He should be called Sama'el: Michael Levi Rodkinson—The Life and Literary Career of a Jewish Scoundrel Revisited

Abstract

Michael Levi Rodkinson is an arresting figure. Generally forgotten today, he was, in his time, a controversial, certainly colourful, if reprehensible, individual. Born to a distinguished Hasidic family, and the author or compiler of Hasidic tales, Rodkinson subsequently became a maskil. As such, he edited early Hebrew radical journals, wrote works that, in the guise of explaining, challenged traditional Jewish beliefs, and later undertook the first major English translation of the Talmud. This article revisits Rodkinson's life, varied literary output, and the criticism of his detractors, who may be said to have hounded him. His influence is to be discerned in his earliest work, that is, the Hasidic tales, from which Rodkinson later distanced himself.