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Life:Lwów-Berlin-Kraków
aboutwasNationalandZionistideas.52InMikraKodeshthestudentshad
classesalsoinhardsciences,Germanlanguage,Jewishhistory,Hebrew
language,andHebrewliteratureoftheMiddleAges.Theteacherofmodern
HebrewliteraturewastheHebrewwriterRe’uvenAsherBraude,towhom
ThonandEhrenpreisbecameattachedandspenttogetherlonghours.53
PolishliteraturewastaughtbytheartistandpublicactivistAlfredNossig.54
EhrenpreisnotedthatMikraKodeshwasthebridgebetweentheTalmudic
worldandthegeneralculture.55Itisinterestingtonotethatinhismemoirs
ThonexpressedreservationanddistancefromMikraKodesh.Henamedit
a“strangeassociation”withastrangecompositionofmembersandastrange
namethateventoday(whenhewrotehismemoir),hecouldnotunderstand.
ThonrememberedJosephKobakwithappreciation:hewasawisemanwith
greatknowledge,especiallyofJudaicstudies,butThonaddedthatwhen
KobakreturnedtoLwówandestablishedMikraKodeshhewasalready
anoldandbrokenmansohecouldnotdoreallymuch.Thon’sattitude
towardstheassociationwasskeptical,althoughsomeworthyteacherswere
thereheconcluded“wewereinMikraKodeshforawhile,tillwefoundit
unattractive,andinaddition,wedidnotlearntheremuch.”56
Withtime,theyoungactivists,ledbyThon,Ehrenpreis,andBraude,
wereuncomfortablewiththeassociationandwantedtochangeitintoan
organizationwhichwouldexpressmorestronglytheirnationalaspirations.
TheyfeltthatEuropeanculturewasopenforthem,butdidnotwantto
resigntheirJewishcultureandwantedtointensifythenationalelementin
theirJewishidentity.Therefore,theydecidedtoestablishanewassociation,
andthatishowZioncameintolifein1888.Then,theydidnotknow,
asEhrenpreiswrote,thattheywereoneofthefirsttostarttheZionist
52Braude,“Zikhronotavshel,”78.
53Thon,“Demuyotmi-Lvov,”378.
54Gelber,Toldotha-tenu’a,96.AbouttheextremelyintriguingfigureAlfredNossigsee:
ShmuelAlmog,“Hayavu-motoshelAlfredNossig,”YahadutZmanenu,2(1985):73-98;Ezra
Mendelsohn,“WilhelmFeldmanve-AlfredNossig:hitbolelutve-tsiyonutbi-Lvov,”Gal-Ed,
2(1975),89-111;ShoshanaRonen,“Kitveyetivri’imbe-Varshabe-mifneha-me’ot:Beyn
ha-le’umiyutha-ivritla-svivaha-polanit,”inHistoryamitnageshetve-kiyummeshutaf,edited
byDanielBlatman,(Jerusalem:TheHebrewUniversityMagnesPress,2014),162-167;
ElaBauer,“AlfredNossig,”YIVOEncyclopediaofJewsinEasternEurope,vol.II,1274.
55Ehrenpreis,Beynmizrah,25.
56Thon,“Demuyotmi-Lvov,”367-369.