Hebrew newspaper. Ha-Melits (The Advocate) was the first Hebrew-language weekly to appear in tsarist Russia. Between 1860 and 1870 it was published in Odessa, and in 1871 it was relocated to Saint Petersburg where it remained until its last issue in 1904. From 1883, the paper was printed twice weekly, and in 1886—to compete with the new Ha-Yom newspaper—it became a daily. Throughout its history it was forced to contend with a number of interruptions in its production, the longest of which lasted from 1873 to 1878.
