The Hebrew printing press in Russia was established in the mid 18th century. States, large and small, in these regions wanted to prevent the importation of Hebrew books and the resulting drain on their capital resources. In addition, the increasing severity of the church-state censorship - severer than it ever was in other parts of Europe, in a region that had not known such censorship before - made it desirable to them to have Hebrew presses under their immediate supervision. For both these reasons the setting up of local Hebrew presses was encouraged. A more positive cause of the rise of these presses was the efflorescence of Talmud study in the growing number of yeshivot in Lithuania and Poland as well as of Hasidism and its literature, creating an ever larger demand for Hebrew books.

Unfortunately, the poverty in these areas meant a lowering of the standards of printing and book production. Many of these popular volumes have perished over time as a result of heavy use by Russian-Polish rabbinical scholars. Furthermore, the constant harassment and Anti-Semitic pogroms by the Russian nobility, forced the Jews to continue moving from place to place, from village to village, any religious items left behind were destroyed by the plundering masses - Hebrew books were easy victims of these murderers.