This volume publishes for the first time an untitled anti-Hasidic manuscript, which the editors have called Reshit Hokhmah (The Origin/Beginning of Wisdom), from the Joseph Perl Archive in Tarnopol. The manuscript was copied in 1819, the year that Perl’s Megale Temirin was published. It is housed today in the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem. The identity of the author is unknown, but he probably came from Galicia and was associated with Mitnagdim and Maskilim. The book expresses harsh and detailed criticism of the hagiographic work, Shivhei ha -Besht (In Praise of the Baal Shem Tov, Kapost 1815), which is the first extensive engagement with this book. Moreover, the work is erudite and anticipates the views of Isaac Baer Levinson in his work Te‘udah be-Yisrael (A Warning to Israel, Vilna and Grodno 1828). The manuscript was read by many Maskilim in Galicia and it seems to have influenced both Joseph Perl and Isaac Baer Levinson. This work is therefore of great importance as an example of anti-Hasidic literature, which influenced nineteenth-century Haskalah literature. A transcription of the manuscript is presented in this volume, accompanied by explanatory notes, references to literature that influenced the author, references to anti-Hasidic literature, and an introduction that describes the character of the work and its reception.

Shmuel Yosef Agnon, born in Poland in 1888, is one of the central figures in Modern Hebrew literature. His concern as an author for the historical past of the Jews of Poland and for all aspects of the relationships between Jews and Poles is inherently woven into his writings. This monograph is a revised and expanded version of an article entitled, "Between Historical Reality and Literary Fantasy – Polish-Jewish Relations in the writings of S.Y. Agnon", which was first published in Hebrew in Gal-Ed XI (1989), pp. 109-160. The text was translated by Ora Wiskind. For ease of reference all titles of Agnon's work quoted in the text appear in transliterated form; the original Hebrew titles and translations are included. The illustrations present in the text are from the "Yad Agnon" collection.

Abraham Mapu was a Russian Hebrew novelist; born near Kovno in 1808 and died at Königsberg in 1867. Mapu introduced the novel into Hebrew literature. His early education in Bible and Talmud was received at the ḥeder. At the age of twelve, he continued the study of the Talmud in private, and was so successful that he soon acquired the name of "'Illui". Moved thereto by his own poetical and impulsive disposition and influenced by his father, Jekuthiel, himself a mystic and cabalist, Mapu took up, at the age of fifteen, the study of Kabbalah. Mapu later studied Talmud and Kabbalah with Elijah Kalisher (Ragoler), rabbi at Slobodka (Mapu's birthplace). In Kalisher's house he found a copy of the Psalms with a Latin translation, and this awakened within him a desire to study Latin, which he did from that translation. A better opportunity to study Latin presented itself when he formed the acquaintance of a Catholic priest while teaching in a country school; and he made such good progress in the language that he wrote a book in Latin. Ma'oz Ẓur. From this time dates Mapu's devotion to secular studies, particularly to languages and literatures, which he pursued henceforth assiduously. In the forties he moved with his family to Rossieny, government of Kovno; there he became acquainted with the scholar Senior Sachs, who greatly heightened his love for ancient Hebrew history and literature and for the beauties of Biblical diction, of which Mapu made later such good use in his romances. A few years later he became teacher in the house of Apatov Parnes at Vilnius, and then was appointed teacher of Jewish religion and German at the gymnasium of Kovno. His first work is the novel "Love of Zion", published in Vilna in 1853. This first novel of Hebrew literature in the 19th century, introduced the world of the Bible and glamor of Israel during the First Temple. The book "Love of Zion" made a strong impression and was translated to several languages: Yiddish, German, English, Russian, Ladino, classical Arabic, and more.

This volume presents a multi-colored picture of narrative art in Hebrew literature throughout the ages. Each of the 12 articles collected illustrates some stage of the development of the types of Hebrew narrative prose in its different periods, from biblical literature through the talmudic-midrashic and medieval eras till modern times.