HaKarmel was founded by Samuel Joseph Fuenn in 1860 as a weekly, and was continued as such (with some interruptions) until 1871. Eight volumes appeared in these eleven years, of which volumes 1–3 have supplements in Russian. It then became a monthly, of which four volumes appeared from 1871 to 1880, when the publication was suspended. Ḥayyim Leib Katzenellenbogen [Wikidata] was associated with Fuenn in the editorship.[3]Ḥayyim Leib Markon [Wikidata] later assisted Fuenn in the same capacity.[2]
HaKarmel was more of a literary periodical and less of a newspaper than other Hebrew contemporaries like HaMaggid or HaMelitz, in part because the license granted by the Tsarist regime prohibited Fuenn from publishing articles on politics.[4] The periodical contained poetry, translations, historical material, literary criticism, Torah scholarship, and book reviews.[4][5]