To the Chronicles of the Jews in Russia, Poland and Lithuania by Ben Zion Katz, 1899, in Hebrew, Berlin

To the Chronicles of the Jews in Russia, Poland and Lithuania by Ben Zion Katz, 1899, in Hebrew, Berlin
"Ahiasaf" Publishing House, 64 pp., soft cover, 21.3 x 13.5 cm.
Condition: cover worn, stained, cmissing corner to rear cover; spine damaged, binding started getting loose; most of pages with some foxong
A pioneering essay by the historian Ben Zion Katz, which reviews the history of the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. From the introduction: "The Chronicles of the Jews in Russia, Poland and Lithuania, All your needs have not yet been clarified, the full is still great... and this book is material compiled from the books of the rabbis, especially questions and answers." Contains a special focus on the governments' relationship to the Jews and the history of the expulsions and persecutions.
Ben Zion Katz (December 18, 1875 – February 2, 1958) was a journalist, writer and historian, winner of the Sokolov Prize.
Ben Zion Katz was a son of Lithuanian Jewry, from the city of Daug. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were rabbis. When he reached the mitzvot, he was already well versed in Shas and Poskim. Even in his youth, he published a series of articles in "Hatzifira", in which he argued with rabbis regarding the prohibition and permissibility of slaughter. The great rabbis of that time reacted to his words without realizing that the controversial bar was 17 years old. In the yeshiva they crowned him with the title "The Elevation of Worry".
Baron David Ginzburg, who was an Orientalist, and Prof. Daniel Havolson, who was an expert in Semitic languages and the history of Eastern cultures, invited him to move to Petersburg, the capital of Russia at the time, in order to participate in the preparation of a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud. Katz did not attend gymnasium and did not have a matriculation certificate, but with the help of Havolson he entered the University of St. Petersburg as a free listener. A short time later he published a book on the history of Russian Jewry, Poland and Lithuania, for which he received the Leon Rosenthal Literary Award on behalf of the Haskalah Publishers Company, and began In his study of the Sadducees and the Pharisees.
In Petersburg, Katz met with scientists, politicians, as well as with writers, businessmen and Jewish lawyers who fought against the decrees of the tsarist regime for the civil rights of the Jews in Russia.
A Jewish journalist in Tsarist Russia
In 1903, while in St. Petersburg, Katz entered the world of journalism. His first important achievement was obtaining a license to publish a newspaper in the Hebrew language in St. Petersburg. "Hazman" began to appear in St. Petersburg initially twice a week, and later as a daily newspaper. In its pages, Katz published attack articles against the government Russia and accused it of organizing the Chisinau riots. "Hasman" published for the first time "Masa Nemirov" by Haim Nachman Bialik, in which Bialik expressed his feelings after the pogrom (the name "Masa Nemirov" was given to the work in consideration of waiving the tsarist censorship. Later the poem was published under the well-known name "In the City of Killing"). A few years later, Katz moved "Hazman" to Vilnius.
After the "Zaman" newspaper moved to Vilna, Katz published two historical publications. Above the pages of his newspaper he published the "Vyborg Proclamation", which the deputies of the first Duma issued after the Tsar disbanded it. In the proclamation, they called on the Russian masses to rise up against the regime. Katz did this one day One before the announcement appeared in the Russian press. The same is the case with the 1905 constitution: its content was published by Katz the day before it appeared in the Russian press. The Russian press copied the content of this historical document from Katz's Hebrew newspaper. Due to the publication of the "Vyborg Proclamation" he spent a year in prison in Gori-Gorky.
At the trial Baylis assisted the defense. He convinced the Russian prosecutors that the government's "expert", Reverend Parientis, who appeared at the blood plot trial as a judge in the Shas, was in fact a complete ignoramus. He suggested asking him, accept with a committee: when did Baba live in Tara? Oskar Grosenberg opposed this proposal because he was afraid that Farientis knew that "Baba Batra" is the name of a treatise in the Talmud, and this could have a negative effect on the course of the trial. When Farientis was asked anyway, "When did Baba Batra live?" he replied that he did not know. Katz's laughter could be heard in the press stand, and therefore the head of the court was removed from The hall for several meetings.
In the land of Israel
In 1929, Katz immigrated to Israel and began writing for Haaretz. He later left the newspaper and was one of the founders of HaBoker, while at the same time he continued to send articles to the Morgan Journal, a Yiddish newspaper in the United States.
During the Haim Arlozorov murder trial, his position was contrary to the general trend. Katz did not believe that the defendants - Avraham Stavsky and Zvi Rosenblatt - did indeed commit the murder, and worked to prove their innocence. Prof. Yosef Klausner wrote about this act in the "HaMskif" newspaper:
What Katz did during the Arlozorov murder trial will never be forgotten, just as what Emil Zola did during the Dreyfus trial will never be forgotten. Indeed, Zola's right to sue for insulting a Jew is great, because from the beginning he also considered him a traitor in France, and it was difficult for him To fight the aggressive military gang of his people for a son of a people foreign to him. But in the end many were with him and fought by his side. However, the war of Ben Zion Katz was doubly difficult as he was forced to fight a ruling party for a persecuted party, which almost the entire settlement would start against - and there is no helper. And there is no supporter...and he received his "punishment". Since then, his situation as a writer and journalist has weakened. Hatred and contempt surrounded him from almost every side. The coats of scumbags were cast on him and his newspapers and articles were secretly and openly confiscated. And yet we didn't give up and fought until the end..."
In the years 1938-1940 he published and edited the newspaper "News". Katz assured the readers that the newspaper is intended "for the public without partisan bias, who seeks the truth without bias. 'News' made it his goal to arouse the public, the one who is not perceived to be excessively partisan, to take steps as far as possible, so that the division does not grow in the settlement. To the question - another new daily newspaper in Israel - the readers will find an answer."
In his last years, Katz returned to his scientific pursuits. He published the book "Sadducees, Pharisees, Zealots, Christians" and another book called "Rabbins, Hassidism, Haskalah", and from time to time he continued to voice his opinions over the daily press.
He died in 1958 and was buried in the Nachalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv