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Achad Ha-Am's famous work in which he analyzed the psychological and social roots of anti-Semitism and called for the establishment of a Jewish national center. The book was intended to serve as a warning to his fellow Jews (Stammesgenossen) and was published anonymously, the author defining himself as "a Russian Jew." The book was written in a passionate style which forcefully expressed the author's deep anxiety for the fate of his people.
Leon Pinsker (Judah Leib; 1821–1891), leader of the Hibbat Zion movement, was born in Tomaszow, Poland. Pinsker studied at the school of his father Simhah Pinsker, a Hebrew writer and scholar, in Odessa. He was one of the first Jews to attend Odessa University, where he studied law. However, he discovered that being a Jew, he had no chance of becoming a lawyer and studied medicine at the University of Moscow, returning to practice in Odessa in 1849. Pinsker was one of the founders of the first Russian Jewish weekly, Razsvet ("Dawn"), to which he was a regular contributor. The editors attempted to acquaint the Jewish population with Russian culture and encourage them to speak Russian. These aims were more strongly expressed in the weekly Russian-language publication Sion, which replaced Razsvet and of which Pinsker was one of the editors for about half a year. He was also one of the founders of the Odessa branch of the Society for the Dissemination of Enlightenment among Jews, whose aim was similar to that of the periodical. Pinsker contributed to the Russian-language weekly Den ("Day"), founded by the society, which called on Jews to assimilate into Russian society. The pogroms that began in 1871 in Odessa severely shook the enlightened Jews; the weekly stopped publication, and the Odessa branch of the society closed down.
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