(Ovadiah ben Petachiah). Sepher Megaleh Temirin [satirical letters-Anti-Chassidic polemic]

PERL, JOSEPH.

M. J. Poremba

Lemberg

1864

Second edition.

Friedberg, Mem 498

Perl was a leading figure in the genisis of the Galacian Haskalah Movement. He vigorously opposed Chassidism, both on the political front by incessant denunciatory notes to government officials, and in the literary sphere by means of parody. Perl’s principal work, this ficticious body of 151 letters, presents a myriad of sinister plots, demeaning Chassidic philosophy and practices by ‘revealing’ their strategems and machinations for power, influence and material gain. Writen pseudonymously, the style of the letters is a parody of Shivchei Ha’BeSH”T, a mixture of corrupted Hebrew filled with Yiddishisms and Slavisims. For a full biographical treatment of this champion of the Galacian Haskalah Movement; see I. Zinberg, vol. IX, pp.238-42.