Isaac Kaminer, born in Russia, was a physician and a prolific contributor to the Hebrew press. His essays, causeries and parodies are distinguished by skill and “temperament.” His poems are full of fight and an honest zeal for the Jewish national cause. He had an original and entirely free metrical and rhythmical system. A selection of his works appeared posthumously in Odessa (1907), with an introduction by Achad Ha’am.
Aaron Kaminka, born in Russia, studied abroad, mostly in Paris. He contributed regularly to Ha’melitz, Ha’zefirah, and several reviews. He also translated classical poems and wrote original verses. He took a considerable share in the Chovevé Zion movement, preaching with great zeal the spiritual progress of the nation, and emphasizing the importance of a living Hebrew language. He was then appointed Rabbi in Slavonia, afterwards at Prague. He joined the Zionist movement, but left it through a difference of opinion. He has since become Secretary of the Israelitische Allianz at Vienna, for which he has travelled much. He has published records of his travels, as well as a selection of his Hebrew poems.
Dr. J. C. Katzenelsohn (1848–1917) (Buki ben Yogli) wrote essays and short stories which are literary jewels. His scientific works in Hebrew are unequalled for learning and mastery of style.
A. S. Kerschberg, of Bialystok, Russia, is a Hebrew scholar and writer of great ability. He has contributed to Ha’zefirah and Ha’shiloach, and has written treatises dealing with talmudical matters. An ardent nationalist, he has been connected with the Chovevé Zion movement since it began. He has lived in Palestine and has published his observations and experiences in an interesting pamphlet.
Joseph Klausner, born in Odessa, a graduate of Heidelberg, is one of the most prominent disciples of Achad Ha’am, whom he succeeded in the editorship of Ha’shiloach. A devoted Chovev Zion and a keen Hebraist, he commenced Hebrew journalistic work in his earliest youth. At Heidelberg and elsewhere he assisted in the formation of the Nationalist Students’ Association, in which he took a leading part. He has done valuable work in the field of Biblical and historical studies. He was for many years lecturer at the Rabbinical College in Odessa. Palestinian nationalism and culture based upon Hebrew tradition are the guiding principles of his numerous publicistic writings. He is a pioneer of Palestinian Hebrew education. The impressions of his last visit to Palestine are given in his Olam Mithhaveh (A World in Evolution).
L. Levinski, born in Russia, lived during the most important period of his life in Odessa, where he was a prominent member of the Chovevé Zion, of the editorial staff of Ha’shiloach, of the Moriah, of the Zionist Synagogue Javneh, and other institutions. His quaint felicity of style, continual flow of wit, and easy, vivacious narrative won him a great reputation as a satirist. He contributed to the Hebrew press feuilletons and reviews of current events, and also wrote some pamphlets of value. A selection of his works has been published since his death by the Moriah.
Mordecai Zevi Mane was born in the village of Radoshkevitsch, in Russia. He studied at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, and won distinction as a gifted painter, a Hebrew poet, and an excellent writer in prose. He contributed to He’assif and Knesseth Israel. Though he may not rank among the Olympians, he produced in his modest way many a Zionist poem of enduring worth. He died young, and a collection of his works appeared posthumously (Warsaw, 1907).
David Neumark, of Galicia, studied at Berlin, and was one of the most original and prominent figures in nationalistic students’ circles. After having graduated, he was appointed Rabbi at Rakowitz, Austria, where he officiated for a few years. He entered the Zionist Organization and became a loyal and zealous worker, with a strong inclination towards “cultural” Zionism. He soon devoted himself to philosophy, and, besides his History of Jewish Philosophy, first written in German, he contributed a series of philosophical articles, written in an elaborate and exact style, to Ha’shiloach. He also wrote other essays of value. Later he was appointed Professor at the Cincinnati Hebrew Union College, where he has pursued his educational and literary activity.
Saul Pinchas Rabinowitsch (Schefer) (1875–1911) won a very prominent place among the distinguished pioneers of Zionism in Russia, as well as among the ablest and most popular Hebrew writers and publicists. He devoted many years of his life to the propaganda of the Chovevé Zion movement, and was for many years Secretary of the Warsaw Chovevé Zion. He was an ardent and active Zionist from the very beginning of the Zionist Organization. In close connection with Rabbi Mohilever, Leo Pinsker and Alexander Zederbaum, he often travelled on important missions, maintaining a world-wide correspondence with hundreds of Jewish leaders and writers, and occupied principally with Chovevé Zion affairs, but also with Russian-Jewish affairs generally, particularly during the period of the pogroms. He was a zealous and devoted Jewish national worker, was assistant editor of the Ha’zefirah, 1857–80, contributor to several Hebrew and other newspapers, editor of the year-book Knesseth Israel, one of the editors of the first volume of the Hebrew Encyclopædia Ha-Eschkol, and author of many monographs and biographies. His greatest work was the Hebrew translation of Graetz’ History of the Jews (with many valuable original additions of Harkavy and of other scholars, as well as of his own).
J. Ch. Rawnitzki, born in Russia, author and educationist, whose activity has lain mostly in Odessa, has for many years been engaged in Hebrew literary work of a nationalist character in the Chovevé Zion movement. He edited Ha’pardes, contributed to several reviews, and is one of the principal editors and authors working for the Moriah in Odessa.