Shteinberg Aharon (Steinberg, Aaron; 1891, Dvinsk, Vitebsk Governorate, now Daugavpils, Latvia – 1975, London), Russian-Jewish philosopher, man of letters, public figure. Born into a prosperous and enlightened family that observed Jewish traditions. Shteinberg's mother was a sister of I. I. Elyashev (see Ba'al-Makhashavot). Shteinberg received both a traditional Jewish and a secular education. In 1904–1907 he studied at a gymnasium (in Pernov, now Pärnu, Estonia), then studied law and philosophy at Heidelberg University, where in 1913 he received his doctorate. At the same time he studied the Talmud and rabbinical literature under a private teacher.
From childhood he wrote poetry in Russian and in Hebrew. In 1911, on the recommendation of V. Bryusov, who had seen Shteinberg's poems in manuscript, Shteinberg became a contributor to the philosophy section of the journal «Russkaya Mysl.» In 1912 a series of articles was published in the «Journal of the Ministry of Justice» (on the methodology of jurisprudence), as well as in various anthologies, including the anthology «Znamya» (1912). Shteinberg's articles in Russian publications were devoted to Russian revolutionary thinkers (A. Herzen, P. Lavrov), new movements in art, the poetry of A. Blok, and so on.
Politically, Shteinberg was close to the Russian Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries. During the First World War Shteinberg was interned in Germany and returned to Russia in 1918. He was one of the leaders of the Institute of Higher Jewish Learning in Petrograd, where he taught the history of Jewish philosophy; a member of the Society for the Spread of Enlightenment among Jews in Russia and of the Jewish Historical-Ethnographic Society. Together with A. Blok, A. Bely, and R. Ivanov-Razumnik, Shteinberg was a founder of the Free Philosophical Association (Volphila) in Petrograd; within its framework he led a seminar on I. Kant and gave lectures on the history of philosophy, including Jewish philosophy. In 1919, in connection with the Cheka's repressions against the Party of Left Socialist-Revolutionaries — in whose publications articles by Volphila members had appeared — Shteinberg was arrested and found himself in the same cell as A. Blok, but was soon released.
In 1922–34 Shteinberg lived in Berlin; from 1934 until the end of his life — in England. He contributed to publications in Yiddish («Dos Freye Velt,» «Freye Shriftn,» «Morgen Zhurnal»), in German («Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft,» «Der Jude»), and in Russian («Skify,» «Versty»). Shteinberg's principal work during this period was the translation from Russian into German of S. Dubnov's «General History of the Jewish People» (vols. 1–10, Berlin, 1925–29).
A philosophical analysis of the work of F. M. Dostoyevsky — whom Shteinberg regarded as «the national philosopher of Russia» — was the subject of «The System of Freedom in Dostoyevsky» (written in Russian; Berlin, 1923), which grew out of a paper delivered at Volphila. In the journal «Skify» (No. 3, 1928) Shteinberg's article «Dostoyevsky and the Jews» was published, analyzing the contradictory attitude of the writer toward the Jewish people — conditioned by Russian messianism and not reducible to vulgar antisemitism. In the play «Dostoyevsky in London: A Tale in Four Acts» (Berlin, 1932) Shteinberg sets the Russian prophet-writer face to face with his contemporaries — A. Herzen, K. Marx, F. Lassalle. Later he published «Dostoyevsky» in English (London, 1960).
Shteinberg's Jewish self-consciousness found vivid expression in his «Reply to L. P. Karsavin» — the Russian «Eurasian» philosopher with whom Shteinberg had been on friendly terms, published in «Versty» (No. 3, 1928). Shteinberg decisively rejected the idea of «the conversion of Israel» to Christianity as «betrayal of the Father,» defended from unjust charges not only the «core» of the Jewish people but also its «periphery,» and articulated his view of Jewish culture as a «radioactive substance» — eternally disintegrating yet indecomposable in its essence.
In 1931 Shteinberg became one of the founders of the Dubnov Foundation and a member of the editorial board of the «Algemeyne Entsiklopedye» (Paris—New York, 1934–66). He contributed articles on Jewish history and religious thought, and was also editor of the collection «Semyon Dubnov: The Man and His Work» (Paris, 1963). From the mid-1930s Shteinberg worked closely with the World Jewish Congress; in 1948–68 he headed its cultural department; in 1945–67 he was its official representative to UNESCO. He also contributed to the work of YIVO and the Institute for Jewish Affairs in London. In the late 1960s he dictated his memoirs, published in Russian as «Friends of My Early Years (1911–1928)» (Paris, 1991), containing portraits of outstanding figures of Russian culture with whom Shteinberg created Volphila.
Works: The System of Freedom in Dostoyevsky. Berlin, 1923; Friends of My Early Years. Paris, 1991.
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