[Illustration: MAX LILIENTHAL, 1815-1882]

Towering above all the disciples of the Gaon, the most outspoken in
behalf of enlightenment is Manasseh of Ilye (1767-1831). At a very early
age he attracted the attention of Talmudists by his originality and
boldness. In his unflinching determination to get at the truth, he did
not shrink from criticising Rashi and the _Shulhan 'Aruk_, and dared to
interpret some parts of the Mishnah differently from the explanation
given in the Gemara. With all his admiration for the Gaon, but for whom,
he claimed, the Torah would have been forgotten, he also had points of
sympathy with the Hasidim, for whose leader, Shneor Zalman of Ladi, he
had the highest respect. Like many of his contemporaries, he determined
to go to Berlin. He started on his way, but was stopped at Königsberg by
some orthodox coreligionists, and compelled to return to Russia. This
did not prevent his perfecting himself in German, Polish, natural
philosophy, mechanics, and even strategics. On the last subject he wrote
a book, which was burnt by his friends, "lest the Government suspect
that Jews are making preparations for war!" But it is not so much his
Talmudic or secular scholarship that makes him interesting to us to-day.
His true greatness is revealed by his attempts, the first made in his
generation perhaps, to reconcile the Hasidim with the Mitnaggedim, and
these in turn with the Maskilim. He spoke a good word for manual labor,
and proved from the Talmud that burdensome laws should be abolished. His
_Pesher Dabar_ (Vilna, 1807) and _Alfe Menasheh_ (ibid., 1827, 1860) are
monuments to the advanced views of the author. In the Hebrew literature
of his time, they are equalled only by the _'Ammude Bet Yehudah_ and the
_Hekal 'Oneg_ of Doctor Hurwitz.[15]

This short period of enlightenment and tolerance, inaugurated by a
semblance of equality, indicates the native optimism of the Slavonic