he published his work _Efes Damim_,
"No Blood!" (Vilna, 1837), [1] in the form of a dialogue between a Jewish
sage and a Greek-Orthodox patriarch in Jerusalem.

[Footnote 1: With a clever allusion to the geographic name Ephes-dammim,
I Sam. 17. 1.]

Somewhat later Levinsohn wrote other apologetic treatises, defending the
Talmud against the attacks contained in the book _Netibot 'Olam_ [1]
published in 1839 by the London missionary M'Caul. Levinsohn's great
apologetic work _Zerubbabel_, which appeared several years after his
death, was equally dedicated to the defence of the Talmud. It has,
moreover, considerable scientific merit, being one of the first research
works in the domain of talmudic theology. A number of other publications
by Levinsohn deal with Hebrew philology and lexicography. All these
efforts support Levinsohn's claim to the title of Founder of a modern
Jewish Science in Russia, though his scholarly achievements cannot be
classed with those of his German and Galician fellow-writers, such as
Rapoport, Zunz, Jost and Geiger.

[Footnote 1: "Old Paths," with reference to Jer. 6. 16.]

Levinsohn stood entirely aloof from the propaganda of bureaucratic
enlightenment which was carried on by Lilienthal in the name of Uvarov.
The Volhynian hermit was completely overshadowed by the energetic young
German. Even when Lilienthal, after realizing that a union between
Jewish culture and Russian officialdom was altogether unnatural, had
disappeared from the stage, Levinsohn still persisted in cultivating his
relations with the Government. But by that time the bureaucrats of St.
Petersburg had no more use for the Jewish friends of enlightenment.
Broken in health, chained to his bed for half a lifetime, without means
of subsistence, lonely amidst a hostile orthodox environment, Levinsohn
time and again addressed to St. Petersburg humiliating appeals for
monetary assistance, occasionally receiving small pittances, which were
booked under the heading "Relief in Distress," accepted subventions from
various Jewish Maecenases, and remained a pauper till the end of his
life. The pioneer of modern culture among Russian Jews, the founder of
Neo-Hebraic literature, spent his life in the midst of a realm of
darkness, shunned like an outcast, appreciated by a mere handful of
sympathizers. It was only after his death that he was crowned with
laurels, when the intellectuals of Russian Jewry were beginning to press
forward in close