The younger
Maskilim he warned not to waste their time in idle versification, not to
become intoxicated with their little learning; and the older ones he
implored to respect the sentiments of their conservative coreligionists.
"Take it not amiss," he would say to the latter, "that the great bulk of
our people hearken not as yet to our new teachings. All beginnings are
difficult. The drop cannot become a deluge instantaneously. Persevere in
your laudable ambition, publish your good and readable books, and the
result, though slow, is sure."
Thus lived and labored the first of the Maskilim, an idealist from
beginning to end. Persecution did not embitter, nor poverty depress him.
And when he passed away quietly (February 12, 1860) in the obscure
little town in which he had been born, and which has become famous
through him, it was felt that Russia had had her Mendelssohn, too.
Strange to say, he little suspected the tremendous influence he exerted
upon the Haskalah movement, but was quite sanguine of the success of his
fight for "truth and justice among the nations." His work he modestly
summed up in the epitaph which was inscribed on his tombstone at his
request:
Out of nothing God called me to life.
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