Kochvei Yitzhak, The Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1845–1873), is a monograph and an annotated index, covering the literary belles lettres and scholarly articles published in that periodical. It discusses and analyzes the various authors who contributed to the journal, in the context of the times and the needs of the Jewish community in Europe, following the ideology of the Haskalah (Enlightenment) in improving Jewish education, fostering the ideals of humanism and advocating the purity of Judaism and its practices. This is the sixth book in the series of monographs and annotated indices of periodicals of the Hebrew Haskalah (Enlightenment).

This is the fifth book in the series of monographs and annotated indices on periodicals of the Haskalah. It covers two major Hebrew periodicals Hehalutz (1852–1889) and Bikurim (1864–1865), and addresses major developments in the history of the Hebrew Haskalah in mid-century: the emergence of radical Haskalah in Galicia which found its mouthpiece in Hehalutz, and the contribution of its prolific editor, Joshua Heschel Schorr, who published 13 volumes of his journal. Bikurim, published in two volumes, was edited by Naphtali Keller, and represented the moderate Haskalah and Hochmat Israel (the scholarly study of Judaism). The Indices to the two journals published in this book are cross-referenced, annotated, Alphabetized, and author-and-subject listed. They cover all articles, essays, and scholarly studies on a variety of topics in Jewish Studies, such as Biblical and Talmudic criticism and commentary, questions regarding the Halachah (the religious code), and studies on the Hebrew language, Jewish history, and Jewish education. They also cite newly discovered medieval Hebrew manuscripts, their critique and studies of their authors. Also included are various genres in belles lettres: poems, stories, satires, biographies, and miscellaneous writings such as editorial comments and announcements. All these subjects are discussed and analyzed in the monographs of the two journals. Now, upon their publication, the annotated indices should serve as a reliable reference tool for viewing and reviewing the major topics and issues that occupied the minds of the editors and the writers of these journals in Galicia and elsewhere in Europe in mid-19th century. Readers may now examine the scope and the character of the material published in these journals. Likewise, it is now convenient to assess the contribution of participating scholars, authors, and poets, to the Haskalah literature, and to explore their stand on various scholarly or Haskalah-related matters.

The Journals of the Haskalah from 1820 to 1845 includes monographs and annotated indices to eight Hebrew periodicals in Holland, Galicia, Germany and Lithuania, published in the first half of the nineteenth century. The monographs analyze the phenomena of the Hebrew Haskalah press, addressing major developments in the history of the Haskalah, such as the emergence of ‘Hochmat Israel’ (The scholarly study of Judaism) in Hebrew, and the emerging centers of Haskalah in Holland, Galicia, and Lithuania. The monographs study the journals and their editors, contributing authors, and the subject matters included in them, and examine their scholarly and literary output. Some of the luminary scholars of the Haskalah contributed to these journals: Shmuel David Luzzatto, Shlomo Yehuda Rapoport, Nachman Krochmal, and Marcus Jost, as well as authors and poets, such as Yitzhak Erter, Shmuel Mulder, Meir Halevi Letteris and Adam Hacohen Lebenson. ‘Hevrat To’elet’ (To’elet Society), established in 1815, published three of the journals: Bikurei To’elet (First Fruits of To’elet, 1820), Pri To’elet (Fruit of To’elet, 1825), both edited by Shmuel Mulder, and Bikurei Hashanah (First Fruits of the Year, 1844), edited by Gabriel Pollak. in 1823/4, the author and editor Meir Halevi Letteris issued the journal Hatzfirah (Dawn). In the early 1840s, two scholars of the German school of the Study of Judaism, Marcus Jost and Michael Creizenach, launched a Hebrew monthly publication in Frankfurt titled Zion (1841–1842). In 1842 and 1844, two Vilna Maskilim, Shmuel Yoseph Fünn and Eliezer Lipman Horowitz, published the journal Pirhei Tzafon (The Northern Flowers). In 1844, Mendel Stern published one issue of Sefer Bikurei Ha’itim (The Book of The First Fruits of the Times), and a year later, in 1845/6, Yitzhak Shmuel Reggio and Israel Busch issued a one-time periodical titled Bikurei Ha’itim Hahadashim (The New First Fruits of the Times). This book is the fourth volume in the series of monographs and annotated indices of Hebrew Haskalah periodicals. It follows the publication of the monographs and annotated indices on Kerem Hemed, titled Kerem Hemed: ‘Hochmat Israel’ [The Scholarly Study of Judaism] As the ‘New Yavneh,’ the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia and Italy (1833–1856), in 2009, and previously on Bikurei Ha’itim, titled Bikurei Ha’itim – Bikurei Hahaskalah [The First Fruits of Haskalah], the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia (in 2005), and the publication of Hame’asef Index and monograph – Sha’ar Lahaskalah [The Gate to Haskalah]: An Annotated Index to Hame’asef, the First Hebrew Periodical (1783–1811), in 2000, by Magnes Press. The annotated indices should serve as a reliable reference tool for viewing and reviewing the major topics and issues that occupied the minds of the editors and the writers of these journals. Readers may now examine the scope and the character of the material published in these eight journals. Likewise, it is now convenient to assess the contribution of participating scholars, authors, and poets, to the Haskalah literature, and to explore their ideological stand on various scholarly or Haskalah-related matters. Association of Jewish Libraries’ Judaica Bibliography Award 2014

Kerem Hemed – Hochmat Israel As the New Yavneh is a monograph and an annotated index to Kerem Hemed (1833–1856), the journal of Hebrew Haskalah in Galicia and Italy. It includes a comprehensive monograph on the journal and its writers, the subject matters discussed in it and its editorial orientation as part of the Study of Judaism movement. The journal represents the creative efforts of the Hebrew scholars of ‘Hochmat Israel,’ the Study of Judaism, in the 19th century. The book is the third in the monographs and indexing project of Hebrew Haskalah periodicals published by Magnes Press. Previously, it published The Gate to Haskalah: An Annotated Index to Hame’asef, the First Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah (1783–1811) , 2000; and Bikurei Ha’itim The ‘First Fruits’ of Haskalah: An Annotated Index to Bikurei Ha’itim, the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia (1820–1831) , 2005. The monograph delineates the background of the publication of Kerem Hemed, its editors and its major writers, such as Shlomo Yehudah Rapoport (SHIR), Shmuel David Luzzatto (SHaDaL), and Nahman Krochmal (RaNaK), and its relations to periodicals published before and afterward. It discusses the variety of topics in Jewish Studies published in the journal, such as Bible, biblical criticism and commentary, Talmud, its sages, and studies about them, and the Mishnah. There were also studies on the Hebrew language, Jewish history, and newly discovered medieval Hebrew manuscripts, such as biblical commentary by noted biblical scholars as Abraham Ibn Ezra, talmudic interpretation and historical review of Judaism as presented by the scholars of Hochmat Israel, as well as some secular subjects and science.

'Bikurei Ha'itim' the 'First Fruits' of Haskalah is An Annotated Index to 'Bikurei Ha'itim,' the Hebrew Journal of the Haskalah in Galicia, that was published in Vienna from 1820 to 1831. It contains an introduction by one of the reconized authority of Hebrew Haskalah. It is in effect a monograph which examines the transition of Haskalah from Germany to Austria and to Galicia following the demise of the first Hebrew periodical, 'Hame'asef.' The background to the launching of the 'Bikurei Ha'itim' is being examined such as the phenomena of the German-Jewish periodicals ('Sulamith,' 1809; 'Jedidja,' 1817), the calendars and the almanachs published by Joseph Perl (1814–1816), and the Hebrew periodical in Holland ('Bikurei To'elet,' 1820) – which affected the planning of 'Bikurei Ha'itim' as a literary almanach.