greatest names in early modern Hebrew literature published their work in the paper, including

Mendele Mocher Sforim Mendele Mocher Sforim (, ; lit. "Mendele the book peddler"; January 2, 1836, Kapyl – December 8, 1917 .S. Odessa), born Sholem Yankev Abramovich (, ) or S. J. Abramowitch, was a Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Heb ...

, Y. L. Peretz, and

Sholem Aleichem Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich (; May 13, 1916), better known under his pen name Sholem Aleichem (Yiddish language, Yiddish and , also spelled in Yiddish orthography#Reform and standardization, Soviet Yiddish, ; Russian language, Russian and ), ...

History

References

Further reading