(1816–1893), editor and journalist. Aleksander Zederbaum was born in Zamość, Poland. After marrying in 1835, he moved to Lublin, and then in 1840 to Odessa, where he initially worked as a bookkeeper. He soon became a tailor and opened his own shop. In Odessa, Zederbaum associated with local maskilim, was involved in community affairs, and helped to found a school for adults. With Aharon Yitsḥak Goldenblum, he founded Ha-Melits (The Advocate), the first Hebrew weekly periodical in tsarist Russia (eventually it became a daily). The first issue appeared on 11 October 1860, and Zederbaum remained as the paper’s publisher and editor for the rest of his life. In 1871, he moved with the editorial offices to Saint Petersburg.
In October 1862, Zederbaum began to publish the weekly Kol mevaser (The Herald)—Russia’s first Yiddish newspaper—as a supplement to Ha-Melits. In 1869, Kol mevaser became an independent weekly until 1872, when it ceased publication with Zederbaum’s move to the capital. From 1871 to 1873, Zederbaum also published a Jewish weekly in Russian, Vestnik russkikh evreev. However, in 1873 all of his papers ceased publication because of financial difficulties.
When publishing commenced again in 1878, Zederbaum established a new Russian newspaper, Razsvet (Dawn) and resumed production of Ha-Melits. In Saint Petersburg, he published Dos yudishes folks-blat, a Yiddish-language weekly, between 1881 and 1887. In Ha-Melits, Zederbaum polemicized with the antisemitic Russian press. Following pogroms in 1881–1882, the paper gradually became associated with the platform of the Ḥoveve Tsiyon movement, reflecting Zederbaum’s personal involvement with early Zionism.
In addition to his work in journalism and Zionist activities, Zederbaum published a number of books: Ben ha-metsarim (In the Straits; 1867), a story about life in Poland; Motar ha-adam min ha-behemah (Man’s Preeminence over Beast; 1868); Keter kehunah (Crown of Priesthood; 1868), which included a critical history of Hasidism; and Di geheymnise fun Barditshev (The Secrets of Berdichev; 1870), an exposé in Yiddish about the Jewish community in Berdichev.
Aleksander Zederbaum died in Saint Petersburg. His grandchildren, L. (Iulii) Martov and Lidiia Dan, gained prominence as leaders of the Russian socialist movement.
Menuḥah Gilbo‘a, Leksikon ha-‘itonut ha-‘ivrit ba-me’ot ha-shemoneh ‘esreh veha-tesha‘ ‘esreh (Tel Aviv, 1992), pp. 137–157; Getzel Kressel, Leksikon ha-sifrut ha-‘ivrit ba-dorot ha-aḥaronim, vol. 2, cols. 702–704 (Merḥavyah, Isr., 1967); Alexander Orbach, New Voices of Russian Jewry: A Study of the Russian Jewish Press of Odessa in the Era of the Great Reforms, 1860–1871 (Leiden, 1980).
Translated from Hebrew by Rami Hann