Lev Levanda

Lev Osipovich Levanda was a Russian-language teacher, state official, journalist, and author, born and educated in Minsk. He received a teaching diploma from the state-operated rabbinical school in Vilna and in 1860 was appointed uchenyi evrei (adviser on Jewish affairs or "Jewish expert") to the Vilna governor-general, a position he maintained until his death. A strong supporter of Russification, Levanda oversaw the development of curriculum for state-run Jewish schools. He wrote extensively for Jewish Russian-language periodicals, including Rassvet, Sion, Evreiskaia biblioteka, Russkii evrei, and Voskhod. Initially a vocal proponent of the integration of Jews into Russian culture, he became a fervent supporter of emigration to Palestine following the 1881–1882 pogroms. Levanda’s fiction, which gained popularity among Russian Jewish readers and was translated into Hebrew and Yiddish, was considered stylistically subpar both in its day and by later critics, yet its sophisticated political engagement earned him recognition by contemporaries and later scholars alike. His Seething Times (1871–1873) depicted reactions by Jews to the Polish uprising of 1863.