Eliezer Zweifel

Eliezer Zweifel (1815–1888) () was a Russian-Jewish writer who was associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement ("haskalah"). Zweifel's writings on Hasidic Judaism was considered favorable toward the movement. His book "Shalom al Yisrael" is believed to be one the earliest academic works on the Hasidic movement.
Biography.
Eliezer Zweifel was raised in the Mogilev region of White Russia. While in his twenties, Zweifel moved to Odessa, where for sixteen years he worked as a religious preacher and a tutor. From 1853 to 1873, Zweifel was appointed as a Talmud teacher at Beth Midrash L'Rabbanim in Zhitomir, an institution associated with the Jewish Enlightenment movement ("haskalah"). Zweifel's writings often contained anti-Haskalah statements, and drew criticism from other Haskalah authors including Mendele Mokher Sefarim. Zweifel authored a number of books and contributed dozens of essays to the Jewish periodicals of his time.