ASEFAT ḤAKHAMIM

ASEFAT ḤAKHAMIM (Heb. אֲסֵפַת חֲכָמִים; "Assembly of Sages"), Hebrew socialist monthly founded by M.L. Rodkinson in 1877 and published in Koenigsberg. Asefat Ḥakhamim was the second journal of its kind. It was a successor to A.S. Liebermann 's Ha-Emet ("The Truth") and propagated its ideology with mainly the same contributors. Eight issues were published between October 1877 and October 1878. A reprint of these appeared in one volume in 1967, Asefat Ḥakhamim (Hebrew University Press, Akademon). The prospectus published   in the first issue stated that the journal would deal primarily with the "problem of existence," or the "spoon and fork" dilemma (the problem of earning one's daily bread). M. Winchevsky , who was influenced by Liebermann, assumed active editorship and, under various pseudonyms, contributed most of the literary material appearing in the journal. The socialist and positivist tendency in his writings was inspired by the radical Russian writers D. Pisaryev and N. Chernyshevsky. Winchevsky's chief assistant, E.W. Rabinowitz , wrote a series of articles for the journal on the "Problem of the Workers in the United States." Other contributors included Isaac Kaminer and M.L. Lilienblum. Publication ended after Winchevsky was arrested and expelled from Germany because of his political views. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Winchevsky, Gezamlte Verk, 9 (1927), 182–316; Klausner, Sifrut, 6 (19582), 289–301. (Gedalyah Elkoshi)