Kalman Schulman (1819 – 2 January 1899) was a Jewish writer who pioneered modern Hebrew literature.

Life

Schulman was born in 1819 in

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. He came from a Hassidic family. Schulman studied Hebrew and the Talmud in the heder, and two years after his marriage he began studying at the Volozhin Yeshiva. He was in the Yeshiva for six years, which caused an eye affection. To cure the affection, he moved to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and studied Talmud in the "klaus" of Elijah Gaon. He faced extreme poverty during that time, which led him to divorce his wife. He then left for Kalvarija and worked as a Hebrew instructor while commencing the grammatical study of Hebrew and German. In 1843, he returned to Vilnius and entered the yeshiva of Rabbi Israel Ginsberg (Zaryechev), receiving a rabbinical diploma from there. He first became known as a writer in 1846, when he wrote a petition to

Moses Montefiore Sir Moses Haim Montefiore, 1st Baronet, (24 October 1784 – 28 July 1885) was a British financier and banker, activist, Philanthropy, philanthropist and Sheriffs of the City of London, Sheriff of London. Born to an History ...

on behalf of Jews who resided within fifty versts of the German and Austrian borders and were driven from their homes by a special law from the Russian government. Schulman studied German while in the Volozhin Yeshiva and gained an interest in

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 ...

. After he settled in Vilnius, he joined the city's circle of maskilic writers and became close friends with Micah Joseph Lebensohn. From 1849 to 1861, he taught Hebrew at the secondary school attached to the state rabbinical school. He then focused entirely on literary activity, receiving support from the

Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia #REDIRECT Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia {{R from other capitalisation ...

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 ...

. Schulman was under contract with

Romm publishing house The Romm publishing house was a publisher of Jewish religious literature from 1788 to 1940. It is known for its 1886 Vilna Shas, which still serves as a definitive edition. Baruch ben Yosef Romm founded the business originally in Grodno and it co ...

, who paid him so little he could barely support his families. His Hebrew books were mostly translations intended to spread Haskalah among the Hebrew-speaking public and youth, although they also proved popular in Orthodox circles. One of his widely read abridged translations was Eugène Sue's '' The Mysteries of Paris'', which Schulman published from 1857 to 1860 and was republished with five more editions over the next half-century. The translation was considered by one source as an innovative experiment in translating contemporary novels into Hebrew, although it also caused controversy among those who considered it a sacrilege to use Hebrew to describe the Parisian underworld. The controversy deterred him from translating more novels and led him to focus more on translating and adapting scientific books. Schulman freely Weber's ''History of the World'' in nine volumes from 1867 to 1884. Using a secondary source, he also translated Josephus' ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' in 1859, and from 1861 to 1863 he translated '' Jewish War'' and ''

Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

''. He wrote a ten-volume work on world geography called ''Mosede Eretz'' from 1871 to 1878, a four-volume biographical book of great Jewish personalities called ''Toledoth Hachme Yisrael'' that was adopted from

Heinrich Graetz Heinrich Graetz (; 31 October 1817 – 7 September 1891) was a German exegete and one of the first historians to write a comprehensive history of the Jewish people from a Jewish perspective. Born Tzvi Hirsch Graetz to a butcher family in Xions (no ...

from 1872 to 1878, and two volumes on the geography of Palestine and the Near East called ''Halichoth Kedem'' in 1848 and 1854. He published several collected essays and sketches, both original and adapted, on historical and geographical subjects, especially Palestine. The published collected essays included ''Ariel'' in 1856, ''Harel'' in 1864, ''Habatzeleth Hasharon'' in 1881, ''Minhath Ereb'' in 1889, and ''Eretz Hakedem'' in 1890. A prolific writer, he produced over twenty volumes, mostly translations and adaptions. Schulman was a moderate maskil with a firmly religious outlook. His translations understated elements that contradicted Jewish tradition and included religious elements. While his Orthodox tendencies angered more radical maskilim like

Moshe Leib Lilienblum Moshe Leib Lilienblum (; October 22, 1843, in Keidany, Kovno Governorate – February 12, 1910, in Odessa) was a Jewish scholar and author. He also used the pseudonym Zelophehad Bar-Hushim (). Lilienbloom was one of the leaders of the early Zioni ...

, it also meant his work was popular with a large audience of traditional readers who saw them as safe to read. Some critics considered him a harbinger of Zionism, due to his books on Israel. However, his work on Israel was written more from a lens of religious romanticism, than from nationalist motives. Schulman died in Vilnius on 2 January 1899.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schulman, Kalman 1819 births 1899 deaths People from Bykhovsky Uyezd Clergy from Vilnius Jewish writers from Vilnius People of the Haskalah Translators to Hebrew 19th-century Lithuanian rabbis Lithuanian Orthodox rabbis 19th-century rabbis from the Russian Empire Jewish writers from the Russian Empire Jewish translators Volozhin Yeshiva alumni