Background
He was born on February 25, 1842 in Monastyrshchina, Mogilev Governorate, Russian Empire, to a family who had lived for generations in Smolensk, and had taken the name of the town. His family came from Smolensk. His older brother was seized by the Czar's army and never returned. His father, falsely accused of a crime, was a fugitive for over two years and died when Peretz was eleven. At the age of 12, he left home to study at yeshiva for five years. He began reading secular books and learning Russian under the influence of the Haskalah movement.
Education
Because of false accusations, his father was forced to leave Smolensk and take refuge with his mother’s family. He died when his son was only eleven. Smolenskin had studied with private tutors, but now was taken by an older brother to the Talmudic academy (yeshiva) at Shklov. He was an excellent student and was granted special permission to study Russian, and thus was introduced to the Haskalah (Jewish enlightenment) literature.
Career
In 1858 Smolenskin moved to the yeshiva of the Lubavich Hasidim and then to a Hasidic center at Vitebsk, where lie remained until 1861. He then traveled through southern Russia, where lie lectured in the Jewish agricultural settlements until he reached Odessa in 1862. He spent the next five years studying languages and teaching Hebrew.
It was at Odessa that Smolenskin made his debut in Hebrew literature with a number of articalcs in the journal, Ha-Melilz, including a scathing criticism of Meir Letteris’ translation of Goethe's Faust. His first novel Ha-Gemul (or “The Jews of Warsaw at the Time of the Last Revolt”), describing the participation of Jews in the 1861-1863 Polish uprising against the Russians, appeared in 1867. During this period he also wrote the major part of his first novel Simhal Henef ("The Joy of the Godless”).
In 1867 Smolenskin left Odessa and traveled through Romania, Germany, and Bohemia. He arrived in Vienna in 1868 and lived there until his death, working as a Hebrew teacher and author.
In 1868 Smolenskin established the Hebrew monthly lla-Shahar, which was to play a vital role in the development of Hebrew literature. Almost all the talented Hebrew writers of the time contributed. It had such a tremendous influence that its readers, mainly in Russia, became known as "the generation of Ha-Shahar" ["The Dawn"]. Each issue of the twelve volumes that appeared over a period of seventeen years contained scholarly articles, articles on religious matters, public affairs, and translations of famous works, as well as literary criticism and review's. Smolenskin was both editor and administrator and he was “compelled to work like a slave in order to support himself and keep the journal alive; he deprived himself of sleep and enjoyed no relaxation.” Together with his brother he constantly went on fund-raising tours throughout Europe.
At first Smolenskin set out to criticize the opponents of the enlightenment movement, but he later became an ardent advocate of Jewish nationalism and the Hibbat Zion movement. lla-Shahar met with strong opposition from factions of the Hebrew- reading public. The enlightened opposed it because of Smolenskin’s criticism of the philosophy of Moses Mendelssohn; the Hasidim were against it because of his criticism of Orthodox Jews; the young socialists considered his nationalism reactionary.
Smolcnskin’s major novel Ha-To'eh be-Darkhei ha-Hayyim (“The Wanderer in the Paths of Life”) published in serial form in Ha-Shahar (1868-1871), contained details of his own biography as well as a criticism of Jewish life in both eastern and western Europe. Kevural Humor (“A Donkey’s Burial”; 1873) was a scathing criticism of the internal leadership of the Jewish Pale of Settlement. Gemul ha-Yesharim (“The Reward of the Righteous”; 1875) deals with the maltreatment of the Jews by the Poles and Russians during the 1863 revolt.
In 1874, at the request of the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Austria, Smolenskin spent three months in Romania examining the situation ot the Jews there. His report advocating reforms in Jewish education set off a major controversy. It also provided the basis for his last novel Ha-Yerusha (“The Inheritance” published in Ha-Shahar. 1880-1884). This was the first Jewish sociological novel of the period. Smolenskin also wrote, under a pseudonym, the first Zionist novel in Hebrew liter-ature, Nckam Bent ("Covenant of Revenge”; 1883). The novelist hero turned from assimilation to Zionism, providing a personal confession as to Smolenskin’s return to his people.
Despite failing health, Smolenskin continued his work to the end, completing his last novel on his deathbed. Friends raised funds to send him to health resorts, but to no avail. In 1952 his remains were reinterred on Mount Herzl, Jerusalem.