He was called "the Jellinek of Russia" by the Maskilim.[18]
Aaron Elijah Pumpyansky began to preach in Russian at Ponevezh, in Kovno
(1861). Germanization at last gave way to Russification. Even in Odessa,
where German culture predominated during the reign of Nicholas I, it was
found necessary, for the sake of the younger generation, to elect, as
associate to the German Doctor Schwabacher, Doctor Solomon Mandelkern to
preach in Russian. Similar changes were made in other communities. In
the Polish provinces the Reformation was making even greater strides.
There the Jews, whether reform, like Doctor Marcus Jastrow, or orthodox
like Rabbi Berish Meisels, identified themselves with the Poles, and
participated in their cultural and political aspirations, which were
frequently antagonistic to Russification. A society which called itself
Poles of the Mosaic Persuasion was organized in Warsaw, an organ of
extreme liberalism was founded in the weekly Israelita, and, with the
election of Isaac Kramsztyk to the rabbinate, German was replaced (1852)
by the native Polish as the language of the pulpit.
Some champions of reform did not rest satisfied with mere innovations
and improvements.
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