Löb Nevakhovich
Encyclopedia
Löb Nevakhovich, or Lev Nikolayevich (Leib ben Noach) Nevakhovich ' onMouseout='HidePop("14352")' href="/topics/Letychiv">Letychiv
, Podolia
– , Saint Petersburg
), was Jewish
Russia
n writer and one of the first maskilim
in Russia. Nevakhovich was friend and protégé of Abram Peretz. He went to St. Petersburg toward the end of Catherine II
's reign, and engaged in commercial pursuits, then turned to literature. He was among the first Russian Jews to gain a mastery of the Russian language, starting with translations from German
, Hebrew
and Swedish
. Nevakhovich was a linguist, a student of philosophy, and an ardent admirer of Moses Mendelssohn
. Nevakhovich held patriotic views regarding both his Jewish heritage and the Russian Empire, expressing his gratitude for opportunities of growth. He also was optimistic in regard to the future of the Jews and assumed that they would be granted greater liberty. In 1806 Nevakhovich was baptized into the Lutheran Church (Russian Orthodox according to other sources). In 1817 he moved to Warsaw
where he started working for the Ministry of Finance. In 1831 he returned to St. Petersburg in order to mount one of his plays on the stage, but he died before he could accomplish his purpose. Nevakhovich is interred on Volkovo Cemetery
in St. Petersburg.
In 1804, Nevakhovich published Perepiska Dvukh Prosvyeschonnykh Druzei (Russian for Correspondence of Two Enlightened Friends); other writings followed in 1805 and 1806. He became close to Prince Alexander Shakhovskoy, a dramatist. Nevakhovich's play Sulioty ili Spartantzy XVIII Vyeka (Russian for Sulliots, or Spartans of the 18th century) was successfully produced at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg in 1809, and was performed before the emperor in October of the same year. His Mech Pravosudiya (Russian for The Sword of Justice) was put on the stage after his death in 1831.
Letychiv
Letychiv is a town in the eastern part of Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. 51 km from Khmelnytskyi and 33 km from the railway station Derazhnya. Administrative center since Tsarist times, formerly in Podolia Province. Population: 11,081 inhabitants . There are brickworks, dairy,...
, Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
– , Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
), was Jewish
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n writer and one of the first maskilim
Haskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
in Russia. Nevakhovich was friend and protégé of Abram Peretz. He went to St. Petersburg toward the end of Catherine II
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
's reign, and engaged in commercial pursuits, then turned to literature. He was among the first Russian Jews to gain a mastery of the Russian language, starting with translations from German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
. Nevakhovich was a linguist, a student of philosophy, and an ardent admirer of Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn
Moses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
. Nevakhovich held patriotic views regarding both his Jewish heritage and the Russian Empire, expressing his gratitude for opportunities of growth. He also was optimistic in regard to the future of the Jews and assumed that they would be granted greater liberty. In 1806 Nevakhovich was baptized into the Lutheran Church (Russian Orthodox according to other sources). In 1817 he moved to Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
where he started working for the Ministry of Finance. In 1831 he returned to St. Petersburg in order to mount one of his plays on the stage, but he died before he could accomplish his purpose. Nevakhovich is interred on Volkovo Cemetery
Volkovo Cemetery
The Volkovo Cemetery , is one of the largest and oldest non- Orthodox cemeteries in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Until the early 20th century it was one of the main burial grounds for Lutheran Germans in Russia...
in St. Petersburg.
Works
Nevakhovich, with his friends Abram Peretz and Noah Notkin, made a determined effort to secure recognition for the Jews of Russia. Under the title Vopl' Dshcheri Iudeiskoi (Russian for Lament of the Daughter of Israel) he wrote an urgent appeal to the people of Russia, calling upon them to show a spirit of tolerance and justice toward Jews. In this appeal he shows how the Jewish people have been maligned, and insists that the Jewish religion tends to produce good men and good citizens: "For centuries, the Jews have been accused by the peoples of the earth. They have been accused of witchcraft, of irreligion, of superstition... All their actions were interpreted to their disadvantage, and whenever they were discovered to be innocent their accusers raised against them new accusations... I swear that the Jew who preserves his religion undefiled can be neither a bad man nor a bad citizen."In 1804, Nevakhovich published Perepiska Dvukh Prosvyeschonnykh Druzei (Russian for Correspondence of Two Enlightened Friends); other writings followed in 1805 and 1806. He became close to Prince Alexander Shakhovskoy, a dramatist. Nevakhovich's play Sulioty ili Spartantzy XVIII Vyeka (Russian for Sulliots, or Spartans of the 18th century) was successfully produced at the Imperial Theater in St. Petersburg in 1809, and was performed before the emperor in October of the same year. His Mech Pravosudiya (Russian for The Sword of Justice) was put on the stage after his death in 1831.
Descendants
- Son Michael Nevakhovich (1817–1850) after pursuing military career left it in rank of Rittmeister and started publishing drawings and comical illustrations later becoming an editor of the first Russian comic paperComicsComics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
Yeralash. - Son Alexander Nevakhovich (1819–1880) became manager of theatrical department and was associated with theatrical director Gedeonov; Alexander's son Nicholas became an officer in the Russian Navy.
- Daughter Emilia was the mother of NobelNobel Prize in Physiology or MedicineThe Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine administered by the Nobel Foundation, is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the field of life science and medicine. It is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will...
laureate scientist Ilya Ilyich MechnikovIlya Ilyich MechnikovIlya Ilyich Mechnikov was a Russian biologist, zoologist and protozoologist, best remembered for his pioneering research into the immune system. Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908, shared with Paul Ehrlich, for his work on phagocytosis...
.