LEWINSKY, ELHANAN LEIB

LEWINSKY, ELHANAN LEIB (1857–1910), Hebrew writer and Zionist leader. Born in Podberezye, Russia, Lewinsky, like many others of his generation, was swept up by the Haskalah movement in his youth and turned to secular studies, including Russian. Roaming from town to town in the Russian Pale, he supported himself by giving private lessons. In 1880 he registered at the University of Kharkov, but after the pogroms of 1881 he traveled to Palestine and came back an ardent Zionist. He became an active propagandist and organizer of Ḥovevei Zion groups, settled in Odessa, and befriended its circle of Hebrew writers. In 1889 he joined the *Benei Moshe society founded by *Ahad Ha-Am. He wrote the Zionist utopia "Massa le-Ereẓ Yisrael bi-Shenat Tat la-Elef ha-Ḥamishi" in: Pardes, 1 (1892), 128–72. In 1896 he became representative of the Palestinian "Carmel" wine company in Russia, and on his travels through various Russian communities, he combined Zionist propaganda with his occupation as distributor of wines from Palestine. He was the moving spirit behind much of the Jewish community work in Odessa. He was one of the founders of the Moriah publishing house, served as treasurer and preacher in the Zionist synagogue, Yavneh, and supported various literary enterprises. He was one of the founders of Ivriyyah, a movement for the revival of the Hebrew language, and also published the first Yiddish daily paper in Odessa, Gut Morgen (1910). He gained his place in Hebrew literature through his popular feuilletons. His first articles in this style were published in Ha-Meliẓ in 1891–92. Subsequently, they appeared in Ha-Ẓofeh, Ha-Ẓefirah in Hebrew, and in Gut Morgen under the pseudonym Darshan Zaken ("Old Preacher") in Yiddish. His most important feuilletons appear in Ha-Shilo'ah, 1–23 (1897–1910) under the title Maḥashavot u-Ma'asim ("Thoughts and Actions") and under the pseudonym Rabbi Karov. The high standard of the journal impelled Lewinsky to improve and polish his feuilletons so that although they deal with passing affairs of his day, they have retained their literary value. They are marked by good-natured humor, perceptive response to current events, and extensive use of material drawn from the Midrash and from Jewish folklore. His works were published posthumously in three volumes (1911–13), edited by Ḥ.N. Bialik, J. Klausner, and J.Ḥ. Rawnitzky. The Lewinsky Teachers Seminary in Tel Aviv (originally situated in Jaffa) is named after him.

bibliography:

J. Klausner, in: Kitvei E.L.L., 1 (1911), v–xxiv; J. Klausner, et al., in: Ha-Shilo'aḥ, 23 (1910), 481–589; Lachower, Sifrut, 3 (1932), 39–40, 215; Kressel, Leksikon, 2 (1967), 214–5.

[Yehuda Slutsky]