Samuel Peltyn

Samuel Henryk Peltyn was born in Mariampol in Russian Poland (today in Lithuania) to a traditional family who allowed him to study maskilic and secular texts outside of heder. In 1853, after publishing a Polish grammar (for Yiddish readers), Peltyn moved to Warsaw and began his career as a journalist. In 1866, he founded Izraelita, a Polish-language Jewish newspaper that worked to acculturate, reform, and effectively Polonize its Jewish readership. Peltyn also worked to Polonize (and thus de-Germanize) the liturgy at the Warsaw Reform Temple, where he was an active member. He advocated for the use of musical instruments, liturgical reform, and increases in secular music in the synagogue, often discussing this subject in his newspaper. He wrote under the pseudonym Judaita.