A pogrom in Odessa in 1871 shakes…

A pogrom in Odessa in 1871 shakes but does not destroy the beliefs of Leo Pinsker, who has maintained a deep interest in Jewish community affairs  while conducting a medical practice in Odessa.

The Russian-Polish physician hadjoined the Society for the Promotion of Culture Among the Jews of Russia, an assimilationist organization founded in 1863 by Joseph and Horace Günzburg, wealthy Russian Jews who have contributed much to the industrialization of nineteenth-century Russia and who have successfully fought some of the discriminatory measures against Jews in Russia.

Pinsker is an advocate of secular education for Jews and the translation of the Bible and Hebrew prayer books into Russian.