Khvolson stands out as a leading Jewish intellectual, who taught Hebrew at numerous institutions, translated much of the Old Testament into Russian, and taught Biblical Archeology at the capital’s Spiritual Academy. Moreover, he was the resident expert on Khazars. And, he taught also at the St. Petersburg Roman Catholic Academy. A convert to Christianity, Khvolson remained influential as a scholar who used the Old Testament and other Hebrew texts to counter anti-Semitism, especially the notion of blood libel.
Social Estate: Jew
Trying to categorize Garkavi is as problematic as deciding which name to use: Avraam/Albert Yakovlevich Harkavy, Авраа́м Я́ковлевич Гарка́ви, or Avraham Eliyahu ben Yaakov Harkavy. History and Wikipedia emphasize his importance as a scholar of Judaism, but that narrows the breadth of his focus and his importance to archeology, especially in decoding manuscripts, especially sources written by Arabic travellers. An Orientalist, he headed the Oriental section at Publichka. There is no immediate tag for someone who was both active in the Jewish community and rose through the ranks to become a member of the Russian hereditary nobility.