Background
He was born in Satanov, Podolia, where he had a traditional Jewish education supplemented by studies in science, mathematics,and medieval philosophy.
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Menachem Lefin
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In the early 1780s he lived in Berlin, where he met Moses Mendelssohn and other Haskalah leaders. He was later introduced to Prince Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, and became a tutor to Czartoryski"s children in Podolia. He spent most of his life living in Galicia, and had great influence on Nachman Krochmal and Joseph Perl.
Levin died in Tarnopol in 1826.
Among his writings are:
Sefer Makhkimat Peti ("Book of the Enlightening of the Foolish"), no longer extant. Der Ershter Khosid ("The First Hasid"), no longer extant.
Moda la-Binah (Berlin, 1789), which encouraged East European Jews to study natural sciences and medicine
Masot ha-Yam (Zolkiew, 1818. Lemberg, 1859), a translation of Campe"s travel book
A translation of Maimonides" Guide for the Perplexed (Zolkiew, 1829), written in easy-to-read Mishnaic Hebrew
Elon Moreh, an introduction to the Guide for the Perplexed (Odessa, 1867)
Sefer Kohelet (Odessa, 1873.
Vilna, 1930), a Yiddish translation of Ecclesiastes
Essai d"un plan de réforme ayant pour objet d"eclairer la nation juive en Pologne et de redresser par là ses moeurs (1791-1792).
