aphy, and grammar. Two more years and the university will
be opened to him, and he will read law, and defend the honor of his
people. But in the midst of his ceaseless toil the spectre of his simple
wife and his former innocent life appears before him and "will not
down." Is Haskalah worth the sacrifices he and his like are daily
bringing on its altar? Is not the materialism of the emancipated
Maskilim often greater than the medievalism of the fanatical Hasidim? In
his native town, gloomy as it was, there was at least the glow of
sincerity. Haskalah had to be snatched by stealth, but it was sweeter
because thus snatched. In Odessa, where the fruit of the tree of
knowledge could be obtained for the asking, it turned into the apples of
Sodom. The "lishmah" ideal, the love of culture for its own sake,
yielded to the greed which changes everything into a commodity to profit
by. Yet, since life demands it, what a pity that his early training had
incapacitated him from following the beaten path! He concludes his
self-indictment thus, "I have taken an inventory of the business of my
life, and I am heartbroken, because I find that in striking the balance
there remains on the credit side only a cipher!"

But the tide of Haskalah was not to be stemmed. The "blessed heritage of
noble passion," the burning desire for enlightenment and improvement
asserted itself at all hazards. The note of despair was lost in the call
for action. Odessa continued to be in the forefront. There technical
institutes for boys and girls were established in addition to the
previously existing public schools. A society by the name of Trud
(Labor) was organized (October 11, 1864), for the purpose of teaching
useful trades. Its school has ever since been the crown of the
institutions of the sort. It was provided with the most modern
improvements, a workshop for mechanics and an iron foundry, and it
offered a post-graduate course. A similar trade school (remeslenoye
uchilishche) had been in existence since May 1, 1862, in Zhitomir,
where, besides geometry, mechanics, chemistry, physics, etc.,
instruction was given in carpentry, turning, tin, copper, and blacksmith
work.[9] Through the efforts of Rabbi Solomon Zalkind Minor a Sabbath
School and a Night School for artisans were opened in Minsk (1861), and
a reference and circulating library for the general public (1863), and
similar educational institutions were soon called into existence in many
other cities.