[Footnote 1:  With a clever allusion to the geographic name Ephes-dammim, I Sam. 17. 1.]

Somewhat later Levinsohn wrote other apologetic treatises, defending the Talmud against the attacks contained in the book Netibot ’Olam [1] published in 1839 by the London missionary M’Caul.  Levinsohn’s great apologetic work Zerubbabel, which appeared several years after his death, was equally dedicated to the defence of the Talmud.  It has, moreover, considerable scientific merit, being one of the first research works in the domain of talmudic theology.  A number of other publications by Levinsohn deal with Hebrew philology and lexicography.  All these efforts support Levinsohn’s claim to the title of Founder of a modern Jewish Science in Russia, though his scholarly achievements cannot be classed with those of his German and Galician fellow-writers, such as Rapoport, Zunz, Jost and Geiger.

[Footnote 1:  “Old Paths,” with reference to Jer. 6. 16.]

Levinsohn stood entirely aloof from the propaganda of bureaucratic enlightenment which was carried on by Lilienthal in the name of Uvarov.  The Volhynian hermit was completely overshadowed by the energetic young German.  Even when Lilienthal, after realizing that a union between Jewish culture and Russian officialdom was altogether unnatural, had disappeared from the stage, Levinsohn still persisted in cultivating his relations with the Government.  But by that time the bureaucrats of St. Petersburg had no more use for the Jewish friends of enlightenment.  Broken in health, chained to his bed for half a lifetime, without means of subsistence, lonely amidst a hostile orthodox environment, Levinsohn time and again addressed to St. Petersburg humiliating appeals for monetary assistance, occasionally receiving small pittances, which were booked under the heading “Relief in Distress,” accepted subventions from various Jewish Maecenases, and remained a pauper till the end of his life.  The pioneer of modern culture among Russian Jews, the founder of Neo-Hebraic literature, spent his life in the midst of a realm of darkness, shunned like an outcast, appreciated by a mere handful of sympathizers.  It was only after his death that he was crowned with laurels, when the intellectuals of Russian Jewry were beginning to press forward in close formation.

4.  THE RISE OF NEO-HEBRAIC CULTURE

The Volhynian soil proved unfavorable for the seeds of enlightenment.  The Haskalah pioneers were looked upon as dangerous enemies in this hot-bed of Tzaddikism.  They were held in disgrace and were often the victims of cruel persecutions, from which some saved themselves by conversion.  A more favorable soil for cultural endeavors was found in the extreme south of the Pale of Settlement as well as in its northern section:  Odessa, the youthful capital of New Russia, and Vilna, the old capital of Lithuania, both became centers of the Haskalah movement.