Mikhail Morgulis

Mikhail Morgulis was a Russian Jewish writer and activist. Educated as a rabbi at the state-run rabbinical seminary in Zhitomir, Morgulis later settled in Odessa, where he became deeply involved in projects related to Jewish Enlightenment, education, and reform as a member of the city’s branch of the Society for the Promotion of Culture among the Jews of Russia. Morgulis wrote extensively on the “Jewish Question” and political matters in Jewish and general Russian periodicals, including Rassvet and Den’. While an early supporter of Jewish settlement in Palestine, he then opposed political Zionism. In his writings, Morgulis fought against antisemitism, encouraged the development of Yiddish literature and culture, opposed the Hebraization of Jewish schools, and promoted the synthesis of traditional Judaism with universalist principles. His memoirs were published in the journals Voskhod and Evreiskii mir.