The Love of Zion

Abraham (Avraham) Mapu, the first Hebrew novelist, was born in Slobodka near Kovno and was known as a brilliant Talmud scholar. He studied Latin, modern languages and literature, and Hebrew grammar on his own. While living apart from his family and working as a tutor, he began following the Haskalah, becoming one of its major figures in Eastern Europe due to his popular and widely translated novels. His fiction combined European romanticism with works set in ancient Israel, influencing both maskilic writers and Zionists. Mapu also wrote several language textbooks. In his later years he struggled with poverty, infirmity, and censorship.