Ha-Tsefirah (lit. Epoch) was a Hebrew language

Hebrew language

Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...

 newspaper published in 1862 and 1874-1931.

History

The first issue of Ha-Tsefirah appeared in Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

, Congress Poland

Congress Poland

The Kingdom of Poland , informally known as Congress Poland , created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna, was a personal union of the Russian parcel of Poland with the Russian Empire...

, Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

  in 1862, edited by Chaim Selig Slonimski (known by his Hebrew acronym Hazas). Ha-Tsefirah was the first Hebrew paper with an emphasis on the sciences. The paper closed down after six months when Slonimski became principal of the rabbinical seminary in Zhytomyr

Zhytomyr

Zhytomyr is a city in the North of the western half of Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zhytomyr Oblast , as well as the administrative center of the surrounding Zhytomyr Raion...

 and the government began censorship of Hebrew books. It reopened in 1874 in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. In September 1875, it began to be published in Warsaw. Coverage of news and politics was introduced after the First Zionist Congress

First Zionist Congress

The First Zionist Congress was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization held in Basel , Switzerland, from August 29 to August 31, 1897. It was convened and chaired by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement...

. From 1886, the paper began to appear as a daily. The driving spirit behind this change was Slonimski's assistant, Nachum Sokolov who was later appointed editor-in-chief.

Ha-Tsefirah became part of a network of important Hebrew periodicals, among them Ha-Shahar, He-Asif, Ha-Shiloah. Some of the greatest names in early modern Hebrew literature published their work in Ha-Tsefirah, including Mendele Mocher Sforim

Mendele Mocher Sforim

Mendele Mocher Sforim , December 21, 1835 = January 2, 1836 , Kapyl — November 25, 1917 = December 8, 1917...

, Y.L. Peretz and Sholem Aleichem.