''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 in
Odessa 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 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 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 ''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.
See also
*
Der Beobachter an der Weichsel, the first Jewish newspaper
References
Online version.
External links
Online, searchable Hamelitz editionsfrom 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 t ...
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
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