Lament of the Daughter of Judah

An author, playwright, translator, and philosopher, Lev (Yehudah Leib) Nevakhovich was one of the first maskilim in the Russian Empire. He was employed by the government as a translator of Hebrew documents and as an expert on Jewish affairs. Nevakhovich sat on Tsar Alexander I’s so-called Jewish Committee, a body that sought to regulate and define the place of the Jews within the empire. For the purposes of this committee, Nevakhovich penned his famous Vopl’ dshcheri iudeiskoi (Lament of the Daughter of Judah). In typical Enlightenment fashion, this work sought to prove the Jews’ utility in society as loyal citizens while in turn arguing for religious tolerance. Dismayed by the direction of Russian policies toward Jews, Nevakhovich later left Jewish topics behind and focused his writing on philosophy and drama. He converted to Christianity in 1806, a move that did much to discredit the Haskalah among the Russian Jewish public. He later moved to Warsaw, where he worked as a civil servant and translator.