Together with other young men, among them the poet Heinrich Heine, Zunz founded the "Verein für Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden" (The Society for the Culture and Science of the Jews) alongside Joel Abraham List, Isaac Marcus Jost, and Eduard Gans in Berlin in 1819. In 1823, Zunz became the editor of the "Zeitschrift für die Wissenschaft des Judenthums" (Journal for the Science of Judaism). The ideals of this "Verein" were not destined to bear religious fruit, but the "Science of Judaism" survived. Zunz "took no large share in Jewish reform", but never lost faith in the regenerating power of "science" as applied to the traditions and literary legacies of the ages. He influenced Judaism from the study rather than from the pulpit.