Jacob Samuel Bick

A journalist, satirist, biographer, and translator from a wealthy commercial family in Brody, Galicia, Jacob Samuel (Ya‘akov Shemu’el) Bick was initially a follower of the Haskalah. He advocated changes in education and business, and initially satirized Hasidic practices (apparent in his “Ḥezyone hitul,” published in the 1820s), and encouraged the promotion of Yiddish. Though initially critical of Hasidism, Bick ultimately abandoned the Haskalah. He died in a cholera epidemic in Brody, and many of his manuscripts did not survive the Brody fire of 1835.