Ełk - Lyck Coordinator is: Jakub Rafałowski

The weekly was founded in 1856 by Eliezer Lipman Silberman . It was the world`s first weekly published in Hebrew and one of the first manifestations of the Hebrew-language press. It was intended mainly for Jews living in the Russian Empire, but had an international and even intercontinental reach. Due to censorship, however, it was published within the Kingdom of Prussia, in the city of Lyck (today`s Elk).

The magazine initially focused mainly on events affecting Jewish communities. Translations from other press titles and essays were also posted. It was also one of the first to have a Zionist profile, encouraging people to take up aliyah and providing coverage of Jewish settlements in Palestine. The material social activity of "Hamagid" was to raise funds to undertake aliyah and to help the victims of the 1867 famine.

The first editors of the paper were its founder Eliezer Lipman Silberman and David Gordon. From 1880, Gordon himself and his son Dov held the position, and from 1886, Dov Gordon was also the editor-in-chief. In 1890 or 1891, Jacob Samuel Fuchs became the magazine`s chief. As a result, the magazine was moved from Elk to Berlin.

In 1892 the editorial office of "Hamagid" was moved to Krakow (Austria-Hungary). Since 1893 there was a ban on the distribution of the weekly within the Russian Empire, and the magazine`s sales suffered severely. That year its title was changed to "HaMaggid LeIsrael." It was published until 1903, with the last editorial location being Vienna.