Marcus Lehmann

Born in Verden, Germany to an Orthodox family that accepted certain forms of modernization, Marcus (Meir) Lehmann studied in Azriel Hildesheimer’s Halberstadt yeshiva after finishing gymnasium. Following his doctoral studies in Halle, Lehmann was appointed preacher of the newly established Mainz Religionsgesellschaft, an Orthodox community established in opposition to Reform Judaism. In 1860, Lehmann founded the weekly Der Israelit newspaper, which advocated for German Orthodoxy against the growing Reform and other Jewish modernist movements. Lehmann published short stories, novels, numerous essays, a commentary on Talmud Yerushalmi tractate Berakhot (1874), biblical commentary, and a Haggadah (published posthumously, 1918). His historical novels and romances—for which he became one of the most popular German writers on Jewish themes in the late nineteenth century—bespeak a romantic investment in history as the basis of Jewish nationhood, particularly emphasizing the Spanish “golden age” as a source of Jewish pride and positive role models while simultaneously embracing the Torah im derekh erets ideal of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch. Lehmann’s books were translated into many languages, including Yiddish, Hebrew, English, and Judeo-Arabic.