Der Israelit

''Der Israelit'' was a German Orthodox Jewish weekly newspaper that circulated from May 15, 1860, until November 3, 1938, when it was shut down by the Nazi party.

History

The newspaper was initially founded in 1860 in Mainz by Orthodox rabbi Marcus Lehmann. In 1870, it was merged with Yeshurun, which had been established in 1854. Between 1871 and 1882, a Hebrew translation of it appeared in an appendix of Ha-Levanon, which at the time was independently published in Paris. Between 1873 and 1879, a concurrent edition circulated in Yiddish. Following Lehmann's death in 1890, his son, Oscar, inherited the position of editor. In 1906, the publication was moved from Mainz to Frankfurt. At the same time, Jacob Rosenheim purchased the newspaper and used it to promote World Agudath Israel's views on the path of Orthodox Jewry. In 1908, Jewish writer Selig Schachnowitz was appointed the new editor of the paper.

Starting in 1933, ''Der Israelit'' openly reported on Jewish persecution in Nazi Germany, and even reported on information about Concentration Camps in Nazi Germany, including Osthofen concentration camp. However, they were prevented from publishing anything that took a critical opinion of the said actions of the regime. Following the publication on November 3, 1938, the paper was shut down by force by the Nazi regime, who banned its distribution in its entirety.

Contents

''Der Israelit'' was considered "a major organ of Orthodox Judaism" in Germany, and took a traditional and more conservative religious approach, as opposed to the more Reform Jewish Allgemeine Zeitung des Judentums, whose denomination and social change it heavily criticized. Over time, the paper became one of the most widely circulated spokesmen in Orthodox Jewish journalism in Germany.

It featured serialized narrative historicals by Lehmann, designed to attract interest of youth, whilst promoting traditionalism of modern developments and changes to other branches of Judaism. The stories served as a historical mirror of the lives of Central European Jewry in the 19th century. They were collected and published between 1918 and 1976 in a ten-volume series, which has been printed in multiple editions. They were reworked in the 1990s by and became popular among Ultra-Orthodox Jews when published in Hamodia.See, for example: Uri Ofer, is Didan really better than Didier? - Reflections on the Initiative to Rewrite the Stories of Grim Lehmann, zt"l, The Informant, 2 Tammuz 5770 (13.7.1990), p. 6; In Yaakov, Criticism of Criticism - Following the Controversy over the Book The Jewish Prince by R. Friedman according to Rabbi M. Lehmann, The Informant, 27 Tammuz 5700 (20.7.1990), p. 6; Michael Zoran, From the Castle to the Beit Midrash, Volume Two of Rabbi Lehmann's Reconstructed Stories by R. Friedman, The Informant, 4 Tevet 5751 (12.21.1990), pp. 6.

References

External links

Digitized copies of Der Israelit
at Goethe University Archives
{{Authority control

1860 establishments in the German Confederation
1938 disestablishments in Germany
Newspapers published in Germany
Jewish German culture
Orthodox Judaism in Germany
Newspapers established in 1860
Jews and Judaism in Frankfurt
Jews and Judaism in Mainz