Mordechai Aharon Ginzburg

Mordechai Aharon Ginzburg (Ramag) (1795-1846) was one of the leaders of the Enlightenment in Vilna. He wrote and translated into Hebrew books of the Enlightenment. Ramag laid the foundations for modern Hebrew literature and even wrote the first autobiography in Hebrew, entitled Aviezer.

Ramag was born at the end of 1795 in the village of Salant in the region of Kovno in the Russian Empire (in the Lithuanian area). His father, Yehuda Asher, was one of the early members of the Enlightenment movement in Lithuania. He supplemented his son's traditional studies in the Cheder with Biblical studies and Hebrew grammar. When the Ramag was young he began reading Jewish historical essays such as Yosipun and  Zemach David by Rabbi David Gentz and went on to read scientific and educational books, such as The Book of the Covenant by Rabbi Pinhas Eliyahu of Vilna. He was married at the age of 14 to a 13-year old girl but the marriage was not a success, as he describes candidly in his autobiography. He moved to his father-in-law's home in Siaulia and there he expanded his knowledge, read books of the Enlightenment including Moses Mendelsohn's essays and even learnt Kabbala. Later he learnt German and read the popular literature of the period.

 In 1817 he began wandering through the villages in Lithuania and Corland, and managed to eke out an existence by teaching children and doing other odd jobs. In 1823 he published his first essay in Vilna – the first part of the translation of The Exile of the New Land. In 1832, he completed the first part of The History of Mankind but was only able to get it printed in 1835. By that time he had probably written a number of other essays which were published subsequently. During the 1830's, together with other members of the Enlightenment movement, they discussed publishing an Enlightenment periodical in Hebrew; he and Rabbi Yitzhak Ben Levinsson (Rival) could have been co-editors but the idea never materialized.

By the time he settled in Vilna in 1835, he was already a renowned Hebrew writer. Ramag soon became a respected member of the Enlightenment movement in Vilna and became the leading figure of the movement. He earned his living as a teacher and bookkeeper and was supported by a wealthy member of the movement, Nissan Rosenthal.

During the years he was in Vilna he continued publishing his books and was involved in many activities in the movement. In 1841, together with Shlomo Zalkind, he founded the "reformed" school; he was the principal of the school and taught Biblical studies there. He was one of those who asked the Russian authorities to ban the wearing of traditional Jewish clothes, yet, on the other hand, he tried to facilitate the importing of Hebrew books from abroad. During Moses Montefiore's visit to Vilna in 1846, Ramag gave one of the main addresses on behalf of the members of the Enlightenment movement.

When Max Lilienthal began a series of reforms of Jewish education, with the encouragement of the Russian authorities, Ramag had reservations about the steps he had taken. Under the pseudonym, Yona ben Amitai, he published a treatise entitled The Teller of Truth against the treatise published by Lilienthal entitled the Teller of Salvation. In his treatise he tried to explain that Lilienthal was trying to import to the Pale of Settlement a Germanic form of Enlightenment that was not appropriate for the more moderate traditional Enlightenment in Lithuania. In order to protect himself from the censor, Ramag also published a treatise attacking The Teller of Truth that was entitled Kikayon DeYona.

Over the years his health deteriorated and he died at the end of 1846. The sermonizer who, unwillingly, had to eulogize the Ramag, a member of the Enlightenment movement, told the story of two rabbis who died at the same time.  That was the final insult for the members of the movement and led them to establish independent frameworks for the members of the Enlightenment movement in Vilna that were separate from those of the religious; they went so far as to set up their own synagogue Taharat Hakodesh.   After his death, his successors continued publishing his books.

Aviezer: the Ramag's autobiography, Vilna, 1863

Ramag's viewpoint was in the spirit of moderate Enlightennment, similar to that of all the members of the movement in Vilna. He was the leading figure in the movement and his attitude to Judaism was greatly influenced by the writings of Moses Mendelsohn. Contrary to the radical members of the movement he did not discount religion or Jewish Law (Halacha) and certainly did not countenance assimilation. Most of his activities centered round the Jewish communal institutions, including the rabbis, improving the standard of education and modernizing Jewish life, including the traditional Jewish garb. He supported learning foreign languages (German and Russian) and even translated some of the popular literature of his day, including Goethe and Heine as well as writing in Hebrew; like all the members of the movement he disdained talking in Yiddish, which he regarded as a defective language.

Ramag was almost the only one of his generation that wrote books for general education, that is, explanations of scientific phenomena and history for the Jewish layman. Many of his treatises were designed to enable the Jews in the Pale of Settlement to learn about science and world history; nevertheless, he also wrote a great deal about Jewish history and about Jewish current affairs (such as the blood libel in Damascus and the memoirs of Eliezer Halevi from his voyage with Moses Montefiore to the land of Israel). When Max Lilienthal presented his reforms, he objected on the grounds that the Jews of Russia should not give in to the Enlightenment that was imported from Germany because it was not appropriate to the traditional, entrenched Jewish spirit of Eastern Europe.

As part of his activities to reform Jewish communal life he wrote his autobiography Aviezer in which he wrote in detail about the defects of Jewish education and the Jewish family. He wrote his treatises in relatively simple Hebrew and refrained from the heavy poetic style that was popular with members of the Enlightenment movement. He often used expressions from the Mishna and the Talmud and coined new idioms and expressions. His style greatly influenced not only the nature of Hebrew but also modern Hebrew literature in successive generations.source:

Translated from : Wikipedia

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Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel
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