Peretz Smolenskin

Peretz ben Moshe Smolenskin (also: Smolenski Peretz, Peres Smolenskin, Smolensky or Perez Smolenskin; * 1842 in Monastyrschtschina near Smolensk, † February 1, 1885 in Meran ) was a Russian- Hebrew novelist and journalist.

In 1868 he founded in Vienna the Hebrew monthly Hashachar (Eng. The Dawn), which became the most important literary platform of the late Haskalah under his editorship, in which he fought against orthodoxy and assimilation alike.

In search of a middle ground between orthodox hostility to Enlightenment ideas on the one hand and assimilationist tendencies on the other hand Smolenskin pleaded for a renewed Jewish national consciousness.

He was a passionate advocate of the Hebrew language and literature, in his view, the essential foundations Jewish national identity and - until further notice - substitute for a separate state.

Smolenskin 1882 belonged to the founders of the first Jewish national fraternity " Kadima " (from Smolenskin comes also the name of the organization) and became a pioneer of Zionism.

Works (selection)

• Ha - ha - toe be - darke Chayim ( " The Erring on the ways of life " ), a novel futile viewfinder, partly autobiographical (1876 )