Publication was suspended several times for lack of support or by order of the authorities.

HaMelitz was a representative of the progressive or haskalah movement, and even so severe a critic as Abraham Kovner admitted that it had been "more useful to the Jews than have the other Hebrew newspapers" (Ḥeḳer Dabar, p. 52 ff., Warsaw, 1866).

Abraham Shalom Friedberg and Judah Leib Gordon were the best known of its associate editors.

Several collections of literary and scientific articles appeared as supplements to HaMelitz in Zederbaum's time: Ḳohelet (Saint Petersburg, 1881), Migdonot (1883), Melitẓ Aḥad Minni Elef (on the occasion of the appearance of No.

Among similar publications issued by Zederbaum's successor were HaYeḳev (Saint Petersburg, 1894), HaOsem and HaGat (1897), and HaGan (1899).