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[German Version] (Nov 6, 1814, Munich, Germany – Apr 5, 1882, Cincinnati, OH), rabbi and educator. From 1841 to 1845, Lilienthal worked for the Russian ministry of education and played a leading role in the elaboration of a plan to reform the Jewish education system in the Russian Empire. The conservative majority of the Russian Jews strongly opposed this project, which favored a secular upbringing. In 1846, he became a rabbi, and later director of a Jewish school in New York. From 1855 to 1882, L…

[German Version] I. General Russia (Russ. Rossiya) has been known by that name only since the early 18th century (Peter the Great). Previously the name Rus’ had been in common use; the earliest documents used it to designate both the land and its people. The origin of the term Rus’, a feminine singular noun, is disputed; etymologically it most likely derives from Finnish Ruotsi (“Sweden”). The historical and geographical heartland of Russia can be defined as the territory of the upper Dvina, the upper Volga, and the upper and middle Dnieper. The southern step…