M. was born on 10 October 1879 in Maishigola, Vilna region, Polish Lithuania. His father maintained other landowners [giter], then he was took to becoming an author, and at the end opened a soup kitchen in Vilna, that was a center for revolutionaries.

Until age ten he learned in the shtetl from a teacher and Chumash and Tenach from a religious teacher, writing, then for three years he was in the three-class kroynisher school at the Vilna Yiddish Teacher's Institute, a short time also attending Katsenelenbogen's
school in Vilna, then he learned by himself in Prehn (Suwalki area), reading Haskalah and books of inquiry.

In 1893-94 he studied in the Strashun Library in Vilna the important works of Hebrew literature. In 1894 under the influence of the prophets, he became a socialist, casting away his learning, becoming a turner. He entered into the secret socialist organization. In 1897 he searched for God -- he learned day and night in tefillin and davened "according to Harry Kuns", then he reoriented himself, and in 1898 again took to studying.

In 1899 he studied literature, art, philosophy, history and political economy in the city university, then for three years he studied natural science in Freiburg's university, where he also attended the philosophy facultat.