Hebrew-language publication, issued between 1833 and 1843, and again in 1854 and 1856. A Haskalah periodical, Kerem ḥemed (Vineyard of Delight) was intended to be issued annually. Shemu’el Leib Goldenberg (1807–1847) edited the first seven issues, publishing the first two in Vienna and the next five in Prague. Shneur Sachs (1815–1892) edited the final two, printing them in Berlin after a long respite, and renaming the periodical Kerem ḥemed: Neta‘ ḥadash (Vineyard of Delight: New Seedling).
Kerem ḥemed was one of the major periodicals of the Haskalah period. It provided a platform and a form of expression for scholarly studies in Hebrew, linking Jewish writers from Galicia, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Lithuania. In his first introduction, Goldenberg stated that he had decided to publish the periodical because the annual Bikure ha-‘itim was about to be discontinued. Following the advice of Shemu’el David Luzzatto, Kerem ḥemed adopted the epistolary form as its prime literary device.
Kerem ḥemed served as a cultural vehicle for Galician scholars in fields such as interpretation, medieval poetry, and historiosophic theory, but also included satires by Yitsḥak Erter and Yosef Perl. It contained critical reviews of belles lettres, as well as the first works of Naḥman Krochmal and articles by Shelomoh Yehudah Rapoport, at the time the de facto editor of the journal. The final two issues retained the epistolary format, but the publication’s importance had diminished with the decline of the Haskalah in Galicia.
Menuḥah Gilbo‘a, Leksikon ha-‘itonut ha-‘ivrit ba-me’ot ha-shemoneh ‘esreh veha-tesha‘ ‘esreh (Tel Aviv, 1992), pp. 70–73; Samuel Werses (Shemu’el Verses), “Ḥibur satiri l’o noda‘ shel Yosef Perl: Ketav ha-‘et ‘Kerem Ḥemed’ ve-sofrav be-‘ene ḥasid,” Ha-Sifrut 1.1 (1968): 206–217.
Translated from Hebrew by Rami Hann