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diff --git a/15921-h/15921-h.htm b/15921-h/15921-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c420b6 --- /dev/null +++ b/15921-h/15921-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,11074 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Haskalah Movement in Russia, by Jacob S. Raisin</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + /*<![CDATA[*/ + <!-- + body {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + p {text-align: justify;} + blockquote {text-align: justify;} + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 {text-align: center;} + + hr {text-align: center; width: 50%;} + html>body hr {margin-right: 25%; margin-left: 25%; width: 50%;} + hr.full {width: 100%;} + html>body hr.full {margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 0%; width: 100%;} + + .note, .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; + font-size: 0.9em;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; + text-align: left;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 2em;} + .poem p.i4 {margin-left: 4em;} + .poem p.i6 {margin-left: 6em;} + .poem p.i8 {margin-left: 8em;} + .poem p.i10 {margin-left: 10em;} + + span.pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; right: 91%; + font-size: 8pt;} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + + --> + /*]]>*/ +</style> +</head> +<body> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Haskalah Movement in Russia, by Jacob S. +Raisin</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Haskalah Movement in Russia</p> +<p>Author: Jacob S. Raisin</p> +<p>Release Date: May 27, 2005 [eBook #15921]</p> +<p>Language: En</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HASKALAH MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, David King,<br /> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team</h3> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h1>THE HASKALAH MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA</h1> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p><i>And the "Maskilim" shall shine</i></p> +<p><i>As the brightness of the firmament ...</i></p> +<p><i>Many shall run to and fro,</i></p> +<p><i>And knowledge shall be increased</i>.</p> +<p class="i10">—Dan. xii. 3-4</p> +</div> +</div> +<a name="illus-cohn" id="illus-cohn"></a> +<center><img height="300" width="228" src="images/illus-cohn.png" +alt="Tobias Cohn" /></center> +<center>Tobias Cohn, 1652-1759, From the Frontispiece of his +Ma'aseh Tobiah</center> +<h3>BY</h3> +<h2>JACOB S. RAISIN, PH.D., D.D.</h2> +<h3>Author of "Sect, Creed and Custom in Judaism," etc.</h3> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h5>PHILADELPHIA</h5> +<h5>THE JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY OF AMERICA</h5> +<h4>1913</h4> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<p><i>TO AARON S. RAISIN</i></p> +<p><i>Your name, dear father, will not be found in the following +pages, for, like "the waters of the Siloam that run softly," you +ever preferred to pursue your useful course in unassuming silence. +Yet, as it is your life, devoted entirely to meditating, learning, +and teaching, that inspired me in my effort, I dedicate this book +to you; and I am happy to know that I thus not only dedicate it to +one of the noblest of Maskilim, but at the same time offer you some +slight token of the esteem and affection felt for you by</i></p> +<p><i>Your Son</i>,</p> +<p><i>JACOB S. RAISIN</i></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<p> </p> +<p><a href="#preface">PREFACE</a></p> +<p><a href="#chap1">CHAPTER I. THE PRE-HASKALAH PERIOD</a></p> +<p><a href="#chap2">CHAPTER II. THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION</a></p> +<p><a href="#chap3">CHAPTER III. THE DAWN OF HASKALAH</a></p> +<p><a href="#chap4">CHAPTER IV. CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS</a></p> +<p><a href="#chap5">CHAPTER V. RUSSIFICATION, REFORMATION, AND +ASSIMILATION</a></p> +<p><a href="#chap6">CHAPTER VI. THE AWAKENING</a></p> +<p><a href="#notes">NOTES</a></p> +<p><a href="#bibliography">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a></p> +<p><a href="#index">INDEX</a></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> +<p> </p> +<p><a href="#illus-cohn">TOBIAS COHN (1652-1759)</a></p> +<p><a href="#illus-levinsohn">ISAAC BÄR LEVINSOHN +(1788-1860)</a></p> +<p><a href="#illus-lilienthal">MAX LILIENTHAL (1815-1882)</a></p> +<p><a href="#illus-zederbaum">ALEXANDER ZEDERBAUM +(1816-1893)</a></p> +<p><a href="#illus-smolenskin">PEREZ BEN MOSHEH SMOLENSKIN +(1842-1885)</a></p> +<p><a href="#illus-lilienblum">MOSES LÖB LILIENBLUM +(1843-1910)</a></p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page11" id="page11"></a>{11}</span> +<h2><a name="preface" id="preface">PREFACE</a></h2> +<p>To the lover of mankind the history of the Russo-Jewish +renaissance is an encouraging and inspiring phenomenon. Seldom has +a people made such rapid strides forward as the Russian Jews. From +the melancholy regularity that marked their existence a little more +than two generations ago, from the darkness of the Middle Ages in +which they were steeped until the time of Alexander II, they +emerged suddenly into the life and light of the West, and some of +the most intrepid devotees of latter-day culture, both in Europe +and in America, have come from among them. Destitute of everything +that makes for enlightenment, and under the dominion of a +Government which sought to extinguish the few rushlights that +scattered the shadows around them, they nevertheless snatched +victory from defeat, sloughed off medieval superstition, and, +disregarding the Dejanira shirt of modern disabilities, compelled +their countrymen to admit more than once that</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Tho' I've belted you and flayed you,</p> +<p>By the livin' Gawd that made you,</p> +<p>You're a better man than I am!</p> +</div> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page12" id="page12"></a>{12}</span> +<p>Similar movements were started in Germany during the latter part +of the eighteenth century, and in Austria, notably Galicia, at the +beginning of the nineteenth, but none stirred the mind of the Jews +to the same degree as the Haskalah movement in Russia during the +last fifty years. In the former, the removal of restrictions soon +rendered attempts toward self-emancipation unnecessary on the part +of Jews, and the few Maskilim among them, satisfied with the +present, devoted themselves to investigating and elucidating the +past of their people's history. In Russia the past was all but +forgotten on account of the immediate duties of the present. The +energy and acquisitiveness that made the Jews of happier and more +prosperous lands prominent in every sphere of practical life, were +directed toward the realm of thought, and the merciless severity +with which the Government excluded them from the enjoyment of +things material only increased their ardor for things spiritual and +intellectual.</p> +<p>In its wide sense Haskalah denotes enlightenment. Those who +strove to enlighten their benighted coreligionists or disseminate +European culture among them, were called Maskilim. A careful +perusal of this work will reveal the exact ideals these terms +embody. For Haskalah was not only <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page13" id="page13"></a>{13}</span> progressive, it was also +aggressive, militant, sometimes destructive. From the days of +Mordecai Günzburg to the time of Asher Ginzberg (Ahad Ha-'Am), +it changed its tendencies and motives more than once. Levinsohn, +"the father of the Maskilim," was satisfied with removing the ban +from secular learning; Gordon wished to see his brethren "Jews at +home and men abroad"; Smolenskin dreamed of the rehabilitation of +Jews in Palestine; and Ahad Ha-'Am hopes for the spiritual +regeneration of his beloved people. Others advocated the levelling +of all distinctions between Jews and Gentiles, or the upliftment of +mankind in general and Russia in particular. To each of them +Haskalah implied different ideals, and through each it promulgated +diverse doctrines. To trace these varying phases from an indistinct +glimmering in the eighteenth century to the glorious effulgence of +the beginning of the twentieth, is the main object of this +book.</p> +<p>In pursuance of my end, I have paid particular attention to the +causes that retarded or accelerated Russo-Jewish cultural advance. +As these causes originate in the social, economic, and political +status of the Russian Jew, I frequently portray political events as +well as the state of knowledge, belief, art, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14"></a>{14}</span> and morals +of the periods under consideration. For this reason also I have +marked the boundaries of the Haskalah epochs in correspondence to +the dates of the reigns of the several czars, though the +correspondence is not always exact.</p> +<p>Essays have been published, on some of the topics treated in +these pages, by writers in different languages: in Russian, by +Bramson, Klausner, and Morgulis; in Hebrew, by Izgur, Katz, and +Klausner; in German, by Maimon, Lilienthal, Wengeroff, and +Weissberg; in English, by Lilienthal and Wiener; and in French, by +Slouschz. The subject as a whole, however, has not been treated. +Should this work stimulate further research, I shall feel amply +rewarded. Without prejudice and without partiality, by an honest +presentation of facts drawn from what I regard as reliable sources, +I have tried to unfold the story of the struggle of five millions +of human beings for right living and rational thinking, in the hope +of throwing light on the ideals and aspirations and the real +character of the largely prejudged and misunderstood Russian +Jew.</p> +<p>In conclusion, I wish to express my gratitude and indebtedness +to those who encouraged me to proceed with my work after some +specimens of it had been published in several Jewish periodicals, +especially <span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id= +"page15"></a>{15}</span> to Doctor Solomon Schechter, Rabbi Max +Heller, and Mr. A.S. Freidus, for their courtesy and assistance +while the work was being written.</p> +<p>JACOB S. RAISIN.</p> +<p>E. Las Vegas, N. Mex.,</p> +<p>Thanksgiving Day, 1909.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17"></a>{17}</span> +<h2><a name="chap1" id="chap1">CHAPTER I</a></h2> +<h3>THE PRE-HASKALAH PERIOD</h3> +<h3>?-1648</h3> +<p>"There is but one key to the present," says Max Müller, +"and that is the past." To understand fully the growth and +historical development of a people's mind, one must be familiar +with the conditions that have shaped its present form. It would +seem necessary, therefore, to introduce a description of the +Haskalah movement with a rapid survey of the history of the +Russo-Polish Jews from the time of their emergence from obscurity +up to the middle of the seventeenth century.</p> +<p>Among those who laid the foundations for the study of this +almost unexplored department of Jewish history, the settlement of +Jews in Russia and their vicissitudes during the dark ages, the +most prominent are perhaps Isaac Bär Levinsohn, Abraham +Harkavy, and Simon Dubnow. There is much to be said of each of +these as writers, scholars, and men. Here they concern us as +Russo-Jewish historians. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id= +"page18"></a>{18}</span> What Linnaeus, Agassiz, and Cuvier did in +the field of natural philosophy, they accomplished in their chosen +province of Jewish history.<a id="footnotetag1-1" name= +"footnotetag1-1"></a><a href="#footnote1-1"><sup>1</sup></a> +Levinsohn was the first to express the opinion that the Russian +Jews hailed, not from Germany, as is commonly supposed, but from +the banks of the Volga. This hypothesis, corroborated by tradition, +Harkavy established as a fact. Originally the vernacular of the +Jews of Volhynia, Podolia, and Kiev was Russian and Polish, or, +rather, the two being closely allied, Palaeo-Slavonic. The havoc +wrought by the Crusades in the Jewish communities of Western Europe +caused a constant stream of German-Jewish immigrants to pour, since +1090, into the comparatively free countries of the Slavonians. +Russo-Poland became the America of the Old World. The Jewish +settlers from abroad soon outnumbered the native Jews, and they +spread a new language and new customs wherever they established +themselves.<a id="footnotetag1-2" name= +"footnotetag1-2"></a><a href="#footnote1-2"><sup>2</sup></a></p> +<p>Whether the Jews of Russia were originally pagans from the +shores of the Black and Caspian Seas, converted to Judaism under +the Khazars during the eighth century, or Palestinian exiles +subjugated by their Slavonian conquerors and assimilated with them, +it is indisputable that they inhabited what we know to-day as +Russia long before the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id= +"page19"></a>{19}</span> Varangian prince Rurik came, at the +invitation of Scythian and Sarmatian savages, to lay the foundation +of the Muscovite empire. In Feodosia there is a synagogue at least +a thousand years old. The Greek inscription on a marble slab, +dating back to 80-81 B.C.E., preserved in the Imperial Hermitage in +St. Petersburg, makes it certain that they flourished in the Crimea +before the destruction of the Temple. In a communication to the +Russian Geographical Society, M. Pogodin makes the statement, that +there still exist a synagogue and a cemetery in the Crimea that +belong to the pre-Christian era. Some of the tombstones, bearing +Jewish names, and decorated with the seven-branched Menorah, date +back to 157 B.C.E.; while Chufut-Kale, also known as the Rock of +the Jews (Sela' ha-Yehudim), from the fortress supposed to have +been built there by the Jews, would prove Jewish settlements to +have been made there during the Babylonian or Persian +captivity.<a id="footnotetag1-3" name="footnotetag1-3"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p>Though the same antiquity cannot be established for other Jewish +settlements, we know that Kiev, "the mother of Russian cities," had +many Jews long before the eighth century, who thus antedated the +Russians as citizens. According to Joseph Hakohen they came there +from Persia in 690, according <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page20" id="page20"></a>{20}</span> to Malishevsky in 776. It is +certain that their influence was felt as early as the latter part +of the tenth century. The Russian Chronicles ascribed to Nestor +relate that they endeavored, in 986, to induce Grand Duke Vladimir +to accept their religion. They did not succeed as they had +succeeded two centuries before with the khan of the Khazars.<a id= +"footnotetag1-4" name="footnotetag1-4"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-4"><sup>4</sup></a> Yet the grand duke, who had the +greatest influence in introducing and spreading Greek Catholicism, +and who is now worshipped as a saint, was always favorably disposed +toward them.</p> +<p>There were other places that were inhabited early by Jews. There +are traditions to the effect that Jews lived in Poland as early as +the ninth century, and under the Boreslavs (992-1278) they are said +to have enjoyed considerable privileges, carried on a lively trade, +and spread as far as Kiev. Chernigov in Little Russia (the +Ukraine), Baku in South Russia (Transcaucasia), Kalisz and Warsaw, +Brest and Grodno, in West Russia (Russian Poland), all possess +Jewish communities of considerable antiquity. In the townlet +Eishishki, near Vilna, a tombstone set in 1171 was still in +existence at the end of the last century, and Khelm, Government +Kovno, has a synagogue to which tradition ascribes an age of eight +hundred years.<a id="footnotetag1-5" name= +"footnotetag1-5"></a><a href="#footnote1-5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21"></a>{21}</span> +<p>The Jewish population in all these communities was prosperous +and respected. Jews were in favor with the Government, enjoyed +equal rights with their Gentile neighbors, and were especially +prominent as traders and farmers of taxes. Their monoxyla, or +one-oared canoes, loaded with silks, furs, and precious metals, +issued from the Borysthanes, traversed the Baltic and the Euxine, +the Oder and the Bosphorus, the Danube and the Black Sea, and +carried on the commerce between the Turks and the Slavonians. They +were granted the honorable and lucrative privilege of directing and +controlling the mints, and that of putting Hebrew as well as +Slavonic inscriptions on their coins.<a id="footnotetag1-6" name= +"footnotetag1-6"></a><a href="#footnote1-6"><sup>6</sup></a> In the +Lithuanian Magna Charta, granted by Vitold in 1388, the Jews of +Brest were given many rights, and about a year later those of +Grodno were permitted to engage in all pursuits and occupations, +and exempted from paying taxes on synagogues and cemeteries. They +possessed full jurisdiction in their own affairs. Some were raised +to the nobility, notably the Josephovich brothers, Abraham and +Michael. Under King Alexander Jagellon, Abraham was assessor of +Kovno, alderman of Smolensk, and prefect of Minsk; he was called +"sir" (jastrzhembets), was presented with the estates of Voidung, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22"></a>{22}</span> +Grinkov, and Troki (1509), and appointed Secretary of the Treasury +in Lithuania (1510). The other brother, Michael, was made "fiscal +agent to the king." In the eighteenth century, Andrey Abramovich, +of the same family but not of the Jewish faith, was senator and +castellan of Brest-Litovsk.<a id="footnotetag1-7" name= +"footnotetag1-7"></a><a href="#footnote1-7"><sup>7</sup></a> They +were not unique exceptions. Abraham Shmoilovich of Turisk is spoken +of as "honorable sir" in leases of large estates. Affras +Rachmailovich and Judah Bogdanovich figure among the merchant +princes of Livonia and Lithuania; and Francisco Molo, who settled +later in Amsterdam, was financial agent of John III of Poland in +1679. The influence of the last-named was so great with the Dutch +States-General that the Treaty of Ryswick was concluded with Louis +XIV, in 1697, through his mediation.<a id="footnotetag1-8" name= +"footnotetag1-8"></a><a href="#footnote1-8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> +<p>That Russo-Poland should have elected a Jewish king on two +occasions, a certain Abraham Prochovnik in 842 and the famous Saul +Wahl<a id="footnotetag1-9" name="footnotetag1-9"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-9"><sup>9</sup></a> in the sixteenth century, sounds +legendary; but that there was a Jewish queen, called Esterka, is +probable, and that some Jews attained to political eminence is +beyond reasonable doubt.<a id="footnotetag1-10" name= +"footnotetag1-10"></a><a href="#footnote1-10"><sup>10</sup></a> +Records have been discovered concerning two envoys, Saul and +Joseph, who served the Slavonic czar about 960, and an <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23"></a>{23}</span> interesting +story is told of two Jewish soldiers, Ephraim Moisievich and Anbal +the Jassin, who won the confidence of Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky of +Kiev, and afterwards became leaders in a conspiracy against him +(1174).<a id="footnotetag1-11" name="footnotetag1-11"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-11"><sup>11</sup></a> Henry, Duke of Anjou, the +successor of Sigismud August on the throne of Poland and Lithuania, +owed his election mainly to the efforts of Solomon Ashkenazi. Ivan +Vassilyevich, too, had many and important relations with Jews, and +his favorable attitude towards them is amply proved by the fact +that his family physician was the Jew Leo (1490). Throughout his +reign he maintained an uninterrupted friendship with Chozi Kokos, a +Jew of the Crimea, and he did not hesitate to offer hospitality and +protection to Zacharias de Guizolfi, though the latter was not in a +position to reciprocate such favors.<a id="footnotetag1-12" name= +"footnotetag1-12"></a><a href="#footnote1-12"><sup>12</sup></a></p> +<p>In addition there are less prominent individuals who received +honors at the hands of their non-Jewish countrymen. Meïr +Ashkenazi of Kaffa, in the Crimea, who was slain by pirates on a +trip from "Gava to Dakhel," was envoy of the khan of the Tatars to +the king of Poland in the sixteenth century. Mention is made of +"Jewish Cossacks," who distinguished themselves on the field of +battle, and were elevated to the rank of major and colonel.<a id= +"footnotetag1-13" name="footnotetag1-13"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-13"><sup>13</sup></a> <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page24" id="page24"></a>{24}</span> While the common opinion +regarding Jews expressed itself in merry England in such ballads as +"The Jewish Dochter," and "Gernutus, the Jew of Venice," many a +Little Russian song had the bravery of a Jewish soldier as its +burden. In everything save religion the Jews were hardly +distinguishable from their neighbors.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>There are—writes Cardinal Commendoni, an +eye-witness—a great many Jews in these provinces, including +Lithuania, who are not, as in other places, regarded with +disrespect. They do not maintain themselves miserably by base +profits; they are landed proprietors, are engaged in business, and +even devote themselves to the study of literature and, above all, +to medicine and astronomy; they hold almost everywhere the +commission of levying customs duties, are classed among the most +honest people, wear no outward mark to distinguish them from the +Christians, and are permitted to carry swords and walk about with +their arms. In a word they have equal rights with the other +citizens.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>A similar statement is made by Joseph Delmedigo, who spent many +years in Livonia and Lithuania as physician to Prince +Radziwill.<a id="footnotetag1-14" name= +"footnotetag1-14"></a><a href="#footnote1-14"><sup>14</sup></a></p> +<p>In his inimitable manner Gibbon describes the fierce struggle +the Greek Catholic Church had to wage before she obtained a +foothold in Russia, but he neglects to mention the fact that +Judaism no less than paganism was among her formidable opponents. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25"></a>{25}</span> +The contest lasted several centuries, and in many places it is +undecided to this day.<a id="footnotetag1-15" name= +"footnotetag1-15"></a><a href="#footnote1-15"><sup>15</sup></a> The +Khazars, who had become proselytes in the eighth century, were +constantly encroaching upon Russian Christianity. Buoyant as both +were with the vigor of youth, missionary zeal was at its height +among the two contending religions. Each made war upon the other. +We read that Photius of Constantinople sent a message of thanks to +Archbishop Anthony of Kertch (858-859) for his efforts to convert +the Jews; that the first Bishop of the Established Church (1035) +was "Lukas, the little Jew" (Luka Zhidyata), who was appointed to +his office by Yaroslav; and that St. Feodosi Pechersky was fond of +conversing with learned Jews on matters of theology.<a id= +"footnotetag1-16" name="footnotetag1-16"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-16"><sup>16</sup></a> On the other hand, the efforts of +the Jews were not without success. The baptism of the pious Olga +marks an era in Russian Christianity, the beginning of the +"Judaizing heresy," which centuries of persecution only +strengthened. In 1425, Zacharias of Kiev, who is reputed to have +"studied astrology, necromancy, and various other magic arts," +converted the priest Dionis, the Archbishop Aleksey, and, through +the latter, many more clergymen of Novgorod, Moscow, and Pskov. +Aleksey became a devout Jew. He called himself Abraham <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26"></a>{26}</span> and his wife +Sarah. Yet, strange to say, he retained the favor of the Grand Duke +Ivan Vassilyevich, even after the latter's daughter-in-law, +Princess Helena, his secretary Theodore Kuritzin, the Archimandrite +Sosima, the monk Zacharias, and other persons of note had entered +the fold of Judaism through his influence.</p> +<p>The "heresy" spread over many parts of the empire, and the +number of its adherents constantly grew. Archbishop Nikk complains +that in the very monastery of Moscow there were presumably +converted Jews, "who had again begun to practice their old Jewish +religion and demoralize the young monks." In Poland, too, +proselytism was of frequent occurrence, especially in the fifteenth +and sixteenth centuries. The religious tolerance of Casimir IV +(1434-1502) and his immediate successors, and the new doctrines +preached by Huss and Luther, which permeated the upper classes of +society, rendered the Poles more liberal on the one hand, and on +the other the Jews more assertive. We hear of a certain nobleman, +George Morschtyn, who married a Jewess, Magdalen, and had his +daughter raised in the religion of her mother. In fact, at a time +when Jews in Spain assumed the mask of Christianity to escape +persecution, Russian and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id= +"page27"></a>{27}</span> Polish Christians by birth could choose, +with little fear of danger, to lead the Jewish life. It was not +till about the eighteenth century that the Government began to +resort to the usual methods of eradicating heresy. Katharina +Weigel, a lady famous for her beauty, who embraced Judaism, was +decapitated in Cracow at the instigation of Bishop Peter Gamrat. On +the deposition of his wife, Captain Vosnitzin of the Polish navy +was put to death by auto-da-fé (July 15, 1738). The eminent +"Ger Zedek," Count Valentine Pototzki, less fortunate than his +comrade and fellow-convert Zaremba, was burnt at the stake in Vilna +(May 24, 1749), and his teacher in the Jewish doctrines, Menahem +Mann, was tortured and executed a few months later, at the age of +seventy. But these measures proved of little avail. According to +Martin Bielski, the noted historian, Jews saved their proselytes +from the impending doom by transporting them to Turkey. Many of +them sought refuge in Amsterdam. For those who remained behind +their new coreligionists provided through collections made for that +purpose in Russia and in Germany. To this day these Russian and +Polish proselytes adhere steadfastly to their faith, and whether +they migrate to America or Palestine to escape the persecution +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28"></a>{28}</span> +of their countrymen, they seldom, if ever, indulge in the +latitudinarianism into which many of longer Jewish lineage fall so +readily when removed from old moorings.<a id="footnotetag1-17" +name="footnotetag1-17"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-17"><sup>17</sup></a></p> +<p>That the Russian Jews of the day were not altogether +unenlightened, that they not only practiced the Law devoutly, but +also studied it diligently, and cultivated the learning of the time +as well, we may safely infer from researches recently made. Cyril, +or Constantine, "the philosopher," the apostle to the Slavonians, +acquired a knowledge of Hebrew while at Kherson, and was probably +aided by Jews in his translation of the Bible into Slavonic. +Manuscripts of Russo-Jewish commentaries to the Scriptures, written +as early as 1094 and 1124, are still preserved in the Vatican and +Bodleian libraries, and copyists were doing fairly good work at +Azov in 1274.</p> +<p>Jewish scholars frequented celebrated seats of learning in +foreign lands. Before the end of the twelfth century traces of them +are to be found in France, Italy, and Spain. That in the eleventh +century Judah Halevi of Toledo and Nathan of Rome should have been +familiar with Russian words cannot but be attributed to their +contact with Russian Jews. However, in the case of these two +scholars, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id= +"page29"></a>{29}</span> it may possibly be ascribed to their great +erudition or extensive travels. But the many Slavonic expressions +occurring in the commentaries of Rashi (1040-1105), and employed by +Joseph Caro (ab. 1140), Benjamin of Tudela (ab. 1160), and Isaac of +Vienna (ab. 1250), lend color to Harkavy's contention, that Russian +was once the vernacular of the Russian Jews, and they also argue in +favor of our contention, that these natives of the "land of +Canaan"—as the country of the Slavs was then called in +Hebrew—came into personal touch with the "lights and leaders" +of other Jewish communities. Indeed, Rabbi Moses of Kiev is +mentioned as one of the pupils of Jacob Tam, the Tosafist of France +(d. 1170), and Asheri, or Rosh, of Spain is reported to have had +among his pupils Rabbi Asher and Master (Bahur) Jonathan from +Russia. From these peripatetic scholars perhaps came the martyrs of +1270, referred to in the <i>Memorbuch</i> of Mayence. It was Rabbi +Moses who, while still in Russia, corresponded with Samuel ben Ali, +head of the Babylonian Academy, and called the attention of Western +scholars to certain Gaonic decisions. Another rabbi, Isaac, or +Itshke, of Chernigov, was probably the first Talmudist in England, +and his decisions were regarded as authoritative on certain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30"></a>{30}</span> +occasions. These and others like them wrote super-commentaries on +the commentaries of Rashi and Ibn Ezra, the most popular and +profound scholars medieval Jewry produced, and made copies of the +works of other authors.<a id="footnotetag1-18" name= +"footnotetag1-18"></a><a href="#footnote1-18"><sup>18</sup></a></p> +<p>Soon the Russo-Polish Jews established at home what they had +been compelled to seek abroad. Hearing of the advantages offered in +the great North-East, German Jews flocked thither in such numbers +as to dominate and absorb the original Russians and Poles. A new +element asserted itself. Names like Ashkenazi, Heilperin, Hurwitz, +Landau, Luria, Margolis, Schapiro, Weil, Zarfati, etc., variously +spelled, took the place, through intermarriage and by adoption, of +the ancient Slavonic nomenclature. The language, manners, modes of +thought, and, to a certain extent, even the physiognomy of the +earlier settlers, underwent a more or less radical change. In some +provinces the conflict lasted longer than in others. To this day +not a few Russian Jews would seem to be of Slavonic rather than +Semitic extraction. As late as the sixteenth century there was +still a demand in certain places for a Russian translation of the +Hebrew Book of Common Prayer, and in 1635 Rabbi Meïr +Ashkenazi, who came from Frankfort-on-the-Main to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31"></a>{31}</span> study in +Lublin, and was retained as rabbi in Mohilev-on-the-Dnieper, had +cause to exclaim, "Would to God that our coreligionists all spoke +the same language—German."<a id="footnotetag1-19" name= +"footnotetag1-19"></a><a href="#footnote1-19"><sup>19</sup></a> +Even Maimon, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, mentions +one, by no means an exception, who did not "understand the Jewish +language, and made use, therefore, of the Russian."<a id= +"footnotetag1-20" name="footnotetag1-20"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-20"><sup>20</sup></a> But by the middle of the +seventeenth century the amalgamation was almost complete. It +resulted in a product entirely new. As the invasion of England by +the Normans produced the Anglo-Saxon, so the inundation of Russia +by the Germans produced the Slav-Teuton. This is the clue to the +study of the Haskalah, as will appear from what follows.</p> +<p>Russo-Poland gradually became the cynosure of the Talmudic +world, the "Aksanye shel Torah," the asylum of the Law, whence +"enlargement and deliverance" arose for the traditions which the +Jews carried with them, through fire and water, during the dreary +centuries of their dispersion. It became to Jews what Athens was to +ancient Greece, Rome to medieval Christendom, New England to our +early colonies. With the invention and importation of the +printing-press, the publication and acquisition of the Bible, the +Talmud, and most of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id= +"page32"></a>{32}</span> the important rabbinic works were +facilitated. As a consequence, yeshibot, or colleges, for the study +of Jewish literature, were founded in almost every community. Their +fame reached distant lands. It became a popular saying that "from +Kiev shall go forth the Law, and the word of God from Starodub." +Horodno, the vulgar pronunciation of Grodno, was construed to mean +Har Adonaï, "the Mount of the Lord." A pious rabbi did not +hesitate to write to a colleague, "Be it known to the high honor of +your glory that it is preferable by far to dwell in the land of the +Russ and promote the study of the Torah in Israel than in the land +of Israel."<a id="footnotetag1-21" name= +"footnotetag1-21"></a><a href="#footnote1-21"><sup>21</sup></a> +Especially the part of Poland ultimately swallowed up by Russia was +the new Palestine of the Diaspora. Thither flocked all desirous of +becoming adepts in the dialectics of the rabbis, "of learning how +to swim in the sea of the Talmud." It was there that the voluminous +works of Hebrew literature were studied, literally "by day and by +night," and the subtleties of the Talmudists were developed to a +degree unprecedented in Jewish history. Thither was sent, from the +distant Netherlands, the youngest son of Manasseh ben Israel, and +he "became mighty in the Talmud and master of four languages." +Thither came, from Prague, the afterwards <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33"></a>{33}</span> famous +Cabbalist, author, and rabbi, Isaiah Horowitz (ab. 1555-1630), and +there he chose to remain the rest of his days. Thither also went, +from Frankfort, the above-mentioned Meïr Ashkenazi, who, +according to some, was the first author of note in White +Russia.</p> +<p>From everywhere they came "to pour water on the hands and sit at +the feet" of the great ones of the second Palestine.<a id= +"footnotetag1-22" name="footnotetag1-22"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-22"><sup>22</sup></a></p> +<p>For Jewish solidarity was more than a word in those days. +"Sefardim" had not yet learned to boast of aristocratic lineage, +nor "Ashkenazim" to look down contemptuously upon their Slavonic +coreligionists. It was before the removal of civil disabilities +from one portion of the Jewish people had sowed the seed of +arrogance toward the other less favored portion. Honor was accorded +to whom it was due, regardless of the locality in which he happened +to have been born. Glückel von Hameln states in her +<i>Memoirs</i> that preference was sometimes given to the decisions +of the "great ones of Poland," and mentions with pride that her +brother Shmuel married the daughter of the great Reb Shulem of +Lemberg.<a id="footnotetag1-23" name="footnotetag1-23"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-23"><sup>23</sup></a> With open arms, Amsterdam, +Frankfort, Fürth, Konigsberg, Metz, Prague, and other +communities renowned for wealth and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page34" id="page34"></a>{34}</span> learning, welcomed the acute +Talmudists of Brest, Grodno, Kovno, Lublin, Minsk, and Vilna, +whenever they were willing or compelled to consider a call. The +practice of summoning Russo-Polish rabbis to German posts was +carried so far that it aroused the displeasure of the Western +scholars, and they complained of being slighted.<a id= +"footnotetag1-24" name="footnotetag1-24"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-24"><sup>24</sup></a></p> +<p>The reverence for Slavonic learning was strikingly illustrated +during the years following the Cossack massacres, when many +Russo-Polish rabbis fled for safety to foreign lands. Frankfort, +Fürth, Prague, and Vienna successively elected the fugitive +Shabbataï Horowitz of Ostrog as their religious guide. David +Taz of Vladimir became rabbi of Steinitz in Moravia; Ephraim +Hakohen was called to Trebitsch in Moravia and to Ofen in Hungary; +David of Lyda, to Mayence and Amsterdam, and Naphtali Kohen, to +Frankfort-on-the-Main in 1704, and later to Breslau. No less +personages than Isaac Aboab and Saul Morteira welcomed the +merchant-Talmudist Moses Rivkes of Vilna when he sought refuge in +Amsterdam, and they entrusted to him the task of editing the +<i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i>, his marginal notes to which, the <i>Beër +ha-Golah</i>, have ever since been printed with the text. In +addition to rabbis, Lithuania and other provinces furnished +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35"></a>{35}</span> +teachers for the young, melammedim, who exerted considerable +influence upon the people among whom they lived. Their opinions, we +are told, were highly valued in the choice of rabbis.<a id= +"footnotetag1-25" name="footnotetag1-25"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-25"><sup>25</sup></a></p> +<p>It must not be supposed that supremacy in the Talmud was secured +at the cost of secular knowledge, or what was then regarded as +such. Their familiarity with other branches of study was not +inferior to that of the Jews in better-known lands. Not a few of +the prominent men united piety with philosophy, and thorough +knowledge of the Talmud with mastery of one or more of the sciences +of the time. Data on this phase of the subject might have been much +more abundant, had not the storm of persecution suddenly swept over +the communities, destroying them and their records. What we still +possess indicates what may have been lost. The Ukraine was famous +for its scholars. Among them was Jehiel Michael of Nemirov, reputed +to have been "versed in all the sciences of the world."<a id= +"footnotetag1-26" name="footnotetag1-26"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-26"><sup>26</sup></a> Several of them were poets and +grammarians. Poems of a liturgical character are still extant in +which they bemoan their plight or assert their faith hopefully. +Such were the poems of Ephraim of Khelm, Joseph of Kobrin, Solomon +of Zamoscz, and Shabbataï Kohen. The last, eminent as a +Talmudist, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id= +"page36"></a>{36}</span> the author of commentaries on the +<i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i> approved by the leading rabbis of his +generation, is also known as a very trustworthy historian. His +<i>Megillah 'Afah</i>, written in classic Hebrew, is a valuable +source of information on the critical period in which he lived. He +won the esteem of the Polish nobility by his secular attainments. +To judge from his correspondence, he must have been on intimate +terms with Vidrich of Leipsic.<a id="footnotetag1-27" name= +"footnotetag1-27"></a><a href="#footnote1-27"><sup>27</sup></a> Of +the grammarians, Jacob Zaslaver wrote on the Massorah, and +Shabbataï Sofer was the author of annotations and +treatises.<a id="footnotetag1-28" name= +"footnotetag1-28"></a><a href="#footnote1-28"><sup>28</sup></a> Our +taste in poetry and grammar is no longer the same, but the polemic +and apologetic writings of those days, called forth by the +discussions between Rabbanites and Karaites and by the constant +attacks of Christianity, are still of uncommon interest. Specimens +of the former kind are the polemics of Moses of Shavli, which +caused consternation in the camp of the Karaites. Of the apologetic +writings should be mentioned the reply, in Polish, of Jacob Nahman +of Belzyc to Martin Chekhovic (Lublin, 1581), and the <i>Hizzuk +Emunah</i> of the Karaite Isaac ben Abraham of Troki. In the latter +the weakness of Christianity and the strength of Judaism are +pointed out with trenchancy never before reached. The work stirred +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37"></a>{37}</span> +up heated discussions among the various Christian sects, with the +tenets of which the author was intimately acquainted. It was +translated into Latin (1681, 1705), Yiddish (1717), English (1851), +and German (1865, 1873). Voltaire says that all the arguments used +by free-thinkers against Christianity were drawn from it.<a id= +"footnotetag1-29" name="footnotetag1-29"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-29"><sup>29</sup></a></p> +<p>In philosophy, mathematics, and medicine, the three main +branches of medieval knowledge, many Slavonian Jews attained +eminence. Devout Karaites as well as diligent Talmudists found +secular learning a diversion and a delight. For the lovers of +enlightenment Italy, especially Padua, was the centre of +attraction, as France and Spain had been before, and Germany, +particularly Berlin, became afterwards.<a id="footnotetag1-30" +name="footnotetag1-30"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-30"><sup>30</sup></a> Towards the middle of the +sixteenth century we find young Delacrut at the University of +Bologna, the philosopher and Cabbalist, known for his commentaries +to Gikatilla's <i>Sha'are Orah</i> (Cracow, 1600) and Ben Avigdor's +<i>Mar'eh ha-Ofanim</i> (1720), and his translation of Gossuin's +<i>L'image du monde</i> (Amsterdam, 1733). His famous disciple +Mordecai Jaffe (Lebushim) spent ten years in the study of astronomy +and mathematics before he occupied the rabbinate of Grodno +(1572)<a id="footnotetag1-31" name="footnotetag1-31"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-31"><sup>31</sup></a> At the request of Yom-Tob Lipman +Heller, Joseph <span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id= +"page38"></a>{38}</span> ben Isaac Levi wrote a commentary on +Maimuni's <i>Moreh Nebukim</i>, which was published with the +former's annotations, <i>Gibe'at ha-Moreh</i> (Prague, 1611). +Deservedly or not, Eliezer Mann was called "the Hebrew Socrates"; +and many a Maskil in his study of mathematics turned for guidance +to Manoah Handel of Brzeszticzka, Volhynia, author and translator +of several scientific works, who rendered seven Euclidean +propositions into Hebrew.<a id="footnotetag1-32" name= +"footnotetag1-32"></a><a href="#footnote1-32"><sup>32</sup></a></p> +<p>Polyglots they were compelled to be by force of circumstances. +When the exotic Judeo-German finally asserted itself as the +vernacular, the language in which they wrote and prayed was still +the ancient Hebrew, with which every one was familiar, and +commercial intercourse with their Gentile neighbors was hardly +feasible without at least a smattering of the local Slavonic +dialect. "Look at our brethren in Poland," exclaims Wessely many +years later in his address to his countrymen. "They converse with +their neighbors in good Polish.... What excuse have we for our +brogue and jargon?" He might have had still better cause for +complaint, had he been aware that the Yiddish of the Russo-Polish +Jews, despite its considerable Slavonic admixture, was purer German +than that of his contemporaries in Germany, even as the English of +our New England <span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id= +"page39"></a>{39}</span> colonies was superior to the Grub Street +style prevalent in Dr. Johnson's England, and the Spanish of our +Mexican annexations to the Castilian spoken at the time of +Coronado. But we are here concerned with their knowledge of foreign +languages. We shall refer only to the +Hebrew-German-Italian-Latin-French dictionary <i>Safah Berurah</i> +(Prague, 1660; Amsterdam, 1701) by the eminent Talmudist Nathan +Hannover.<a id="footnotetag1-33" name= +"footnotetag1-33"></a><a href="#footnote1-33"><sup>33</sup></a></p> +<p>In medicine Jews were pre-eminent in the Slavonic countries, as +they were everywhere else. They were in great demand as court +physicians, though several had to pay with their lives "for having +failed to effect cures." Doctor Leo, who was at the court of Moscow +in 1490, was mentioned above. Jacob Isaac, the "nobleman of +Jerusalem" (Yerosalimska shlyakhta), was attached to the court of +Sigismund, where he was held in high esteem. Prince Radziwill's +physician was Itshe Nisanovich, and among those in attendance on +John Sobieski were Jonas Casal and Abraham Troki, the latter the +author of several works on medicine and natural philosophy.<a id= +"footnotetag1-34" name="footnotetag1-34"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-34"><sup>34</sup></a></p> +<p>Medieval Jewish physicians were prone to travel, and those of +Russo-Poland were no exception. We find them in almost every part +of the civilized <span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id= +"page40"></a>{40}</span> world, and their number increases with the +disappearance of prejudice. Some were noted Talmudists, such as +Solomon Luria and Samuel ben Mattathias. Abraham Ashkenazi +Apotheker was not only a compounder of herbs but a healer of souls, +for the edification of which he wrote his <i>Elixir of Life</i> +(<i>Sam Hayyim</i>, Prague, 1590). To the same class belong Moses +Katzenellenbogen and his son Hayyim, who was styled Gaon. In 1657 +Hayyim visited Italy. He was welcomed by the prominent Jews of +Mantua, Modena, Venice, and Verona, but he preferred to continue +the practice of his profession in his home town Lublin.<a id= +"footnotetag1-35" name="footnotetag1-35"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-35"><sup>35</sup></a> Nor may we omit the names of +Stephen von Gaden and Moses Coën, because of their high +standing among their colleagues and the honors conferred upon them +for their statesmanship. Stephen von Gaden, who with Samuel Collins +was physician-in-ordinary to Czar Aleksey Mikhailovich, was +instrumental in removing many disabilities from the Jews of Moscow +and in the interior of Russia. Moses Coën, in consequence of +the Cossack uprising, escaped to Moldavia, and was made court +physician by the hospodar Vassile Lupu. But for Coën, Lupu +would have been dethroned by those who conspired against him. To +his loyalty may probably be attributed the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41"></a>{41}</span> kind +treatment Moldavian Jews later enjoyed at the hands of the prince. +Coën also exposed the secret alliance between Russia and +Sweden against Turkey, and his advice was sought by the doge of +Venice.<a id="footnotetag1-36" name="footnotetag1-36"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-36"><sup>36</sup></a></p> +<p>The personage who typifies best the enlightened Slavonic Jew of +the pre-Haskalah period is Tobias Cohn (1652-1729). He was the son +and grandson of physicians, who practiced at Kamenetz-Podolsk and +Byelsk, and after 1648 went to Metz. After their father's death, he +and his older brother returned to Poland, whence Tobias, in turn, +emigrated first to Italy and then to Turkey. In Adrianople he was +physician-in-ordinary to five successive sultans. In the history of +medicine he is remembered as the discoverer of the <i>plica +polonica</i>, and as the publisher of a Materia Medica in three +languages. To the student of Haskalah he is interesting, because he +marks the close of the old and the beginning of the new era. Like +the Maskilim of a century or two centuries later, he compiled and +edited an encyclopedia in Hebrew, that "knowledge be increased +among his coreligionists." His acquaintance with learned works in +several ancient and modern languages of which he was master, +enabled him to write his magnum opus, <i>Ma'aseh Tobiah</i>, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42"></a>{42}</span> +with tolerable ease. This work is divided into eight parts, devoted +respectively to theology, astronomy, pharmacy, hygiene, venereal +diseases, botany, cosmography, and chemistry. It is illustrated +with several plates, among them the picture of an astrolabe and one +of the human body treated as a house. From the numerous editions +through which it passed (Venice, 1707, 1715, 1728, 1769), we may +conclude that it met with marked success.<a id="footnotetag1-37" +name="footnotetag1-37"></a><a href= +"#footnote1-37"><sup>37</sup></a></p> +<hr /> +<p>To understand the <i>raison d'Être</i> of the Haskalah +movement, it may not be superfluous to cast a glance at the inner +social and religious life of the Slavonic Jews during pre-Haskalah +times. The labors of the farmer are crowned with success only when +nature lends him a helping hand. His soil must be fertile, and +blessed with frequent showers. Nor would the Maskilim have +accomplished their aim, had the material they found at hand been +different from what it was.</p> +<p>The Jews in the land of the Slavonians were fortunate in being +regarded as aliens in a country which, as we have seen, they +inhabited long before those who claimed to be its possessors by +divine right of conquest. If their position was precarious, their +sufferings were those of a conquered nation. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43"></a>{43}</span> As the whim +and fancy of the reigning prince, knyaz, varied, they were induced +one day to settle in the country by the offer of the most +flattering privileges, and the next day they were expelled, only to +be requested to return again. Now their synagogues and cemeteries +were exempt from taxation, now an additional poll-tax or land-tax +was levied on every Jew (serebshizna); one day they were allowed to +live unhampered by restrictions, then they were prohibited to wear +certain garments and ornaments, and commanded to use yellow caps +and kerchiefs to distinguish them from the Gentiles (1566).</p> +<p>But all this was the consequence of political subjugation. +Judged by the standard of the times, they were veritable freemen, +freer than the Huguenots of France and the Puritans of England. +They were left unmolested in the administration of their internal +affairs, and were permitted to appoint their own judges, enforce +their own laws, and support their own institutions. Forming a state +within a state, they developed a civilization contrasting strongly +with that round about them, and comparing favorably with some of +the features of ours of to-day. Slavonic Jewry was divided into +four districts, consisting of the more important communities +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44"></a>{44}</span> +(kahals), to which a number of smaller ones (prikahalki) were +subservient. These, known as the Jewish Assemblies (zbori +zhidovskiye), met at stated intervals. As in our federal +Government, the administrative, executive, and legislative +departments were kept distinct, and those who presided over them +(roshim) were elected annually by ballot. These roshim, or elders, +served by turns for periods of one month each. The rabbi of each +community was the chief judge, and was assisted by several inferior +judges (dayyanim). For matters of importance there were courts of +appeal established in Ostrog and Lemberg, the former having +jurisdiction over Volhynia and the Ukraine, the latter over the +rest of Jewish Russo-Poland. For inter-kahal litigation, there was +a supreme court, the Wa'ad Arba' ha-Arazot (the Synod of the Four +Countries), which held its sessions during the Lublin fair in +winter and the Yaroslav fair in summer. In cases affecting Jews and +Gentiles, a decision was given by the <i>judex Judaeorum</i>, who +held his office by official appointment of the grand duke.</p> +<p>So far their system of self-government appears almost a +prototype of our own. The same is true of their municipal +administration. The rabbi, who had the deciding vote in case of a +dead-lock, stood <span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id= +"page45"></a>{45}</span> in the same relation to them as the mayor +holds to us, only that his term of office, nominally limited to +three years, was actually for life or during good behavior. Yet the +power vested in him was only delegated power. A number of +selectmen, or aldermen, guarded the rights of the community with +the utmost jealousy, and tolerated no innovation, unless previously +sanctioned by them. There were also several honorary offices, with +a one-year tenure, which none could fill who had not had experience +in an inferior position. The chief duties attached to these offices +were to appraise the amount of taxation, pay the salaries of the +rabbi, his dayyanim, and the teachers of the public schools, +provide for the poor, and, above all, intercede with the +Government.<a id="footnotetag1-38" name= +"footnotetag1-38"></a><a href="#footnote1-38"><sup>38</sup></a></p> +<p>Still more interesting and, for our purpose, more important were +their public and private institutions of learning. Jews have always +been noted for the solicitous care they exercise in the education +of the young. The Slavonic Jews surpassed their brethren of other +countries in this respect. At times they wrenched the tender bond +of parental love in their ardor for knowledge. With a republican +form of government they created an aristocracy, not of wealth or of +blood, but of intellect. The education <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46"></a>{46}</span> of girls +was, indeed, neglected. To be able to read her prayers in Hebrew +and to write Yiddish was all that was expected of a mother in +Israel. It was otherwise with the boys. Every Jew deemed himself in +duty bound to educate his son. "Learning is the best +merchandise"—<i>Torah iz die beste sehorah</i>—was the +lesson inculcated from cradle to manhood, the precept followed from +manhood to old age. All the lullabies transmitted to us from +earliest times indicate the pursuit of knowledge as the highest +ambition cherished by mothers for their sons:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Patsché, patsché, little tootsies,</p> +<p>We shall buy us little bootsies;</p> +<p>Little bootsies we shall buy,</p> +<p>To run to heder we shall try;</p> +<p>Torah we'll learn and all good ma'alot (qualities),</p> +<p>On our wedding eve we shall solve sha'alot (ritual +problems).<a id="footnotetag1-39" name= +"footnotetag1-39"></a><a href="#footnote1-39"><sup>39</sup></a></p> +</div> +</div> +<p>To have a scholarly son or son-in-law was the best passport to +the highest circles, a means of rising from the lowliest to the +loftiest station in life.</p> +<p>It is no wonder, then, that schools abounded in every community. +At the early age of four the child was usually sent to the heder +(school; literally, room), where he studied until he was ready for +the yeshibah, the higher "seat" of learning. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page47" id="page47"></a>{47}</span> The +melammedim, teachers, were graded according to their ability, and +the school year consisted of two terms, zemannim, from the first +Sabbath after the Holy Days to Passover and from after Passover to +Rosh ha-Shanah. The boy's intellectual capacities were steadily, if +not systematically, cultivated, sometimes at the expense of his +bodily development. It was not unusual for a child of seven or +eight to handle a difficult problem in the Talmud, a precocity +characteristic to this day of the children hailing from Slavonic +countries. Their 'illuyim (prodigies) might furnish ample material +for more than one volume of <i>les enfants +célèbres</i>.</p> +<p>Nor were the children of the poor left to grow up in ignorance. +Learning was free, to be had for the asking. More than this, +stringent measures were taken that no child be without instruction. +Talmud Torahs were founded even in the smallest kehillot +(communities), and the students were supplied, not only with books, +but also with the necessaries of life. Communal and individual +benefactors furnished clothes, and every member (ba'al ha-bayit) +had to provide food and lodging for an indigent pupil at least one +day of each week. The "Freitisch" (free board) was an inseparable +adjunct to every school. Poor young men were not regarded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48"></a>{48}</span> +as "beggar students." They were looked upon as earning their living +by study, even as teachers by instructing. To pray for the dead or +the living in return for their support is a recent innovation, and +mostly among other than Slavonic Jews. It is a custom adopted from +medieval Christianity, and practiced in England by the poor +student, who, in the words of Chaucer,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Busily 'gan for the souls to pray</p> +<p>On them that gave him wherewith to scolay.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>For a faithful and vivid description of the yeshibot we cannot +do better than transcribe the account given in the pages of the +little pamphlet <i>Yeven Mezulah</i> in which Nathan Hannover, +mentioned above, has left us a reliable history of the Cossack +uprisings and the Kulturgeschichte of his own time.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>I need bring no proof for the statement that nowhere was the +study of the Law so universal as in Russo-Poland. In every +community there was a well-paid dean (rosh yeshibah), who, exempt +from worry about a livelihood, devoted himself exclusively to +teaching and studying by day and by night. In every kahal, many +youths, maintained liberally, studied under the guidance of the +dean. In turn, they instructed the less advanced, who were also +supported by the community. A kahal of fifty [families] had to +provide for at least thirty such. They boarded and lodged in the +homes of their patrons, and frequently received pocket-money in +addition. Thus there was hardly a house in which the Torah +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49"></a>{49}</span> +was not studied, either by the master of the house, a son, a +son-in-law, or a student stranger. They always bore in mind the +dictum of Rabba, "He who loves scholars will have scholarly sons; +he who welcomes scholars will have scholarly sons-in-law; he who +admires scholars will become learned himself." No wonder, then, +that every community swarmed with scholars, that out of every fifty +of its members at least twenty were far advanced, and had the +morenu (<i>i.e.</i> bachelor) degree.</p> +<p>The dean was vested with absolute authority. He could punish an +offender, whether rich or poor. Everybody respected him, and he +often received gifts of money or valuables. In all religious +processions he came first. Then followed the students, then the +learned, and the rest of the congregation brought up the rear. This +veneration for the dean prompted many a youth to imitate his +example, and thus our country was rendered full of the knowledge of +the Law.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>What became of the students when they were graduated? Let us +turn once more to Hannover's interesting narrative. The "fairs" of +those days were much more than opportunities for barter; they +afforded favorable and attractive occasions for other objects. +Zaslav and Yaroslav during the summer, Lemberg and Lublin in the +winter, were "filled with hundreds of deans and thousands of +students," and one who had a marriageable daughter had but to +resort thither to have his worries allayed. Therefore, "Jews and +Jewesses attended these bazaars in magnificent attire, and [each +season] <span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id= +"page50"></a>{50}</span> several hundred, sometimes as many as a +thousand, alliances were consummated."</p> +<p>That the rabbi, living in a strange land and recalling a +glorious past, should have indulged in a bit of exaggeration in his +sorrowful retrospect, is not more than natural; and that his +picture on the whole is true is proved by similar schools which +existed in Russia till recently. The descriptions of these +institutions by Smolenskin as well as writers of less repute are +graphic and intensely interesting. They constituted a unique world, +in which the Jewish youth lived and moved until he reached man's +estate. In later years, when Russian Jewry became infected, so to +speak, with the Aufklärungs-bacilli, they became the nurseries +of the new learning. But in the earlier time, too, a spirit of +enlightenment pervaded them. The study of the Talmud fostered in +them was regarded both as a religious duty and as a means to an +end, the rabbinate. Even in the Middle Ages Aristotle was a +favorite with the older students, and Solomon Luria complained that +in the prayer books of many of them he had noticed the prayer of +Aristotle, for which he blamed the liberal views of Moses +Isserles!<a id="footnotetag1-40" name= +"footnotetag1-40"></a><a href="#footnote1-40"><sup>40</sup></a></p> +<p>Another typically, though not exclusively, Slavonic Jewish +institution was the study-hall, or bet <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51"></a>{51}</span> ha-midrash. +As the synagogues gradually became Schulen (schools), so, by a +contrary process, the bet ha-midrash assumed the function of a +house of prayer. Its uniqueness it has retained to this day. It was +at once a library, a reading-room, and a class-room; yet those who +frequented it were bound by the rigorous laws of none of the three. +There were no restrictions as to when, or what, or how one should +study. It was a place in which originality was admired and research +encouraged. As at a Spartan feast, youth and age commingled, men of +all ages and diverse attainments exchanged views, and all benefited +by mutual contact.</p> +<p>Those whose position precluded devotion to study availed +themselves at least of the means for mutual improvement at their +disposal. They organized societies for the study of certain +branches of Jewish lore, and for the meetings of these societies +the busiest spared time and the poorest put aside his work. It was +a people composed of scholars and those who maintained scholars, +and the scholars, in dress and appearance, represented the +aristocracy, an aristocracy of the intellect.</p> +<p>Such was the pre-Haskalah period. From the meagre data at our +disposal we are justified in concluding, that, left undisturbed, +the Slavonic Jews <span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id= +"page52"></a>{52}</span> would have evolved a civilization +rivalling, if not surpassing, that of the golden era of the Spanish +Jews. But this was not to be. Their onward march met a sudden and +terrific check. Hetman Chmielnicki at the head of his savage hordes +of Russians and Tatars conquered the Poles, and Jews and Catholics +were subjected to the most inhuman treatment. The descendants of +those who, in 1090, had escaped the Crusaders fell victims in 1648 +to the more cruel Cossacks. About half a million Jews, it is +estimated, lost their lives in Chmielnicki's horrible massacres. +The few communities remaining were utterly demoralized. The +education of the young was neglected, both sacred and secular +branches of study were abandoned. And when the storm calmed down, +they found themselves deprived of the accumulations of centuries, +forced, like Noah after the deluge, but without his means, to start +again from the very beginning. Indeed, as Levinsohn remarks, the +wonder is that, despite the fiendish persecution they endured, +these unfortunates should have preserved a spark of love of +knowledge. Yet a little later it was to burst into flame again and +bring light and warmth to hearts crushed by "man's inhumanity to +man."</p> +<p>(Notes, pp. <a href="#notes-1">305-310</a>.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53"></a>{53}</span> +<h2><a name="chap2" id="chap2">CHAPTER II</a></h2> +<h3>THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION</h3> +<h3>1648-1794</h3> +<p>The storm of persecution that had been brewing in the sixteenth +century, and which burst in all its fury by the middle of the +seventeenth century, was allayed but little by the rivers of blood +that streamed over the length and breadth of the Slavonic land. +Half a million Jewish victims were not sufficient to satisfy the +followers of a religion of love. They only whetted their insatiable +appetite. The anarchy among the Gentiles increased the misery of +the Jews. The towns fell into the hands of the Lithuanians, Poles, +Russians, and Tatars successively, and it was upon the Jews that +the hounds of war were let loose at each defeat or conquest. +Determined to exterminate each other, they joined forces in +exterminating the Jews. When Bratzlav, for instance, was destroyed +by the Tatars, in 1479, more than four hundred of its six hundred +Jewish citizens were slain. When the city was attacked by the +Cossacks <span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id= +"page54"></a>{54}</span> in 1569, the greater number of the +plundered and murdered were Jews. The same happened when +Chmielnicki gained the upper hand in Bratzlav in 1648, again when +the Russians slaughtered all the inhabitants in 1664, and when the +Tatars plotted against their victorious enemy, Peter the +Great.<a id="footnotetag2-1" name="footnotetag2-1"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-1"><sup>1</sup></a> Swedish attacks without and popular +uprisings within rendered the Polish pan (dubbed among Jews poriz, +rowdy or ruffian) as reckless as he was irresponsible. The Jew +became for him a sponge to be squeezed for money, and a clown to +contribute to his brutal amusements. The subtle and baneful +influence of the Jesuits succeeded, besides, in introducing +religion into politics and making the Jew the scapegoat for the +evils of both. The <i>Judaeus infidelis</i> was the target of abuse +and persecution. It was only the fear that the Government's +exchequer might suffer that prevented his being turned into a +veritable slave. His condition, indeed, was worse than slavery; his +life was worth less than a beast's. It was frequently taken for the +mere fun of it, and with impunity. An overseer once ordered all +Jewish mothers living on the estate to climb to the tree-tops and +leave their little ones below. He then fired at the children, and +when the women fell from the trees at the horrible sight, he +presented <span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id= +"page55"></a>{55}</span> each with a piece of money, and thanked +them for the pleasure they had afforded him.<a id="footnotetag2-2" +name="footnotetag2-2"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-2"><sup>2</sup></a></p> +<p>In the cities, though the pan's excesses were bound to be +somewhat bridled there, the lot of the Jews was equally gloomy. +They were treated like outlaws, were forbidden to engage in all but +a few branches of trade or handicraft, or to live with Christians, +or employ them as servants. In 1720 they were prohibited to build +new synagogues or even repair the old ones. Sometimes the +synagogues were locked "by order of ..." until a stipulated amount +of money bought permission to reopen them. We of to-day can hardly +imagine what pain a Jew of that time experienced when he hastened +to the house of God on one of the great Holy Days only to find its +doors closed by the police!</p> +<p>Their status was no better in Lithuania and Great Russia. The +accession of Ivan IV, the Terrible (1533-1584), dealt their former +comparative prosperity a blow from which it has not recovered to +this day. As if to remove the impression of liberalism made by his +predecessor and obliterate from memory his amicable relations with +Doctor Leo, de Guizolfi, and Chozi Kolos, this monster czar, with +the fiendishness of a Caligula, but lacking the accomplishments of +his heathen prototype, delighted <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page56" id="page56"></a>{56}</span> to invent tortures for +inoffensive Jews. He expelled them from Moscow, and deprived them +of the right of travel from place to place. During his occupancy of +Polotsk he ordered all Jews residing there either to become +converts to Greek Catholicism or choose between being drowned in +the Dwina and burnt at the stake.</p> +<p>But even the removal of the terrible czar and the dawn of the +century of reason and humanitarianism failed to effect a change for +the better in the condition of the Slavonic Jews. For a while it +appeared as if the Zeitgeist might penetrate even into +Russo-Poland, and the Renaissance and the Reformation would not +pass over the eastern portion of Europe without beneficent results. +In Lithuania Calvinism threatened to oust Catholicism, science and +culture began to be pursued, and Jewish and Gentile children +attended the same schools. The successors of Ivan IV were men of +better breeding, and the praiseworthy attempts of Peter the Great +to introduce Western civilization are known to all.<a id= +"footnotetag2-3" name="footnotetag2-3"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-3"><sup>3</sup></a> But Slavonic soil has never been +susceptible to the elevating influences that have transformed the +rest of Europe. Every reformatory effort was nipped in the bud. The +lot of the Jews accordingly grew from bad to worse. In 1727 they +were expelled <span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id= +"page57"></a>{57}</span> from the Ukraine and other provinces, and +they were recalled, "for the benefit of the citizens," only at the +instance of Apostol, the hetman of the very Cossacks that had +massacred them in 1648. Baruch Leibov was burned alive in St. +Petersburg, in 1738, for having dared "insult the Christian +religion by building a synagogue in the village of Zvyerovichi," an +offence that was aggravated by the suspicion that he had converted +the Russian Captain Vosnitzin to Judaism. The same fate was, in +1783, meted out to Moses, a Jewish tailor, for refusing to accept +Christianity, and in 1790 a Jew was quartered in Grodno, though the +king had declined to sign his death warrant. In some places Jews +had to contribute towards the maintenance of churches, and in +Slutsk the law, enacted there in 1766, remains unrevoked to this +day. Elizabeta Petrovna did not imitate Ivan III. When she +discovered that Sanchez, her physician, was of the Jewish +persuasion, she discharged him without notice, after eighteen years +of faithful service. Similarly, when the Livonian merchants +remonstrated, maintaining that the exclusion of Jews from their +fairs was fraught with disastrous consequences to the commerce of +the country, she is reported to have replied, "From the enemies of +Christ I will not receive even a benefit."<a id="footnotetag2-4" +name="footnotetag2-4"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-4"><sup>4</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58"></a>{58}</span> +<p>But worse things were yet to come, the worst since Chmielnicki's +massacres. The bitterness of both Poles and Russians against the +Jews grew especially intense as the days of the rozbior, the +Partition of Poland, drew near (1794). The Poles, forgetting the +many examples of loyalty and self-sacrifice shown by Jews in times +of peace and war, suspected them of being treacherous and +unreliable; while the Russians, though denying the patriotism of +their own Jews, persisted in the accusation that Polish Jews spent +money lavishly in fomenting rebellion and anarchy. The pupils of +the Jesuits found great delight in attacks upon the Jews, which +frequently culminated in riot and bloodshed and the payment of +money by Jews to Catholic institutions. "What appalling +spectacles," exclaims a Christian writer, "must we witness in the +capital [Warsaw] on solemn holidays. Students and even adults in +noisy mobs assault the Jews, and sometimes beat them with sticks. +We have seen a gang waylay a Jew, stop his horses, and strike him +till he fell from the wagon. How can we look with indifference on +such a survival of barbarism?" The commonest manifestations of +hatred and superstition, however, were, as in other countries, the +charge that Jews were magicians, using the black art to avenge +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59"></a>{59}</span> +themselves on their persecutors, and that they used Christian blood +for their observance of the Passover. The latter crime, the +imputing of which was sternly prohibited by an edict of the liberal +Bathory, in 1576, was so frequently laid at their door, that in the +short period of sixty years (1700-1760) not less than twenty such +accusations were brought against them, ending each time in the +massacre of Jews by infuriated mobs. Even more shocking, if +possible, was the frequent extermination of whole communities by +the brigand bands known as Haidamacks. They added the "Massacre of +Uman" (1768) to the Jewish calendar of misfortunes, the most +terrible slaughter, equalled, perhaps, only by that of Nemirov in +1648.<a id="footnotetag2-5" name="footnotetag2-5"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<p>That all this should have left a marked impression on the +mentality and intellectuality of the Jews, is little to be wondered +at. The marvel is that they should have maintained their +superiority over their surroundings, and continued to be a +law-abiding and God-fearing people. While among the Russians and +Poles the nobles who learned to read or write formed a rare +exception, there was hardly one among the Jews, the very lowliest +of them, who could not read Hebrew, and even translate it into the +vernacular. Maimon tells us that in his early youth <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60"></a>{60}</span> he became +the family tutor of "a miserable farmer in a still more miserable +village," who yet was ambitious of giving his children an education +of some kind.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Fortunately for the Jews of those times—says a +writer—their civilization was by far superior to that of the +Christians. The rabbi, though in no way inferior to the priest +mentally, was immeasurably above him morally. The students of the +yeshibot, despite their exclusive devotion to the study of the +Talmud, yet were better equipped for intellectual work, were of +broader minds and better manners, than the pupils of the Jesuits. +And the Jewish ba'ale battim, with an education as good as that of +the Gentile shlyakhta, had a more ennobling and elevating object in +life.<a id="footnotetag2-6" name="footnotetag2-6"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>It is remarkable how quickly they recuperated from the blows +they received. In 1648 thousands of people were killed, whole +communities exterminated, Volhynia, Podolia, and a great part of +Lithuania utterly ruined. In 1660, in those very places, we hear +again of Jewish settlements, with synagogues and schools and a +system of education of the kind described in the preceding chapter, +and we hear of the Council of Lithuania struggling to re-establish +and cement the shattered foundation of their self-government. Yet +all their efforts improved the demoralized condition of the country +but <span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id= +"page61"></a>{61}</span> little. As always in national crises, the +individual was sacrificed to the community, and deprived of the few +rights remaining to him. The kehillot became brutally oppressive. +There were no longer men of the stamp of Abraham Rapoport, Solomon +Luria, Mordecai Jaffe, and Meïr Katz, to put their feet on the +neck of tyranny. Without special permission no one could buy or +sell, or move from one place to another, or learn a trade or +practice a profession. Rabbinism became synonymous with rigorism, +the coercion of untold customs became unbearable, and the spirit of +Judaism was lost in a heap of innumerable rites. The Jew's every +act had to be sanctioned by religion. He knew of the outward world +only from the heavy taxes he paid in order to be allowed to exist, +and from the bloody riots with which his people was frequently +visited.</p> +<p>What could result from such a state of affairs but poverty, +material and spiritual, with all the suffering it engenders? Those +at the head of the kehillot, being responsible solely to the +Government, often had to deliver the full tale of bricks like the +Jewish overseers in Egypt, though no straw was given to them. On +one occasion Rabbi Mikel of Shkud was arrested because the kahal +could not pay the thousand gulden it owed. In 1767, the whole kahal +of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id= +"page62"></a>{62}</span> Vilna went to Warsaw to protest against +intolerable taxation. Such protests were usually of little avail. +On the other hand, a few powerful families throve at the expense of +their oppressed coreligionists. This aroused a spirit of animosity +and a clamor for the abolition of the kahal institution. Jewish +autonomy was more and more encroached upon. Rabbinates were bought +and sold, and the aid of the Government was invoked in religious +controversies. A question regarding the preferable form of prayer +was submitted to the decision of Paul I. In 1777, Prince Radziwill +decided who should officiate as rabbi in so important a centre of +Judaism as Vilna,<a id="footnotetag2-7" name= +"footnotetag2-7"></a><a href="#footnote2-7"><sup>7</sup></a> and in +1804 the Government issued a "regulation" depriving the kahal of +its judicial functions altogether.</p> +<p>What was even more disastrous was the spiritual poverty of the +masses. Seldom have the awful warnings of the great lawgiver been +fulfilled so literally as during the eighteenth century:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>And upon them that remain of you, I will send a faintness into +their hearts in the land of their enemies; and the sound of a +shaken leaf shall chase them; and they shall flee as fleeing from a +sword; and they shall fall, when none pursueth. And they shall fall +one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63"></a>{63}</span> pursueth: +and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies (Lev. 26: +36-37).</p> +<p>But the Lord shall give thee there a trembling heart, and +failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind. And thy life shall hang in +doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and thou +shalt have none assurance of thy life (Deut. 29: 65-66).</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Having learned from sad experience that there was no crime their +foes were incapable of perpetrating, they gave credence to every +rumor as to an established fact. A report that boys and girls were +to be prohibited from marrying before a certain age resulted in +behalot (panics), during which children of the tenderest ages were +united as husband and wife (1754, 1764, 1793). Mysticism became +rampant. "Messiah" after "Messiah" "revealed" himself as the one +promised to redeem Israel from all his troubles. Love of God began +to be tinged with fear of the devil, and incantations to take the +place of religious belief. The <i>Zohar</i> and works full of +superstition, such as the <i>Kab ha-Yashar</i>, <i>Midrash +Talpiyot</i>, and <i>Nishmat Hayyim</i>, the first studied by men, +the others by both sexes, but mostly by women, prepared their minds +for all sorts of mongrel beliefs. "In no land," says Tobias Cohn, +"is the practice of summoning up devils and spirits by means of the +Cabbalistic <span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id= +"page64"></a>{64}</span> abracadabra so prevalent, and the belief +in dreams and visions so strong, as in Poland."<a id= +"footnotetag2-8" name="footnotetag2-8"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-8"><sup>8</sup></a> All this, though it strengthened +religious fervor in some, undermined it in others. Sects came into +being, struggled, and, having brought added misery upon their +followers, disappeared. Jewish criminals escaped justice by +invoking the power of the Catholic priesthood and promising to +become converted to Christianity.<a id="footnotetag2-9" name= +"footnotetag2-9"></a><a href="#footnote2-9"><sup>9</sup></a> And +now and then even Talmudists left the fold, as, for instance, Carl +Anton, the Courland pupil of Eybeschütz, who became professor +of Hebrew at Hamsted, and wrote numerous works on Judaism. Others +hoped to win the favor of the Gentiles by preaching a mixture of +Judaism and Catholicism. In many places, especially in the Ukraine, +the seat of learning that had suffered most from the ravages of the +Cossacks, the state of morals sank very low, owing to the teaching +of Jacob Querido, the self-proclaimed son of the pseudo-Messiah +Shabbataï Zebi, "that the sinfulness of the world can be +overcome only by a super-abundance of sin." This paved the way for +the last of the long list of Messiahs, Jacob (Yankev Leibovich) +Frank of Podolia. His experiences, adventures, and hairbreadth +escapes, his entire career, beginning with his return from his +travels in Turkey, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id= +"page65"></a>{65}</span> through his conversion to Catholicism +(1759), to the day of his death as "Baron von Offenbach," would +furnish material for a stirring drama. As if to counteract this +demoralizing tendency, a new sect, known as Hasidim, originating in +Lithuania and headed by Judah Hasid of Dubno and Hayyim Malak, +taught its devotees to hasten the advent of the Messiah by doing +penance for the sins of Israel. They were so firmly convinced of +the efficacy of fasts and prayers that they went to Jerusalem by +hundreds to witness the impending redemption (ab. 1706). But the +ascetic Hasidim and the epicurean Frankists were alike doomed to +disappear or to be swallowed up by a new Hasidism, combining the +teachings and aspirations of both, the sect founded by Israel Baal +Shem, or Besht (ab. 1698-1759), and fully developed by Bar of +Meseritz and Jacob Joseph of Polonnoy.</p> +<a name="illus-levinsohn" id="illus-levinsohn"></a> +<center><img width="200" height="280" src= +"images/illus-levinsohn.png" alt="Isaac Levinsohn" /></center> +<center>Isaac Bär Levinsohn, 1788-1860</center> +<p>Time was when all writers on the subject, usually Maskilim, +thought it their duty to cast a stone at Hasidism. They described +it as a Chinese wall shutting the Jews in and shutting the world +out. It is becoming more and more plainly recognized and admitted, +that it was, in reality, an attempt at reform rendered imperative +by the tyranny of the kahal, the rigorism of the rabbis, the +superciliousness <span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id= +"page66"></a>{66}</span> of the learned classes, and the +superstition of the masses. Its aim was to bring about a deep +psychologic improvement, to change not so much the belief as the +believer. It insisted on purity rather than profundity of thought. +Unable to remove the galling yoke, it gave strength to its wearers +by prohibiting sadness and asceticism, and emphasizing joy and +fellowship as important elements in the fabric of its theology.</p> +<p>Hasidism was thus a plant the seeds of which had been sown by +the various sects. Like the former Hasidim, or even the Assideans +of nearly two thousand years before, their latter-day namesakes +rigidly adhered to the laws of Levitical purification, and, to a +certain extent, led a communistic life. In addition they accepted, +in a modified form, certain customs and beliefs of the Catholic +church that had been adopted by the followers of Frank. The prayers +to the saints (zaddikim), the conception of faith as the fountain +of salvation, even the belief in a trinity consisting of the +Godhead, the Shekinah, and the Holy Ghost, these and other exotic +doctrines introduced by the Cabbala took root and grew in the +vineyard of Hasidism.<a id="footnotetag2-10" name= +"footnotetag2-10"></a><a href="#footnote2-10"><sup>10</sup></a></p> +<p>The founder of the sect has an interesting history. In his +childhood he gave no evidence of future <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67"></a>{67}</span> greatness. +His education was of a low order, but his feeling heart and +sympathetic soul won him the esteem of all that knew him. The woods +possessed the same charm for him as for Wordsworth or Whitman. With +the latter especially he seems to have much in common. While a +child, he absented himself frequently from the narrow and noisy +heder, and spent the day in the quiet of the neighboring woods. +When he grew up, he accepted the menial position of a school usher. +His office was to go from house to house, arouse the sleeping +children, dress them, and bring them to heder. But the time soon +came when humble and obscure Israel "revealed" himself to the +world. Owing to his tact and knowledge of human nature, combined +with the conditions of the times, his teachings spread rapidly. He +was speedily crowned with the glory of a "good name" (Baal Shem +Tob), and in the end he was immortalized.</p> +<p>From such a man we can expect only originality, not profundity. +Indeed, his whole life was a protest against the subtleties of the +Talmudists and the ceremonies, meaningless to him, which they +introduced into Judaism. His object was to remove the petrified +rabbinical restrictions (gezerot) and develop the emotional side of +the Jew in their stead. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id= +"page68"></a>{68}</span> He was primarily a man of action, and had +little love for the rabbis, their passivity, world-weariness, and +pride of intellect. It is said that when he "overheard the sounds +of eager, loud discussions issuing from a rabbinical college, +closing his ears with his hands, [he] declared that it was such +disputants who delayed the redemption of Israel from captivity." +Men like these, who study the Law for the sake of knowing, not of +feeling, cannot claim any merit for it. They deserve to be called +"Jewish devils." Only he is worthy of reward who is virtuous rather +than innocent, who does what he is afraid to do, who, as Jacob +Joseph of Polonnoy puts it, "acquires evil thoughts and converts +them into holy ones." No asceticism for him. All kinds of human +feelings deserve our respect, for it is not the body that feels but +the soul, and the soul, "being a part of God on high, cannot +possibly have an absolutely bad tendency." Men may not be +heresy-hunters and fault-finders, for none is free from heresy and +faults himself: the face he brings to the mirror, he finds +reflected in it. Yea, even the followers of Abraham possess evil +propensities, and noble qualities frequently belong to the +disciples of Balaam himself.<a id="footnotetag2-11" name= +"footnotetag2-11"></a><a href="#footnote2-11"><sup>11</sup></a></p> +<p>These democratic principles put the most <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69"></a>{69}</span> ignorant Jew +in Russia on an equality with the erudite Lithuanian. No wonder +that they obtained such strong hold on the people of the Ukraine, +the province shorn of all its glory. Hasidism invaded Podolia and +Volhynia, swept over Galicia and Hungary, and found adherents even +in many a large community in Western Russia and Prussia. It brought +cheer and happiness in its wake, and rendered the unfortunate Jew +forgetful of his misery. Gottlober maintains that the inspiring +melodies of the Hasidic hymns were largely responsible for the +spread of the movement, even as Moody attributed the success of his +revivals to the singing of Sankey. For, as Doctor Schechter has it, +"the Besht was a religious revivalist in the best sense, full of +burning faith in his God and his cause; convinced of the value of +his teaching and his truth."<a id="footnotetag2-12" name= +"footnotetag2-12"></a><a href="#footnote2-12"><sup>12</sup></a></p> +<p>One province there was to which the Besht could not penetrate, +at least not without a long siege and great losses. In Lithuania +the inroads of Hasidism were strenuously opposed, and its advance +disputed step by step. The Lithuanian Jews, to whom the Talmud was +as dear as ever, could not countenance a movement sprung, as they +believed, from the seed sown by Shabbataï Zebi, an opponent of +the Talmud, and by Jacob Frank, at whose instigation the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70"></a>{70}</span> +Bishop of Kamenetz ordered the Talmud to be publicly burnt.<a id= +"footnotetag2-13" name="footnotetag2-13"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-13"><sup>13</sup></a></p> +<p>The opponents (Mitnaggedim) of Hasidism were headed by a leader +who was as typical an exponent of the cause he espoused as the +Besht was of his. Among the students of Jewish literature since the +close of the Talmud, few have surpassed, or even equalled, Elijah +of Vilna (1720-1797). Not inappropriately he was called Gaon and +Hasid, for in mental and moral attainments he was unique in his +generation. As the Besht was noted in his early life for dulness +and indifference, so Elijah was remarkable for diligence and +versatility. His life, like the Besht's, became the nucleus of many +wonderful tales, which his biographer narrates with painstaking +exactness. They present the picture of a man diametrically +different from Israel Baal Shem Tob. Every year, we are told, added +to the marvellous development of the young intellectual giant. When +he was six years old, none but Rabbi Moses Margolioth, the renowned +Talmudist and author, was competent enough to teach him. At seven, +he worsted the chief rabbi of his native city in a Talmudic +discussion. At nine, there was nothing in Jewish literature with +which he was not familiar, and he turned to other studies to +satisfy <span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id= +"page71"></a>{71}</span> his craving for knowledge. And at +thirteen, he was acknowledged by his fellows as the greatest of +Talmudists.<a id="footnotetag2-14" name= +"footnotetag2-14"></a><a href="#footnote2-14"><sup>14</sup></a> He +had neither guide nor teacher. All unaided he discovered the path +of truth. He held neither a rabbinical nor any other public office. +He was as retiring as the Besht was aggressive. Nevertheless his +word was law, and his influence immense. The centenary of his death +(1897) was celebrated among all classes with the solemnity which +the memories of "men of God" inspire.<a id="footnotetag2-15" name= +"footnotetag2-15"></a><a href="#footnote2-15"><sup>15</sup></a></p> +<p>Now, this Gaon of Vilna, or Hagra, was perhaps no less +dissatisfied with prevailing conditions than the Besht, but his +remedy for them was as different as the two personalities were +unlike. He did not desire to abolish the Talmud, but rather to +render it more attractive, by making its acquisition easier and +putting its study on a scientific basis. Even in Lithuania, the +citadel of the Talmud, the development of Talmudic learning had +been hampered. In accordance with a Talmudic principle, mankind is +continually degenerating, not only physically, but morally and +mentally as well. It holds that if "the ancients were angels, we +are mere men; if they were but men, we are asses." This high regard +for antiquity produced a belief in the infallibility of the rabbis +on the part of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id= +"page72"></a>{72}</span> Mitnaggedim, similar to that in their +zaddikim by the Hasidim. No scholar of a later generation dared +disagree with the statement of a rabbi of a previous generation. +But as authorities sometimes conflict with each other, the +Talmudists regarded it their duty to reconcile them or to prove, in +the words of the ancient sages, that "these as well as those are +the words of the living God." Similarly, the popes declared that, +despite their contradictions, the Biblical translations of Sixtus V +and Clement VIII were both correct.</p> +<p>It is true that Lithuanian Talmudists were not always the slaves +of authority which they ultimately became. A study of the works of +the early Slavonian rabbis, before and after Rabbi Polack, shows +that they were free from unhealthy awe of their predecessors, and +sometimes were audaciously independent. Neither Solomon Luria +(Maharshal), Samuel Edels (Maharsha), or Meïr Lublin (Maharam) +refrained from criticising and amending whenever they deemed it +necessary. But in the course of time the casuistic method, +originally a mere pastime, became the approved method of study, and +produced what is known as pilpul. Scholars wasted days and nights +in heaping Ossa upon Pelion, in reconciling difficulties which no +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73"></a>{73}</span> +logic could harmonize. Here the Gaon found the first and most +urgent need for reform. The Talmudists, he declared, were not +infallible. Every one may interpret the Mishnah in accordance with +reason, even if the interpretation be not in keeping with the +traditional meaning as construed by the Amoraim.<a id= +"footnotetag2-16" name="footnotetag2-16"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-16"><sup>16</sup></a></p> +<p>His views on religion were equally liberal. The same process of +reasoning which, spun out to its logical conclusion, led to pilpul +in the schools, produced, when turned into the channel of religion, +the over-piety culminating in the <i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i>. This +remarkable book, with the euphonious name <i>The Ready Table</i>, +prescribed enough regulations to keep one busy from early morning +till late at night. The Jews found themselves bound hand and foot +by ceremonial trammels and weighted down by a burden of innumerable +customs. The spirit of freedom that had animated Slavonian Judaism +during the Middle Ages had fled. The breadth of view that had +marked the decision of many of its rabbis was gone.<a id= +"footnotetag2-17" name="footnotetag2-17"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-17"><sup>17</sup></a> Judaism was a mere mummy of its +former self. Here, too, the Gaon came to the rescue. Rightly or +wrongly, he "established the importance of Minhagim [religious +ceremonies] according to their antiquity or primitivism, regarding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74"></a>{74}</span> +those which have originated since the codification of the +<i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i> as not binding at all; those which have been +adopted since the Talmudic period to be subject to change by common +consent; while those of the Bible and in the Talmud were to him +fundamental and unalterable."<a id="footnotetag2-18" name= +"footnotetag2-18"></a><a href="#footnote2-18"><sup>18</sup></a></p> +<p>But the Gaon's influence on the Haskalah movement by far +surpassed his influence on the study of the Talmud or on the +ceremonials of the synagogue. Many, in point of fact, regard him as +the originator of the movement. As he was the first to oppose the +authority of the Talmudists, so he was the first to inveigh against +the educational system among the Jews of his day and country. The +mania for distinction in rabbinical learning plunged the child into +the mazes of Talmudic casuistry as soon as he could read; +frequently he had not read the Bible or studied the rudiments of +grammar. The Gaon insisted that every one should first master the +twenty-four books of the Bible, their etymology, prosody, and +syntax, then the six divisions of the Mishnah with the important +commentaries and the suggested emendations, and finally the Talmud +in general, without wasting much time on pilpul, which brings no +practical result. "These few lines," says a writer, "contain a more +thorough course of study <span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id= +"page75"></a>{75}</span> than Wessely suggested in his <i>Words of +Peace and Truth</i>. Though they did not entirely change the system +in vogue—for great is the power of habit—they produced +a wholesome effect, which was visible in a short time among the +people." Furthermore, the Gaon exhorted the Talmudists to study +secular science, since, "if one is ignorant of the other sciences, +one is a hundredfold more ignorant of the sciences of the Torah, +for the two are inseparably connected." He set the example by +writing, not only on the most important Hebrew books, Biblical, +Talmudic, and Cabbalistic, but also on algebra, geometry, +trigonometry, astronomy, and grammar.<a id="footnotetag2-19" name= +"footnotetag2-19"></a><a href="#footnote2-19"><sup>19</sup></a> And +his example served as an impetus and encouragement to the Maskilim +in spreading knowledge among their coreligionists.</p> +<p>Such was the man who led the crusade against the converts to +Hasidism. But even he could not stem the current. In their despair, +the Lithuanian Jews turned to their coreligionists in Germany, and +implored their assistance in eradicating, or at least suppressing, +the threatened invasion. The great learning and literary ability of +the "divine philosopher, Rabbi Moses ben Menahem" (Mendelssohn, +1729-1786), were appealed to for help. Not a stone was left +unturned to crush the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id= +"page76"></a>{76}</span> new sect (kat), so called. Volumes of the +<i>Toledot Ya'akob Yosef</i>, in which Rabbi Jacob Joseph of +Polonnoy set forth the principles of the Besht, were burnt in the +market-place in Vilna. Intermarriage, social intercourse of any +kind, was prohibited between Hasidim and Mitnaggedim. In Vilna, +Grodno, Brest, Slutsk, Minsk, Pinsk, etc., the ban was hurled +against the dissenters by the most prominent rabbis. Israel was +divided into two hostile camps.<a id="footnotetag2-20" name= +"footnotetag2-20"></a><a href="#footnote2-20"><sup>20</sup></a> But +soon everything was changed. Hasidim and Mitnaggedim discovered +that while they were fighting each other, a common enemy was +undermining the ground on which they stood. The Haskalah was +steadily drawing recruits from both, and it threatened ultimately +to become more dangerous to both than they were to each other.</p> +<p>From the South had come the impulse of religious revivalism +through the followers of the Besht, and the North was showing signs +of awakening through the reforms of the Gaon. At the same time a +ray of enlightenment from the West pierced through the night. To +make the regeneration of Slavonic Judaism complete, the element of +estheticism had to be added to emotionalism and reason. From the +warm South came Besht, from the studious North Hagra, and Rambman +(Mendelssohn) <span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id= +"page77"></a>{77}</span> made his appearance from the enlightened +West. The triumvirate was complete.</p> +<p>Not that Mendelssohn ever visited or resided in Russo-Poland. +But the gentle, cultured little savant of Berlin, with whose lips, +Carlyle tells us, Socrates spoke like Socrates in German as in no +other modern language, "for his own character was Socratic," was at +no period of his life wholly cut off from influencing Slavonic Jews +and from being influenced by them. As a lad Mendelssohn was +instructed by Israel Moses Halevi of Zamoscz (ab. 1700-1772). This +teacher of his, who is credited with several inventions, and of +whom Lessing says, in a letter to Mendelssohn, that he was "one of +the first to arouse a love for science in the hearts of Jews," +imbued him with love for philosophy. When Mendelssohn emerged from +obscurity, and, despite ill-health and ignorance, attained culture +and breeding, his associate, who was with him the most important +factor in German Haskalah, was the renowned Naphtali, or Hartwig, +Wessely, whose grandfather Joseph Reis had been among the fugitives +from the Cossack massacres in 1648. And when he became famous, and +took his place among the greatest of his age, he still sought +diversion and instruction among the Slavonian <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78"></a>{78}</span> Jews, and +boasted of being a descendant of one of them, Moses Isserles of +Cracow. As formerly with the Talmud, the Haskalah seemed, at the +time of Mendelssohn, to be moving from the East westward, through +the agency of the Slavonic Jews pouring perennially into Germany. +Positions, from the lowly melammed's to the honorable chief rabbi's +in prominent communities, were filled almost exclusively by them. +The cause of Judaism seems to have been entrusted to them. Ezekiel +Landau, whose tactful intercession helped greatly to establish +peace between the Emden-Eybeschütz factions, was rabbi of +Prague for almost forty years (1755-1793); the equally prominent, +but at first somewhat less liberal Phinehas Horowitz was rabbi and +dean in Frankfort-on-the-Main for over thirty years (1771-1805); +his brother Shmelke, regarded as a saint, was chief rabbi of +Moravia (1775). Another Horwitz, Aaron Halevi, was rabbi of Berlin, +one of those who favored Mendelssohn's translation of the +Pentateuch; while the cultured and profound Talmudist Raphael +Hakohen, whose grandson, Gabriel Riesser, became the greatest +champion of Jewish emancipation Germany has yet produced, was +offered the rabbinate of Berlin (1771). He declined the post, and +finally became chief rabbi <span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" +id="page79"></a>{79}</span> (1776-1803) of the united congregations +of Altona, Hamburg, and Wandsbeck. It is also recorded that Samuel +ben Avigdor, the last rabbi of Vilna, held the rabbinate of +Königsberg,<a id="footnotetag2-21" name= +"footnotetag2-21"></a><a href="#footnote2-21"><sup>21</sup></a> and +there certainly must have been many more who, because of their +inferior positions, cannot be so easily traced. Besides, Germany, +as we have seen, was the common fatherland of the greater part of +both Slavonic and Teutonic Jews. It never remained a <i>terra +incognita</i> to the former for any length of time. Its proximity +to Russia, the business relations between the Jews of the two +countries, intermarriage, and, with a few insignificant exceptions, +the identity of language, made the Jews of both countries come into +closer contact than was possible with any other Jews. For the +studious, Germany possessed the attraction which the "land of +universities" exerts upon seekers after knowledge the world over. +To whom, indeed, could the profound and abstruse speculations of +Leibnitz and Kant make a stronger appeal than to the Jew who had +been initiated into metaphysical abstractions from his very +childhood? It is no wonder, then, that immigration from +Russo-Poland into Germany was constantly on the increase, until, +under Alexander II, the advancement of Russian civilization put a +stop in a measure to <span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id= +"page80"></a>{80}</span> these roamings, to be resumed under +Alexander III and Nicholas II.</p> +<p>The Russo-Polish youth, therefore, found himself quite at home +in the country of Mendelssohn, and thither, in case of necessity, +he would go. In the eleventh century Jews had gone from Germany to +Poland. In the eighteenth they retraced their steps from Poland to +Germany. Outnumbering by far those who went there from choice or by +invitation, were those compelled to go in search of a livelihood. +"When I reached the age of twenty, peaceful and comfortable in my +father's house, I began to hope that henceforth I should pursue my +studies uninterrupted. But all at once my father lost his fortune, +and I was forced to go somewhere to provide for myself. So I became +a melammed in Berlin." This piece of autobiography in the preface +to a Talmudic treatise by Reuben of Zamoscz might have been written +by many others, too. But there were also the goodly number led +thither by thirst for knowledge, whose remarkable abilities +attracted the admiration of Jew and Gentile alike. Wessely the poet +and Linda the mathematician more than once expressed surprise at +the amount of learning many of the poor immigrants were found to +possess.<a id="footnotetag2-22" name="footnotetag2-22"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-22"><sup>22</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81"></a>{81}</span> +<p>Among these immigrants were two who may justly be regarded as +the conducting medium through which the Haskalah currents were +transmitted from Germany to Russo-Poland: Solomon Dubno, the +indefatigable laborer in the province of Jewish science, and +Solomon Maimon, the brilliant but unfortunate philosopher, both of +them teachers in the house of Mendelssohn.</p> +<p>Solomon Dubno (1738-1813) was all his life a bee in search of +flowers, to turn their sweetness into honey. Having exhausted the +knowledge of his Volhynian instructors, he went to Galicia, where +he became proficient in Hebrew grammar and Biblical exegesis. +Thence, attracted by its rich collection of books, he left for +Amsterdam, where he spent five years in study and research. Finally +he settled in Berlin, and earned a livelihood by teaching among +others the children of Mendelssohn. The gentle disposition and +profound learning of the Polish emigrant made a favorable +impression on the Berlin sage, who invited him to participate in +his translation of the Bible, which revolutionized the Judaism of +the nineteenth century more than the Septuagint that of the first +century. The result was the <i>Biur</i> (commentary), which he, +together with his countryman, Aaron Yaroslav, also a <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82"></a>{82}</span> teacher, +wrote on several books of the Bible. Comparatively few of Dubno's +works have been published, but judging from such as are known we +may safely pronounce him a master of the Massorah and a scholar of +unusual attainments. Of his poems Delitzsch says that they are "in +the truest sense Hebrew in expression, Biblical in imagery and +subject-matter, medieval in rhyme and rhythm, and in general +genuinely Jewish in manner of treatment,"—laudation which +this exacting critic bestowed on no other Hebrew poet of his time. +It was mainly through the endeavors of Dubno that Mendelssohn's +Pentateuch, later regarded with suspicion, was everywhere bought +and studied eagerly.<a id="footnotetag2-23" name= +"footnotetag2-23"></a><a href="#footnote2-23"><sup>23</sup></a></p> +<p>One better known to the outside world than Dubno, and who has +engraved his name forever on the history of theology and +philosophy, was Solomon Maimon (Nieszvicz, Lithuania, +1754—Niedersiegersdorf, Silesia, 1800). In his famous +autobiography is mirrored the lot of hundreds of his countrymen +who, like him, left their homes and hearths, their nearest and +dearest, and led a wretched and miserable existence, all because +they were anxious to be <i>ma'amike be-hakmah</i> ("delvers in +knowledge"), as he himself might have said, and avail themselves of +the opportunities for acquiring <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page83" id="page83"></a>{83}</span> the truth and wisdom +unattainable in their own land.</p> +<p>But Maimon was doomed to suffer abroad even more than at home. +He was one of those unfortunates whose sufferings are regarded as +well-deserved. His exceptional ability was never to develop to its +fullest capacity. Great injustice has been done to him, not only by +the rabid orthodox, who denied him a grave in their cemetery, but +even by the enlightened historian Graetz. Fortunately he left +behind him his <i>Lebensgeschichte</i>, among the best of its kind +in German literature, in which, with the frankness of a Rousseau, +he described the events of his short and checkered career.<a id= +"footnotetag2-24" name="footnotetag2-24"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-24"><sup>24</sup></a></p> +<p>From this admirable work, in which he neither hides his follies +nor flaunts his talents, we learn that Maimon possessed rare +virtues. His sympathy for the poor, his ready helpfulness even at +the sacrifice of himself, rendered him as uncommon in moral action +as in philosophic speculation. To the English reader a striking +parallelism suggests itself between him and his contemporary Oliver +Goldsmith. Both were afflicted with generosity above their +fortunes; both had a "knack at hoping," which led frequently to +their undoing; neither could subscribe easily to the "decent +formalities of rigid virtue"; and, as <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84"></a>{84}</span> of the +latter we may also say of the former, in the language of a +reviewer, "He had lights and shadows, virtues and +foibles—vices you cannot call them, be you never so +unkind."</p> +<p>As Goldsmith came to London, so came Maimon to Berlin, "without +friends, recommendation, money, or impudence." His only luggage was +two manuscripts: a commentary on the works of Maimuni, whose name +he had adopted, and to whom he paid divine reverence; and a +treatise in which he attempted to rationalize the recondite +doctrines of the Cabbala, and which he always kept by him "as a +monument of the struggle of the human mind after perfection in +spite of all hindrances which were put in its way." The little +bundle, which, to the zealot Jewish elders of that community, +seemed sufficient indication that Maimon was tainted with heresy, +and that his intentions were to devote himself to the study of +science and philosophy, proved a great impediment to entering +Berlin; and when, after a long, incredible struggle, he was finally +admitted, he found himself incapable of earning a livelihood. In +his childlike naïveté he was betrayed by the very +persons upon whom he relied most. All this could not deaden his +love for knowledge and truth. By chance he obtained Wolff's +<i>Metaphysics</i>, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id= +"page85"></a>{85}</span> and this marked a new epoch in his life. +"Not only the sublime science in itself," says he, "but also the +order and mathematical method of the celebrated author, the +precision of his explanations, the exactness of his reasoning, and +the scientific arrangement of his expositions—all this +kindled a new light in my mind."</p> +<p>So profound a thinker could not for long be a mere pupil. +Wolff's argument <i>a posteriori</i> for the existence of God, in +accordance with his philosophic hobby, the "principle of sufficient +reason," displeased him wholly. A Hebrew letter to Mendelssohn, in +which he shook the foundation of the <i>Metaphysics</i> by means of +his irrefutable ontology, won him the admiration of the Berlin +sage, who invited him to become his daily guest.</p> +<p>Maimon's intellect unfolded from day to day, until, some time +afterwards, he astonished the philosophic world by his great work, +<i>Die Transcendentale Philosophie</i> (Berlin, 1790), in reference +to which Kant wrote to his beloved disciple Marcus Herz: "A mere +glance at it enabled me to recognize its merits, and showed me, +that not only had none of my opponents understood me and the main +problem so well, but very few could claim so much penetration as +Herr Maimon in profound inquiries <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page86" id="page86"></a>{86}</span> of this sort." He demolished +the prevalent Leibnitzo-Wolffian system in it, and proved that even +the Kantian theory, though irrefutable from a dogmatic point of +view, is exposed to severe attacks from the skeptic's point of +view.</p> +<p>Thenceforth he became a leading figure in philosophic +controversy. In 1793 he published <i>Ueber die Progresse der +Philosophie</i>; in 1794, <i>Versuch einer neuen Logik</i>, and +<i>Die Kategorien des Aristoteles</i>, and, three years later, +<i>Kritische Untersuchungen über den menschlichen Geist</i> +(Berlin, 1797), wherein he originated a speculative, monistic +idealism, which pervaded not only philosophy, but all sciences +during the first half of the nineteenth century, the system by +which Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel were influenced. According to +Bernfeld, he was the greatest Jewish philosopher since the time of +Spinoza, with whose depth of reasoning he combined an ease and +straightforwardness of illustration characteristic of Benjamin +Franklin.<a id="footnotetag2-25" name= +"footnotetag2-25"></a><a href="#footnote2-25"><sup>25</sup></a></p> +<p>With all this he remained an ardent lover of the Talmud to the +last. In fact, his philosophy is distinctively Jewish. Like +Spinoza, he exhibited the effects of the Cabbala and of rabbinic +speculation, with which he had been familiar from childhood. The +honor of the Talmudic sages was always dear <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87"></a>{87}</span> to him, and +he never mentioned them without expressing profound respect. +Persecuted though he was by his German coreligionists, he never +bore them a grudge. As a man he loved them as brothers, but as a +philosopher he could not subscribe to their views implicitly. But +for friends and benefactors his affection was unusually strong. +With what love he talks of Mendelssohn in the chapter dedicated to +him in his autobiography, even though "he could not explain the +persistency of Mendelssohn and the Wolffians generally in adhering +to their system, except as a political dodge, and a piece of +hypocrisy, by which they studiously endeavored to descend to the +mode of thinking common to the popular mind!" His devotion to his +wife was not diminished even after he had been compelled to divorce +her because of his supposed heretical proclivities. "When the +subject [of his divorce] came up in conversation, it was easy," +says his biographer,<a id="footnotetag2-26" name= +"footnotetag2-26"></a><a href="#footnote2-26"><sup>26</sup></a> "to +read in his face the deep sorrow he felt: his liveliness then faded +away sensibly. By and by he would become perfectly silent, was +incapable of further entertainment, and went home earlier than +usual." Of his Russo-Polish brethren he speaks in the highest +terms. He cannot bestow too much praise on their care for the poor +and the sick, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id= +"page88"></a>{88}</span> he always hoped once more to see his +native land, to whose king he dedicated his <i>Transcendental +Philosophy</i>. "For," says he, "the Polish Jews are, indeed, for +the most part not enlightened by science; their manners and way of +life are still rude, but they are loyal to the religion of their +fathers and to the laws of their country."<a id="footnotetag2-27" +name="footnotetag2-27"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-27"><sup>27</sup></a></p> +<p>It is because I regard him as the greatest Maskil of his time +that I have dwelt on Maimon at such length. Mendelssohn's +philosophy, if he had an original system, has long since passed +into oblivion; Maimon's will be studied as long as Spinoza, +Leibnitz, and Kant are in vogue. His importance to us does not lie +in the circumstance that his autobiography—"that wonderful +bit of Autobiography," as George Eliot speaks of it, or "that +curious and rare book," as Dean Milman calls it—and the +pictures drawn of him by Berthold Auerbach and Israel +Zangwill<a id="footnotetag2-28" name="footnotetag2-28"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-28"><sup>28</sup></a> have made him the hero of some of +the world's best biographies and novels. Over and above this, he is +the prototype of his unfortunate countrymen during the days of +transition. He embodied the aspiration, courage, and +disappointments of them all, and if, as Carlyle said, "the history +of the world is the history of its great men," Maimon's life should +be studied by all interested in <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page89" id="page89"></a>{89}</span> the Kulturkampf of the +Russo-Polish and of the German Jews in the eighteenth century.</p> +<p>What could he not have accomplished, he to whom Kant and Goethe, +Schiller and Körner paid tributes of unstinted praise, had he +not been doomed to suffer and to starve. Only at the last moment, +before he was silenced forever, was he able to say, <i>Ich bin +ruhig</i> ("I am at peace"). Yet, in spite of the difficulties and +impediments besetting him at every step, his promise of greatness +and usefulness was not belied. In the Introduction to his +commentary on Maimuni's <i>Guide to the Perplexed (Gibe'at +ha-Moreh)</i>, in which he attempted to reconcile his master's +system with that of modern philosophy—even as the master had +tried to reconcile Judaism with Aristotelianism—he gave a +brief sketch of the development of modern thought. This part of his +work was assiduously studied by his compatriots. Among his +unpublished writings was found a work on mathematical physics, +<i>Ta'alumot Hokmah</i>, and in his Talmudic treatise, <i>Heshek +Shelomoh</i>, he inserted a dissertation, <i>Ma'aseh Hosheb</i>, on +arithmetic, like a skilful physician putting a healing, though to +some it may appear a repelling, balm into a delicious, attractive +capsule.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90"></a>{90}</span> +<p>The story of Maimon, as I have said, is the story of many of the +peripatetic apostles of Haskalah, and his experience was more or +less also theirs. Issachar Falkensohn Behr (or Bär Falkensohn, +1746-1796?), without funds, friends, or rudimentary knowledge of +the subjects necessary for admission into a public school, left his +native city of Zamosez with the determination to enter the +university of "Little Berlin," as Königsberg was called. Too +poor to carry out his plan, he tramped to Berlin. Through the +influence of his relatives and countrymen, Israel Moses Halevi and +Daniel Jaffe, he was introduced to Mendelssohn, and was enabled to +devote himself systematically to the study of German, the alphabet +of which he had learned from Wolff's treatise on mathematics, and +to French, Latin, physics, philosophy, and medicine. In a very +short time he mastered them all, especially German. His <i>Gedichte +eines polnischen Juden</i> (Mitau and Leipsic, 1772) caused no +little stir among the poets. Lessing and Goethe, close observers of +symptoms of enlightenment among the Jews, expressed themselves +differently as to the real merit of the collection; but both +concurred with Boie, who, writing to Knebel, the friend of Goethe, +remarked concerning them, "You are right; the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91"></a>{91}</span> Jewish +nation promises much after it is once awakened."<a id= +"footnotetag2-29" name="footnotetag2-29"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-29"><sup>29</sup></a></p> +<p>For one reason or another we find that some Slavonic Jewish +youths preferred other places to Berlin for the pursuit of their +studies. Such were Benjamin Wolf Günzberg and Jacob +Liboschüts. The former was probably the only Jew at the +Göttingen University. It was from there that he inquired of +Jacob Emden "whether it was permissible to dissect on the Sabbath," +and his thesis for the doctor's degree was <i>De medica ex +Talmudicis illustrata</i> (Göttingen, 1743).<a id= +"footnotetag2-30" name="footnotetag2-30"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-30"><sup>30</sup></a> Liboschüts studied at the +University of Halle. After graduation, finding that as a Jew he +could not settle in St. Petersburg, he established himself in +Vilna, where he became celebrated as a diplomat, philanthropist, +and, more especially, expert physician. When Professor Frank was +asked who would take care of the public health in his absence, he +is reported to have said, <i>Deus et Judaeus</i>, "God and the Jew" +[Liboschüts]!</p> +<p>In their deep-rooted love for learning, they sometimes ventured +even beyond the German boundaries, into countries whose language +and customs had little in common with theirs. Padua continued to be +the resort of Russo-Polish Jews that it had <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92"></a>{92}</span> been before +1648. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto found an ardent admirer and zealous +propagandist of his principles in the young medical student +Jekuthiel Gordon (ab. 1729), who wrote concerning his master to +friends in Vienna and Vilna.<a id="footnotetag2-31" name= +"footnotetag2-31"></a><a href="#footnote2-31"><sup>31</sup></a> +Judah Halevi Hurwitz (d. 1797), whose work <i>'Ammude Bet +Yehudah</i> (Amsterdam, 1765) was highly recommended by Mendelssohn +and Wessely, was a graduate of the same famous institution. In +addition to his medical and philosophic attainments, he wrote a +number of poems, and he was among the first to translate fables +from German into Hebrew.<a id="footnotetag2-32" name= +"footnotetag2-32"></a><a href="#footnote2-32"><sup>32</sup></a></p> +<p>The story of Zalkind Hurwitz (1740-1812), "le fameux," as he was +called by a French writer, is interesting. Starting, as usual, by +going to Berlin, and succeeding, as usual, in gaining the +friendship of Mendelssohn, he then visited Nancy, Metz, and +Strasburg, and finally settled in Paris. Like Doctor Behr, he had +to resort to peddling as a means for a livelihood. The rudiments of +French he acquired from any book he chanced to obtain. +Nevertheless, he soon became proficient in the language of his +adopted country, and wrote his excellent <i>Apologie des juifs</i>, +which, crowned by the Academy of Metz and quoted by Mirabeau, was +largely instrumental in removing the disabilities of the Jews in +France. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id= +"page93"></a>{93}</span> Clermont-Tonnerre, the advocate of Jewish +emancipation, said of him, <i>Le juif polonais seul avait +parlé en philosophe</i>. He was suggested as a member of the +Sanhedrin convoked by Napoleon in 1807. Though for some reason he +never enjoyed the honor of membership in it, he was, nevertheless, +the ruling spirit in the august assembly, and later generations +have paid him the homage he deserves.<a id="footnotetag2-33" name= +"footnotetag2-33"></a><a href="#footnote2-33"><sup>33</sup></a></p> +<p>Where Hurwitz failed, another of his countrymen was to succeed. +Judah Litvack (1776-1836) removed from Berlin to Amsterdam, became +prominent among the Dutch mathematicians, and wrote a Dutch work, +<i>Verhandeling over de Profgetallen Gen. ii</i> (Amsterdam, 1817), +which appeared in a second edition four years after the first. The +author was elected a member of the Mathesis Artium Genetrix +Society, and appointed one of the deputation sent to the Sanhedrin +(February 12, 1807), before which he delivered a discourse in the +German language.</p> +<p>The "distant isles of the sea," the British Islands, +Russo-Polish Jews seem to have frequented ever since the +Restoration, probably contemporaneously with the settlement of the +Spanish Jews. The famous mystic Hayyim Samuel Jacob Falk, one of +the many Baal-Shems who flourished in <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94"></a>{94}</span> Podolia at +the beginning of the eighteenth century, settled in London before +1750, and became the subject of many wonder stories. Sussman +Shesnovzi, apparently a countryman of his, describes him, in a +letter to Jacob Emden, as "standing alone in his generation by +reason of his knowledge of holy mysteries." That this was the +opinion of many and prominent personages may be inferred from the +fact that among his callers were such distinguished visitors as the +Marchese de Crona, Baron de Neuhoff, Prince Czartorisky, and the +Duke of Orleans. The confidence of such as these brought Falk a +considerable fortune, a large part of which he bequeathed to a +charity fund, the interest of which the overseers of the United +Synagogue still distribute annually among the poor.<a id= +"footnotetag2-34" name="footnotetag2-34"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-34"><sup>34</sup></a> Shortly before "Doctor" Falk's +death (1782), there settled in London Phinehas Phillips of +Krotoschin, the founder of the Phillips family, which has furnished +two Lord Mayors to the city of London.</p> +<p>It was not merely because of its business facilities that +England appealed to the Slavonic Jews. Baruch Shklover, or Schick +(1740-1812), went thither to study medicine, and it was from +English literature that he selected the material for his <i>Keneh +ha-Middah</i> (Prague, 1784; Shklov, 1793), on trigonometry. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95"></a>{95}</span> +It would appear that the first Hebrew book, <i>Toledot Ya'akob</i>, +printed for a Jew in England, was, as the name of the author, +Eisenstadt, suggests, that of a Slavonic Jew. Although a +silversmith by profession, Israel Lyons (d. 1770) was appointed +teacher of Hebrew at the University of Cambridge. He acquired +repute as a Hebrew scholar, and published, in 1757, the +<i>Scholar's Instructor</i>, or <i>Hebrew Grammar</i> (4th ed., +1823), and in 1768 a treatise printed by the Cambridge Press, +<i>Observations and Inquiries Relating to Various Parts of +Scripture History</i>. In the same chosen field labored Hyman +Hurwitz (1770-1844), the friend of Coleridge, who founded the +Highgate Academy (1799), and wrote an <i>Introduction to Hebrew +Grammar</i>, <i>Vindica Hebraica</i>, and <i>Hebrew Tales</i>, +which were translated into various languages. He finally became +professor of Hebrew in University College, London.</p> +<p>A younger contemporary of Abrahamson, the Jewish German +medallist, was Solomon (Yom Tob) Bennett (1780-1841), the engraver +of Polotsk, who spent a number of years at Copenhagen and Berlin in +perfecting himself in his art. Among his works is a highly praised +bas-relief of Frederick II, which was much admired by the +professors of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id= +"page96"></a>{96}</span> the Academy. An ardent lover of liberty, +of which there was little more in Germany at that time than in +Russia, he left for England, where he spent the remaining years of +his life, in Bristol. Besides being an artist and an engraver he +was a profound theologian, anxious to defend the cause of Judaism +against enemies within and without. The enemy within he attacked in +his cutting criticism of Solomon Cohen's <i>Rudiments of +Religion</i>, and the enemy outside, in his other work, <i>The +Constancy of Israel</i> (<i>Nezah Yisraël</i>, London, 1809). +He also wrote expositions on many important Biblical topics, such +as sacrifices (1815) and the Temple (1824). Having pointed out the +defects of the Authorized Version (1834), he was ambitious of +publishing a complete revised translation of the Bible. Specimens +appeared in 1841. Death intervened and frustrated his plans. As +Schick was the first Jew to translate from English into Hebrew, so +Bennett was the first after Manasseh ben Israel to write in English +in behalf of his people.<a id="footnotetag2-35" name= +"footnotetag2-35"></a><a href="#footnote2-35"><sup>35</sup></a></p> +<p>If the contributions of Slavonic Jews to Latin, German, French, +Dutch, and English literature were not less considerable at that +time than those of the Jews residing in the countries where these +languages were respectively used as media, they <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97"></a>{97}</span> excelled +them in Hebrew literature. In the renaissance of the holy tongue, +they played the most important part from the first. The striving +for knowledge, not for the purpose of obtaining a coveted +privilege, but for its own sake, became an irresistible passion, +and it was accompanied by an unquenchable desire to disseminate +knowledge among the masses, to make learning and wisdom common +property. The Hebrew language being the best vehicle for the +purpose, it was soon impressed into the service of Haskalah. The +pioneer Maskilim learned to handle it with ease and clearness that +would do credit to a modern writer in a much more developed +European language.</p> +<p>From the middle of the fifteenth to the latter part of the +eighteenth century, Hebrew literature consisted, if a few scattered +books on philosophy, mostly translations from the Arabic, are +excepted, mainly of Talmudic disquisitions, written in the rabbinic +dialect and in a euphuistic style. Besides the great Maimuni, there +were few able or willing to write Hebrew "as she should be spoke." +The early German Maskilim, in trying to escape the Scylla of +Rabbinism, fell victims to the Charybdis of Germanism. They +possessed originality neither of style nor of sentiment, neither of +rhyme nor of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id= +"page98"></a>{98}</span> reason. Hebrew poetry was an adaptation of +current German poetry. The very best the period produced, the +<i>Mosaïde</i> of Wessely, was influenced by and largely an +imitation of Klopstock and others. Like English classic poetry, it +is pretty in form but poor in spirit. The element of nationality, +or distinctiveness, the life-giving and soul-uplifting element in +all poetry, as Delitzsch justly maintains it to be, was lacking in +the German Maskilim, anxious for naturalization as they were. It +was the Slavonic Maskilim who mastered Hebrew in its purity, as it +had not been mastered since the day of Judah Halevi. In those days +of transition the diligent student can find, in germ, what was +later to develop into the resplendent poetical flowers produced by +the Lebensohns, the Gordons, Dolitzky, Schapiro, Mane, and +Bialik.</p> +<p>The Slavonic contributors to the Meassef, the first Hebrew +literary periodical (1784-1811), were not conspicuous in number, +but if quality can compensate for quantity, they made up for it by +the value of their articles. Dubno and Maimon enriched the early +issues, the one with poetry, the other with philosophy; and when it +began to struggle for its existence, and was on the point of giving +up the ghost, Shalom Cohen (1772-1845) came to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99"></a>{99}</span> the rescue, +and, as editor, prolonged its existence by a few years. Among the +best articles in the Meassef are those of Isaac Halevi Satanov +(1733-1805). This "conglomeration of contrasts," whom Delitzsch +regards as the restorer of Hebrew poetry to its primitive beauty +and purity, was the embodiment of the period in which he lived. "He +was," we are told, "a thorough master of Jewish traditional lore, +and at the same time a most advanced thinker, a profound physicist, +and an inspired poet; a master of the old school and at the same +time the founder of the new school, the national-classical, of +Hebrew poetry." His pure and precise style, his good-natured, +Horace-like, delicate, yet unmistakable, humor, he showed in a +series of books bearing the name of Asaf, which still must be +counted among the gems of Hebrew literature.<a id="footnotetag2-36" +name="footnotetag2-36"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-36"><sup>36</sup></a></p> +<p>Satanov was greatly in favor of expanding the Hebrew language, +but the first to borrow expressions from the Talmud literature or +coin words of his own was Mendel Levin, also of Satanov, Podolia +(1741-1819), the friend of Mendelssohn while in Berlin, the +inspirer of Perl and Krochmal while in Brody, the companion of +Zeitlin and Schick while in Mohilev. The Meassefim, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id= +"page100"></a>{100}</span> name generally applied to all who +participated in the publication of the Meassef, were shocked by +what they regarded a profanation of the sacred tongue. Their idea +was that Hebrew was to be utilized as a means of introducing +Western civilization. Afterwards it was to be relegated once more +to the holy Ark. To Levin Hebrew had a far higher significance. Not +only should Western civilization be introduced into Jewry through +its means, but Hebrew itself should be so perfected as to take a +place by the side of the more modern and cultivated languages. It +should find adequate expressions for the new thoughts and ideas +which the new learning would introduce into it directly or +indirectly. The medieval translations from the Arabic should be +retranslated into the new Hebrew, he held, and he furnished an +example by recasting the first part of Maimuni's <i>Moreh +Nebukim</i>. His modernized version, lucid and fluent, printed +alongside of Ibn Tibbon's, presents a striking contrast to the +stiffness and obscurity of the Provençal scholar's. Levin +was also the first to write in the Yiddish, or Judeo-German, +dialect, for the instruction of the masses, which made him the butt +of more than one satire. But what was generally regarded as a +degrading task was fraught with the greatest <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101"></a>{101}</span> +consequences to the Haskalah. To this day Yiddish has continued an +important medium for disseminating culture among Russian Jews, both +in the Old World and in the New.<a id="footnotetag2-37" name= +"footnotetag2-37"></a><a href="#footnote2-37"><sup>37</sup></a></p> +<p>The century remarkable among other things for encyclopedia +enterprises,—<i>Chambers' Encyclopedia</i> in England, the +<i>Universal Lexicon</i> in Germany, and that wonderful and +monumental work, the <i>Encyclopédie</i> in +France—saw, before its close, a similar attempt, in +miniature, in Hebrew and by a Slavonic Maskil. Whether the Hebrew +encyclopedist was influenced by the example of Dr. Tobias Cohn's +<i>Ma'aseh Tobiah</i> mentioned above, or was unconsciously imbued +with the prevailing tendency of the times, it is impossible to +tell. In any event, he resorted to the same means, and presented +the Jewish world with a volume containing a little of every science +known, under the innocent name <i>The Book of the Covenant</i> +(<i>Sefer ha-Berit</i>, Brünn, 1797).</p> +<p>The book appeared anonymously. This, the author assures us, was +due not to humbleness of spirit, but to a vow. His diligence and +constant application had greatly impaired his eyes. He vowed that +if God restored his sight, and enabled him to finish his task, he +would publish the book <span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id= +"page102"></a>{102}</span> without disclosing his authorship. God +hearkened unto his prayers, and the work was soon completed. But an +unforeseen trouble arose. His book was ascribed "by some to the +sage of Berlin, by others to the Gaon of Vilna, and by many to the +united efforts of a coterie of scholars, for it could not be +believed that so many and diverse sciences could be mastered by one +person." Moreover, the author was censured for being afraid to come +out openly and boldly as a champion of Haskalah.<a id= +"footnotetag2-38" name="footnotetag2-38"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-38"><sup>38</sup></a> In spite of obstacles and +strictures, the book met with success surpassing the author's +expectations. It found its way not only into Russia, Poland, and +Germany, but even into France, Italy, England, Holland, and +Palestine. An edition of two thousand copies was entirely +exhausted, unusual at a time when books were costly and money was +scarce, and another edition was issued. What Phinehas Elijah +(Hurwitz) of Vilna had sown in tears, he lived to reap in joy.</p> +<p>There was a crying need in Russia for a work of the sort. In +Germany the very Government encouraged organizations and +publications aiming at enlightenment. Accordingly, a Society for +the Promotion of the Good and the Noble was started, and the +Meassef was published. In Russo-Poland <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103"></a>{103}</span> not even +a Hebrew printing-press was permitted, and certainly no periodical +publications would have been tolerated. Phinehas Elijah, therefore, +grasped the opportunity, and showed himself equal to it. His aim +was, like that of the French encyclopedists, to lead his readers +"through nature to God." He gives an account of the various +sciences, natural and philosophical, as a prolegomenon to the study +of theology, even of the mystic teachings of Vital's <i>Gates of +Holiness</i>. Withal he evinces a sound intellect and refined, if +rudimentary, taste. He decries the "ancestor worship" that rendered +the Jew of his day a fossil specimen of an extinct species. The +present is superior to the past, "a dwarf on a giant's shoulder +seeth farther than doth the giant himself." He ridicules the base +and degrading habit of dedicating books to "benefactors, friends, +lovers, parents, men, or women." His work was written for the glory +of God, and he dedicates it to eternal, all-conquering truth.<a id= +"footnotetag2-39" name="footnotetag2-39"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-39"><sup>39</sup></a></p> +<p>All these Maskilim, so many hands reaching out into the light, +were both the cause and the consequence of the longing for +enlightenment characteristic at all times of the Slavonic Jew. +Graetz and his followers among the latter-day Maskilim delighted in +calling them "they that walk in darkness." <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page104" id="page104"></a>{104}</span> Facts, +however, prove that at no time before Nicholas I was education per +se regarded with the least suspicion, though the Talmud was given +the preference. As in the pre-Haskalah period, the greatest +Talmudists deemed it a sacred duty to perfect themselves in some +branch of secular science. When, in 1710, a terrible plague broke +out in his native town, Rabbi Jonathan of Risenci (Grodno) vowed +that, "if he were spared, he would disseminate a knowledge of +astronomy among his countrymen." To fulfil the vow he went to +Germany (1725), where, though blind, he devoted himself assiduously +first to the acquisition of astronomy, then to writing on it.<a id= +"footnotetag2-40" name="footnotetag2-40"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-40"><sup>40</sup></a> Baruch Yavan of Volhynia, who +more than any one exposed the impostures of Jacob Frank, "spoke and +wrote Hebrew, Polish, German, and probably French," and his +accomplishments and address won him the admiration of Count +Brühl, the virtual ruler of Poland, and the favor of the +highest officials at St. Petersburg. His associate in the righteous +fight, Bima Speir of Mohilev, was also possessed of a thorough +command of the language of Russia, and was well posted in its +literature, history, and politics. The Pinczovs, descendants of +Rabbi Polack, connected with the most <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105"></a>{105}</span> eminent +rabbinical families, and themselves famous for piety and erudition, +produced many works on mathematics and philosophy. Mendelssohn's +translation of the Pentateuch was at first hailed with joy, and was +recommended by the most zealous rabbis. Doctor Hurwitz of Vilna did +not hesitate to dedicate his <i>'Ammude Bet Yehudah</i> to Wessely, +who was more popular in Russo-Poland than in Germany. The whole +edition of his <i>Yen Lebanon</i>, which fell flat in the latter +country, though offered gratis, was sold when introduced into the +former.<a id="footnotetag2-41" name="footnotetag2-41"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-41"><sup>41</sup></a> Joseph Pesseles' correspondence +concerning Dubno, with David Friedländer, the disciple of +Mendelssohn (1773), proves the high esteem in which the +liberal-minded savants of Berlin were held in Russia. The rabbis of +Brest, Slutsk, and Lublin gave laudatory recommendations to Judah +Löb Margolioth's popular works of natural science, which form +a little encyclopedia by themselves. Margolioth was the grandson of +Mordecai Jaffe, himself rabbi successively at Busnov, Szebrszyn, +Polotsk, Lesla, and Frankfort-on-the-Oder (d. 1811). The writings +of Baruch Schick of Shklov, referred to above, were accorded the +same welcome. His translation of Euclid and his treatises on +trigonometry, astronomy (<i>'Ammude ha-Shamayim</i>), and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id= +"page106"></a>{106}</span> anatomy (<i>Tiferet Adam</i>) won the +admiration of rabbis as well as laymen. Epitaphs of the day contain +the statement that the deceased was not only "at home in all the +chambers of the Torah," but also in "philosophy and the seven +sciences." And this, exaggerated though it may be, must be seen to +contain a kernel of the truth, when we recall that among Maimon's +intimate friends was the rabbi of Kletzk, Lithuania; that in the +humble dwelling of his father there were works on historical, +astronomical, and philosophical subjects; that the chief rabbi of a +neighboring town, Rabbi Samson of Slonim, who, according to +Fünn, "had in his youth lived for a while in Germany, learned +the German language there, and made himself acquainted in some +measure with the sciences," continued his study of the sciences, +and soon collected a fair library of German books.<a id= +"footnotetag2-42" name="footnotetag2-42"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-42"><sup>42</sup></a> Saadia, Bahya, Halevi, Ibn Ezra, +Crescas, Bedersi, Levi ben Gerson (whom Goldenthal calls the Hebrew +Kant), Albo, Abarbanel, and others whose works deserve a high place +in the history of Jewish philosophy, were on the whole fairly +represented in the libraries, and diligently studied in the +numerous yeshibot and batte midrashim.</p> +<p>Thus the enlightenment which dawned upon <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107"></a>{107}</span> France, +Germany, and England cast a glow even on the Slavonic Jews, despite +the Chinese wall of disabilities that hemmed them in. +Unfortunately, this only helped to render them dissatisfied with +their wretched lot, without affording them the means of +ameliorating it. While the Jews in Western Europe profited and were +encouraged by the example of their Christian neighbors; while, in +addition to their innate thirst for learning, they had everywhere +else political and civil preferments to look forward to, in +Russo-Poland not only were such outside stimuli absent, but the +Slavonic Jews had to struggle against obstacles and hindrances at +every step. No such heaven on earth could be dreamed of there. The +country was still in a most barbarous state. Those who wished to +perfect themselves in any of the sciences had to leave home and all +and go to a foreign land, and had to study, as they were bidden to +study the Talmud, "lishmah," that is, for its own sake. This is the +distinguishing feature between the German and Slavonic Maskilim +during the eighteenth century. The cry of the former was, "Become +learned, lest the nations say we are not civilized and deny us the +wealth, respect, and especially the equality we covet!" The latter +were humbly seeking after the truth, either <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108"></a>{108}</span> because +they could better elucidate the Talmud, or because, as they held, +it was <i>their</i> truth, of which the nations had deprived them +during their long exile.<a id="footnotetag2-43" name= +"footnotetag2-43"></a><a href="#footnote2-43"><sup>43</sup></a> +They were unlike their German brethren in another respect. Almost +all of them were "self-made men," autodidacts in the truest sense. +Lacking the advantages of secular schools, they culled their first +information from scanty, antiquated Hebrew translations. Maimon +learned the Roman alphabet from the transliteration of the titles +on the fly-leaves of some Talmudic tracts; Doctor Behr, from +Wolff's <i>Mathematics</i>. But no sooner was the impetus given +than it was followed by an insatiable craving for more and more of +the intellectual manna, for a wider and wider horizon. "Look," says +Wessely, "look at our Russian and Polish brethren who immigrate +hither, men great in Torah, yet admirers of the sciences, which, +without the guiding help of teachers, they all master to such +perfection as to surpass even a Gentile sage!"<a id= +"footnotetag2-44" name="footnotetag2-44"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-44"><sup>44</sup></a> Such self-education was, of +course, not without unfavorable results. Never having enjoyed the +advantage of a systematic elementary training, the enthusiasts +sometimes lacked the very rudiments of knowledge, though engaged in +the profoundest speculations of philosophy. "As our mothers in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id= +"page109"></a>{109}</span> Egypt gave birth to their children +before the mid-wife came," writes Pinsker somewhat later,<a id= +"footnotetag2-45" name="footnotetag2-45"></a><a href= +"#footnote2-45"><sup>45</sup></a> "even so it is with the +intellectual products of our brethren: before one becomes +acquainted with the grammar of a language, he masters its classic +and scientific literature!"</p> +<p>Steadily though slowly, brighter, if not better, days were +coming. "Thought once awakened shall not again slumber." As Carlyle +says of the French of that period, it became clear for the first +time to the upturned eyes of the Jews, "that Thought has actually a +kind of existence in other kingdoms [than the Talmud]; that some +glimmerings of civilization had dawned here and there on the human +species." They begin to try all things; they visit Germany, France, +Denmark, Holland, even England; learn their literatures, study in +their universities, and contribute their quota to the apologetic, +controversial, scientific, and philosophic investigations "with a +candor and real love of improvement which give the best omens of a +still higher success." Fortune, indeed, has cast them also into a +cavern, and they are groping around darkly. But this prisoner, too, +is a giant, and he will, at length, burst forth as a giant into the +light of day.</p> +<p>(Notes, pp. <a href="#notes-2">310-314</a>.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id= +"page110"></a>{110}</span> +<h2><a name="chap3" id="chap3">CHAPTER III</a></h2> +<h3>THE DAWN OF HASKALAH</h3> +<h4>1794-1840</h4> +<p>A glimmer of light pierced the Russian sky at the accession of +Catherine II (1762-1796). This "Semiramis of the North," the +admirer of Buffon, Montesquieu, Diderot, and, more especially, +Voltaire, whose motto, <i>N'en croyez rien</i>, she adopted, +endeavored, and for a while not without success, to introduce into +her own country the spirit of tolerance which pervaded France. Her +ukases were intended for all alike, "without distinction of +religion and nationality." Her regard for her Jewish citizens she +showed by allowing them to settle in the interior, establish +printing-presses (January 27, 1783), and become civil and +Government officers (April 2, 1785). In the edict promulgated by +Governor-General Chernyshev it is stated that "religious liberty +and inviolability of property are hereby granted to all subjects of +Russia and certainly to the Jews; for the humanitarian <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111"></a>{111}</span> +principles of her Majesty do not permit the exclusion of the Jews +alone from the favors shown to all, so long as they, as faithful +subjects, continue to employ themselves, as hitherto, with commerce +and trade, each according to his vocation." That she remained true +to her promise, we see from the numerous privileges enjoyed by many +Jews, who began to frequent Moscow and St. Petersburg and reside +there for business purposes.</p> +<p>Paul (1796-1801), too, was kindly disposed toward the Jews, and +permitted them to live in Courland; and when Alexander I +(1801-1825) became czar, their hopes turned into certainty. +Alexander I did, indeed, appear a most promising ruler at his +accession. The theories he had acquired from Laharpe he fully +intended to apply to practical life. Like Catherine, he wished to +rule in equity and promote the welfare of his subjects irrespective +of race or creed. He ordered a commission to investigate the status +of the Russian Jews (December 9, 1802). The result was the +polozheniye (enactment) of December 9, 1804, according to which +Jews were to be eligible to one-third of all municipal offices; +they were to be permitted to establish factories, become +agriculturists, and either attend the schools and colleges of the +empire <span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id= +"page112"></a>{112}</span> on the same footing as subjects of the +Christian faith, or, if they desired, found and maintain schools of +their own. The approach of the great Usurper and the crushing +defeat the Russians sustained at the battle of Friedland (June 4, +1808) also favored the advance of the Jews. As the short, but +troublous, reign of Paul and his wars with Turkey, Persia, Prussia, +Poland, and Sweden had impoverished the country and depleted the +treasury, the shrewd Alexander was not averse from appealing to +Jews for help. Of course, as in many more enlightened countries and +in more modern times, most of the privileges were merely paper +privileges. Few of them ever went into effect. The noble intentions +of the enlightened rulers were steadily thwarted by bigoted +councillors and jealous merchants. Every favor shown the Jews +aroused a storm of protests, which resulted in numerous +infringements. The Jews were compelled to pay for the good +intentions of Catherine with a double tax (June 25, 1794), and, +during Paul's reign, without the emperor's knowledge, a law was +enacted requiring of Jews double payment of the guild license. In +spite of all efforts, the Jews, instead of being emancipated +politically, were burdened with additional discriminations.<a id= +"footnotetag3-1" name="footnotetag3-1"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id= +"page113"></a>{113}</span> +<p>Had not the wheel of progress suddenly stopped revolving, +Russian Jews might have constituted one of the most useful as well +as most intellectual elements in the vast empire. As it was, the +kindly intention of czar or czarina sufficed to arouse them from +the asthenia to which they were reduced for want of freedom. The +times were rife with excitement, and the Jewish atmosphere with +expectancy. The mighty changes which were taking place in Russia +and Poland; the dismemberment of the latter; the annexation of +Balta (1791), Lithuania (1794), and Courland (1797) to the former; +the short-lived yet potent German rule in Byelostok (1793-1807), +and the rude but memorable contact with France (1807-1812), these +and many other important happenings in a brief span of time had a +telling effect upon the diverse races under the dominion of Russia, +and among them not the least upon the Jewish race. Everywhere the +desire for "liberty, equality, and fraternity" began to manifest +itself. In Courland, the most German of Russian provinces, Georg +Gottfried Mylich, a Lutheran pastor at Nerft, made a touching +appeal (ab. 1787) in German on behalf of the Jews, insisting that +the word Jew "should not be taken to indicate a class of people +different from us, but only a <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page114" id="page114"></a>{114}</span> different religious body; +and as regards his nationality, it should not hinder him from +obtaining citizen's rights and liberties equal to those of the +people of Sleswick, the Saxons, Danes, Swedes, Swiss, French, and +Italians, who also live among us." In Poland, Tadeusz Czacki, the +historian, wrote his <i>Discourse on the Jews</i> (<i>Rosprava o +Zhydakh</i>, Vilna, 1807), in which he deplores that Jews +"experienced indulgence rarely, oppression often, and contempt +nearly always" under the most Christian governments, and suggests a +plan for reforming their condition. But the main appeal for freedom +came, as might have been expected, from the Jews themselves. +Contemporaneous with, if not before, Michel Beer's <i>Appel +à la justice des nations et des rois</i>, a Lithuanian Jew, +during his imprisonment in Nieszvicz on a false charge, wrote a +work in Polish on the Jewish problem,<a id="footnotetag3-2" name= +"footnotetag3-2"></a><a href="#footnote3-2"><sup>2</sup></a> while +in 1803 Löb, or Leon, Nebakhovich, an intimate friend of Count +Shakovskoy, published <i>The Cry of the Daughter of Judah</i> +(<i>Fopli Docheri Yudeyskoy</i>), the first defence of the Russian +Jew in the Russian language. The followers of the religion of love +are implored to love a Jew because he is a Jew, and they are +assured that the Jew who preserves his religion undefiled can be +neither a bad man nor a bad citizen.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id= +"page115"></a>{115}</span> +<p>But the Jews did not wait for their dreams to be realized. They +threw themselves into the swirl of their country's ambition, as if +they had never received anything other than the tenderness of a +devoted mother at her hands. They were "kindled in a common blaze" +of patriotism with the rest of the population. That in spite of all +accusations to the contrary they remained loyal to Poland, is amply +proved by the history of that unfortunate country. The +characteristic kapota of the Polish Jew, his whole garb, including +the yarmulka (under cap), is simply the old Polish costume, which +the Jews retained after the Poles had adopted the German form of +dress.<a id="footnotetag3-3" name="footnotetag3-3"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-3"><sup>3</sup></a> "When, in the year 1794," says +Czacki, "despair armed the [Polish] capital, the Jews were not +afraid of death, but, mingling with the troops and the populace, +they proved that danger did not terrify them, and that the cause of +the fatherland was dear to them." With the permission of Kosciusko, +Colonel Joselovich Berek, later killed at the battle of Kotzk +(1809), formed a regiment of light cavalry consisting entirely of +Jews, which distinguished itself especially at the siege of Warsaw. +Most of the members perished in defence of the suburb of Praga. In +the agony of death, Rabbi Hayyim longed for good tidings, that +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id= +"page116"></a>{116}</span> he might die in peace. And when the +fight was over, Zbitkover expended two barrels of money, one filled +with gold ducats and one with silver rubles, for the live and dead +soldiers who were brought to him.<a id="footnotetag3-4" name= +"footnotetag3-4"></a><a href="#footnote3-4"><sup>4</sup></a> +Indeed, Prince Czartorisky was so convinced of their patriotism, +that he always advocated the same rights for the Polish Jews as +were claimed for the Polish Gentiles, entrusted his children to the +care of Mendel Levin of Satanov, and instructed his son, Prince +Ladislaus, always to remain their friend.<a id="footnotetag3-5" +name="footnotetag3-5"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<p>But when, in spite of struggle and sacrifice, the doom "finis +Poloniae" was sounded, and a large portion of the once powerful +empire was incorporated into Russia, we find the Jews bearing their +sorrow patiently, and willingly performing their duties as subjects +to their new masters. Their attachment to their czar and country +was not shaken in the least when, in 1812, Napoleon made them +flattering promises to secure their services in his behalf. Rabbi +Shneor Zalman, the eminent leader of the Lithuanian Hasidim, +hearing of the invasion of the French army, spent many days in +prayer and fasting for the success of the Russians, and fled on the +Sabbath day, not to be contaminated by contact with the "godless +French." When Napoleon <span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id= +"page117"></a>{117}</span> was finally defeated, the event was +celebrated both at home and in the synagogue, and Russian soldiers +were everywhere welcomed by Jews with gifts and good cheer.<a id= +"footnotetag3-6" name="footnotetag3-6"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-6"><sup>6</sup></a> Lilienthal relates that the Jews +succeeded in intercepting a courier who carried the plan of +operations of the French army, and Alexander declared in a dispatch +that Jews had opened the eyes of the Russians, and the Government, +therefore, felt itself bound to them by eternal gratitude.<a id= +"footnotetag3-7" name="footnotetag3-7"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-7"><sup>7</sup></a> It is to this proof of patriotism +that some attribute Alexander's interest in the Jews and his order +that three deputies should reside in St. Petersburg to represent +them in Russia, and in Poland a committee consisting of three +Christians and eight Jews should be appointed to devise ways and +means of ameliorating their condition.<a id="footnotetag3-8" name= +"footnotetag3-8"></a><a href="#footnote3-8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> +<p>The times were promising in other respects. In that critical +period, the Government, reposing but little confidence in Russian +merchants, whose business motto was "No swindle, no sale," allowed +several Jews to become Government contractors (podradchiki). These, +while rendering valuable services, amassed considerable fortunes. +Notwithstanding the law restricting Jewish residence to the Pale of +Settlement, Catherine II speaks of Jews who resided in St. +Petersburg for many years, and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page118" id="page118"></a>{118}</span> lodged in the house of a +priest, who had been her confessor. Moreover, Jews contributed not +a little to the liberal policy of Alexander I. Among them were +Eliezer Dillon of Nieszvicz (d. 1838), who was honored by the +emperor with a gold medal "for faithful and conscientious +services," and was given an audience by his Majesty, at which he +pleaded the cause of his coreligionists;<a id="footnotetag3-9" +name="footnotetag3-9"></a><a href="#footnote3-9"><sup>9</sup></a> +Nathan Notkin, who mitigated the possible effect of Senator +Dyerzhavin's baneful opinions concerning Jews, as expressed in his +report (<i>Mnyenie</i>, September, 1800), and who suggested the +establishment of schools for children and for adults in +Yekaterinoslav and elsewhere; Abraham Peretz, the personal friend +of Speransky, Dyerzhavin, and Potemkin, and a brilliant financier, +whose high standing enabled him to be a power for good in the +councils concerning Jews;<a id="footnotetag3-10" name= +"footnotetag3-10"></a><a href="#footnote3-10"><sup>10</sup></a> and +his father-in-law, Joshua Zeitlin (1724-1822). Zeitlin was a rare +phenomenon, reminding one of the golden days of Jewish Spain. His +knowledge of finance and political economy won him the admiration +of Prince Potemkin, the protection of Czarina Catherine, and the +esteem of Alexander I, who appointed him court councillor (nadvorny +sovyetnik). But his mercantile pursuits did not hinder him from +study, and his <span class="pagenum"><a name="page119" id= +"page119"></a>{119}</span> high living did not interfere with his +high thinking. His palatial home at Ustye, in Mohilev, became a +refuge for all needy Talmudists and Maskilim, whom he helped with +the liberality of a Maecenas; he conducted an extensive +correspondence on rabbinic literature, and for many years supported +Doctor Schick and Mendel Levin. For Doctor Schick he built a +laboratory, and filled his library with rare manuscripts and works +on Jewish and secular subjects.<a id="footnotetag3-11" name= +"footnotetag3-11"></a><a href="#footnote3-11"><sup>11</sup></a></p> +<p>Even among the conservative Talmudists signs of improvement were +not wanting. The Gaon became the centre of a group of enlightened +friends and disciples, who continued in his footsteps after his +death. His son, Rabbi Abraham, who published and edited many of his +works, a task requiring no small amount of acumen and Talmudic +erudition,<a id="footnotetag3-12" name= +"footnotetag3-12"></a><a href="#footnote3-12"><sup>12</sup></a> was +also the author of books on geography, mathematics, and physics. +His pupils, such as Doctor Schick and Rabbi Benjamin and Rabbi +Zelmele, influenced their contemporaries either directly, by +bringing them in touch with the new learning, or indirectly, by +reforming the school system and the method of Talmud study.<a id= +"footnotetag3-13" name="footnotetag3-13"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-13"><sup>13</sup></a> Of Rabbi Zelmele, who like his +master became the hero of a wonder-biography written by his +disciple Ezekiel Feivel <span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id= +"page120"></a>{120}</span> of Plungian, we are told that he +regarded grammar as indispensable to a thorough knowledge of the +Bible and the Talmud, pleaded for a return to the order of study +prescribed in the <i>Pirke Abot</i>, and complained that, owing to +the neglect of Aramaic, the benefits of comparative philology were +lost and unknown. He declared also that while he believed in all +the Bible contains, the stories in the Talmud are, for the most +part, legends and parables used for the purpose of +illustration.<a id="footnotetag3-14" name= +"footnotetag3-14"></a><a href="#footnote3-14"><sup>14</sup></a></p> +<a name="illus-lilienthal" id="illus-lilienthal"></a> +<center><img width="200" height="288" src= +"images/illus-lilienthal.png" alt="Max Lilienthal" /></center> +<center>Max Lilienthal, 1815-1882</center> +<p>Towering above all the disciples of the Gaon, the most outspoken +in behalf of enlightenment is Manasseh of Ilye (1767-1831). At a +very early age he attracted the attention of Talmudists by his +originality and boldness. In his unflinching determination to get +at the truth, he did not shrink from criticising Rashi and the +<i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i>, and dared to interpret some parts of the +Mishnah differently from the explanation given in the Gemara. With +all his admiration for the Gaon, but for whom, he claimed, the +Torah would have been forgotten, he also had points of sympathy +with the Hasidim, for whose leader, Shneor Zalman of Ladi, he had +the highest respect. Like many of his contemporaries, he determined +to go to Berlin. He started on his way, but was stopped at +Königsberg <span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id= +"page121"></a>{121}</span> by some orthodox coreligionists, and +compelled to return to Russia. This did not prevent his perfecting +himself in German, Polish, natural philosophy, mechanics, and even +strategics. On the last subject he wrote a book, which was burnt by +his friends, "lest the Government suspect that Jews are making +preparations for war!" But it is not so much his Talmudic or +secular scholarship that makes him interesting to us to-day. His +true greatness is revealed by his attempts, the first made in his +generation perhaps, to reconcile the Hasidim with the Mitnaggedim, +and these in turn with the Maskilim. He spoke a good word for +manual labor, and proved from the Talmud that burdensome laws +should be abolished. His <i>Pesher Dabar</i> (Vilna, 1807) and +<i>Alfe Menasheh</i> (ibid., 1827, 1860) are monuments to the +advanced views of the author. In the Hebrew literature of his time, +they are equalled only by the <i>'Ammude Bet Yehudah</i> and the +<i>Hekal 'Oneg</i> of Doctor Hurwitz.<a id="footnotetag3-15" name= +"footnotetag3-15"></a><a href="#footnote3-15"><sup>15</sup></a></p> +<p>This short period of enlightenment and tolerance, inaugurated by +a semblance of equality, indicates the native optimism of the +Slavonic Jew. For a while a cessation of hostilities was evident in +the camp of Israel. The reforms introduced by the Gaon, and +propagated by his disciples, began to <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122"></a>{122}</span> bear +fruit. Hasidism itself underwent a radical change under the +leadership of Rabbi Shneor Zalman of Ladi (1747-1813) and Jacob +Joseph of Polonnoy, who, unlike their colleagues of the Ukraine, +were learned in the Talmud and familiar with the sciences. Protests +by Hasidim themselves against the irreverent spirit that developed +after the death of the Besht, had in fact been heard before. The +saintly and retiring Abraham Malak (d. 1780) had denounced, in no +uncertain terms, the gross conception held by the Hasidim of the +sublime teachings of their own sect. He drew a beautiful picture of +the ideal zaddik, who is "so absorbed in meditation on the Divine +wisdom that he cannot descend to the lower steps upon which +ordinary people stand."<a id="footnotetag3-16" name= +"footnotetag3-16"></a><a href="#footnote3-16"><sup>16</sup></a> But +the more active Rabbi Shneor, or Zalman Ladier, as he was usually +called, insisted on putting the zaddik on a par with the rabbi, +whose duty it is not to work miracles but to teach righteousness. +Assuming for his followers the name HaBaD, the three letters of +which are the initials of the Hebrew words for Wisdom, Reason, and +Knowledge, he furthered the cause of enlightenment in the only way +possible among his adherents.<a id="footnotetag3-17" name= +"footnotetag3-17"></a><a href="#footnote3-17"><sup>17</sup></a> How +well he succeeded may be inferred from the fact, trivial though it +be, that the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page123" id= +"page123"></a>{123}</span> biography of the Besht, <i>The Praises +of the Besht</i> (<i>Shibhe ha-Besht</i>), by Dob Bär, +published in Berdichev (1815), omits many of the legends about the +Master included in the version published the same year in Kopys. +The omission can be explained only on the ground that the editor, +Judah Löb, who was the son of the author, did not wish to give +offence, or he had outgrown the credulity of his father.<a id= +"footnotetag3-18" name="footnotetag3-18"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-18"><sup>18</sup></a></p> +<p>The feeling of tolerance manifested itself also in the Jewish +attitude towards the Gentiles. "O that we were identified with the +nations of our time, created by the same God, children of one +Father, and did not hate each other because we are at variance in +some views!" This exclamation of Doctor Hurwitz<a id= +"footnotetag3-19" name="footnotetag3-19"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-19"><sup>19</sup></a> found an echo in the works of the +other Maskilim that wrote in Hebrew, but more especially of those +who used a European language. They were deeply interested in +whatever marked a step forward in their country's civilization. The +opening of a gymnasium in Mitau (1775) was a joyful occasion, which +inspired Hurwitz's Hebrew muse, and at the centennial celebration +of the surrender of Riga to Peter the Great (July 4, 1810), the +craving of the Jewish heart, avowed in a German poem, was expressed +"in the name of the local <span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" +id="page124"></a>{124}</span> Hebrew community to their Christian +compatriots." The last stanza runs as follows:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Grant us, who, like you, worship the God above,</p> +<p>Also on earth to enjoy equality with you!</p> +<p>To-day, while your hearts are open to love,</p> +<p>Let us seal our happiness with your love, too!<a id= +"footnotetag3-20" name="footnotetag3-20"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-20"><sup>20</sup></a></p> +</div> +</div> +<p>This desire for naturalization brought with it an attempt at +"Russification." To show the beauty of the Russian language, Baruch +Czatzskes of Volhynia translated some of the poems of Khersakov +into Hebrew, and others published manuals for the study of Russian +and Polish.<a id="footnotetag3-21" name= +"footnotetag3-21"></a><a href="#footnote3-21"><sup>21</sup></a> +Among the first books issued from the newly-established +printing-press in Shklov, the centre of Jewish wealth, refinement, +and culture at that time, was the <i>Zeker Rab</i> with a German +translation (1804). In an appendix thereto the Shklov Maskilim +announced their intention to publish a weekly, the first in the +Hebrew tongue. Yiddish was also resorted to as a medium for +educating the masses, and as early as 1813 some Vilna Jews applied +to the Government for permission to publish a paper in that +language, though it was not until ten years later (1823-1824) that +a Yiddish periodical, Der Beobachter an der Weichsel, appeared in +Warsaw. Nor do <span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id= +"page125"></a>{125}</span> we hear of any opposition to the +Government decrees, issued probably at the request of Dillon, +Notkin, Peretz, or Nebakhovich, that the elders of the kahals in +and after 1808, and the rabbis of the congregations in and after +1812, be conversant with either Russian, German, or Polish. This +sudden Russification of the Jews amounted sometimes to no more than +a superficial imitation of Russian civilization, which pious rabbis +as well as liberal-minded men like Schick, Margolioth, Ilye, and +Hurwitz, felt impelled to call a halt to. Jews, especially the +rich, aped the Polish pans. Their wives dressed in Parisian gowns +of the latest fashion, and their homes were conducted in a manner +so luxurious as to arouse the envy of the noblemen. Israel waxed +fat and kicked. Their greatest care was to become wealthy; they +pampered their bodies at the expense of the impoverishment of their +souls, and some feared that "with the passing away of the elder +generation there would not remain a man capable of filling the +position of rabbi."<a id="footnotetag3-22" name= +"footnotetag3-22"></a><a href="#footnote3-22"><sup>22</sup></a></p> +<p>The privilege of attending public schools and colleges further +stimulated the Russification of the Jews. As soon as these +institutions of learning were thrown open to them, numerous Jewish +youths made headway in all branches taught, especially in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id= +"page126"></a>{126}</span> medicine. That Alexander's benign decree +of November 10, 1811, issued through the Secretary of State +Speransky, was not always executed by his officials goes without +saying. Simeon Levy Wolf, one of the first Russo-Jewish graduates, +was denied his degree of doctor of jurisprudence in Dorpat unless +he embraced Christianity.<a id="footnotetag3-23" name= +"footnotetag3-23"></a><a href="#footnote3-23"><sup>23</sup></a> +When, in 1819, some of the Vilna graduates applied for the +privilege of not paying the double tax, they were told that they +must first renounce their faith, an exception being made only in +favor of Arthur Parlovich. Still the number of Jewish graduate +physicians was on the increase. Osip Yakovlevich Liboschüts, +who was the son of the famous physician of Vilna, took his doctor +degree at Dorpat (1806), became court physician in St. Petersburg, +where he founded a hospital for children, and wrote extensively in +French on the flora of his country.<a id="footnotetag3-24" name= +"footnotetag3-24"></a><a href="#footnote3-24"><sup>24</sup></a> The +medical institute of Vilna (1803-1833), afterwards transferred to +Kiev, became the centre of attraction for the Russian Jewry. Padua, +Berlin, Königsberg, Göttingen, Copenhagen, Halle, +Amsterdam, Cambridge, and London were for a third of a century +replaced by the home of the Gaon and of Doctor Liboschüts. The +first students were recruited from the bet ha-midrash, and they +frequently joined, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id= +"page127"></a>{127}</span> as in former days, knowledge of the Law +with the practice of their chosen profession. Such were Isaac +Markusevich, whose annotations to the <i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i> (ab. +1830) were published fifty years later;<a id="footnotetag3-25" +name="footnotetag3-25"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-25"><sup>25</sup></a> Joseph Rosensohn, the promising +Talmudist who became rabbi of Pyosk at the age of nineteen;<a id= +"footnotetag3-26" name="footnotetag3-26"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-26"><sup>26</sup></a> and Kusselyevsky of Nieszvicz, a +stipendiary of a Polish nobleman and a great favorite with +Professor Frank. Because of his proficiency, he was exempted from +serving as a vratch (interne), and for his piety and learning he +was addressed by Jews and Gentiles as "rabbi."<a id= +"footnotetag3-27" name="footnotetag3-27"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-27"><sup>27</sup></a></p> +<p>With what dreams such happenings filled the Jewish heart! "Thank +God," writes a merchant of the first guild in reply to an inquiry +from distant Bokhara, "thank God, we dwell in peace under the +sovereignty of our czar Alexander, who has shown us his mercy, and +has put us in every respect on an equality with all the inhabitants +of the land."<a id="footnotetag3-28" name= +"footnotetag3-28"></a><a href="#footnote3-28"><sup>28</sup></a> But +a rude awakening was soon to make the Jews aware that their visions +of better days were still far from realization. In 1815, Alexander +I formed the acquaintance of Baroness Krüdener, and since +then, to the satisfaction of Prince Galitzin, "with what giant +strides the emperor advanced in the pathway of religion!" His +humanitarian deeds gave way <span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" +id="page128"></a>{128}</span> to a profound religious mysticism. He +experienced a revulsion of feeling toward reforms in his vast +empire, and, as always, the Jews were the first victims of an +ill-boding change. The kindly monarch who, at Paris, had said to a +Russo-Jewish deputation, <i>J'enleverai le joug de vos +épaules</i>, began to make their yoke heavier than he had +found it. The enlightened czar, who, in striking a medal +commemorating the emancipation of the Jews of his empire, had +anticipated Napoleon by a year, suddenly became a bigoted tyrant, +whose efforts were devoted to converting the same Jews to +Christianity. He who had claimed that his greatest reward would be +to produce a Mendelssohn, now resorted to various expedients, to +render education unpalatable to the Jews. The Jewish assemblymen, +who, in 1816, soon after the Franco-Russian war, had been convoked +to St. Petersburg, were not allowed to meet; and when, two years +later, they did meet, their every attempt was baffled by the +Government. Jews were expelled systematically from St. Petersburg +(1818). They were forbidden to employ Christians as servants (May +4, 1820), to immigrate into Russia from abroad (August 10, 1824), +and reside in the towns and villages of Mohilev and Vitebsk +(January 13, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id= +"page129"></a>{129}</span> 1825). Several years after the double +poll and guild tax had been abolished in Courland (November 8, +1807), it was restored with an additional impost on meat from +cattle slaughtered according to the Jewish rite (korobka). All this +impoverished the Jews to such an extent that they were forced to +sell the cravats of their praying shawls (taletim), in order to +defray the expense of a second deputation to St. Petersburg.<a id= +"footnotetag3-29" name="footnotetag3-29"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-29"><sup>29</sup></a></p> +<p>Had Alexander I been satisfied with merely restricting the Jews' +rights, the favorable attitude towards enlightenment we have +noticed above would probably have remained unaltered. +Unfortunately, Alexander became a fanatic conversionist. It was a +time when missionary zeal became endemic, and Baroness +Krüdener's influence was strengthened. The Reverend Lewis Way, +having founded (1808) the London Society for Promoting Christianity +among the Jews, made a tour through Europe, everywhere urging the +Gentiles to enfranchise the Jews as an inducement to them to +embrace Christianity, the only means of hastening the advent of the +Apostolic millennium. His <i>Mémoires sur l'état des +israélites</i> presented to the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle +(October 11, 1818) and his visit to Russia resulted in an imperial +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id= +"page130"></a>{130}</span> ukase (March 25, 1817) organizing a +Committee of Guardians for Israelitish Christians (Izrailskiye +Christyanye). The members of this association were to be granted +land in the northern or southern provinces of Russia and to enjoy +special privileges. The bait proved tempting, and, as a +consequence, some prominent Maskilim, too weak to resist the +allurements, precipitated themselves into the Greek Catholic fold. +Abraham Peretz, financier and champion of Jews' rights, consented +to be converted, as also Löb Nebakhovich, the dramatist, whose +plays were produced in the Imperial theatre of St. Petersburg and +performed in the presence of the emperor.<a id="footnotetag3-30" +name="footnotetag3-30"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-30"><sup>30</sup></a> Equally bad, if not worse, for +the cause of Haskalah was the conduct of those who, disdaining, or +unable, to profess the new religion, discarded every vestige of +traditional Judaism, and deemed it their duty to set an example of +infidelity and sometimes immorality to their less enlightened +coreligionists. What Leroy-Beaulieu says of Maimon, "that type of +the most cultured Jew to be found before the French Revolution," +might more justly be applied to many a less prominent Maskil after +him: "Despite his learning and philosophy he sank deeper than the +most degraded of his fellow-men, because in repudiating +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id= +"page131"></a>{131}</span> his ancestral faith he had lost the +staff which, through all their humiliations, served as a prop even +to the most debased of ancient Jews."<a id="footnotetag3-31" name= +"footnotetag3-31"></a><a href="#footnote3-31"><sup>31</sup></a></p> +<p>Haskalah thus having become synonymous with apostasy or +licentiousness, we can easily understand why the unsophisticated +among the Russian Jews were so bitterly opposed to it from the time +the sad truth dawned upon them, until, under Alexander II, their +suspicions were somewhat dissipated. Previous to the latter part of +the reign of Alexander I the "struggle groups" in Russian Jewry +were at first Frankists and anti-Frankists, and afterwards Hasidim +and Mitnaggedim. It was a conflict, not between religion and +science, but between religion and what was regarded as +superstition. Secular instruction, far from being opposed, was, as +we have seen, sought and disseminated. Long after the pious element +in Germany had been aroused to the dangers that lurked in the wake +of their "Aufklärung," and had begun to endeavor to check its +further progress by excommunication and other methods, the Russian +Jews remained "seekers after light." They might have condemned a +Maskil, they had not yet condemned Haskalah. Mendelssohn's German +translation was welcomed in Russia at its first appearance no less +than in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id= +"page132"></a>{132}</span> Germany, but when some of the children +of Rabbi Moses ben Menahem embraced the Christian faith, and their +father, as was natural, was suspected of skepticism, the +<i>Biur</i> and the Meassefim were pronounced, like libraries by +Sir Anthony Absolute, to be "an evergreen tree of diabolical +knowledge." So also with Wessely's Epistles, which were destroyed +in public, together with Polonnoy's <i>Toledot Ya'akob Yosef</i>. +Haskalah itself was not impugned, and as theretofore translations +and original works on science were encouraged, and the wish was +entertained that "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be +increased."<a id="footnotetag3-32" name= +"footnotetag3-32"></a><a href="#footnote3-32"><sup>32</sup></a></p> +<p>But the latest experiences in their own country put Haskalah in +a very different light from that in which they were wont to regard +it. Formerly the opposition to it had been limited to the very land +that gave it birth. Because of their determination to study, +Solomon Maimon was denied admission to Berlin, Manasseh of Ilye was +stopped in Königsberg, and Abba Glusk Leczeka, better known as +"the Glusker Maggid," the subject of a poem by Chamisso, was +persecuted everywhere. It was Rabbi Levin, of Berlin, who +prohibited the publication of Wessely's works, and insisted that +the author be expelled from the city.<a id="footnotetag3-33" name= +"footnotetag3-33"></a><a href="#footnote3-33"><sup>33</sup></a> It +was Rabbi Ezekiel <span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id= +"page133"></a>{133}</span> Landau of Prague who, though approving +of Wessely's <i>Yen Lebanon</i>, opposed the translation of the +Pentateuch by Mendelssohn, while Rabbi Horowitz of Hamburg +denounced it in unmeasured terms, admonishing his hearers to shun +the work as unclean, and approving the action of those persons who +had publicly burnt it in Vilna (1782). Moses Sofer of Pressburg +adopted as his motto, "Touch not the works of the Dessauer" +(Mendelssohn),<a id="footnotetag3-34" name= +"footnotetag3-34"></a><a href="#footnote3-34"><sup>34</sup></a> and +seldom allowed an opportunity to pass without denouncing the +Maskilim of his country. Now the clarion note of anti-Haskalah, +sounded by these luminaries in Israel, found an echo among the Jews +in Russia. They had discovered, to their great sorrow, that like +Elisha ben Abuya, the apostate in the Talmud, "those who once +entered the paradise [of enlightenment] returned no more." The very +name of the seat of Haskalah was an abomination to the pious. To be +called "Berlinchick" or "Deitschel" was tantamount to being called +infidel and epicurean, anarchist and outlaw. The old instinct of +self-preservation, which turned Jews from lambs into lions, holding +their ground to the last, asserted itself again. As the Talmudic +rabbis excluded certain books from the Canon, as the study of even +the Jewish philosophers was later proscribed <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134"></a>{134}</span> by +certain French rabbis, so the Russian rabbis laid the ban upon +whatever savored of German "Aufklärerei."</p> +<p>Thus began the bitter fight against Haskalah, in which Hasidim +and Mitnaggedim, forgetting their differences, joined hands, and +stood shoulder to shoulder. For, after all, was not Judaism in both +these phases endangered by the new and aggressive enemy from the +West? And did not the two have enough in common to become one in +the hour of great need? Hasidism, in fact, was Judaism +emotionalized, and since, beginning with Rabbi Shneor Zalman of +Ladi, it, too, advocated the study of the Talmud, the distinction +between it and Mitnaggedism was hardly perceptible. The study of +the Zohar and Cabbala was equally cultivated by both; Isaac Luria +and Hayyim Vital were equally venerated by both, and hero worship +was common to both. The <i>Ascension of Elijah</i> (Gaon) is as +full of miracles as <i>The Praises of the Besht</i>. It is no +wonder, then, that the animosities, which reached their acme during +the last few years of the Gaon's life, were weakened after his +death, and that the compromise, pleaded for by Doctor Hurwitz and +Manasseh Ilye, was somehow effected. But it was otherwise with the +Haskalah. "Verily," says the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page135" id="page135"></a>{135}</span> zaddik Menahem Mendel of +Vitebsk, "verily, grammar is useful; that our great ones indulged +in the study thereof I also know; but what is to be done since the +wicked and sinful have taken possession of it?" In the same manner +does Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin inveigh against the followers of +Mendelssohn, because of the latitudinarian habits of the Maskilim, +who "despise the counsel of their betters, and go after the +dictates of their hearts."<a id="footnotetag3-35" name= +"footnotetag3-35"></a><a href="#footnote3-35"><sup>35</sup></a> +Both saw in Haskalah a deadly foe to their dearest ideals, a blight +upon their most cherished hopes, and, like Elizabeta Petrovna, they +would not derive even a benefit from the enemies of their +religion.</p> +<p>Still, Alexander I approached his object only tentatively. +Haskalah during his reign was like the Leviathan in the Talmud +legend which resembled an island, so that wayfarers approached it +to moor under its lee and find shelter in its shade, but as soon as +they began to walk and cook on it, it would turn and submerge them +in the stormy and bottomless sea. The Jews were invited or induced +to forsake their religion, and only the less discerning were caught +in the snare. It remained for the "terrible incarnation of +autocracy," Nicholas I (1825-1855), or, as his Jewish subjects +called him, Haman II, to fill their cup of woe to overflowing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id= +"page136"></a>{136}</span> and employ every available means to +convert them to his own religion.</p> +<p>Nicholas's one aim was "to diminish the number of Jews in the +empire," but not by expulsion, the means employed by Ferdinand and +Isabella. He knew too well their value as citizens to allow them to +migrate. He would diminish their numbers by forced baptism. +Baptized Jews were exempted from the payment of taxes for three +years; Jewish criminals could have their punishment commuted or +could obtain a pardon by ceasing to be Jews. But as these +inducements could naturally appeal only to comparatively few, more +stringent measures were resorted to. Hitherto the Jews had been +excused from military service, paying an annual sum of money for +the privilege. On September 7, 1827, an ukase was issued requiring +them not only to pay the same amount as theretofore, but also to +serve in the army; and while Christians had to furnish only seven +recruits per thousand, and only at certain intervals, the Jews had +to contribute ten recruits for each thousand, and that at every +conscription. The only exception was made in the case of the +Karaites, who, according to Nicholas's decision, had emigrated from +Palestine before the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id= +"page137"></a>{137}</span> Christian era, and could not therefore +have participated in the crucifixion of Jesus. Jews found outside +of their native towns without passports, and those in arrears with +their taxes, frequently even those who, having lagged behind in +their payment to the Government, eventually discharged their +obligations, were to be seized and sentenced to serve in the army, +and this meant a lifetime, or at least twenty-five years, of the +most abject slavery imaginable. This grievous measure caused the +utmost misery. No Jewish youth leaving home could be sure of +returning and seeing his dear ones again. The scum of the Jewish +population (poimshchiki, or "catchers") made it their profession to +ensnare helpless young men or poor itinerant students suspected of +the Haskalah heresy, destroy their passports, and deliver them up +as poimaniki (recruits), to spare the rich who paid for the +substitutes. To form an idea of the time we need but read some of +the numerous folk-songs of that day. Here is one of many:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Quietly I walk in the street,</p> +<p>When behind me I hear the rush of feet.</p> +<p>Woes have come and sought me,</p> +<p>Alas, had I bethought me.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id= +"page138"></a>{138}</span></div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Your passport," they ask. Alas, it is lost!</p> +<p>"Then serve the White Czar!" that is the cost.</p> +<p>Woe has come and sought me,</p> +<p>Alas, had I bethought me.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>There are many rooms, they take me to one,</p> +<p>And strip from my body the poor homespun.</p> +<p>Woe has come and sought me,</p> +<p>Alas, had I bethought me.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>They take me to another room,</p> +<p>The uniform,—that is my doom.</p> +<p>Woe has come and sought me,</p> +<p>Alas, had I bethought me.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Rather than wear the cap of the czar,</p> +<p>To study the Torah were better by far.</p> +<p>Woe has come and sought me,</p> +<p>Alas, had I bethought me.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Rather than eat of the czar's black bread,</p> +<p>I'd study the Scriptures head by head.</p> +<p>Woes have come and sought me,</p> +<p>Alas, had I bethought me.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Yet this was not all. Knowing that it is easier to convert the +children than their elders, the Government of Nicholas I, +out-Heroding Herod, inaugurated a system so cruel as to fill with +terror and pity the heart of the most ferocious barbarian. Infants +were torn from their mothers, boys of the age of twelve, sometimes +of ten and eight, were <span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id= +"page139"></a>{139}</span> herded like cattle, sent to distant +parts of Russia, and there distributed as chattels among the +officers of the army. Many of these Cantonists, as they were +called, either died on the way, or were killed off when they +resisted conversion. Those who survived sometimes returned to +Judaism, and formed the nucleus of Jewish settlements in the +interior of Russia. These "soldiers of Nicholas" (Nikolayevskiye +soldati), with their uncouth demeanor and devoted, though ignorant, +adherence to the faith of their fathers, furnished much material +for the folk-songs of the time and the novelists of the somewhat +happier reigns of Nicholas's successors.<a id="footnotetag3-36" +name="footnotetag3-36"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-36"><sup>36</sup></a></p> +<p>One of these Cantonists, the first to give a description of the +life of his fellow-sufferers, was Wolf Nachlass, or Alexander +Alekseyev. For many years he remained faithful to the religion of +his forefathers, though he had been pressed into the service at the +age of ten. About 1845 he changed his views, became an ardent Greek +Catholic, and converted five hundred Cantonists, to the great +delight of Nicholas I, who thanked him in person for his zeal. He +lost his leg, and during the long illness that followed Nachlass +settled in Novgorod, and wrote several works on Jewish customs and +on missionary topics.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id= +"page140"></a>{140}</span> +<p>Less horrifying, but equally aiming at disintegration, was +Nicholas's scheme of colonization. What better means was there for +"diminishing the number of Jews" than to scatter them over the +wilderness of Russia and leave them to shift for themselves? This, +of course, was necessarily a slow process and one involving some +expense, but it was fraught with great importance not only for the +Russian Church, but for Russian trade and agriculture as well.</p> +<p>"Back to the soil!" Was not this the cry of the romantic +Maskilim in Germany, in Galicia, and particularly in Russia? And +have not country life and field labor been depicted by them in the +most glowing colors? Here was an opportunity to save the honor of +the Jewish name and also ameliorate the material condition of the +Russian Jews. The permission given to them by Alexander I to +establish themselves as farmers in the frigid yet free Siberian +steppes was greeted with enthusiasm by all. Nicholas's ukase was +hailed with joy. Elias Mitauer and Meyer Mendelssohn, at the head +of seventy families from Courland, were the first to migrate to the +new region (1836), and they were followed by hundreds more. Indeed, +the exodus assumed such proportions that the Christians in the +parts <span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id= +"page141"></a>{141}</span> of the country abandoned by the +colonists complained of the decline in business and the +depreciation of property. The movement was heartily approved by the +rabbis; the populace, its imagination stimulated, began to dream +dreams and see visions of brighter days, and all gave vent to their +hopefulness in songs of gladness and gratitude, in strains like +these:<a id="footnotetag3-37" name="footnotetag3-37"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-37"><sup>37</sup></a></p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Who lives so free</p> +<p class="i2">As the farmer on his land?</p> +<p>His farm his companion is,</p> +<p class="i2">His never-failing friend.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>His sleep to him is sweet</p> +<p class="i2">After a hearty meal;</p> +<p>Neither grief nor worry</p> +<p class="i2">The farmer-man doth feel.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>He rises very early</p> +<p class="i2">To start betimes his toil,</p> +<p>Healthy and very happy</p> +<p class="i2">On his ever-smiling soil.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>O blessings on our czar,</p> +<p class="i2">Czar Nikolai, then be,</p> +<p>Who granted us this gladness,</p> +<p class="i2">And bade the Jews be free.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Alas, this joy was of short duration! Very soon Nicholas became +suspicious of his Siberian colonization <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142"></a>{142}</span> scheme, +that it was in reality a philanthropic measure, and in place of +saving the Jew's soul it only promoted his physical well-being. +This suspicion grew into a conviction when he learned that the +Jewish community at Tomsk, still faithful to the heritage of +Israel, applied for permission to appoint a spiritual leader. The +autocrat, therefore, signed an ukase checking settlement in the +hitherto free land, depriving honest men of the privilege enjoyed +by the worst of criminals, and enrolling the children of those +already there among the military Cantonists (January 5, 1837).</p> +<p>Then began real misery. Believing at first that the czar's +intentions were sincere, many Jews had sold their hut and land and +left for Siberia. No sooner were they there than they were sent, on +foot, to Kherson. The decree of the "little father" was executed +in—no other phrase can describe it so well—Russian +fashion. The innocent Jews who had come to Siberia by invitation +were seized, treated as vagabonds, and deported to their +destination. Want and suffering produced contagious diseases, and +many became a burden to the Jews of Kremenchug and such Christians +as could not witness unmoved the infernal comedy played by the +defender of the Greek Catholic Church. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143"></a>{143}</span> Help +could be rendered only secretly, and those who dared complain were +severely punished.</p> +<p>At the same time that this was taking place in the wilderness of +Siberia, a phenomenon of rare occurrence was to be witnessed in the +very heart of the Jewish Pale, in Lithuania. Aroused by the +wretched condition of his coreligionists, Solomon Posner +(1780-1848) determined to erect cloth factories exclusively for +Jews. He sent to Germany for experts to teach them the trade. These +Jewish workingmen proved so industrious and intelligent that before +the end of three years they surpassed their teachers in mechanical +skill. But this attempt of Posner was only prefatory to the greater +and more arduous task he set himself. It was nothing less than the +establishment of a colony in which some of the most Utopian +theories would be applied to actual life. Ten years after Robert +Owen founded his communistic settlement at New Harmony, Indiana, +several hundred robust Russian Jews settled on some of the +thousands of acres in Lithuania that were lying fallow for want of +tillers. With these farmers Posner hoped to realize his Utopia. He +provided every family with sufficient land, the necessary +agricultural implements, as well as with horses, cows, etc., free +of charge, for a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id= +"page144"></a>{144}</span> term of twenty-five years. In return, +the members of the community pledged themselves to use simple +homespun for their apparel, black on holidays, gray on week-days, +not to indulge in the luxuries of city life, and to avoid trading +of any sort. As time passed, Posner opened coeducational technical +schools for the children and batte midrashim for adults, and soon +the homesteads presented the appearance of progressive and +flourishing farms. Posner's successful effort attracted the +admiration of Prince Pashkevich, and was both a living protest +against the accusation of Nicholas that Jews were unfit to be +farmers and an eloquent plea for the unfortunate victims of a +capricious tyrant in Siberia and Kherson.<a id="footnotetag3-38" +name="footnotetag3-38"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-38"><sup>38</sup></a></p> +<p>In his efforts to curb the stiff-necked Jews by all manner of +fiendish persecution, Nicholas did not neglect to try the efficacy +of some of the plans advocated by Lewis Way. Undismayed by the +failure of the Committee of Guardians for Israelitish Christians, +in which Alexander I had put so much confidence, a "Jewish +Committee," all the members of which were Christians, was organized +by imperial decree (May 22, 1825). This committee established, in +1829, a school at Warsaw where Christian divinity students were to +be instructed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page145" id= +"page145"></a>{145}</span> in rabbinical literature and in +Judeo-German, in order to be fully equipped for missionary work +among the Jews. It appointed Abbé Luigi Chiarini to +translate, or rather expose, the Babylonian Talmud, to which +undertaking the Government contributed twelve thousand thalers.</p> +<p>To do his work thoroughly, the abbé deemed it advisable +to write a preliminary dissertation, presenting his aim and views. +This he did in his <i>Theory of Judaism</i> (<i>Théorie du +judaisme</i>, Paris, 1830). He endeavored to show how worthless, +injurious, and immoral were the teachings of the Talmud. Only by +discarding them would the Jews qualify themselves to enjoy the +right of citizenship. He proved, to his own satisfaction, that +ritual murder was enjoined in the Talmud, and this he did at a time +when many a community was harassed by this fiendish accusation. +When early death cut short the abbé's effort (1832), the +Government, still persisting in its plans, engaged the services of +Ephraim Moses Pinner of Posen, who published specimens of his +intended translation in his <i>Compendium</i> (Berlin, 1831). But +the fickle or restless emperor seems to have tired of the plan, or +perhaps he found Pinner too Jewish for his purposes. Of the +twenty-eight volumes planned, only <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page146" id="page146"></a>{146}</span> one, which was dedicated to +Nicholas, appeared during the decade following Chiarini's death, +and the work was abandoned entirely.<a id="footnotetag3-39" name= +"footnotetag3-39"></a><a href="#footnote3-39"><sup>39</sup></a></p> +<p>The crusade against the Talmud, thus headed and backed by the +Government, now broke out in all its fury. Anti-Talmudic works in +English, French, and German were imported into Russia, translated +into Hebrew, and scattered among the people. <i>The Old Paths</i>, +by Alexander McCaul, a countryman and colleague of Lewis Way, but +surpassing him in zeal for the conversion of Jews, was translated +into Hebrew and German (Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1839) for the +edification of those who knew no English. Jews themselves, either +out of revenge or because they sought to ingratiate themselves with +the high authorities, joined the movement, and openly came out +against the Talmud in works modelled after Eisenmenger's +<i>Entdecktes Judenthum</i>. Such were Buchner, author of +<i>Worthlessness of the Talmud</i> (<i>Der Talmud in seiner +Nichtigkeit</i>, 2 vols., Warsaw, 1848), and Temkin, who wrote +<i>The Straight Road</i> (<i>Derek Selulah</i>, St. Petersburg, +1835). The former was instructor in Hebrew and Holy Writ in the +rabbinical seminary in Warsaw; the latter was a zealous convert to +the Greek Catholic faith, who spared <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page147" id="page147"></a>{147}</span> no effort to make Judaism +disliked among his former coreligionists.</p> +<p>All these desperate attempts proved of no avail. Judaism was +practiced, and the Talmud was studied during the reign of Nicholas +I more ardently than ever before. Their sacred treasures attacked +by the Government without and by renegades and detractors within, +the Russian Jews nevertheless clung to them with a tenacity +unparalleled even in their own history. Danzig's <i>Life of Man</i> +(<i>Hayye Adam</i>, Vilna, 1810), containing all Jewish ritual +ceremonies, was followed out to the least minutiae. Despite the +poverty of the Jews and the comparatively exorbitant price the +publisher had to charge for the Talmud, and, aside from the many +sets of former editions in the country and those continually +imported, and in addition to the Responsa, commentaries, Midrashim, +and other works directly and indirectly bearing on it, more than a +dozen editions of the Talmud had appeared in Russia alone since the +ukase of Catherine II (October 30, 1795) permitting Russian Jews to +publish Hebrew works in their own country. This ukase had been +intended originally to exclude seditious literature from Russia, +but what was unfavorable for the rebellious Poles proved, in a +measure, very beneficial <span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" +id="page148"></a>{148}</span> to the law-abiding Jews. Under the +supervision of a censor, and with but slight interruptions, the +Jews published their own books, and in 1806 Slavuta, in Volhynia, +saw the first complete edition of the Talmud on Russian soil. Then +followed another edition in the same place (1808-1813), a third in +Kopys (1816-1828), and a fourth in Slavuta (1817-1822), and several +others elsewhere.</p> +<p>The story of the Vilna-Grodno edition of the Talmud is +interesting as well as illuminating. It depicts the relation of the +Jews among themselves and to the Government. Begun in 1835, at +Ozar, near Grodno, an imperial ukase directed the removal of the +work to Vilna, the metropolis of Russo-Poland. When the publishers, +Simhah Ziml and Menahem Mann Romm, had completed their work in the +new quarters, the copies of the book were destroyed by incendiaries +(1840). After some time, an effort was made by Joseph Eliasberg and +Mattathias Strashun to continue the publication, but the Warsaw +censor prohibited its importation into Poland, where the bulk of +the subscribers lived. To add to the calamity, a feud broke out +between the head of the Slavuta publishing company, Moses Schapira +(1758-1838), and the Vilna publishers. The publication of the +Talmud had <span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id= +"page149"></a>{149}</span> always been supervised by the prominent +rabbis of the land, and their authorization was necessary to make +an edition legal. This the rabbi never granted unless the previous +edition was entirely disposed of. The Slavuta publishers claimed +that their edition had not been sold out when the Vilna publishers +started theirs. The litigation continued for some time, and was +finally decided in favor of the Vilna firm. The publishers of +Slavuta, however, having the Polish rabbis and zaddikim on their +side, continued to publish the Talmud, regardless of the protests +of Rabbi Akiba Eger and the "great ones" of Lithuania. But a +terrible misfortune befell the Slavuta publishers. On account of +some accusation, the two brothers engaged in the business were +deported to Siberia, and their father, the head of the +establishment, died of a broken heart. This cleared the field for +the Romms of Vilna, who continue to prosper to this day, and have +now the greatest Hebrew publishing house in the world. "It is the +finger of God," the pious ones said, and studied the Talmud with +increased devotion.<a id="footnotetag3-40" name= +"footnotetag3-40"></a><a href="#footnote3-40"><sup>40</sup></a></p> +<p>The numerous Talmud editions indicate the demand for the work, +and the multiplicity of yeshibot explains the cause of the demand. +We have seen how the yeshibot destroyed by Chmielnicki <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150"></a>{150}</span> were +re-established soon after the massacres ceased. Their number +increased when the Hasidic movement threatened to render the +knowledge of the Talmud unpopular; and when the Maskilim, too, made +them a target for their attacks, there was hardly a town in which +such institutions were not to be found. But surpassing all the +yeshibot of the nineteenth century, if not of all centuries, was +the Yeshibah Tree of Life (Yeshibat 'Ez Hayyim) in the townlet of +Volozhin. There the cherished hopes of the Gaon were finally +realized. Within its walls gathered the elect of the Russo-Jewish +youth for almost a century.</p> +<p>The founder of this famous yeshibah was Rabbi Hayyim Volozhin, +the greatest of the Gaon's disciples (1749-1821). A prominent +Talmudist at twenty-five, he, nevertheless, left his business and +household at that age, and went to Vilna to become the humble pupil +of the Gaon, whose method he had followed from the beginning. When +he felt himself proficient enough in his studies, he returned to +his native place, and founded (1803) the Tree of Life College, with +an enrollment of ten students, whom he maintained at his own +expense. But soon the fame of the yeshibah and its founder spread +far and wide, and students flocked to it from <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151"></a>{151}</span> all +corners of Russia and outside of it. In response to Rabbi Hayyim's +appeal contributions came pouring in, a new and spacious +school-house was erected, and Volozhin became a Talmudic Oxford. To +be a student there was both an indication of superiority and a +means to proficiency. Rabbi Hayyim did away with the "Tag-essen," +or "Freitisch" custom, and introduced a stipendiary system in its +stead, thus fostering the self-respect of the students. But they +did not as a rule require much to satisfy them with their lot. They +came to Volozhin "to learn," and they well knew the Talmudic +statement, that "no one can attain eminence in the Torah unless he +is willing to die for its sake."</p> +<p>Rabbi Hayyim was succeeded by his son Rabbi Isaac, who united +knowledge of secular subjects with profound Talmudic erudition, was +active in worldly affairs, and played a prominent part in the +Jewish history of his day. He was of the leading spirits who, in +1842, attended the rabbinical conference at St. Petersburg convoked +by Nicholas I. The number of students increased under his +leadership, according to Lilienthal, to three hundred. But Rabbi +Isaac became so engrossed in public affairs that he found he could +no longer do justice to his position. His two sons-in-law, +therefore, took his <span class="pagenum"><a name="page152" id= +"page152"></a>{152}</span> place, and when the older died, in 1854, +Rabbi Naphtali Zebi Judah Berlin (1817-1893) entered on his useful +career, unbroken for forty years, as the dean of the greatest seat +of learning in the Diaspora. Under his administration the Tree of +Life College reached both the height of its prosperity and the end +of its existence (1892).<a id="footnotetag3-41" name= +"footnotetag3-41"></a><a href="#footnote3-41"><sup>41</sup></a></p> +<p>Thus all the schemes and machinations of the Russian Government +respecting the Jews proved ineffectual. Nicholas I, with the +possible exception of Ivan the Terrible, the greatest autocrat in +Russian history, at whose wish seemingly insuperable obstacles were +instantly removed, the wink of whose eye was sufficient to kill or +revive the millions of his crouching slaves—Nicholas I, with +all his herculean strength, yet found himself helpless in the +presence of a handful of wretched Jews. Furious at his defeat, he +expressed the intention to reduce all Jews to Governmental +servitude or to make them, like the Cossacks, lifelong soldiers. +Being advised to postpone the execution of this plan and to employ +less severe measures meanwhile, he issued the Exportation Law of +1843, ordering the expulsion of Jews from the fifty-vyerst boundary +zone and from the villages within the Pale, thereby <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153"></a>{153}</span> depriving +fifty thousand families at once of their homes and their +support.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Those from the country—writes a Russo-Jewish eye-witness +of the scenes following the enforcement of this inhuman +law—move first to the neighboring cities, and increase the +existing poverty, rendering the difficulty of finding profitable +employment still greater. God only knows how it will end when the +congestion increases still further.... I must also inform +you—he proceeds—that these past four months several +imperial commissioners have visited the frontier towns on the +Lithuanian border, from which the Jews are to be banished, in order +that the value of the real estate may be estimated. But how is the +valuation calculated? Even one who is acquainted with the venality +and unscrupulousness of Russian officers cannot form a correct idea +of how this business is conducted. If a man has no connection with +those in authority, or cannot obtain powerful intercession, or is +unable to give heavy bribes, his property is valued at perhaps five +per cent, or is set at so low a figure as to make the appraisal +differ little from downright robbery. We, however, are used to such +measures, for when they banished us some time past from certain +districts of the city of Brest-Litovsk, where for centuries +celebrated scholars of our people dwelt, nothing better was done by +the crown to compensate us for our houses.<a id="footnotetag3-42" +name="footnotetag3-42"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-42"><sup>42</sup></a> The same occurred at the +expulsion from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Nikolayev, Alexandrov, +Sebastopol, etc., but as it did not affect so large a mass, nor +injure us to so great an extent, we bore the injury silently. Alas, +this is not the case at present. We should gladly quit the country, +gladly should we emigrate to America, Texas, and especially to +Palestine under English protection, if, on the one <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154"></a>{154}</span> hand, we +had the means and, on the other, the Government would permit +us.<a id="footnotetag3-43" name="footnotetag3-43"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-43"><sup>43</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>This Exportation Law of Nicholas I, the result of a lawsuit +between a Jew and a nobleman living on the eastern frontier, which +had been decided by the supreme court in favor of the former, +aroused much excitement in every civilized country of Europe. It +was before anti-Semitism was in flower, and the people of the time +were more responsive even than during the later Kishinev massacres. +Indignation meetings were held. Both Jews and Gentiles, not only +abroad, but even in Russia, protested. Prayers were offered for the +unfortunate. Crémieux in France and Rabbi Philippson in +Germany appealed to the public. All to no effect. Grief was +especially manifest among English Jews, always the first to feel +when their fellow-Jews in other countries suffer, and Grace +Aguilar, like Rachel weeping over her children, lamented over her +Russian brethren:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Ay, death! for such is exile—fearful doom,</p> +<p>From homes expelled yet still to Poland chain'd;</p> +<p>Till want and famine mind and life consume,</p> +<p>And sorrow's poison'd chalice all is drained.</p> +<p>O God, that this should be! that one frail man</p> +<p>Hath power to crush a nation 'neath his ban.</p> +</div> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id= +"page155"></a>{155}</span> +<p>At this critical period, Moses Montefiore, encouraged by his +success in refuting the blood accusation at Damascus, and +stimulated by the many petitions he had received from Russia, +Germany, France, Italy, England, and America, undertook the +philanthropic mission of interceding with the czar on behalf of his +coreligionists. It is natural to suspect that no trouble is +entirely undeserved; it is but human to sympathize with our +friends, and yet regard their suffering as a judgment rather than a +misfortune. But Montefiore's trip to Russia dispelled the last +trace of suspicion against the Russian Jews. In spite of their +poverty, he saw numerous charitable and educational institutions in +every city he visited. He found the Jewish men to be the cream of +Russia. "He had the satisfaction," Doctor Loewe, his secretary, +tells us, "of seeing among them many well-educated wives, sons, and +daughters; their dwellings were scrupulously clean, the furniture +plain but suitable for the purpose, and the appearance of the +family healthy." To all his pleadings Count Uvarov returned but a +single answer: "The Russian Jews are different from other Jews; +they are orthodox, and believe in the Talmud"<a id= +"footnotetag3-44" name="footnotetag3-44"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-44"><sup>44</sup></a>—a reason for persecution in +Holy Russia!</p> +<p>Montefiore's visit to Russia, from which so <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156"></a>{156}</span> much had +been hoped, did not improve the situation in the least. For all his +strenuous efforts, he was compelled to leave the Jews as destitute +as he had found them. Nay, they might truthfully have said to the +Moses of England what their ancestors had said to the Moses of +Egypt, "Since thou didst come to Pharaoh, the hardness of our lot +has increased." From the first of May (1844) they were not allowed +to continue to earn the pittance necessary to maintain life, as, +for instance, by the slavish labor of breaking stones on the +highways, with which three hundred families had barely earned dry +bread.<a id="footnotetag3-45" name="footnotetag3-45"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-45"><sup>45</sup></a> The great love and respect shown +to the uncrowned king of Israel proved to the czar's officials the +existence of some artful design on the part of the Jews, and +convinced them especially of the disloyalty of Montefiore. The +latter, they maintained, was scheming to set himself up as the +Jewish czar. Hence every movement of his was closely watched, every +word he uttered carefully noted, and not a few Jews were left with +memorable tokens for doing homage to the English baronet. Their +disabilities were not removed, their condition was not improved, +the hopes they entertained resolved themselves into pleasant dreams +followed by a sad awakening.<a id="footnotetag3-46" name= +"footnotetag3-46"></a><a href="#footnote3-46"><sup>46</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id= +"page157"></a>{157}</span> +<p>Yet, though his visit did not, as Sir Moses had anticipated, +"raise the Jews in the estimation of the people," it was not +without beneficent effect on the Jews themselves. It cemented the +"traditional friendship" which has always existed between +Anglo-Jews and Russo-Jews more than between any sets of Jews of the +dispersion. It disclosed to the latter that there were happier Jews +and better countries than their own; that there were men who +sympathized with them as effectively as could be. Above all, it +convinced them that a Jew may be highly educated and wealthy, and +take his place among the noble ones of the earth, and still remain +a faithful Jew and a loyal son of his persecuted people. "I leave +you," Sir Moses called to them at parting, "but my heart will ever +remain with you. When my brethren suffer, I feel it painfully; when +they have reason to weep, my eyes shed tears." Had Montefiore's +visit resulted merely in arousing his brethren's +self-consciousness, he had earned a place in the history of +Haskalah, for self-consciousness is the most potent factor in the +culture of mankind.</p> +<p>Jews from other lands also came to the rescue of their Russian +coreligionists. Jacques Isaac Altaras, the ship-builder of +Marseilles, petitioned the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" +id="page158"></a>{158}</span> czar to allow forty thousand Jewish +families to emigrate to Algeria. Rabbi Ludwig Philippson, editor of +the Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, appealed to his countrymen +to help the Russian Jews to settle in America, Australia, Africa, +anywhere away from Russia. But all attempts were ineffectual. +Though Count Kissilyef assured Montefiore that the czar "did not +wish to keep them [the Jews], five or six hundred thousand might +leave altogether," emigration was next to impossible. Russia was +constantly playing the game of the cat with the mouse. Her nails +were set and her eyes fixed upon her prey, and yet she made it +appear to the outside world that she was anxious about the welfare +of the Jews. For Russian tactics have always been, and still are, +the despair of the diplomat, a labyrinth through which only they +who hold the clue can ever hope to find their way.</p> +<p>The condition of the Jews in Russo-Poland was, if possible, even +worse than in Lithuania and Russia proper. Nothing, in fact, but +the auto-da-fé was needed to give it the stamp of medieval +Spain. As before the division of Poland, the Poles suspected the +Jews of disloyalty to Poland, while the Russians suspected them of +disloyalty to Russia. Hitherto too proud to soil his hand with a +manual <span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id= +"page159"></a>{159}</span> or mercantile pursuit, the Polish pan, +now that the glory of his country had departed, and he was deprived +of his lordly estates, began to engage in business of all kinds, +and, finding in the Jewish trader a rival with whose skill and +diligence he could seldom compete, he became embittered against the +entire race. This was the cause of the innumerable restrictions, +the extortion, and exploitation in Russo-Poland, which surpassed +those of Russia proper.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The Jewish archives—said Doctor Marcus Jastrow, then Rabbi +in Warsaw—were humorously known as "California" or the +"Mexican Gold Mines." Jews had to pay at every step. They had to +pay a Tagzettel [daily tax] for permission to stay in Warsaw, which +permission, however, did not include the luxury of breathing. The +latter had to be purchased with an additional ten kopecks per +capita. The income from these taxations amounted to over a million +and a half, but in spite of all this the Jews were regarded as +parasites, as leeches feasting upon the life-blood of their +Christian compatriots.<a id="footnotetag3-47" name= +"footnotetag3-47"></a><a href="#footnote3-47"><sup>47</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>Such is the background upon which the picture of Haskalah is to +be drawn—black enough to throw into relief the faintest ray +of light. The Russian Jews, during the reign of Nicholas I, found +themselves in a position possible only in Russia. They were not +allowed to emigrate, nor suffered to stay. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160"></a>{160}</span> In 1823 +they were expelled from the farms, and had to crowd into the +cities; in 1838 they were expelled from the cities, and forced to +go back to the country. Then Siberia was opened to them, but when +it was found that even the land of the outcasts was hailed as a +place of refuge by the Jews, they were told to go to Kherson. At +last arrangements were perfected to allow them to colonize +Lithuania—all at once even this was interdicted. They had +been conquered with the Poles, yet were left unprotected against +the Poles. Could they help suspecting the tyrant of what he really +intended to do—of seeking to diminish their numbers by +conversion? Is it surprising that when he determined to open public +schools and establish rabbinical seminaries, Jews looked upon +these, too, as the sugared poison with which he intended to +extirpate Judaism? Or can we blame them for being determined to the +last to baffle him? Nicholas did not understand the great lesson +taught by the history of the Jews and inculcated in the old +song,</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>To destroy all these people</p> +<p>You should let them alone.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>All that tyranny could inflict, the Russian Jews endured. Yet +their number was not diminished. <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page161" id="page161"></a>{161}</span> No coercion could make them +leave, in a body, the old paths they were wont to tread. Nicholas's +so-called reforms only encouraged a reaction, and the more he +afflicted the Jews, the more they multiplied and grew. The behalot +of 1754, 1764, and 1793 were repeated in 1833 and 1843; the +missionary propaganda only strengthened the devotion of the +faithful; and the denial of the means of support only increased the +stolidity of the sufferers. And if, like some stepchildren, they +were first beaten till they cried, and then beaten because they +cried, like some stepchildren they rapidly forgot their lot in the +happiness of home and the studies of the bet ha-midrash, and could +sing<a id="footnotetag3-48" name="footnotetag3-48"></a><a href= +"#footnote3-48"><sup>48</sup></a> without bitterness even of the +behalah-days, when</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Little boys and little girls</p> +<p>Together had been mated,</p> +<p>Tishah be-Ab, the wedding day,—</p> +<p>Not a soul invited.</p> +<p>Only the father and the mother,</p> +<p>And also uncle Elye—</p> +<p>In his lengthy delye (caftan),</p> +<p>With his scanty beard—</p> +<p>Jump and jig with each other</p> +<p>Like a colt afeared.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>(Notes, pp. <a href="#notes-3">314-317</a>.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id= +"page162"></a>{162}</span> +<h2><a name="chap4" id="chap4">CHAPTER IV</a></h2> +<h3>CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS</h3> +<h4>1840-1855</h4> +<p>The charges brought against the Jews of Russia by henchmen of +the czar were grave, indeed, only they did not contain a particle +of truth. In Russia itself, not only Jews and non-Russians but even +many Christians testified to the innocence of the Jews, and +protested against their oppressors. Bibikov, the Governor-General +of Podolia and Volhynia; Diakov, the Governor-General of Smolensk; +and Surovyetsky, the noted statesman, all write in terms of such +praise of their unfortunate countrymen of the Jewish faith that +their statements would sound exaggerated, were it not that many +other unprejudiced Russians confirm their views.<a id= +"footnotetag4-1" name="footnotetag4-1"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-1"><sup>1</sup></a> The fact that Nicholas thought the +Jews reliable as soldiers speaks against the imputation that they +were mercenary and unpatriotic. Neither was the conventional +accusation, that they were a people of petty traders, applicable to +the Jews in Russia. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id= +"page163"></a>{163}</span> Laborers of all kinds were very common +among them. It was they, in fact, who rendered all manner of +service to their Gentile neighbors, from a cobbler's and +blacksmith's to producing the most exquisite <i>objets d'art</i> +and gold and silver engraving. They were equally well represented +among the clerks and bookkeepers, and the bricklayers and +stone-cutters. They took up with the most laborious employments, if +only they furnished them with an honest even though scanty +livelihood.<a id="footnotetag4-2" name= +"footnotetag4-2"></a><a href="#footnote4-2"><sup>2</sup></a></p> +<p>But most unfounded of all was the allegation that Jews were +opposed to education. The <i>Memoirs</i> of Madame Pauline +Wengeroff indicate that even among the very strict Jews of her time +children were not denied instruction in the German, Polish, and +Russian literatures. We have seen how they availed themselves of +the permission, granted to them by Alexander I, to attend the +schools and universities of the empire. Nor did they fail to open +schools of their own. No sooner was the Franco-Russian war over +than Joseph Perl of Galicia founded a school in Tarnopol (1813), +then under the Russian Government, and two years later he drew upon +his own resources to build a school-house large enough to +accommodate the great, steadily growing number of students. In 1822 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id= +"page164"></a>{164}</span> we hear of a school that had been in +existence for some time in Uman (the Ukraine). It had been +established by Meïr Horn, Moses Landau, and Hirsh Hurwitz, all +of whom were indefatigable laborers in the cause of Haskalah in the +Ukraine. Perl's school was the pattern and model for a multitude of +other schools, among them the one founded by Zittenfeld (1826) in +Odessa, in the faculty of which were Simhah Pinsker, Elijah Finkel, +the grandson of Elijah Gaon, and Abraham Abele, the eminent +Talmudist. In 1836 a girls' department was added to it, and when +Lilienthal visited Odessa (ab. 1843) it had an attendance of from +four to five hundred pupils of both sexes, the annual expense being +twenty-eight thousand rubles. A similar school was opened in +Kishinev by Stern, and in the early "forties" there was hardly a +Jewish community of note without one or more of such Jewish public +institutions. Several well-to-do Maskilim not only founded but, +like Perl, also maintained such schools, and gave instruction in +some or all of the subjects taught in them.<a id="footnotetag4-3" +name="footnotetag4-3"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p>The "forties" began auspiciously for Haskalah in Russia. On +January 15, 1840, the Riga community, amid pomp and rejoicing, +opened the first <span class="pagenum"><a name="page165" id= +"page165"></a>{165}</span> Jewish school affiliated with a +university. The teaching staff consisted of three Jews and one +Christian, with Doctor Max Lilienthal (1815-1882), the young, +highly recommended, and recently chosen local rabbi, as its +principal. In the same year, the indefatigable Basilius Stern +succeeded in forming a committee, of which Hayyim Efrusi and Moses +Lichtenstadt were members, to deliberate on founding rabbinical +seminaries in Russia. In 1841, forty-five delegates, representing +the six chief committees of the Lovers of Enlightenment, assembled +in Vilna, and thence issued an appeal in which they adopted as +their platform the elevation of the moral standards of adults by +urging them to follow useful trades and discouraging the Jewish +proclivity to business as much as possible; a reform of the +prevailing system of the education of the young; the combating, if +possible the eradication, of Hasidism, the fountainhead, as they +thought, of ignorance and superstition; the establishment of +rabbinical seminaries, after the model of those in Padua and +Amsterdam, to supply congregations with educated rabbis. It was +further agreed that a Consistory be created, to supervise Jewish +affairs and establish schools and technical institutes wherever +necessary. To these main <span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" +id="page166"></a>{166}</span> points were added several others of +minor importance. The Maskilim of Besascz insisted that steps be +taken to stop the prevailing custom of premature marriages. Those +of Brest proposed that Government aid be invoked to compel Jews to +dress in the German style, to use authorized text-books in the +hadarim, and interdict the study of the Talmud except by those +preparing themselves for the rabbinate.<a id="footnotetag4-4" name= +"footnotetag4-4"></a><a href="#footnote4-4"><sup>4</sup></a></p> +<p>Even in Vilna and Minsk, towns which later put themselves on +record as opposed to Government schools, the Jews yielded gladly to +the innovations of such Maskilim as S. Perl, G. Klaczke, I. Bompi, +and the distinguished philanthropist David Luria, who took the +initiative in transforming the educational system of these cities. +Under the superintendence of Luria, the Minsk Talmud Torah became a +model institution; the training conferred there on the poor and +orphaned surpassed that given to the children of the rich in their +private schools. This aroused jealousy in the parents of the +latter, and at their request Luria organized a merchants' school, +for the wealthier class. He then established what he called Midrash +Ezrahim, or Citizens' Institute, in which he met with such success +that he attracted the attention of the <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167"></a>{167}</span> +authorities, and received a special acknowledgment from the +czar.<a id="footnotetag4-5" name="footnotetag4-5"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<p>Russian Jewry was astir with new life. In many places secular +education was divorced for the first time from rabbinical +speculation. Knowledge became an end in itself, and learning +increased greatly. An investigation by Nicholas I convinced all who +were interested that though the Talmud remained the chief subject +of study, the number of educated Jews was far greater than commonly +supposed. The upliftment of the masses was the beau-ideal of every +Maskil, and Hebrew and even the much-despised Yiddish were employed +to effect it. Ignorance was regarded as the bane of life, and +enlightenment as the panacea for all the ills to which their +downtrodden brethren were heirs. As their pious coreligionists +deemed it the universal duty to be well-versed in the Talmud, so +the Maskilim thought it incumbent upon everybody to be highly +cultured. No obstacle was great enough to discourage them. They +were willing martyrs to the goddess of Wisdom, at whose shrine they +worshipped, and whose cult they spread in the most adverse +circumstances.</p> +<p>Had the Government not interfered with the efforts of the +Maskilim, or had it chosen a <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page168" id="page168"></a>{168}</span> commission from among the +Russian Jews themselves, among whom, as soon became evident to +Nicholas himself, there were more than enough to do justice to an +educational inquiry, the Haskalah movement would have continued to +spread, notwithstanding the obstacles put in its way. But Nicholas +was determined to reduce the number of Jews also by "re-educating" +them in accordance with his own ideas. Every attempt made by the +Jews to educate themselves was, therefore, checked. Even the noble +efforts of Luria were stopped, his schools were closed, and his +only rewards were "a gold medal from the czar and a short poem by +Gottlober."</p> +<p>In Germany, since the time of Mendelssohn, the study of the +Talmud had been on the wane. The great yeshibot formerly existing +in Metz, Frankfort, Hamburg, Prague, Fiirth, Halberstadt, etc., +disappeared, and the reforms introduced in the synagogue and the +numerous converts to Christianity impressed the outside world with +the idea that Judaism among German Jews was writhing in the agony +of death. If the same disintegrating elements were introduced among +the Russian Jews, the Government believed that they would +ultimately come over to the Greek Catholic Church of their +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page169" id= +"page169"></a>{169}</span> own accord. Hence it was anxious to +learn the secret of this power and beamed graciously on several +learned Jews of Germany.</p> +<p>David Friedländer (1750-1834) was then considered the +legitimate successor of Mendelssohn, whose friend he had been for +more than twenty years. He resembled his master in many respects, +though he lacked both his genius and his sympathy. Mendelssohn +translated the Pentateuch and the Psalms into German, +Friedländer translated the Haftarot (selections from the +Prophets) and the prayer book. Mendelssohn encouraged the +publication of the Meassef; he did likewise, and contributed +several articles to the journal. But, unlike his master, or, as he +claimed, like his master in secret, he held exceedingly +latitudinarian views on Judaism. In his later years he advocated +abolishing the study of Hebrew in the schools and discarding it +from the prayer book. He even rejoiced that by attending the +services in Protestant churches many Jewish families were becoming +acquainted with the religion he himself would have accepted on +certain conditions.<a id="footnotetag4-6" name= +"footnotetag4-6"></a><a href="#footnote4-6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> +<p>It was to Friedländer that Bishop Malchevsky, actuated, as +he maintained, by a desire to render the Jews worthy of the +enjoyment of civil rights, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" +id="page170"></a>{170}</span> applied for suggestions, in 1816, +when the missionary zeal of Alexander I was first aroused. He +responded in a pamphlet, <i>On the Improvement of the Israelites in +the Kingdom of Poland</i>,<a id="footnotetag4-7" name= +"footnotetag4-7"></a><a href="#footnote4-7"><sup>7</sup></a> in +which he declared that the quickest way of "civilizing" the Jews +would be to deprive their rabbis of power and influence, to force +them to dress in the German fashion, and use the Polish language, +to admit them to the public schools and other educational +institutions, and, above all, to abrogate the laws discriminating +between them and their Gentile countrymen.</p> +<p>Friedländer's advice regarding the removal of civil +disabilities was never executed, but his other suggestions were +followed out with more vigor than was necessary or good. To do away +with the rabbis, and consequently with the Talmud, was just what +was desired. It was partly with this end in view that Alexander I +permitted, that is, commanded, the establishment of the rabbinical +seminary in Warsaw. But when it was found that, although the +seminary students were provided with all necessaries, and +notwithstanding the decree that six years from the date of its +opening none but seminary graduates would be eligible to the +rabbinical office, few students availed themselves of the +opportunity afforded, and none obtained <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171"></a>{171}</span> +positions, the whole plan fell into disfavor.<a id="footnotetag4-8" +name="footnotetag4-8"></a><a href="#footnote4-8"><sup>8</sup></a> +The Government, nevertheless, remained as stubbornly determined as +ever, and unable to turn all the children into Cantonists, it +decided to have those who remained at home gradually converted by +means of a method worked out by the Minister of Education, Uvarov. +They were forced to attend what became known as Government schools, +though maintained exclusively with Jewish funds. In order to win +the confidence of the Jews for the project, Doctor Lilienthal, +whose speech at the dedication of the Riga School secured him a +diamond ring as a token of the czar's approval, was sent from St. +Petersburg on a mission of investigation, more especially of +persuasion.</p> +<p>For more than three years Lilienthal was one of the most popular +personages in Europe. The eyes of all who had the amelioration of +the lot of the Russian Jew at heart, it may be said the eyes of the +civilized world, were fixed upon him as an epoch-maker in the +history of the Jews. Nature had formed him, physically and +mentally, to be a leader among his people, and his training and +temperament made it easy for him to ingratiate himself into the +favor of the great. It seemed that he was <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172"></a>{172}</span> just the +man to be the successful executor of the czar's plan.</p> +<p>The Maskilim, above all, hailed him as the champion of the cause +of Haskalah. He was their Moses or Ezra, the God-sent redeemer of +their benighted brethren out of the quagmire of fanaticism. From +various cities numerous urgent appeals came to him to hasten the +execution of his great plan. Wherever he went, he was +enthusiastically received, a truly royal welcome was extended to +him. The Vilna community appropriated five thousand rubles for the +school fund, and pledged itself to raise more if it were found +necessary; and he was invited also to Minsk by the kahal of the +city.</p> +<p>Unfortunately, Lilienthal's tactics exposed him to suspicion, +and the seed of discord was soon sown between him and his former +admirers. He tried to serve two masters, the czar and the Jews, and +he alienated both. The pious regarded him as a mere tool in the +hands of the Government, for, they maintained, <i>education without +emancipation leads to conversion</i>. The enlightened element also +lost confidence in one who, instead of boldly attacking +superstition, preferred, while in Minsk, to identify himself not +only with the Mitnaggedim, but even with the Hasidim. He was also +too headstrong <span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id= +"page173"></a>{173}</span> and too vain of his achievements. +Benjamin Mandelstamm, who, as he tell us in his letters, considered +Lilienthal "as wise as Solomon and as enterprising as Moses," +complains a little later of his arrogance, and at the last speaks +of him with contempt. His assumed superiority grieved the Maskilim, +and their former enthusiasm was rapidly replaced by hatred and +persecution. He found it necessary to put himself under the +protection of the police while in Minsk, and when he returned to +Vilna his reception was far less hearty than it had been +before.</p> +<p>In order to regain the confidence of the Russian Jews, +Lilienthal obtained a permit from the Minister of Education to call +an assembly of prominent Jews at St. Petersburg, to decide for +themselves how to better the condition of the existing schools and +to consider the practicability of establishing rabbinical +seminaries. For he, too, like the Maskilim, considered the rabbis +the chief menace to Haskalah. Rabbinical authority was supreme, and +if the rabbis could be won over, all would be gained. The +bell-wethers once secured, the flocks were sure to follow. It took +a long time for Lilienthal, and still longer for the Maskilim, to +find out that what they regarded as the cause was in reality the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id= +"page174"></a>{174}</span> consequence. Eight years later +Lilienthal himself admitted the sad truth, that the rabbinical +seminaries in Russia could not effect the coveted end. "It must not +be lost sight of," says he in his <i>Sketches of Jewish Life in +Russia</i><a id="footnotetag4-9" name="footnotetag4-9"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-9"><sup>9</sup></a> "that the Russian Jews live +strictly in accordance with our received laws, and they are +sufficiently learned in them to know that the many cases of +conscience which are of constant occurrence cannot be decided +understandingly by any one who has but a superficial knowledge of +the Talmud and of the decisions of the later doctors of the Law, +but that it requires the study of an entire lifetime to become +thoroughly acquainted with those stupendous monuments of learning +and deep research in the great concerns of life."</p> +<a name="illus-zederbaum" id="illus-zederbaum"></a> +<center><img width="250" height="364" src= +"images/illus-zederbaum.png" alt="Alexander Zederbaum" /></center> +<center>Alexander Zederbaum, 1816-1893</center> +<p>After several busy months at St. Petersburg and frequent +consultations with Count Uvarov, Lilienthal returned to Vilna, and +two weeks later he published his circular letter, <i>Maggid +Yeshiiah</i> (<i>The Announcer of Good Tidings</i>)<a id= +"footnotetag4-10" name="footnotetag4-10"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-10"><sup>10</sup></a> The "good tidings" were that an +imperial ukase (June 22, 1842) would convene a council of +distinguished Jews at St. Petersburg, to deliberate how to +"re-educate" the Jews. Accordingly, in the early part of April, +1843, the notables, from different places and with diametrically +opposed views, assembled in the Russian <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175"></a>{175}</span> capital. +Representing the Jews, there were Rabbi Isaac Volozhin, the dean of +the Tree of Life Yeshibah, perhaps the strongest man present; Rabbi +Menahem Mendel Shneersohn of Lubavich, leader of the Hasidic reform +sect; Joseph Heilprin, the financier and banker of Berdichev, and +Bezalel (Basilius) Stern, principal of the Jewish public schools of +Odessa. Representing the Government were Count Uvarov, Chevalier +Dukstaduchinsky, and others, with de Vrochenko, Minister of State, +as chairman and Lilienthal as secretary. Montefiore of England, +Crémieux of France, and Rabbi Philippson of Germany had been +invited, but they failed to come. The council decided to open +Jewish public schools in every city where Jews reside, and also two +rabbinical seminaries, the one in Vilna, the other in Zhitomir, the +former being considered the Jewish metropolis of the northwestern +part, the latter, of the southwestern part, of Russia. They also +proposed to do away with the Judeo-Polish garb, and suggested +certain alterations in the prayer book.</p> +<p>The delegates met, deliberated, and disbanded, but the tidings +announced in Lilienthal's epistle did not prove to be good. In one +of the fables of Kryloff, the Russian Æsop, we are told that +once a <span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id= +"page176"></a>{176}</span> swan, a pike, and a crab, decided to +make a trip together. No sooner had they started than, in +accordance with their nature, the swan began to fly, the pike to +shuffle along, the crab to crawl backward. It was so with the +delegation of 1843. Rabbi Isaac, the rabid Mitnagged, could find +but little to admire in the proposals of Rabbi Menahem Mendel, the +ardent Hasid, and both were bitterly opposed to the view preached +by Doctor Lilienthal, that the salvation of the Jews and Judaism +would be brought about by a system of education adopted in +accordance with an ukase by Nicholas. Stern, too, had little use +for Lilienthal, whom he declared to be ignorant of the condition of +Russian Jews and incapable of working in their behalf. From such +discord nothing good could come. The fact is, that the few +resolutions mentioned had been drawn up beforehand by the +Government officials, and the time and trouble and expense which +the council involved were, <i>à la Russe</i>, for appearance +sake. Finding his efforts an utter failure, Lilienthal went to +Odessa with letters of recommendation from Uvarov to Vorontzov, the +patron of Stern, and was elected rabbi of that enlightened and +wealthy community. But, for some inexplicable reason, he suddenly +left the city on the plea of visiting friends in <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177"></a>{177}</span> Germany, +and went to the United States, where he remained to the end of his +life, and became one of the leading rabbis and communal workers +among his coreligionists whose lines had fallen in pleasanter +places than the fortunes of those he had left behind in +Russia.<a id="footnotetag4-11" name="footnotetag4-11"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-11"><sup>11</sup></a></p> +<p>For Lilienthal's disillusionment came apace, and he finally +recognized the error of his ways. In his book, <i>My Travels in +Russia</i>, published both in English and in German, he admits that +the opponents of the schools he advocated were after all in the +right. Education without emancipation was indeed the straightest +road to conversion. Witness the thirty thousand Jewish apostates in +St. Petersburg and Moscow alone, most of whom hailed from the +Baltic provinces, where the Jews were more cultured, but not less +oppressed, than their brethren.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Those men—says he—who have acquired from study an +idea of the rights of man, and that the Jew ought to enjoy the same +privileges as every other citizen; those men who tried, by the +knowledge they had obtained, to open for themselves better +prospects in life, and now saw every hope frustrated by laws +inimical to them only as Jews, ran, from mere despair, into the +bosom of the Greek Church. The harassing care for a living, the +terrible difficulties in surmounting them forced them, in an hour +of distress, to deny their faith. I always compared them with the +Anusim [forced converts] of Spain. Among them there is no +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id= +"page178"></a>{178}</span> religious indifference, as is the case +in Western Europe and Germany; and I have met with many converted +Jews there, who, with tears in their eyes, complained of +heart-burnings and pangs of conscience; and they look upon +themselves as eternally lost. Those tears will show a heavy balance +against Czar Nicholas, when, bereft of his earthly power, he stands +before the eternal tribunal.</p> +<p>The other charge—he says again after refuting several +accusations of the kind stated above—the other charge, that +the Jews are averse to secular studies, rests upon an equally +erroneous foundation. For even in Germany Jewish parents have at +length found out that it is absolute folly to let their sons devote +themselves to the study of science, since they never can hope for +obtaining the least office; and since many a one, after the best +years of his youth are passed, tired of waiting, and fearful of not +having in his old age any means of support, finds in the baptismal +font the last anchor of his shattered hopes. How much more must +this consideration have weight in Russia? Nicholas, instead of +encouraging the Jews to study, ordered, on the contrary, that all +such of them as held offices and insignia of distinction under +Alexander should either resign or become apostates. I know myself +several collegiate councillors and men attached to the court, who +went to the synagogue on the Day of Atonement with the insignia of +the order of St. Anna around their neck, and prayed there with +devotion and fervor, who still were forced into apostasy. Such +instances are not calculated to encourage Jewish parents to let +their children study; and it is but too true that many whose +inclination led them to study were carried thereby into the bosom +of the Christian Church.<a id="footnotetag4-12" name= +"footnotetag4-12"></a><a href="#footnote4-12"><sup>12</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id= +"page179"></a>{179}</span> +<p>After almost half a decade of indefatigable labor, Lilienthal +finally came to understand the Russian State policy, "to assign a +plausible reason for every act done by the Government, in order to +stand justified in the estimation of Europe, whilst they, by +throwing dust in the eyes of the public, conceal their true +purpose." The laws which seemed favorable to the Jews, and +apparently aimed at promoting culture among them, went hand in hand +with laws of the most rigorous character. It is true that the Jews +were not the only unfortunates whom the fanatic autocrat wished to +Russify, that is, compel to see the pure light of Greek Orthodoxy. +But they, of course, suffered the most. The slightest laws were +enforced by the chinovniks (officials) with the knout and the +leaden lash. When the Judeo-Polish gaberdine, the long side-curls +(peot), and the wig or turban (knup) fell into disfavor with the +Government, the miserable offender caught by an officer seldom +saved himself with the mere sacrifice of knup, coat, peot, and +beard. And when the time arrived for the execution of the more +important laws, such as the Exportation Act of April 20, 1843, no +fiendish ingenuity could surpass the cruelty of the Cossacks. This +ukase more than any other, it is claimed, embittered <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180"></a>{180}</span> +Lilienthal against Russia, and caused him to flee to where he could +say as one awakening from a nightmare: "The horrible hatred against +the Jews in Russia is nothing more to me than a hazy remembrance. +My soul is no longer oppressed by frightful pictures of tyranny and +persecution."<a id="footnotetag4-13" name= +"footnotetag4-13"></a><a href="#footnote4-13"><sup>13</sup></a> He +was in the land of the free!</p> +<p>The Lilienthal tragedy thus came to a premature close. The hero +disappeared at the beginning of the play. He had the potency, but +he lacked the conditions, for producing great results. His German +birth and training, the very qualities which recommended him to the +Government, operated against him when he came to deal with Russian +Jews. Yet he succeeded in giving a strong impetus to the Haskalah +movement, and builded better than he knew. The statement in his +address at the dedication of the Riga school,<a id= +"footnotetag4-14" name="footnotetag4-14"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-14"><sup>14</sup></a> "This hour we may call the hour +of the renaissance of the mental education of Israel," which reads +like an oratorical platitude, was not entirely visionary. The real +history of Haskalah in Russia commences with Lilienthal.</p> +<p>Time helped greatly to restore, even to deepen, the affection of +the Maskilim for Lilienthal. A modern critic speaking of "life and +literature" in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id= +"page181"></a>{181}</span> Hebrew, pictures him in glowing colors, +and finishes his description thus:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>I have presented to you, reader, a man of deep culture, known +and respected in the highest circles, and yet inseparably connected +with his race and religion, and ready to offer his life for their +welfare; a man who worked with might and main for others at the +sacrifice of his own comfort and advancement; an orator whose +exalted phrases shattered the pillars and foundations of ignorance +and superstition; a hero who in time of peril was proof against the +arrows and missiles of the enemy, and who did not relax his hand +from the flag. But what was the fruit he reaped? Mostly ingratitude +and persecution, a heart lacerated with despair, a soul writhing +under the pangs of frustrated hopes. Such a personality with its +fine shades, and with the poetry of the artist superimposed, would +afford splendid material for the hero of a novel—a hero to +captivate the eye and heart of the reader by his nobility and +grandeur.<a id="footnotetag4-15" name= +"footnotetag4-15"></a><a href="#footnote4-15"><sup>15</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> +<p>For a long time Russian officialdom discussed the question, +whether the establishment of exclusively Jewish schools would prove +beneficial, but nobody doubted the efficacy of rabbinical +seminaries. Yet it was these latter institutions that evoked the +strongest protests from the Jews. The advocates of Haskalah +gradually came to recognize the truth, which Lilienthal admitted +afterwards, that for a Russian rabbi a thorough knowledge of the +Talmud was absolutely indispensable. But it was with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id= +"page182"></a>{182}</span> object of discouraging such knowledge +that the seminaries had been suggested by Uvarov, and it was this +study that was almost entirely ignored in them. What congregation, +many of whose members were profound Talmudists, would accept a +rabbi to whom unvocalized Hebrew was a snare and a stumbling-block? +Moreover, the whole atmosphere of the seminaries was Christian, +nay, military. Not a few members of their faculties or boards of +governors were discharged police officers or superannuated +soldiers, and at the head of the seminary in Vilna, the metropolis +of Russian Jewry, stood an apostate Jew! They became, as it were, +infirmaries of the bureaucracy, where, at the expense of the Jews, +it could stow away anyone who had proved a failure or was no longer +useful. The Government also undertook to provide the graduates with +positions, patronage which rendered the students insolently +independent of their coreligionists, and encouraged some of them to +indulge in a <i>modus vivendi</i> distasteful to their future +flocks. The graduates, therefore, proved failures as rabbis, and +the Government was forced to provide for them by appointing them as +teachers.<a id="footnotetag4-16" name= +"footnotetag4-16"></a><a href="#footnote4-16"><sup>16</sup></a></p> +<p>If this was the case with the rabbinical seminaries, we can +easily imagine the state of the subordinate <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183"></a>{183}</span> schools. +The Christian principals were coarse and uneducated as a rule, and +did their best to prejudice the children against their religion. +Scattered all over the Pale were to be found Jews competent to fill +positions not only as teachers in inferior grades but as professors +in the universities. Yet Lilienthal was advised (1841) to advertise +for three hundred teachers in Germany. Finally the Government +decided to employ Jews as teachers of Hebrew only, the least +important subject in the curriculum; for instruction in the secular +branches none but Christians were eligible. No Jews were allowed to +become rectors in their own schools, and their salaries were so +small that they could not support themselves without teaching an +additional class, which was prohibited. A Jew might, indeed, become +an "honorable overseer" (pochotny blyustityel), to mediate between +pupils and parents, but the title was the only pay attached to the +office. Respectable parents, therefore, kept their children at +home, or rather in the heder, and many a child's name was on the +roll of attendance who was not even aware of the existence of the +school. "Every year in the autumn," relates a writer a quarter of a +century later, "there was a kind of compulsory recruiting of Jewish +children for the Government <span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" +id="page184"></a>{184}</span> school, accompanied sometimes by +struggles between the victims and their enemies,—scenes +without a parallel, in some respects, in the civilized world. I +remember how poor mothers and sisters wept with despair when some +boy of the family was carried off or enlisted by the officers to be +a pupil of a Government school." Like the poimaniki, the poor and +the orphaned were compelled, or induced, to fill the class-rooms +shunned by the rich and respectable, and though the Government not +only condemned the ancient Hebrew institutions, but declared the +twenty thousand teachers who imparted instruction in them to be +outlaws and criminals, the melammedim pursued their vocation as +ever, and the hadarim, Talmud Torahs, yeshibot, and batte midrashim +swarmed with students of the prohibited learning.<a id= +"footnotetag4-17" name="footnotetag4-17"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-17"><sup>17</sup></a></p> +<p>Nicholas was paid measure for measure, and the cunning of his +ministers was made of no avail by the shrewdness of his Jewish +subjects. The report of the Minister of Education, at the end of +1845, shows incredible progress. It states that since the ukase of +November 13, 1844, <i>i.e.</i> in the course of a single year, more +than two thousand schools of different grades were established in +various cities of the Pale, with more than one hundred and eighty +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id= +"page185"></a>{185}</span> thousand pupils, not including the +technical schools in Odessa, Riga, Kishinev, Vilna, and Uman, with +their hundreds of students! The truth was that, instead of the +reported Russification, there had set in a vigorous reaction, which +rendered the position more critical. Both sides had become +desperate.<a id="footnotetag4-18" name= +"footnotetag4-18"></a><a href="#footnote4-18"><sup>18</sup></a> +Some Maskilim, emboldened by the interest the Government evinced in +their efforts, had resorted to all manner of means to accomplish +their object, and frequently allied themselves with the oppressors. +The Slavuta publishing house, it is claimed, was closed, and the +Schapiras met with their tragic end, because "as printers they +scrupulously abstained from publishing Haskalah literature." +Maskilim were employed by the authorities as tax collectors, and +these, as is ever the case with rapacious farmers of taxes, besides +executing the harsh laws of the tyrant, looked also to their own +aggrandizement, and harassed their pious coreligionists in all ways +conceivable. Many of them even hindered the colonization movement, +because, if allowed to mature, it would deprive them of their +income.<a id="footnotetag4-19" name="footnotetag4-19"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-19"><sup>19</sup></a> In addition to this, the Jews +were now burdened, through the instrumentality of the Maskilim, +with a tax on the candles lighted on Sabbath eve, yielding annually +over one million rubles, the <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page186" id="page186"></a>{186}</span> greater part of which went +into the coffers of greedy officials. Another tax, also for the +maintenance of the newly-organized Government schools, was +levied—one kopeck and a half per page!—on text-books, +whether imported from abroad or published in Vilna or Zhitomir, and +the text-books were published with unnecessarily large type and +wide margins to increase the number of pages. The abridgment and +translation of Maimuni's <i>Mishneh Torah</i> (St. Petersburg, +1851), superintended by Leon Mandelstamm, cost the Russian Jews +tens of thousands of rubles, notwithstanding the expenditure of two +or three millions on their own educational institutions, and at a +time when every kopeck was needed for the support of the host of +victims of fire, famine, and cholera, which ravaged many a city. +Hence the reaction became more and more formidable. The cry grew +louder and louder, <i>Znaty nye znayem, shkolles nye zhelayem!</i> +("We want no schools!"). The opposition, which began in the latter +years of Alexander I, reached its culmination in the last decade of +the reign of Nicholas I. "Israel," laments Mandelstamm, "seems to +be even worse than formerly; he is like a sick person who has +convalesced only to relapse, and the physicians are beginning to +despair." It was a struggle <span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" +id="page187"></a>{187}</span> not unlike that all over Europe at +the beginning of the Renaissance, a struggle between liberty and +authority, between this world and other-worldliness, between the +spirit of the nineteenth century and that of the millenniums which +preceded it.</p> +<p>Here is a description, by Morgulis, of the struggles and +conquests of the new, small, but zealous, group of Maskilim in +Russia at about that time:<a id="footnotetag4-20" name= +"footnotetag4-20"></a><a href="#footnote4-20"><sup>20</sup></a></p> +<blockquote> +<p>Those upon whom the sun of civilization and freedom happened to +cast a ray of light, showing them the path leading to a new life, +were compelled to study the European literatures and sciences in +garrets, in cellars, in any nook where they felt themselves secure +from interference. Neither unaffiliated Jews nor the outer world +knew anything about them. Like rebels they kept their secrets unto +themselves, stealthily assembling from time to time, to consider +how they might realize their ideal, and disclose to their brethren +the fountainhead of the living waters out of which they drank and +drew new youth and life. Whatever was novel was accepted with +delight. They looked with envy upon the great intellectual progress +of their western brethren. Fain would they have had their Jewish +countrymen recognize the times and their requirements, but they +could not give free utterance to their thoughts. On the contrary, +they found it expedient to assume the mask of religion in order to +escape the suspicion of alert zealots, and gain, if possible, new +recruits. In many places societies were founded under the name of +Lovers of the New Haskalah, the members of which observed such +secrecy that even their kinsmen and those among whom they +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page188" id= +"page188"></a>{188}</span> dwelt were unaware of their existence. +If through the discovery of some forbidden book any of them +happened to be detected, he never betrayed his friends. Such a one +was usually compelled to marry, so that, being burdened with family +cares, he might desist from his unpopular pursuits.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>From which it would appear that though the opposition to +Haskalah in Russia was by no means as violent as had been the +opposition to enlightenment in France, for instance, or even among +the Jews of Germany and Austria,<a id="footnotetag4-21" name= +"footnotetag4-21"></a><a href="#footnote4-21"><sup>21</sup></a> it +was a bitter and stubborn conflict between parents and children in +the adjustment of old ideals to a new environment.</p> +<p>Aside from the hindrances which Haskalah encountered because of +Nicholas's conversionist policy, it was greatly hampered by the +geographical distribution of the Jews. Here again the czar defeated +his own end by segregating the three or four million of his Jewish +subjects in certain districts, technically called the Pale, the +greatest ghetto the world has ever known. It was a Judea in itself. +The Jews there seldom came in contact with outside civilization. +The languages they used were Hebrew as the literary tongue, Yiddish +among themselves, and the local Slavonic dialect with their +non-Jewish neighbors. Russian was strange, not only to the great +majority of Jews, but to the Russians themselves. <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189"></a>{189}</span> It was +merely the State language, and even the Government officials fell +back on their mother tongue whenever they were at liberty to do so. +It was this that made it very difficult for the Jews to be +Russified.</p> +<p>But even if Russification had been a much easier process, +Russian civilization was hardly worth the having.<a id= +"footnotetag4-22" name="footnotetag4-22"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-22"><sup>22</sup></a> To become Russified would have +meant not only religious but also intellectual suicide. Whatever +was good in the Russia of that day was an importation. The language +was scarcely beyond the barbarous state. Its literature possessed +neither original nor adopted writings, no profound philosophical +systems, no Rousseau or Goethe, no Franklin or Kant, not even any +practical information with which to reward the student. The best +writers were Kryloff, Pushkin, Zhukovsky, and Dyerzhavin. The +prices of books were so high as to make them unattainable. +Karamzin's <i>History of the Russian Empire</i> sold at fifty-five +rubles per copy. The royal library, which had been founded by the +Jewish court physician Sanchez, contained only eight Russian books +during the reign of Alexander I, and not many more were added by +his successor. The dramatic art developed by the Jewish playwright +Nebakhovich remained for a long time <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page190" id="page190"></a>{190}</span> in the same state as when +he ceased his work.<a id="footnotetag4-23" name= +"footnotetag4-23"></a><a href="#footnote4-23"><sup>23</sup></a> If +Russia was the most powerful, it continued to be the most fanatical +and uncivilized country in Europe. All who had occasion to visit +and study it during the first half of the nineteenth century +testify to its deplorable intellectual status. According to a very +ingenious and observing writer, quoted by Buckle in his <i>History +of Civilization</i>, it consisted of but two ranks, the highest and +the lowest, or the nobility and the serfs: <i>Les marchands, qui +formaient une classe moyenne, sont en si petit nombre qu'il ne +peuvent marquer dans l'état; d'ailleurs presque tous sont +étrangers</i>. The higher classes were distinguished for "a +total absence of all rational tastes on literary topics."</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Here [in Russia]—the same writer continues—it is +absolutely <i>mauvais genre</i> to discuss a rational +subject—pure <i>pédanterie</i> to be caught upon any +topics beyond dressing, dancing, and a <i>jolie tournure</i>. +Military prowess is ranked far above scholarly attainment, and a +man in a uniform, no matter how depraved, takes precedence of one +in plain clothes, whatever his achievements. All the energies of +the nation are turned towards the army. Commerce, the law, and the +civil employments are held in no esteem; all young men of any +consideration betake themselves to the profession of arms. Nothing +astonished them more than to see the estimation in which the civil +professions, and especially the bar, are held in Great +Britain.<a id="footnotetag4-24" name="footnotetag4-24"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-24"><sup>24</sup></a></p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id= +"page191"></a>{191}</span> +<p>How different was the position of the Jews in other countries, +especially in Germany! Culture streamed upon them from all sides. +As their numbers were small, and as they lived, in most cases, in +the larger cities of the empire, their contact with the Christian +world was immediate and continuous. And then the irresistible +fascination of German literature, and the easy, almost +imperceptible transition from the Judeo-German to the +Teutonic-German! All this and many minor allurements were potent +enough to draw even the heretofore callous German Jews out of their +isolation, and their Germanization by the middle of the nineteenth +century was an established fact. No wonder, then, that, unlike +Russian Jewry, the German Jews experienced an unprecedented +revolution; that the difference between the Mendelssohnian +generation and the next following was almost as great as that +between the modern American Jew and his brother in the Orient. No +wonder, also, that when Haskalah finally took root in Russia, it +was purely German for fifty years and more; that Nicholas's +vigorous attempts, instead of making the Slavonic Jews better +Russians, merely helped to make those he "re-educated" greater +admirers of Germany. The most puissant autocrat of Russia +unwittingly contributed <span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id= +"page192"></a>{192}</span> to the downfall of Russian autocracy, +and Gregori Peretz, the Dekabrist, son of the financier who became +converted under Alexander I, was the first of those who were to +endeavor, with book and bomb, to break the backbone of tyranny +under Nicholas II.<a id="footnotetag4-25" name= +"footnotetag4-25"></a><a href="#footnote4-25"><sup>25</sup></a></p> +<p>Till about the "sixties," then, the Russo-Jewish Maskilim were +the recipients, and the German Jews were the donors. The German +Jews wrote, the Russian Jews read. Germany was to the Jewish world, +during the early Haskalah movement, what France, according to +Guizot, was to Europe during the Renaissance: both received an +impetus from the outside in the form of raw ideas, and modified +them to suit their environment. Berlin was still, as it had been +during the days of Mendelssohn and Wessely, the sanctuary of +learning, the citadel of culture. In the highly cultivated German +literature they found treasures of wisdom and science. The poetical +gems of Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, and Herder captivated their +fancy; the philosophy of Kant and Fichte, Schelling and Hegel +nourished their intellect. Kant continued to be the favorite guide +of Maimon's countrymen, and in their love for him they interpreted +the initials of his name to mean "For my soul panteth after +thee."<a id="footnotetag4-26" name="footnotetag4-26"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-26"><sup>26</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id= +"page193"></a>{193}</span> +<p>But more efficacious than all other agencies was Mendelssohn's +German translation of the Bible, and the <i>Biur</i> commentary +published therewith. Renaissance and Reformation, those mighty, +revolutionary forces, have entered every country by side-doors, so +to say. The Jewish Pale was no exception to the rule. What +Wycliffe's translation did for England, and Luther's for Germany, +Mendelssohn's did for Russian Jewry. Like the Septuagint, it marked +a new epoch in the history of Jewish advancement. It is said that +Mendelssohn's aim was chiefly to show the grandeur of the Hebrew +poetry found in the Bible, but by the irony of fate his translation +displayed to the Russian Jew the beauty and elegance of the German +language. To the member of the Lovers of the New Haskalah, +surreptitiously studying the Bible of the "Dessauer," the Hebrew +was rather a translation of, or commentary on, the German, and +served him as a bridge to cross over into the otherwise hardly +accessible field of German literature.</p> +<p>The cities on the borders of Russia were the first strongholds +of Haskalah, and among them, as noted before, few struggled so +intensely for their intellectual and civil emancipation as those in +the provinces of Courland and Livonia. Though their <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194"></a>{194}</span> lot was +not better than that of their coreligionists, yet, having formerly +belonged to Germany, and being surrounded by a people whose culture +was superior to that of the rest of Russia, they were the first to +adopt western customs, and were surpassed only by the Jews in +Germany in their desire for reform. Their strenuous pleadings for +equal rights were, indeed, ineffectual, but this did not lessen +their admiration for the beauties of civilization, nor blind them +to its benefits. "Long ago," remarks Lilienthal, "before the +peculiar Jewish dress was prohibited, a great many could be seen +here [in Courland] dressed after the German fashion, speaking pure +German, and having their whole household arranged after the German +custom. The works of Mendelssohn were not <i>trefah pasul</i> +[unclean and unfit], the children visited the public schools, the +academies, and the universities."<a id="footnotetag4-27" name= +"footnotetag4-27"></a><a href="#footnote4-27"><sup>27</sup></a></p> +<p>The beautiful city of Odessa, on the Black Sea, at that time +just out of its infancy and full of the virility and aspiration of +youth, was also in the full glare of the German Haskalah movement. +With its wide and straight streets, its public and private parks, +and its magnificent structures, it presents even to-day a marked +contrast to other Russian cities, and the Russians, not without +pride, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id= +"page195"></a>{195}</span> speak of it as "our little Paris." In +the upbuilding of this southern metropolis Jews played an +exceedingly important part. For, as regards the promotion of trade +and commerce, Russia had outgrown the narrow policy of Elizabeta +Petrovna, and did not begrudge her Jews the privilege of taking the +lead. The "enemies of Christ" were permitted, even invited, to +accomplish their "mission" also in Odessa, and thither they +accordingly came, not only from Volhynia, Podolia, and Lithuania, +but also from Germany, Austria, and especially Galicia. Erter, +Letteris, Krochmal, Perl, Rapoport, Eichenbaum, Pinsker, and Werbel +became better known in Russia than in their own land. As the +Russo-Polish Jews had carried their Talmudic learning back to the +countries whence they originally received it, so the Galician Jews, +mostly hailing from the city of Brody, where Israel Zamoscz, Mendel +Levin, Joseph Hakohen, and others had implanted the germs of +Haskalah, now reimported it into Russia. The Jews of Odessa were, +therefore, more cultured than other Russian Jews, not excepting +those of Riga. Prosperous in business, they lavished money on their +schools, and their educational system surpassed all others in the +empire. In 1826 they had the best public school for boys, in 1835 +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id= +"page196"></a>{196}</span> a similar one for girls, and in 1852 +there existed fifty-nine public schools, eleven boarding schools, +and four day schools. The children attended the Richelieu Lyceum +and the "gymnasia" in larger proportion than children of other +denominations, and they were among the first, not only in Russia, +but in the whole Diaspora, to establish a "choir-synagogue" (1840). +"In most of the families," says Lilienthal, "can be found a degree +of refinement which may easily bear comparison with the best French +salon." Even Nicholas I found words of praise for the Odessa Jews. +"Yes," said he, "in Odessa I have also seen Jews, but they were +men"; while the zaddik "Rabbi Yisrolze" declared that he saw "the +flames of Gehennah round Odessa."<a id="footnotetag4-28" name= +"footnotetag4-28"></a><a href="#footnote4-28"><sup>28</sup></a></p> +<p>Warsaw, too, was a beneficiary of Germany, having been occupied +by the Prussians before it fell to the lot of the Russians. It was +there that practically the first Jewish weekly journals were +published in Yiddish and Polish, Der Beobachter an der Weichsel, +and Dostrzegacz Nadvisyansky (1823). There was opened the first +so-called rabbinical seminary, with Anton Eisenbaum as principal, +and Cylkov, Buchner, and Kramsztyk as teachers. The public schools +were largely attended, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id= +"page197"></a>{197}</span> owing to the efforts of Mattathias +Rosen, and a year after a reformed synagogue had been organized in +Odessa another was founded in Warsaw, where sermons were preached +in German by Abraham Meïr Goldschmidt.</p> +<p>But Riga on the Baltic, Odessa on the Black Sea, and Warsaw on +the Vistula were outdone by some cities in the interior. Haskalah +lovers multiplied rapidly, and were found in the early "forties" in +every city of any size in the Pale. "The further we go from Pinsk +to Kletzk and Nieszvicz," writes a correspondent in the +Annalen,<a id="footnotetag4-29" name="footnotetag4-29"></a><a href= +"#footnote4-29"><sup>29</sup></a> "the more we lose sight of the +fanatics, and the greater grows the number of the enlightened." +With the establishment of the rabbinical seminaries in Zhitomir +(1848), this former centre of Hasidism became the nursery of +Haskalah. The movement was especially strong in Vilna, the +"Jerusalem of Lithuania," as Napoleon is said to have called it. +From time immemorial, long before the Gaon's day, it had been +famous for its Talmudic scholars. "Its yeshibot," says Jacob Emden +in the middle of the eighteenth century, "were closed neither by +day nor by night; many scholars came home from the bet ha-midrash +but once a week. They surpassed their brethren in Poland and in +Germany in learning and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id= +"page198"></a>{198}</span> knowledge, and it was regarded of much +consequence to secure a rabbi from Vilna." Now this "city and +mother in Israel" became one of the pioneers of Haskalah, all the +more because, in addition to the public schools and the rabbinical +seminary, the Jews were admitted to its university on equal terms +with the Gentiles. "Within six years," exclaims Mandelstamm, "what +a change has come over Vilna! Youths and maidens, anxious for the +new Haskalah, are now to be met with everywhere, nor are any +ashamed to learn a trade." The schools exerted a salutary influence +on the younger generation, and the older people, too, began to view +life differently, only that they were still reluctant to discard +their old-fashioned garb. There also, in 1847, the leading Maskilim +started a reform synagogue, which they named Taharat ha-Kodesh, the +Essence of Holiness.<a id="footnotetag4-30" name= +"footnotetag4-30"></a><a href="#footnote4-30"><sup>30</sup></a></p> +<p>It should not be forgotten that, if Lilienthal met with mighty +opposition, he also had powerful supporters. There were many who, +though remaining in the background, strongly sympathized with his +plan. Indeed, the number of educated Jews, as proved by an +investigation ordered by Nicholas I, was far greater than had been +commonly supposed. Not only in the border towns, but even in the +interior <span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id= +"page199"></a>{199}</span> of the Pale, the students of German +literature and secular science were not few, and Doctor Loewe +discovered in Hebron an exceptional German scholar in the person of +an immigrant from Vilna.<a id="footnotetag4-31" name= +"footnotetag4-31"></a><a href="#footnote4-31"><sup>31</sup></a> The +tendency of the time is well illustrated by an anecdote told by +Slonimsky, to the effect that when he went to ask the approval of +Rabbi Abele of Zaslava on his <i>Mosde Hokmah</i>, he found that +those who came to be examined for ordination received their award +without delay, while he was put off from week to week. Ill at ease, +Slonimsky approached the venerable rabbi and demanded an +explanation: "You grant a semikah [rabbinical diploma] so readily, +why do you seem so reluctant when a mere haskamah [recommendation] +is the matter at issue?" To his surprise the reason given was that +the rabbi enjoyed his scientific debates so much that he would not +willingly part with the young author.</p> +<p>Stories were told how the deans of the yeshibot were frequently +found to have mastered the very books they confiscated because of +the teachings they inculcated. Before the reign of Nicholas I drew +to its end, Haskalah centres were as numerous as the cities wherein +Jews resided. In Byelostok the Talmudist Jehiel Michael Zabludovsky +was lending <span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id= +"page200"></a>{200}</span> German books to young Slonimsky, the +future inventor and publicist; in Vlotslavek Rabbi Joseph Hayyim +Caro was writing and preaching in classic German; in Zhagory, +Hayyim Sack helped Leon Mandelstamm (1809-1889), the first Jewish +"candidate," or bachelor, in philology to graduate from the St. +Petersburg University (1844) and the assistant and successor of +Lilienthal, in the expurgation and German translation of Maimuni's +<i>Mishneh Torah</i>. When, in 1857, Mandelstamm resigned, he was +followed by Seiberling, for fifteen years the censor of Jewish +books in Kiev, upon whom a German university conferred the doctor's +degree. The poverty-stricken Wolf Adelsohn, known as the Hebrew +Diogenes, formed a group of Seekers after Light in Dubno, while +such wealthy merchants as Abraham Rathaus, Lilienthal's secretary +during his campaign in Berdichev, Issachar Bompi, the bibliophile +in Minsk, Leon Rosenthal, financier and philanthropist in +Brest-Litovsk, and Aaron Rabinovich, in Kobelyaki (Poltava), +promoted enlightenment by precept and example. In Vilna, Joseph +Sackheim's young son acted as English interpreter when Montefiore +was entertained by his father, and Jacob Barit, the incomparable +"Yankele Kovner" (1793-1833) another of Montefiore's <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201"></a>{201}</span> hosts, +was master of Russian, German, and French, and aroused the +admiration of the Governor-General Nazimov by his learning and his +ability.</p> +<p>Yes, the Jews began to pay, if they had ever been in debt, for +the good that had for a while been bestowed upon them by Alexander +I. Alexander Nebakhovich was a well-known theatrical director, his +brother Michael was the editor of the first Russian comic paper +Yeralash, and Osip Rabinovich showed marked ability in serious +journalism. In 1842 died Abraham Jacob Stern, the greatest inventor +Russia had till then produced; and, as if to corroborate the +statement of the Talmud, that when one sun sets another rises, the +Demidoff prize of two thousand five hundred rubles was the same +year awarded to his son-in-law, Hayyim Selig Slonimsky (HaZas, +1810-1904) of Byelostok, for the first of his valuable inventions. +Stern's genius was surpassed, though in a different direction, only +by that of Elijah Vilna. His first invention was a calculating +machine, which led to his election as a member of the Warsaw +Society of the Friends of Science (1817) and to his being received +twice by Alexander I (1816, 1818), who bestowed upon him an annual +pension of three hundred and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page202" id="page202"></a>{202}</span> fifty rubles. This +invention was followed by another, "a topographical wagon for the +measurement of level surfaces, an invention of great benefit to +both civil and military engineers." He also constructed an improved +threshing and harvesting machine and a sickle of immense value to +agriculture.<a id="footnotetag4-32" name= +"footnotetag4-32"></a><a href="#footnote4-32"><sup>32</sup></a></p> +<p>But it is scarcely possible, nor would it be profitable, to +enumerate either the places or the persons who were, so to speak, +inoculated with the Haskalah virus. In Grodno, Kovno, Lodz, Minsk, +Mohilev, Pinsk, Zamoscz, Slutsk, Vitebsk, Zhagory, and other +places, they were toiling zealously and diligently, these +anchorites in the desert of knowledge. Among them were men of all +classes and callings, from the cloistered Talmudist to the worldly +merchant. The path of Haskalah was slowly yet surely cleared. The +efforts of the conservative Maskilim were not devoid of some good +results, nor even were those of Nicholas, though aimed at +Christianizing rather than civilizing, entirely wasted. With all +their shortcomings, and though producing but few rabbis acceptable +to Russo-Jewish congregations, the seminaries in Warsaw, Zhitomir, +and Vilna were powers for enlightenment. In them the future +prominent scientists, scholars, and litterateurs were reared, and +there the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id= +"page203"></a>{203}</span> foundations were laid for the activities +of Goldfaden, Gurland, Harkavy, Kantor, Landau, Levanda, +Mandelkern, Paperna, Pumpyansky, Rosenberg, Steinberg, and others. +Their fate was that of Mendelssohn's Bible translation. The end +became a means, the means, an end. But they not only "brought +forth" great men, they rendered no less important a service in +"bringing out" those already great. Had it not been for their +professorships, men like Abramovitsch, Lerner, Plungian, Slonimsky, +Suchastover, and Zweifel, who were not blessed with worldly goods +like Fünn, Katzenellenbogen, Luria, or Strashun, would +probably have sought in private teaching or petty trading a source +of subsistence, and Judaism in general and Russian Jewry in +particular would have sustained a considerable loss. They helped to +prepare the soil, even to implant the germ, and</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Once the germ implanted,</p> +<p>Its growth, if slow, is sure.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>As the history of this period is incomplete without an +acquaintance with the lives of some of the Maskilim who sowed the +seeds that burst into blossom under the favorable conditions of the +"sixties," I shall select, as specimens out of a multitude, the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id= +"page204"></a>{204}</span> two who, more than any others, furthered +the cause of Haskalah, Isaac Bär Levinsohn and Mordecai Aaron +Günzburg.<a id="footnotetag4-33" name= +"footnotetag4-33"></a><a href="#footnote4-33"><sup>33</sup></a></p> +<p>Isaac Bär Levinsohn of Kremenetz, Volhynia (RiBaL, +1788-1860), was for many years a name to conjure with, not only +among the Maskilim of all shades, but also among their opponents. +Long before he reached man's estate, he had entered upon the career +to which he was to dedicate his life. Even in those times of +numerous child prodigies, Levinsohn was distinguished for his +intellectual precocity. At the age of three he was ripe for the +heder. At nine he was the author of a work on Cabbala. At ten he +mastered the Talmud, and knew the entire Hebrew Bible by heart. But +what singled him out among his classmates was his passionate love +of secular knowledge. The son of Judah Levin, an erudite merchant +who knew Hebrew and Polish to perfection, the grandson of Jekuthiel +Solomon, famed for wealth and refinement, he evinced unusual +ability in selecting and retaining what was good and true in +everything he read. At fourteen he was familiar with the +literatures of several nations, so that during the Franco-Russian +war (1812) he easily secured an appointment as interpreter and +secretary in the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id= +"page205"></a>{205}</span> local police department. But excessive +study caused ill-health, and at the suggestion of his physicians he +went to Brody in Galicia, a fortunate incident in the otherwise +solitary and gloomy life of the future reformer, for next to +Germany Galicia played an important part in the Haskalah movement +in Russia. There he met Joseph Perl, the noted educator; Doctor +Isaac Erter, the immortal satirist; M.H. Letteris, the +distinguished poet; S.L. Rapoport, one of the first and profoundest +of Jewish historians, and Nahman Krochmal, the saintly philosopher. +Into this circle of "shining ones" Levinsohn was introduced, and +each and all left an impression, some greater, some less, upon his +plastic soul. It was there and then, in the congenial company of +friends of about his own age, that Levinsohn determined to devote +himself to improving the educational system of his people and began +to plan his work on <i>Learning in Israel</i> (<i>Te'udah +be-Yisraël</i>), which procured for its author the foremost +place in the history of the Haskalah movement.</p> +<p>The book was finished in 1823, but, owing to Levinsohn's +pecuniary circumstances, it remained unpublished till 1828. +Meanwhile it circulated in manuscript among the leading Maskilim of +Russia, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id= +"page206"></a>{206}</span> Austria, and Germany, and established +its author's reputation wherever it was read. Levinsohn was one of +those who understand the persuasive power of the still small voice +of sweet reasonableness. He knew that a few convincing arguments +couched in gentle language will accomplish more for the furtherance +of an ideal than the trumpet call of a hundred clamoring militants, +and Haskalah will make headway only when it can prove itself to be +a help, and not a hindrance, to religion. Accordingly, he aimed to +show that the Tanaim, Amoraim, Saboraim, Geonim, and rabbis of +later generations were versed in the sciences, were familiar with +foreign history, and interested in the affairs of the world. But +these he quotes only as exemplars of broad-mindedness, they must no +longer be regarded as authorities in secular knowledge. "Art and +science," he says, "are steadily progressing.... To perfect +ourselves in them we must resort to non-Jewish sources." This was a +bold statement for those times, however mildly expressed. The +<i>Te'udah</i> became a bone of contention. It was torn and burnt +by fanatics, exalted to the skies by friends. The new apostle of +enlightenment was forced to leave the city and reside for a while +in Berdichev, Nemirov, Ostrog, and Tulchin. But wherever +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id= +"page207"></a>{207}</span> he went, his tribulation was sweetened +by the enthusiasm of his admirers and the consciousness that his +toil was not entirely wasted. In Warsaw and in Vilna his name was +great, and Nicholas presented him with a thousand rubles as a mark +of appreciation of the book, the fly-leaf of which bears the +inscription "To science."</p> +<p>In the midst of his more serious studies Levinsohn diverted +himself occasionally with lighter composition, in which many an +antiquated custom served as the butt for his biting satire. In his +youth he had a penchant for poetry, and his poem on the flight, or +expulsion, of the French from Russia was complimented by the +Government. His muse dealt with ephemeral themes, but his <i>bons +mots</i> are current among his countrymen to this day. A novel sort +of plagiarism was the fashion of the time. Authors attributed their +work to others, instead of claiming the product of others as their +own. Levinsohn's <i>Hefker Welt</i>, in Yiddish, and <i>Sayings of +the Saints</i> and <i>Valley of the Dead</i>, in Hebrew, belong to +this category. But the deep student did not persist long in this +species of diversion. Wittgenstein, the field-marshal, and +professors at the Lyceum of his town, supplied him with books, and +he, an omnivorous reader, plunged <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page208" id="page208"></a>{208}</span> again into his graver work, +the result of which was the little book since translated into +English, Russian, and German, <i>Efes Dammim</i> (<i>No +Blood!</i>). As the name indicates, it was intended as a defence +against the blood, or ritual murder, accusation. It was the right +word in the right time and place. In Zaslav, Volhynia, this +monstrous libel had been revived, and popular fury rose to a high +pitch. Several years later the Damascus Affair stirred the Jewish +world to determined action, designed to stamp it out once for all. +To wage war against this superstitious belief seems to have fallen +to the lot of several of Levinsohn's family. In 1757, when it +asserted itself in Yampoly, Volhynia, his great-uncle, by the +unanimous consent of the Council of the Four Countries, was sent to +Rome to intercede with the Pope. After six years of pleading, he +returned to his native land with a signed statement addressed to +the Polish king and nobles, which declared the accusation to be +utterly false. Another uncle of his had performed a similar task in +1749. True scion of a noble family, Levinsohn followed in their +wake, and his effort was declared to be a "sharp sword forged by a +master, to fight for our honor."</p> +<p>Everything was against Levinsohn when he <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209"></a>{209}</span> started +on his third great work, <i>The House of Judah</i> (<i>Bet +Yehudah</i>). He found himself poor, sick, and alone, and deprived +of his fine library. In those days, and for a long time before and +afterwards, Hebrew authors were paid in kind. In return for their +copyright they received a number of copies of their books, which +they were at liberty to dispose of as best they could. Now, while +Levinsohn's copies of his <i>Bet Yehudah</i> were still at the +publisher's, a fire broke out, and most of them were consumed.</p> +<p>The <i>Te'udah be-Yisraël</i> had been prompted by a desire +to prove the compatibility of modern civilization with Judaism. +Levinsohn's object in writing his <i>Bet Yehudah</i> was the +reverse. The impetus came from without the Jewish camp. The book +represents the author's views on certain Jewish problems propounded +by his Christian friend, Prince Emanuel Lieven, just as +Mendelssohn's <i>Jerusalem</i> was written at the instigation of +Lavater. Though there is a similarity in the causes that produced +the two books, there is a marked difference in their methods. +Mendelssohn treats his subject as an impartial non-Jewish +philosopher might have done. He is frequently too reserved, for +fear of offending. Levinsohn, in Greek-Catholic Russia, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id= +"page210"></a>{210}</span> is strictly frank. He is conscious of +the difficulties under which he is laboring. To discuss religion in +Russia is far from agreeable. "It is," he says, "as if a master, +pretending to exhibit his skill in racing, were to enter into +competition publicly with his slave ... and at the same time wink +at him to slacken his speed." Of one thing he is certain: Judaism +is a progressive religion. It had been and might be reformed from +time to time, but this can and must be only along the lines of its +own genius. To improve the moral and material condition of the Jews +by weaning them away from the faith of their fathers (as was tried +by Nicholas) will not do. On the contrary, make them better Jews, +and they will be better citizens.</p> +<p>The <i>Bet Yehudah</i> may justly be called the connecting link +between the <i>Te'udah</i>, which preceded it, and +<i>Zerubbabel</i>, which followed it. The latter, though written in +Hebrew, was really intended exclusively for the Gentile world, as +the former had been mainly for the Jewish world. It is a +continuation, but not yet a conclusion, of the self-assigned task +of Levinsohn. The Talmud, we have seen, was at that time the object +of assaults of zealous Christians and disloyal Jews, and hostile +works against Judaism were the order of the day. Most <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211"></a>{211}</span> of them, +however, like the fabulous snake, vented their poison and died. It +was different with McCaul's poignant diatribe against the cause of +Judaism and the honor of the Talmud, which had been translated into +many languages. Montefiore, while in Russia, urged Levinsohn to +defend his people against their traducers, and the bed-ridden sage, +almost blind and hardly able to hold a pen, finally consented. What +<i>Zerubbabel</i> accomplished, can be judged from the fact that in +the second Hebrew edition of McCaul's <i>Old Paths</i> (1876) are +omitted many of the calumnies and aspersions of the first edition, +published in 1839.</p> +<p>Levinsohn's life was a continuous struggle against an insidious +disease, which kept him confined to his bed, and prevented him from +accepting any prominent position. But though, as he said, he had +"neither brother, wife, child, nor even a sound body," he impressed +his personality upon Russian Jewry as no one else, save the Gaon, +had before him. His breadth of view and his sympathetic disposition +gradually won him the respect and love of all who knew him. The +zaddikim Abraham of Turisk and Israel Rasiner were his lifelong +friends; the Talmudist Strashun acknowledged his indebtedness to +him, and Rabbi Abele of Vilna <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page212" id="page212"></a>{212}</span> remarked jestingly that the +only fault to be found with the <i>Te'udah</i> was that its author +was not the Gaon Elijah. He enjoyed prominence in Government +circles, and Prince Wittgenstein was passionately fond of his +company. Above all he endeared himself to the Maskilim. To him they +looked as to their teacher and guide; him they consulted in every +emergency. Lebensohn and Gottlober, Mandelstamm and Gordon, equally +sought his criticism and advice. For all he had words of comfort +and encouragement. The younger Maskilim he warned not to waste +their time in idle versification, not to become intoxicated with +their little learning; and the older ones he implored to respect +the sentiments of their conservative coreligionists. "Take it not +amiss," he would say to the latter, "that the great bulk of our +people hearken not as yet to our new teachings. All beginnings are +difficult. The drop cannot become a deluge instantaneously. +Persevere in your laudable ambition, publish your good and readable +books, and the result, though slow, is sure."</p> +<p>Thus lived and labored the first of the Maskilim, an idealist +from beginning to end. Persecution did not embitter, nor poverty +depress him. And when he passed away quietly (February 12, 1860) in +the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id= +"page213"></a>{213}</span> obscure little town in which he had been +born, and which has become famous through him, it was felt that +Russia had had her Mendelssohn, too. Strange to say, he little +suspected the tremendous influence he exerted upon the Haskalah +movement, but was quite sanguine of the success of his fight for +"truth and justice among the nations." His work he modestly summed +up in the epitaph which was inscribed on his tombstone at his +request:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Out of nothing God called me to life.</p> +<p>Alas, earthly life has passed, and I must</p> +<p>Sleep again on the bosom of Mother Nature.</p> +<p>Witness this stone. I fought with God's</p> +<p>Foes, not with a Sword, but with the Word;</p> +<p>I fought for Truth and Justice among the Nations</p> +<p>And <i>Zerubbabel</i> and <i>Efes Dammim</i> testify +thereto.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Contemporaneous with Isaac Bär Levinsohn, and hardly less +distinguished and influential, was Mordecai Aaron Günzburg +(ReMAG, Salanti, Kovno, December 3, 1795—Vilna, November 5, +1846). His family had been prominent in many walks of life since +the fourteenth century, and, whether in the land of the Saxons or +of the Slavs, represented the cream of the Jewries in which they +lived. His father was a Maskil of great repute, who had written +several treatises, in Hebrew, on <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page214" id="page214"></a>{214}</span> algebra, geometry, optics, +and kindred subjects. He sought to supplement his son Mordecai +Aaron's heder education with a knowledge of secular sciences. But +at that time and in that place not many were the books, outside the +Talmud, accessible to a lad eager for learning, the only ones +available being such as the <i>Josippon</i>, <i>Zemah David</i>, +and <i>Sheërit Yisraël</i> on Jewish History, the +<i>Sefer ha-Berit</i>, and a Hebrew translation of Mendelssohn's +<i>Phaedon</i> on general philosophy. But the precocious and +clear-minded youth did not need much to stimulate his love for +history and his inclination to philosophy, and his intellectual +development continued in spite of the untoward circumstances in +which he happened to be placed.</p> +<p>Though he was "given" in marriage at a very early age, the +proverbial "millstone" weighed but lightly upon the neck of young +Günzburg. He never discontinued the habit of secluding himself +in his study for hours, sometimes for days, at a time, and there +writing down his thoughts in painstaking penmanship. These +productions, with all their crudity, promised, according to a keen +critic, the flowers which would one day "ripen into delicious +fruit, not only pleasant to the sight but also delicious to the +taste." In fact, even his religious views <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215"></a>{215}</span> underwent +but slight modification in later and maturer years. Ceremonial +laws, or minhagim, were to him a social compact among the members +of a sect. He who transgresses them is, <i>eo ipso</i>, excluded +from the sect, as he who disregards the social code, though not +immoral, is ostracized from society. This led him to the logical +conclusion that every Jew must comply with the customs of his +people, though his opinion as to their moral value may differ from +that of the rest. He believed in freedom of thought, but would not +concede freedom of action or even of expression, and would say with +Bolingbroke, "Freedom belongs to a man as a rational creature, he +lies under the restraint as a member of society."</p> +<p>At these conclusions, Günzburg arrived only after a long, +severe, though silent, struggle in the seclusion of his closet. His +active mind would not at first surrender unconditionally to the +coercion of custom. But his conception of ceremonialism served him +in good stead on many an occasion in his eventful life. Being an +expedient to preserve harmony, it may and must vary with change of +conditions. Accordingly, Günzburg always accommodated himself +to his environment. In Vilna he subscribed to the regulations of +the <i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i>, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" +id="page216"></a>{216}</span> in Mitau he quickly and completely +became Germanized. Such adaptability rendered him conspicuous +wherever he went, and as early as 1829 his name was included among +the learned of Livonia, Esthland, and Courland in the Biographical +Dictionary then published by Recke and Napyersky.</p> +<p>His claim to fame, however, consists in the influence he exerted +upon Russian Jews. Like Levinsohn, he was a constructive force. In +his younger days, he had inveighed against the benighted rabbis and +the antiquated garb, but moderation came with discretion. He would +not sweep away by force the accumulation of hundreds of years. +Judaism needed reforms of some sort, but these could not be brought +about by the Russo-German-doctor-rabbis, men who could rede the +seven riddles of the world, but whose knowledge of their own people +and its spiritual treasures was close to the zero point. "For a +rabbi," writes he, "Torah must be the integer, science the cipher. +Had Aristotle embraced Judaism, notwithstanding his unparalleled +erudition, he would still remain a sage, never become a rabbi." But +he was as little satisfied with the exclusively Talmudistic rabbis. +"O ye modern rabbis," he calls out in one of his essays, in which +he stigmatizes Lilienthal's plans as the "gourd of Jonah," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id= +"page217"></a>{217}</span> "you who stand in the place of seer and +prophet of yore, is it not your duty to rise above the people, to +intervene between them and the Government? And how can you expect +to accomplish it, if the language and regulations of our country +are entirely unknown to you?"</p> +<p>The impress Günzburg left upon Hebrew literature is of +special importance. Until his time, despite the examples set by +Satanov and Levin, Hebrew was stamped with the hallmark of +medievalism. Like the Spanish entertainment in Dryden's <i>Mock +Astrologer</i>, at which everything at the table tasted of nothing +but red pepper, so the literature of that day was dominated by the +style and spirit of the Talmud and saturated with its subtleties. +Astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, and poetry swarmed with puns, +alliterations, pedantic allusions; they were overladen with +irrelevant notes and interwoven with quaint and strained +interpretations. Günzburg was the first, with the exception of +Erter perhaps, to try to remedy the evil. "Every writer," he +maintained, "should guard himself against the fastidiousness or +stiffness which results from pedantry, and take great pains not +only with the content of his thoughts, but with the language in +which these thoughts are couched." Simplicity, perspicuity, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id= +"page218"></a>{218}</span> and conciseness, these he taught by +precept and example, and though he was accused of "Germanizing" the +Hebrew language, he persisted in his labor until he attained the +foremost rank among the neo-Hebraic litterateurs.</p> +<p>In Günzburg we find the artistic temperament developed to a +degree rare among Hebraists of even more recent years. He wrote +only in moments of inspiration. At times he passed weeks and months +without penning a line, but when once aroused he wrote unceasingly +until he finished what he had begun. He was careful in the choice +of his words, careful in the choice of his books, and would +recommend nothing but the best. "I may not have genius enough," he +would say, "to distinguish between better and best, but I do not +lack common sense, to differentiate tares from weeds." Above all, +he possessed a sense of honor, the greatest stimulus, as he +maintained, to noble endeavors. "For as marriage is necessary to +perpetuate the race, and food to sustain the individual, so is +honor to the existence of the superior man."</p> +<p>Of the fifty years of his active life more than one-half was +spent in literary labor. His books obtained a wide circulation, +and, though they were rather expensive, became rare soon after +their publication. <span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id= +"page219"></a>{219}</span> Yet, strange to say, this eminent +Hebraist seldom, if ever, lauds the beauties of the "daughter of +Eber" (Hebrew) like his fellow-Maskilim since the days of the +Meassefim, nor does he even think it incumbent on a Jew to be +conversant with it.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Three periods have passed over me—he writes to a +friend—since I dedicated myself to Hebrew. As a youth I loved +it as a Jewish lad loves his betrothed, not because he is enamored +of her charms, but because his parents have chosen her for him; as +I grew older, I continued to love it as a Jewish man loves his +wife, not because of real affection, but because she is the only +one he knows; now that I am old, I still love her, as an elderly +Jew loves his helpmate: he is aware that she lacks many of the +accomplishments of which more educated women can boast, but, for +all that, remembering her faithfulness in the past, he loves her +also in the present, and loves her till he dies.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Günzburg was different from most of his contemporaries in +another respect. He was a voluminous writer, but only a few of his +books and essays bear on what we now call Jewish science. Zunz, +Geiger, and Jost, seeing that Judaism was gradually losing its hold +upon their Jewish countrymen, resorted to exploring and narrating, +in German, the wonderful story of their race, in the hope of +renewing its ebbing strength. Levinsohn, living amid a different +environment, deemed it best to convince <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220"></a>{220}</span> his +fellow-Jews that secular knowledge was necessary, and religion +sanctioned their pursuit thereof. Günzburg, the man of +letters, determined to teach through the vehicle of Hebrew the true +and the beautiful wherever he found it. He felt called upon to +reveal to his brethren the grandeur of the world beyond the dingy +ghetto, to tell them the stories not contained in the Midrash, +<i>Josippon</i>, or the biographies of rabbis and zaddikim. He +translated Campe's <i>Discovery of the New World</i>, compiled a +history of ancient civilization, and narrated the epochal event of +the nineteenth century, the conflict between Russia and France. He +taught his fellow-Jews to think correctly and logically, to clothe +their thoughts in beautiful expressions, and revealed his innermost +being to them in his autobiography, <i>Abi'ezer</i>. As a writer he +appears neither erudite nor profound. We cannot apply to his works +what we may safely say of Elijah Vilna's and Levinsohn's, that +"there is solid metal enough in them to fit out whole circulating +libraries, were it beaten into the usual filigree." But he was +elegant, cultured, intelligent, honorable; one who joined a feeling +heart to a love for art; a Moses who struck from the rock of the +Hebrew tongue <span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id= +"page221"></a>{221}</span> refreshing streams for those thirsting +for knowledge; a most amiable personality, and an altogether +unusual character during the century-long struggle between light +and darkness in the Jewry of Russia.</p> +<a name="illus-smolenskin" id="illus-smolenskin"></a> +<center><img width="250" height="366" src= +"images/illus-smolenskin.png" alt= +"Perez Ben Moshe Smolenskin" /></center> +<center>Perez Ben Mosheh Smolenskin, 1842-1885</center> +<p>(Notes, pp. <a href="#notes-4">318-322</a>.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id= +"page222"></a>{222}</span> +<h2><a name="chap5" id="chap5">CHAPTER V</a></h2> +<h3>RUSSIFICATION, REFORMATION, AND ASSIMILATION</h3> +<h4>1856-1881</h4> +<p>The year 1856 will always be remembered as the <i>annus +mirabilis</i> in the history of Russia. It marked at once the +cessation of the Crimean war and the accession of the most liberal +and benevolent monarch Russia ever had. On January 16, the heir +apparent signified his consent to accept Austrian intervention, +which resulted in the Treaty of Paris (March 30), granting the +Powers involved "peace with honor"; and in August, in the Cathedral +of the Assumption at Moscow, amidst unprecedented rejoicing, the +czarevich placed the imperial crown upon his head. From that time +reform followed reform. The condition of the soldiers, who had +virtually been slaves under Nicholas I, was greatly improved, and a +proclamation was issued for the emancipation of the peasants, +slaves not for a limited time only, but for life and from +generation <span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id= +"page223"></a>{223}</span> to generation. It cost the United States +five years of fratricidal agony, a billion of dollars, and about +half a million of lives, to liberate five or six millions of +negroes; Russia, in one memorable day (February 19, 1861), +liberated nearly twenty-two millions of muzhiks (peasants), and +gave them full freedom, by a mere stroke of the pen of the "tsar +osvobodityel," the Liberator Czar, Alexander II (1856-1881).</p> +<p>Other innovations, of less magnitude but nevertheless of +far-reaching importance, were introduced later. Capital punishment, +which still disgraces human justice in more enlightened states, was +unconditionally abolished; the number of offences amenable to +corporal punishment was gradually reduced, until, on April 29, +1863, all the horrors of the gauntlet, the spur, the lash, the cat, +and the brand, were consigned to eternal oblivion. The barbarous +system of the judiciary was replaced by one that could render +justice "speedy, righteous, merciful, and equitable." Railway +communication, postal and telegraph service, police protection, the +improvement of the existing universities, the opening of many new +primary schools, and the introduction of compulsory school +attendance, told speedily on the intellectual development of the +people. In <span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id= +"page224"></a>{224}</span> the words of Shumakr, Russia experienced +"a complete inward revival." Old customs seemed to disappear, all +things were become new. New life, new hope, new aspirations +throbbed in the hearts of the subjects of the gigantic empire, and +better times were knocking at their doors. <i>Joli tout le monde, +le diable est mort!</i></p> +<p>This era of great reforms and the resuscitation of all that is +good and noble in the Slavonic soul brought about also a moral +regeneration. The colossus who, according to Turgenief, preferred +to sleep an endless sleep, with a jug of vodka in his clutched +fingers, proved that he, too, was human, with a feeling, human +heart beating in his bosom. With the restoration of peace and the +abolition of serfhood, there began a removal of prejudice even +against Jews. Hitherto the foremost litterateurs in Russia, +imitating the writers of other lands, had painted the Jew as a +monstrosity. Pushkin's prisoner, Gogol's traitor, Lermontoff's spy, +and Turgenief's Zhid (Jew) were caricatures and libels, equal in +acrimony, and not inferior in art, to Shakespeare's Shylock and +Dickens's Fagin. But now the best and ablest men of letters signed +a protest against such unjust and impossible characters.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id= +"page225"></a>{225}</span> +<blockquote> +<p>Two thousand years of cruel suffering and affliction—said +the historian and humanitarian Professor Granovsky, of the +University of Moscow—have at last erased the bloody boundary +line separating the Jews from humanity. The honor of this +reconciliation, which is becoming firmer from day to day, belongs +to our age. The civic status of the Jews is now established in most +European countries, and even in the places that are still backward +their condition is improved, if not by law, then by +enlightenment.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And law and enlightenment radiated their sunshine also upon the +Jews of rejuvenated Russia. The Cantonist system was abolished for +good; the high schools and universities were opened to Jews without +discrimination; and the Governments lying outside the Pale were +made accessible to Jewish scholars, professional men, +manufacturers, wholesale merchants, and skilled laborers (March 16, +1859; November 27, 1861).<a id="footnotetag5-1" name= +"footnotetag5-1"></a><a href="#footnote5-1"><sup>1</sup></a> +Through the efforts of Wolf Kaplan, one of Günzburg's noted +pupils, the persecution of Jews by Germans in Riga was stopped, and +the eminent publicist Katkoff undertook to defend them in the +newspaper Russkiya Vyedomosti. Nazimov, the Governor-General of +Vilna, Mukhlinsky, who inspected the Jewish schools in western +Russia, Artzimovich, of southern Russia, and many other prominent +personages arose as champions of the Jews.<a id="footnotetag5-2" +name="footnotetag5-2"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-2"><sup>2</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id= +"page226"></a>{226}</span> +<p>The physician and pedagogue Nikolai Ivanovich Pirogov +(1810-1881), the superintendent of the Odessa and Kiev school +districts, is especially deserving of honorable mention in the +history of Haskalah. Of all the Russians of the period who gloried +in their liberal convictions, he was the most liberal. In him the +last vestige of prejudice and race distinction disappeared, and he +conscientiously devoted himself to the study, not only of the +present, but also of the past of the Jews, to be in a better +position to lend them his assistance. To the Jews he appealed to +unite and spread enlightenment among the masses by peaceful means. +To the Gentiles, again, he did not hesitate to point out the good +qualities of the Jews, and in an article on the Odessa Talmud Torah +he held up the institution as a model for the public elementary +schools. He admired especially the enthusiasm with which Jewish +youths devoted themselves to the acquisition of knowledge. "Where +are religion, morality, enlightenment, and the modern spirit," +asked he, "when these Jews, who, with courage and self-sacrifice, +engage in the struggle against prejudices centuries old, meet no +one here to sympathize with them and extend a helping hand to +them?" His liberality carried him so far that he established a fund +for the support <span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id= +"page227"></a>{227}</span> of indigent Jewish students at the +University of Kiev, and he advocated strenuously the award of +prizes and scholarships to deserving Jewish students. Such as he +were rare in any land, but nowhere so rare as in Russia.<a id= +"footnotetag5-3" name="footnotetag5-3"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p>Pirogov took the initiative in reorganizing the Jewish schools. +It required little observation to understand that they had proved a +failure. Instead of attracting the Jewish masses to secular +education, they only repelled them. The remedy was not far to seek. +"The abolition of these schools" said Count Kotzebu, "would drive +the Jews back to their fanaticism and isolation. It is necessary to +make the Jews useful citizens, and I see no other means of +achieving this than by their education." Pirogov's first move was +to order that Jewish instead of Christian principals be put at +their head, and he set an example by appointing Rosenzweig to that +office. The curriculum was changed, making the lower schools +correspond with our grammar schools, and adapting their studies to +the needs of those who must discontinue schooling at a +comparatively early age. The higher schools were arranged so as to +prepare the pupils for the gymnasium. The salaries of the teachers +were raised, and books and <span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" +id="page228"></a>{228}</span> necessaries were provided for pupils +too poor to afford them.</p> +<p>The Government's attention having been directed by General +Zelenoy to the Jewish agricultural colonies in southern Russia, +Marcus Gurovich was appointed to work out a plan to provide them +with graded schools. He proposed that secular and sacred subjects +alike be taught by Jewish teachers, and these were to be cautioned +to be careful not to offend the religious sensibilities of the +parents. The plan appealed to the colonists, and they looked +forward anxiously to its fulfilment. Having waited in vain till +1868, they offered to defray the expenses of the schools involved, +if the Government would advance the money at the first. +Accordingly, ten schools for boys and two for girls were opened in +that year.</p> +<p>Such disinterested efforts on their behalf would have evoked the +gratitude of Jews at any time and in every country, how much more +in Russia, and following close upon the darkest period in their +history! The struggle for liberty all over Europe in 1848—the +spring of nations—had confirmed Nicholas in his policy of +exclusion. The last five years of his reign had surpassed the +preceding in cruelty and tyranny. The "Don Quixote of Politics," +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id= +"page229"></a>{229}</span> finding that his attempts to quarantine +Russia against European influences had proved futile, that the +nationalities constituting the empire remained as distinct as ever, +and the desired homogeneity was still far from becoming a reality, +finally had lost patience and had determined to execute his +conversionist policy at all hazards. He had increased the +conscription duties, already unbearable (January 8, 1852; August +16, 1852), restricted the study of Hebrew and Hebrew subjects still +further in the Government schools, and, as if to embitter the lives +of the Jew by all means available, insisted on the use of the +Mitnaggedic ritual even in communities exclusively or largely +Hasidic.<a id="footnotetag5-4" name="footnotetag5-4"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-4"><sup>4</sup></a> Even the blood accusation had been +revived, and the statements in the pamphlet entitled <i>Information +about the Killing of Christians by Jews for the Purpose of +Obtaining Their Blood</i>, which Skripitzyn, "the manager of Jewish +affairs in Russia," published in 1844, found many believers in +Government circles, and caused the Saratoff affair which, though +suppressed, ruined numerous Jewish families, and made the breach +between Jew and Gentile wider than ever.<a id="footnotetag5-5" +name="footnotetag5-5"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<p>Now all this was changed. Christians championed the cause of +Jews. The Government, too, appeared to be sincerely anxious for the +welfare of <span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id= +"page230"></a>{230}</span> its Jewish subjects. It not only +promised, but frequently also performed. The Jews were allowed to +follow their religious predilections unhindered. The schools were +reorganized with rabbinical graduates as their teachers and +principals. The Rabbinical Assembly, which, though established by +Nicholas (May 26, 1848), had rarely been called together, was +summoned to St. Petersburg, and there spent six months in 1857 and +five in 1861 in deliberating on means of improving the intellectual +and material standing of the Jews. The "learned Jew" (uchony +Yevrey) Moses Berlin was invited to become an adviser in the +Department of Public Worship (1856), to be consulted concerning the +Jewish religion whenever occasion required. Permission was granted +to publish Jewish periodicals in Russian, Polish, Hebrew, and +Yiddish (1860), and on April 26, 1862, the restriction was removed +that limited Jewish publishing houses and printing-presses to Vilna +and Zhitomir. The Russia Montefiore saw on his visit in 1872, how +different from the Russia he had left in 1846!</p> +<p>These auspicious signs renewed the hope of the Maskilim and +intensified their zeal. They were convinced of the noble intentions +of the Liberator Czar; they were confident that the emperor who +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id= +"page231"></a>{231}</span> emancipated the muzhiks, and expunged +many a <i>kromye Yevreyev</i> ("except the Jews") which his father +was wont to add to the few privileges he granted his Christian +subjects, would ultimately remove the civil disabilities of the +Jews altogether. In a very popular song, written by Eliakum Zunser +(Vilna, 1836-New York, 1913), then a rising and beloved Badhan +(bard) writing in Yiddish and Hebrew, Alexander II was likened to +an angel of God who finds the flower of Judah soiled by dirt and +trampled in the dust. He rescues it, and revives it with living +water, and plants it in his garden, where it flourishes once +more.<a id="footnotetag5-6" name="footnotetag5-6"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-6"><sup>6</sup></a> The poets hailed him as the savior +and redeemer of Israel. All that the Jews needed was to make +themselves deserving of his kindness, and worthy of the citizenship +they saw in store for them. In Russian, in Hebrew, and in Yiddish, +in prose and in poetry, the one theme uppermost in the mind of all +was enlightenment, or rather Russification. From all quarters the +reveille was sounded. Abraham Bär Gottlober (1811-1899) +exclaimed:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Awake, Israel, and, Judah, arise!</p> +<p>Shake off the dust, open wide thine eyes!</p> +<p>Justice sprouteth, righteousness is here,</p> +<p>Thy sin is forgot, thou hast naught to fear.<a id= +"footnotetag5-7" name="footnotetag5-7"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> +</div> +</div> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id= +"page232"></a>{232}</span> +<p>More impressively still Judah Löb Gordon (1831-1892) +called:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Arise, my people, 'tis time for waking!</p> +<p>Lo, the night is o'er, the day is breaking!</p> +<p>Arise and see where'er thou turn'st thy face,</p> +<p>How changed are both our time and place.<a id="footnotetag5-8" +name="footnotetag5-8"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-8"><sup>8</sup></a></p> +</div> +</div> +<p>And in Yiddish, too, an anonymous poet echoed the strain:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Arise, my people, awake from thy dreaming,</p> +<p>In foolishness be not immersed!</p> +<p>Clear is the sky, brightly the sun is beaming;</p> +<p>The clouds are now utterly dispersed!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Rapid growth is sometimes the cause of disease, and sudden +changes the cause of disappointment. This was true of the swift +progress of Haskalah during the reign of Alexander II. To +comprehend fully the tragedies that took place frequently at that +time, the disillusionments that embittered the lives of many of the +Maskilim, the breaking up of homes and bruising of hearts, one +should read <i>Youthful Sins</i> (<i>Plattot Neurim</i>, 1876) by +Moses Löb Lilienblum. The author lays bare a heart ulcerated +and mangled by an obsolete education, a meaningless existence, and +a forlorn hope. The hero of this little work, masterly less by +reason of its artistic <span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id= +"page233"></a>{233}</span> finish than the earnestness that +pervades it from beginning to end, is "one of the slain of the +Babylonian Talmud, whose spiritual life is artificially maintained +by a literature itself dead." His diary and letters grant a glimpse +into his innermost being; his childhood wasted in a methodless +acquisition of futile learning; his boyhood blighted by a union +with a wife chosen for him by his parents; his manhood mortified by +the realization that in a world thrilling with life and activity he +led the existence of an Egyptian mummy. Impatient to save the few +years allotted to him on earth, and undeterred by the entreaties +and the threats of his wife, he leaves for Odessa, the Mecca of the +Maskilim, and begins to prepare himself for admission into the +gymnasium. "While there is a drop of blood in my veins," he writes +to his forsaken wife, "I shall try to finish my course of studies. +Though the physicians declare that consumption and death must be +the inevitable consequence of such application, I will not desist. +I will rather die like a man than live like a dog." And on and on +he plods over his Latin, his French, his history, geography, and +grammar. Two more years and the university will be opened to him, +and he will read law, and defend the honor of his <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234"></a>{234}</span> people. +But in the midst of his ceaseless toil the spectre of his simple +wife and his former innocent life appears before him and "will not +down." Is Haskalah worth the sacrifices he and his like are daily +bringing on its altar? Is not the materialism of the emancipated +Maskilim often greater than the medievalism of the fanatical +Hasidim? In his native town, gloomy as it was, there was at least +the glow of sincerity. Haskalah had to be snatched by stealth, but +it was sweeter because thus snatched. In Odessa, where the fruit of +the tree of knowledge could be obtained for the asking, it turned +into the apples of Sodom. The "lishmah" ideal, the love of culture +for its own sake, yielded to the greed which changes everything +into a commodity to profit by. Yet, since life demands it, what a +pity that his early training had incapacitated him from following +the beaten path! He concludes his self-indictment thus, "I have +taken an inventory of the business of my life, and I am +heartbroken, because I find that in striking the balance there +remains on the credit side only a cipher!"</p> +<p>But the tide of Haskalah was not to be stemmed. The "blessed +heritage of noble passion," the burning desire for enlightenment +and improvement asserted itself at all hazards. The note of despair +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id= +"page235"></a>{235}</span> was lost in the call for action. Odessa +continued to be in the forefront. There technical institutes for +boys and girls were established in addition to the previously +existing public schools. A society by the name of Trud (Labor) was +organized (October 11, 1864), for the purpose of teaching useful +trades. Its school has ever since been the crown of the +institutions of the sort. It was provided with the most modern +improvements, a workshop for mechanics and an iron foundry, and it +offered a post-graduate course. A similar trade school (remeslenoye +uchilishche) had been in existence since May 1, 1862, in Zhitomir, +where, besides geometry, mechanics, chemistry, physics, etc., +instruction was given in carpentry, turning, tin, copper, and +blacksmith work.<a id="footnotetag5-9" name= +"footnotetag5-9"></a><a href="#footnote5-9"><sup>9</sup></a> +Through the efforts of Rabbi Solomon Zalkind Minor a Sabbath School +and a Night School for artisans were opened in Minsk (1861), and a +reference and circulating library for the general public (1863), +and similar educational institutions were soon called into +existence in many other cities.</p> +<p>Those were the days of organizing and consolidating among Jews +and Gentiles alike. At the time when Abraham Lincoln was +proclaiming his famous "United we stand, divided we fall," Julius +Slovacki <span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id= +"page236"></a>{236}</span> in Poland pleaded the cause of the +peasantry of his country, and the Alliance Israélite +Universelle issued a call to the entire house of Israel "to defend +the honor of the Jewish name wherever it is attacked; to encourage, +by all means at our disposal, the pursuit of useful handicrafts; to +combat, where necessary, the ignorance and vice engendered by +oppression; to work, by the power of persuasion and by all the +moral influences at our command, for the emancipation of our +brethren who still suffer under the burden of exceptional +legislation; to hasten and solidify complete enfranchisement by the +intellectual and moral regeneration of our brethren." A powerful +movement for the upliftment of the masses was also taking hold of +the educated classes among the Russians. Professor Kostomarov +started a systematic campaign for the education of the common +people. A species of philanthropic intoxication seized upon the +more enlightened Russian youth. A society of Narodniki, or Common +People, so-called, was organized. Young men and women renounced +high rank, and students came out of their seclusion and joined the +people, dressed in their garb, spoke their dialect, led their life, +and, having won their confidence, gradually opened their minds to +value the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id= +"page237"></a>{237}</span> blessings of education, and their hearts +to desire them. These examples from within and without resulted in +a similar attempt among the Russian Jews. An organization was +perfected (December, 1863) which exercised a great civilizing +influence for almost half a century, the Society for the Promotion +of Haskalah among the Jews of Russia.</p> +<p>To the credit of the Jewish financiers be it said that they were +always the banner bearers of enlightenment. It had been so with +German Aufklärung, when Ben-David, Itzig, Friedländer, +and Jacobson, laid the corner-stone of the intellectual rebirth of +their people. It was more especially so in Russia during the +"sixties." Odessa was the most enlightened, because it was the +wealthiest, of Jewish communities, as the benumbing poverty of the +Pale was largely to blame for the unfriendly attitude towards +whatever did not bear the stamp of Jewishness on its surface. The +Society for the Promotion of Haskalah, too, owes its existence to +some of the most prominent Russo-Jewish merchants. Its original +officers were Joseph Yosel Günzburg, President; his son Horace +Günzburg, First Vice-president; Rabbi A. Neuman, Second +Vice-president; the Brodskys, and, the most active of them all, its +Secretary, Leon Rosenthal (1817-1887). Busy <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238"></a>{238}</span> as he was +with his financial affairs, Rosenthal devoted considerable time to +the propagation of enlightenment among his coreligionists. Many a +youthful Maskil was indebted to him for material as well as moral +support, and it was due to him that Osip Rabinovich finally +succeeded in publishing the Razsvyet (Dawn, 1860), the first +journal in Russian devoted to Jewish interests.</p> +<p>The Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment was not unlike +the Alliance Israélite Universelle, only on a smaller scale. +Its object was "to spread the knowledge of the Russian language +among the Jews, to publish and assist others in publishing, in +Russian as well as in Hebrew, useful works and journals, to aid in +carrying out the purposes of the Society, and, further, to assist +the young in devoting themselves to the pursuit of science and +knowledge." For several years, owing to the indifference of the +public, it had a hard struggle to live up to its ideal. But +continuously, if slowly, it gained in membership, so that in 1884 +it had an affiliation of 545. During the first twenty years of its +existence its income amounted to 338,685 rubles, its expenditures +to 309,998 rubles. In 1880 it endowed an agricultural college for +Jewish boys. When, in the same year, medical schools for women were +opened, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id= +"page239"></a>{239}</span> and Jewish girls in large numbers took +up the study of medicine, the Society set aside the sum of 18,900 +rubles for the support of the needy among them. Many a young man +was aided in the pursuit of his chosen career by the Society. It +directed its activities principally to the younger generation, yet +it did not neglect the older. With its assistance Sabbath Schools +and Evening Schools were opened in Berdichev, Zhitomir, Poltava, +and other cities; libraries were founded; interesting Hebrew books +on scientific subjects were published. Thus it had a two-fold +object: in those who were drifting away it aimed to reawaken +knowledge or love of Judaism by translating some of the most +important Jewish books into Russian (the Haggadah, in 1871, the +prayer book, Pentateuch, and Psalms, in 1872) as well as text-books +and catechisms; and it popularized science among those who would +not or could not read on such topics in Russian or other living +tongues. In both directions it was a power for good among the Jews +of Russia.<a id="footnotetag5-10" name= +"footnotetag5-10"></a><a href="#footnote5-10"><sup>10</sup></a></p> +<p>These united efforts of the Government, the Maskilim, and the +Jewish financiers produced an effect the like of which had perhaps +been witnessed only during the Hellenistic craze, in the period of +the second commonwealth of Judea. Russian Jewry <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240"></a>{240}</span> began to +"progress" as never before. In almost all the large cities, +particularly in Odessa, St. Petersburg, and Moscow, the Jews were +fast becoming Russified. Heretofore cooped up, choking each other +in the Pale as in a Black Hole, they were now wild with an +excessive desire for Russification. What Maimon said of a few, +could now be applied to hundreds and thousands, they were "like +starving persons suddenly treated to a delicious meal." They +flocked to the institutions of learning in numbers far exceeding +their due proportion. They were among the reporters, contributors, +and editorial writers of some of the most influential Russian +journals. They entered the professions, and distinguished +themselves in art.<a id="footnotetag5-11" name= +"footnotetag5-11"></a><a href="#footnote5-11"><sup>11</sup></a></p> +<p>The ambition of the wealthy was no longer to have a son-in-law +who was well-versed in the Torah, but a graduate from a university, +the possessor of a diploma, the wearer of a uniform. The bahur lost +his lustre in the presence of the "gymnasiast." This ambition +pervaded more or less all classes of Russo-Jewish society. A decade +or two before, especially in the "forties," orthodoxy had been as +uncompromising as it was unenlightened. "To carry a handkerchief on +the Sabbath," as Zunser says, "to read a pamphlet of the 'new +Haskalah,' <span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id= +"page241"></a>{241}</span> or commit some other transgression of +the sort, was sufficient to stamp one an apikoros (heretic)."<a id= +"footnotetag5-12" name="footnotetag5-12"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-12"><sup>12</sup></a> Reb Israel Salanter, when he +learned that his son had gone to Berlin to study medicine, removed +his shoes, and sat down on the ground to observe shivah (seven days +of mourning). When Mattes der Sheinker (saloon-keeper) discovered +that his boy Motke (later famous as Mark Antokolsky) had been +playing truant from the heder, and had hidden himself in the garret +to carve figures, he beat him unmercifully, because he had broken +the second commandment. This was greatly altered in the latter part +of the "seventies." Jacob Prelooker has a different story to +tell.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>A remarkable change—he says<a id="footnotetag5-13" name= +"footnotetag5-13"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-13"><sup>13</sup></a>—had taken place in the +minds of my parents since I had overcome all difficulties and +become a student of a royal college. Not only were they reconciled +to me, but they were distinctly proud of me. Old Rabbi Abraham now +delighted in conversation and discussion with his grandson, who +seemed to him almost like an inhabitant of another world, of the +<i>terra incognita</i> of modern knowledge and science. In the town +inhabited chiefly by Jews the very appearance of the rabbi's +grandson in the uniform of a royal college created an immense +sensation, and I became naturally the hero of the day. The older +generation lamented that now an end would be put to the very +existence of Israel and the sacred synagogue, while the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id= +"page242"></a>{242}</span> younger people envied me and were +inspired to follow my example.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Such scenes occurred not only in Pinsk, but, not infrequently, +in other towns of the Pale as well.</p> +<p>The striving for intellectual enlightenment manifested itself in +the refining of religious customs. Though Russian Jewry "has never +experienced any of the ritualistic struggles that Germany has +witnessed,"<a id="footnotetag5-14" name= +"footnotetag5-14"></a><a href="#footnote5-14"><sup>14</sup></a> yet +reform and Haskalah always went hand in hand. The attacks on +tradition by the Maskilim of the "forties" and the early "fifties" +were mild and guarded compared with the assaults by the generation +that followed. With the appearance of the periodicals the combat +was intensified. Ha-Meliz, and, later, Ha-Shahar in Hebrew, and Kol +Mebasser in Yiddish were the organs of those who were dissatisfied +with the old, and sought to introduce the new. It was in the latter +that <i>Dos Polische Yingel</i> (<i>The Polish Boy</i>), by +Linetzky, first appeared, and it proved so popular that the editor +published it in book form long before it was finished in the +periodical. In an article on <i>The Ways of the Talmud</i>, by +Moses Löb Lilienblum, the prevailing Jewish religious +observances were vehemently attacked. This was followed by another +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id= +"page243"></a>{243}</span> article from the pen of Gordon, +<i>Wisdom for Those Who Wander in Spirit</i>, with suggestions for +adapting religion to the needs of the times, and a still more +powerful one, <i>The Chaotic World</i>, by Smolenskin. The muse +ceased to content herself with "flame-songs that burn their +pathway" to the heart. She preferred to appeal to the head. She no +longer tried</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>In strains as sweet</p> +<p>As angels use ... to whisper peace.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>In cutting criticisms and biting satires she exposed +time-honored but time-worn beliefs and practices. Gordon was a +militant reformer in his younger days, and so were Menahem Mendel +Dolitzky and the lesser poets of the period. Needless to say, the +Jewish-Russian press was an enemy of ultra-orthodoxy. Osip +Rabinovich, the leading Russo-Jewish journalist, made his debut +with an article in which he denounced the superstitious customs of +his people in unmeasured terms.<a id="footnotetag5-15" name= +"footnotetag5-15"></a><a href="#footnote5-15"><sup>15</sup></a> The +motto chosen for the Razsvyet (1860) was "Let there be light," and +the platform it adopted was to elevate the masses by teaching them +to lead the life of all nations, participate in their civilization +and progress, and preserve, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" +id="page244"></a>{244}</span> increase, and improve the national +heritage of Israel.<a id="footnotetag5-16" name= +"footnotetag5-16"></a><a href="#footnote5-16"><sup>16</sup></a></p> +<p>Yet journalists and poets were outdone by scholars and novelists +in the battle for reform. Lebensohn's didactic drama <i>Emet +we-Emunah</i> (<i>Truth and Faith</i>, Vilna, 1867, 1870), in which +he attempts to reconcile true religion with the teachings of +science, was mild compared with <i>Dos Polische Yingel</i> or +Shatzkes' radical interpretations of the stories of the rabbis in +his <i>Ha-Mafteah</i> (<i>The Key</i>, Warsaw, 1866-1869), and both +were surpassed by Raphael Kohn's clever little work <i>Hut +ha-Meshullash</i> (<i>The Triple Cord</i>, Odessa, 1874), in which +many prohibited things are ingeniously proved permissible according +to the Talmud. But the most outspoken advocate of reform was +Abraham Mapu (1808-1867), author of the first realistic novel, or +novel of any kind, in Hebrew literature, the <i>'Ayit Zabua'</i> +(<i>The Painted Vulture</i>). His Rabbi Zadok, the miracle-worker, +who exploits superstition for his own aggrandizement; Rabbi +Gaddiel, the honest but mistaken henchman of Rabbi Zadok; Ga'al, +the parvenu, who seeks to obliterate an unsavory past by fawning +upon both; the Shadkan, or marriage-broker, who pretends to be the +ambassador of Heaven, to unite men and women on earth,—in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id= +"page245"></a>{245}</span> these and similar types drawn from life +and depicted vividly, Mapu held up to the execration of the world +the hypocrites who "do the deeds of Zimri and claim the reward of +Phinehas," whose outward piety is often a cloak for inner impurity, +and whose ceremonialism is their skin-deep religion. These +characters served for many years as weapons in the hands of the +combatants enlisted in the army arrayed for "the struggle between +light and darkness."</p> +<p>The waves of the Renaissance and the Reformation sweeping over +Russian Jewry reached even the sacred precincts of the synagogues, +the batte midrashim, and the yeshibot. The Tree of Life College in +Volozhin became a foster-home of Haskalah. The rendezvous of the +brightest Russo-Jewish youths, it was the centre in which grew +science and culture, and whence they were disseminated far and wide +over the Pale. Hebrew, German, and Russian were surreptitiously +studied and taught. Buckle and Spencer, Turgenief and Tolstoi were +secretly passed from hand to hand, and read and studied with +avidity. Some students advocated openly the transformation of the +yeshibah into a rabbinical seminary on the order of the Berlin +Hochschule. The new learning found an ardent <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246"></a>{246}</span> supporter +in Zebi Hirsh Dainov, "the Slutsker Maggid" (1832-1877), who +preached Russification and Reformation from the pulpits of the +synagogues, and whom the Society for the Promotion of Haskalah +employed as its mouthpiece among the less advanced.<a id= +"footnotetag5-17" name="footnotetag5-17"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-17"><sup>17</sup></a> In the existing reform +synagogues, in Riga, Odessa, Warsaw, and Vilna, and even in more +conservative communities, sermons began to be preached in Russian. +Solomon Zalkind Minor, who lectured in German, acquired a +reputation as a preacher in Russian since his election to the +rabbinate of Minsk (1860). He was called "the Jellinek of Russia" +by the Maskilim.<a id="footnotetag5-18" name= +"footnotetag5-18"></a><a href="#footnote5-18"><sup>18</sup></a> +Aaron Elijah Pumpyansky began to preach in Russian at Ponevezh, in +Kovno (1861). Germanization at last gave way to Russification. Even +in Odessa, where German culture predominated during the reign of +Nicholas I, it was found necessary, for the sake of the younger +generation, to elect, as associate to the German Doctor +Schwabacher, Doctor Solomon Mandelkern to preach in Russian. +Similar changes were made in other communities. In the Polish +provinces the Reformation was making even greater strides. There +the Jews, whether reform, like Doctor Marcus Jastrow, or orthodox +like Rabbi Berish Meisels, identified themselves with the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id= +"page247"></a>{247}</span> Poles, and participated in their +cultural and political aspirations, which were frequently +antagonistic to Russification. A society which called itself Poles +of the Mosaic Persuasion was organized in Warsaw, an organ of +extreme liberalism was founded in the weekly Israelita, and, with +the election of Isaac Kramsztyk to the rabbinate, German was +replaced (1852) by the native Polish as the language of the +pulpit.</p> +<p>Some champions of reform did not rest satisfied with mere +innovations and improvements. They went so far as to discard +Judaism altogether and improvise religions of their own. Moses +Rosensohn of Vilna was the first, in his works <i>Advice and +Help</i> (<i>'Ezrah we-Tushiah</i>, Vilna, 1870) and <i>The Peace +of Brothers</i> (<i>Shelom Ahim</i>, ibid.), to suggest a way to +cosmopolitanism and universalism through Judaism.<a id= +"footnotetag5-19" name="footnotetag5-19"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-19"><sup>19</sup></a> In 1879, Jacob Gordin founded in +Yelisavetgrad a sort of ethical culture society called Bibleitsy +(also Dukhovnoye Bibleyskoye Bratstvo, Spiritual Bible +Brotherhood), which obtained a considerable following among the +workmen of the section. It advocated the abolition of ritual +observances, even prayer, and the hastening of the era of the +brotherhood of man. It preached, in the words of one of its +leaders, that "our morality <span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" +id="page248"></a>{248}</span> is our religion. God, the acme of +highest reason, of surest truth, and of the most sublime justice, +does not demand useless external forms and ceremonies."<a id= +"footnotetag5-20" name="footnotetag5-20"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-20"><sup>20</sup></a> Following the organization of the +Bibleitsy, and based on almost the same principles, branches of a +Jewish sect, which called itself New Israel (Novy Izrail), were +started almost simultaneously in Odessa and Kishinev. In the former +city, the organization was headed by Jacob Prelooker, in the +latter, by Joseph Rabinowitz. Prelooker, who after graduating from +the seminary at Zhitomir became a school-master at Odessa, sought +to bring about a consolidation between his own people and Russian +Dissenters (Raskolniki: the Molocans, Stundists, and Dukhobortzi). +The theme of his book, <i>New Israel</i>, is a "reformed synagogue, +a mitigation of the cleavage between Jew and Christian, and +recognition of a common brotherhood in religion." Rabinowitz went +still further, and preached on actual conversion to one of the more +liberal forms of Christianity.<a id="footnotetag5-21" name= +"footnotetag5-21"></a><a href="#footnote5-21"><sup>21</sup></a></p> +<p>These sects, which sprang up in church and synagogue during the +latter part of the "seventies," were the outcome of political and +social as well as religious unrest. Alexander II fulfilled the +expectation which the first years of his reign aroused in +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id= +"page249"></a>{249}</span> Jewish hearts no more than Catherine II +and Alexander I. Those who had hoped for equal rights were doomed +to disappointment. Most of the reforms of the Liberator Czar proved +a failure owing to the antipathy and machinations of his +untrustworthy officials. Russia was split between two diametrically +opposed parties, the extreme radicals and the extreme +reactionaries, waging an internecine war with each other. The +former originated with the young Russians that had served in the +European campaigns during the Napoleonic invasion, and who, in +imitation of the secret organizations which had so greatly +contributed to the liberation of Germany, united to throw off the +yoke of autocracy in Russia. These secret orders, the Southern, the +Northern, the United Slavonian, and the Polish, Alexander I had +endeavored in vain to suppress, and the drastic measures taken by +Nicholas I against the Dekabrists (1825) proved of no avail. Nor +did the reforms of Alexander II help to heal the breach. On the +contrary, seeing that the constitution they expected from the +Liberator Czar was not forthcoming, and the democracy they hoped +for was far from being realized, they became desperate, and +determined to demand their rights by force. The peasants, too, +sobering up from the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id= +"page250"></a>{250}</span> intoxication, the figurative as well as +the literal, caused by the vodka drunk in honor of their +newly-acquired volyushka (sweet liberty), discovered that the +emancipation ukase of the czar had been craftily intercepted by the +bureaucrats, and their dream of owning the land they had hitherto +cultivated as serfs would never come true. Russia was rife with +discontent, and disaffection assumed a national range. The cry was +raised for a "new freedom." A certain Anton Petrov impersonated the +czar, and gathered around him ten thousand Russians. Pamphlets +entitled <i>Land and Liberty</i> (<i>Zemlya i Volya</i>) were +spread broadcast among the masses, the mind of the populace was +inflamed, and attempts on the life of the czar ensued.</p> +<p>The extreme reactionaries, consisting mostly of nobles who had +become impoverished by the emancipation of the serfs, grasped the +opportunity to point out to the bewildered czar the evil of his +liberal policy. Slavophilism was rampant. Men like Turgenief, +Dostoyevsky, and Tolstoi, were condemned as "Westernists," or +German sympathizers, the enemies of Russia. At the recommendation +of Princess Helena Petrovna, the czar engaged as the teacher of his +children a comparatively unknown professor of history, +Pobyedonostsev, who <span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id= +"page251"></a>{251}</span> later became the soul of Russian +despotism. This man, meek as a dove and cunning as a serpent, +easily ingratiated himself with the czar, and soon there began "a +war upon ideas, a crusade of ignorance." "Karakazov's pistol-shot," +as Turgenief says, "drove back into the shade the phantom of +liberty, the appearance of which all Russia had hailed with +acclamations. From that moment to the end of his life, the emperor +devoted himself to the undoing of all he had accomplished. If he +could have cancelled with one stroke the glorious ukase that had +proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs, he would have been only +too glad to disgrace himself."<a id="footnotetag5-22" name= +"footnotetag5-22"></a><a href="#footnote5-22"><sup>22</sup></a></p> +<p>And again, as it had been during the reign of Alexander I after +his acquaintance with Baroness Krüdener, so it was with the +reign of Alexander II after his acquaintance with Pobyedonostsev. +The status of the Jews constituted the first indication of the +ill-boding change. How little the officials had been in sympathy +with the reformatory efforts of their czar, even when the +atmosphere had been filled with peace and good-will to all +including the Jews, is shown by the fact that when, in 1863, +through the efforts of Doctor Schwabacher, the Jewish community of +Odessa applied for a charter <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page252" id="page252"></a>{252}</span> to build a Home for Aged +Hebrews, the charter, though granted by the higher authorities, was +withheld for over twenty years! The reaction flaunted its power +once again, and sat enthroned in Tsarskoye Syelo. The few rights +the Jews had enjoyed were rescinded one by one. Not satisfied with +this, the Slavophils tried, under every pretext, to stop the +progress of the Jewish people. Every now and then the Society for +the Promotion of Haskalah would send some of the brighter seminary +students to complete their education in Breslau or Berlin, but at +the command of the Government this was soon discontinued. It was +the intention of the same organization, from its very incipiency, +to have the Bible translated under its auspices into Russian, but +it took ten long years before this praiseworthy undertaking could +be begun, because of the obstacles the Government placed in the way +of its execution. Fortunately, the indomitable courage of the +Maskilim could not be subdued. Young men went, or were sent, to +Germany to prepare themselves for the rabbinate as before; the +Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, too, were translated secretly +by Wohl, Gordon, Steinberg, and Leon Mandelstamm, and published in +Germany, whence they were smuggled into Russia.<a id= +"footnotetag5-23" name="footnotetag5-23"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-23"><sup>23</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id= +"page253"></a>{253}</span> +<p>More direct and equally inexplicable, save on the ground of +animosity to whatever was not Slavonic, was the ukase to close the +Sabbath Schools and the Evening Schools, the only means of +educating the laboring men (1870). In 1871, the first of a series +of massacres (pogromy) took place in the centre of Jewish culture, +Odessa. In 1872, permission was denied to the ladies of that city +to organize a society for the purpose of maintaining trade schools, +to teach poor Jewish girls handicrafts. The two rabbinical +seminaries, of Vilna and Zhitomir, were closed in 1873, and +replaced by institutes for teachers, which were managed in the +spirit that had prevailed under Nicholas I. And in 1878 the absurd +blood accusation, against which four popes, Innocent IV, Paul III, +Gregory X, and Clement XIV, issued their bulls, declaring it a +baseless and wicked superstition, and which not only the Polish +kings Boreslav V, Casimir III, Casimir IV, and Stephen +Bathòry, but also Alexander I (March 18, 1817), branded as a +diabolic invention—that dreadful accusation which even the +commission of Nicholas, despite Durnovo's efforts, had denounced as +a disgrace and an abomination, was revived by the newspaper +Grazhdanin. The ghost of medievalism began to stalk abroad once +more in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id= +"page254"></a>{254}</span> erstwhile enlightened Russia and under +the aegis of the Liberator Czar.</p> +<p>As often before in Jewish history, the Jews helped not a little +to aggravate the untoward conditions. At the instigation of a +number of students of the Yeshibah Tree of Life, the doors of that +noble institution were closed (1879), to open again after two years +of untiring efforts on the part of its self-sacrificing dean, the +renowned Naphtali Zebi Judah Berlin. But at the worst this was the +result of mistaken zeal for the cause of Haskalah. What was more +detrimental was the disgrace brought upon the Jewish name by +several converts to Christianity. A certain Jacob Brafmann, having +proved a failure in all he undertook, tried at the last the +business of Christianity, and succeeded therein. He was appointed +professor of Hebrew in the seminary of Minsk, and the Holy Synod +charged him with the duty of devising means to promulgate +Christianity among the Jews. Finding the times auspicious, he +devoted himself to writing libellous articles about his former +coreligionists, and wound up with a <i>Book on the Kahal</i> +(<i>Kniga Kahala</i>, Vilna, 1869), in which he quoted forged +"transactions," to the effect that Judaism tolerates and even +recommends illegality and immorality <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page255" id="page255"></a>{255}</span> among its adherents. In a +conference of Jews and Gentiles convoked by Governor-General +Kaufman (1871), Barit proved the falsity and forgery of Brafmann's +documents. But, as usual, the defence was forgotten, the charges +remained.<a id="footnotetag5-24" name= +"footnotetag5-24"></a><a href="#footnote5-24"><sup>24</sup></a> A +certain Lutostansky poisoned the public mind by caricaturing the +Jews, and aroused an anti-Semitic agitation among his countrymen. +The consequence was that even the liberals began to be suspicious, +and the prospect of better days was blighted by the hatred which +broke out in fiendish fury, in lightnings and thunders which +astounded the world under Alexander III.</p> +<p>It was but natural that the Jews that had become completely +Russified should enlist in the ranks of the extreme liberals. They +found themselves in every way as progressive and patriotic as the +Christian Russians. The language of Russia became their language, +its manners and aspirations their manners and aspirations. They +contributed more than any other nationality to Russifying Odessa, +which, owing to its great foreign population, was known as the +un-Russian city of Russia. Proportionately to their numbers, they +promoted the trade and industry, the science and literature of +their country more than the Russians themselves. Yet <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256"></a>{256}</span> the +coveted equality was denied them, and the emancipation granted to +the degraded muzhiks was withheld from them, because of a religion +they hardly professed. They were like Faust when he found himself +tempted but not satisfied by the pleasures of life, when food +hovered before his eager lips while he begged for nourishment in +vain. The liberals, on the other hand, preached and practiced the +doctrine of equal rights to all. Socialism, or nihilism, also +appealed to the Jews from its idealistic side, for never did the +Jews cease to be democrats and dreamers. In the schools and +universities, which they were now permitted to attend, they heard +the new teachings and imbibed the novel ideas.</p> +<p>Those, therefore, who disdained conversion allied themselves +with the secret organizations. "The torrent which had been dammed +up in one channel rushed violently into another." A Hebrew monthly, +Ha-Emet (Truth, Vienna, 1877), devoted to the cause of communism, +was started by Aaron Liebermann ("Arthur Freeman"), in which, in +the language of the oldest and greatest socialists, the doctrines +of Karl Marx were inculcated among the Hebrew-reading public. The +more completely Russified element took a leading <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257"></a>{257}</span> part in +the activities of the Narodnaya Volya (Rights of the People), +propagating socialism among the Russian masses, either by word of +mouth or as editors and coworkers in the "underground" +publications. Not a few went to Berlin, where, though opulent, they +sought employment in factories, the better to disseminate socialism +among the working classes. Others, like Aaronson, Achselrod, +Deutsch, Horowitz, Vilenkin, and Zukerman, fled to Switzerland, +whence, under the assumed names of Marx, Lassalle, Jacoby, etc., or +united in a League for the Emancipation of Labor, they directed the +socialistic movement in Russia.<a id="footnotetag5-25" name= +"footnotetag5-25"></a><a href="#footnote5-25"><sup>25</sup></a> +Chernichevsky's <i>What to Do</i>, Gogol's <i>Dead Souls</i>, +Turgenief's <i>Virgin Soil</i> and <i>Fathers and Sons</i>, the +doctrines of Pisarev and Bielinsky, and of the other writers who +then had their greatest vogue, were eagerly read and frequently +copied by Jewish young gymnasiasts and passed on to their Christian +schoolmates. The revolutionary spirit seized on men and women +alike. Women left their husbands, girls their devoted parents, and +threw themselves into the swirl of nihilism with a vigor and +self-sacrifice almost incredible. When a squad of police came to +disperse the crowd clamoring for "land and liberty" in front of the +Kazanskaya <span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id= +"page258"></a>{258}</span> Church in St. Petersburg, a Jewish +maiden of sixteen, taking the place of the leader, inspired her +comrades with such enthusiasm that the efforts of the police were +ineffectual.<a id="footnotetag5-26" name= +"footnotetag5-26"></a><a href="#footnote5-26"><sup>26</sup></a> By +1878, Russia became honeycombed with secret societies. It fell into +spasms of nihilism. One general after another was assassinated. +Attempts were made to wreck the train on which the czar was +travelling (1879) and blow up the palace in which he resided +(1880). Finally, on March 13, 1881, after many hairbreadth escapes, +the carefully laid plans of the revolutionists succeeded, and the +Liberator Czar was no more.</p> +<p>Thus was the deep-rooted yearning for enlightenment finally let +loose, and the gyves of tradition were at last removed. The +Maskilim of the "forties" and "fifties" were antiquated in the +"sixties" and "seventies." They began to see that the fears of the +orthodox and their denunciations of Haskalah were not altogether +unfounded. A young generation had grown up who had never +experienced the strife and struggles of the fathers, and who lacked +the submissive temper that had characterized their ancestors. +Faster and farther they rushed on their headlong way to +destruction, while the parents sat and wept. When, in 1872, in +Vilna, the police arrested forty Jewish young <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259"></a>{259}</span> men +suspected of nihilistic tendencies, Governor-General Patapov +"invited" the representatives of the community to a conference. As +soon as they arrived, Patapov turned on them in this wise, "In +addition to all other good qualities which you Jews possess, about +the only thing you need is to become nihilists, too!" Amazed and +panic-stricken, the trembling Jews denied the allegation and +protested their innocence, to which the Governor-General replied, +"Your children are, at any rate; they have become so through the +bad education you have given them." "Pardon me, General," was the +answer of "Yankele Kovner" (Jacob Barit), who was one of the +representatives, "This is not quite right. As long as <i>we</i> +educated our children there were no nihilists among us; but as soon +as you took the education of our children into your hands, behold +the result." The foundations of religion were undermined. Parental +authority was disregarded. Youths and maidens were lured by the +enchanting voice of the siren of assimilation. The naïve words +which Turgenief put into the mouth of Samuel Abraham, the +Lithuanian Jew, might have been, indeed, were, spoken by many +others in actual life. "Our children," he complains, "have no +longer our beliefs; they do not say our prayers, nor have they your +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id= +"page260"></a>{260}</span> beliefs; no more do they say your +prayers; they do not pray at all, and they believe in +nothing."<a id="footnotetag5-27" name= +"footnotetag5-27"></a><a href="#footnote5-27"><sup>27</sup></a> The +struggle between Hasidim and Mitnaggedim ended with the +conversionist policy of Nicholas I, which united them against the +Maskilim. The struggle between these anti-Maskilim and the Maskilim +had ceased in the golden days of Alexander II. But the clouds were +gathering and overspreading the camp of Haskalah. The days in which +the seekers after light united in one common aim were gone. +Russification, assimilation, universalism, and nihilism rent +asunder the ties that held them together. Judah Löb Gordon, +the same poet who, fifteen years before, had rejoiced with +exceeding joy "when Haskalah broke forth like water," now laments +over the effect thereof in the following strain:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>And our children, the coming generation,</p> +<p>From childhood, alas, are strangers to our nation—</p> +<p>Ah, how my heart for them doth bleed!</p> +<p>Farther and faster they are ever drifting,</p> +<p>Who knows how far they will be shifting?</p> +<p>Maybe till whence they can ne'er recede!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Amidst the disaffection, discord, and dejection that mark the +latter part of the reign of Alexander <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261"></a>{261}</span> II, one +Maskil stands out pre-eminently in interest and +importance,—one whom assimilation did not attract nor +reformation mislead, who under all the mighty changes remained +loyal to the ideals ascribed to the Gaon and advocated by +Levinsohn,—Perez ben Mosheh Smolenskin (Mohilev, February 25, +1842-Meran, Austria, February 1, 1885).<a id="footnotetag5-28" +name="footnotetag5-28"></a><a href= +"#footnote5-28"><sup>28</sup></a></p> +<p>Smolenskin was endowed with the ability and courage that +characterize the born leader. He possessed an iron will and +unflinching determination, before which obstacles had to yield, and +persecution found itself powerless. His talent to grasp and +appreciate the true and the beautiful rendered him the oracle of +the thousands who, to this day, are proud to call themselves his +disciples. To him Haskalah was not merely acquaintance with general +culture, or even its acquisition. It was the realization of one's +individuality as a Jew and a man. Gordon's advice, to be a Jew at +home and a man abroad, found little favor in his estimation; for +Haskalah meant the evolution of a Jewish man <i>sui generis</i>. He +equally abhorred the fanaticism of the benighted orthodox and the +Laodicean lukewarmness of the advanced Maskilim. To fight and, if +possible, eradicate both, he undertook the publication of The Dawn +(Ha-Shahar, Vienna, 1869), a magazine <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262"></a>{262}</span> in which +he declared "war against the darkness of the Middle Ages and war +against the indifference of to-day!"</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Not like the former days are these days, he says in his foreword +to Ha-Shahar. Thirty or twenty years ago we had to fight the enemy +within. Sanctimonious fanatics with their power of darkness sought +to persecute us, lest their folly or knavery be exposed to the +light of day.... Now that they, who hitherto have walked in +darkness, are beginning to discern the error of their ways, lo and +behold, those who have seen the light are closing their eyes +against it.... Therefore let them know beforehand that, as I have +stretched out my hand against those who, under the cloak of +holiness, endeavor to exclude enlightenment from the house of +Jacob, even so will I lift up my hand against the other hypocrites +who, under the pretext of tolerance, strive to alienate the +children of Israel from the heritage of their fathers!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>That the salvation of the Jews lies in their distinctiveness, +and that renationalization will prove the only solution of the +Jewish problem, is the central thought of Smolenskin's journalistic +efforts. Jews are disliked, he maintains, not because of their +religious persuasion, nor for their reputed wealth, but because +they are weak and defenceless. What they need is strength and +courage, but these they will never regain save in a land of their +own. Twelve years before the tornado of persecution <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263"></a>{263}</span> broke out +in Russia he had predicted it, and even welcomed it as a means of +arousing the Jews to their duties as a people and their place as a +nation, and that his conclusion was correct, the awakening which +followed proved unmistakably.</p> +<p>For Smolenskin Jews never ceased to be a nation, and to him the +Jew who sought refuge in assimilation was nothing less than a +traitor. He was thus the forerunner of Pinsker, and of Herzl a +decade later. Indeed, in the resurrection of the national hope he +was the first to remove the shroud. According to him, "the eternal +people" have every characteristic that goes to make a nation. Their +common country is still Palestine, loved by them with all the +fervor of patriotism; their common language had never ceased to be +Hebrew; their common religion consists in the basic principles of +Judaism, in which they all agree.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>You wish—thus he addresses himself to the +assimilationists—you wish to be like the other people? So do +I. Be, I pray you, be like them. Search and find knowledge, avoid +and forsake superstition, above all be not ashamed of the rock +whence you were hewn. Yes, be like the other peoples, proud of your +literature, jealous of your self-respect, hopeful, even as all +persecuted peoples are hopeful, of the speedy arrival of the day +when we, too, shall reinhabit the land which once was, and still +is, our own.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id= +"page264"></a>{264}</span> +<p>But as the soil of Palestine, however regarded, is at present +inaccessible to Jews as a national entity, the language once spoken +in Palestine is so much the more to be cherished and cultivated by +the exiled people.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>You ask me—he calls out again—what good a dead +language can do us? I will tell you. It confers honor on us, girds +us with strength, unites us into one. All nations seek to +perpetuate their names. All conquered peoples dream of a day when +they will regain their independence.... We have neither monuments +nor a country at present. Only one relic still remains from the +ruins of our ancient glory—the Hebrew language. Those, +therefore, who discard the Hebrew tongue betray the Hebrew nation, +and are traitors both to their race and their religion.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>No less trenchant and outspoken was he against the serried array +of self-styled "reformers" of Judaism. He could not forgive the +German rabbis and Russian Maskilim for presuming to "dictate" to +their coreligionists what to select and what to reject in matters +religious. The whole movement he condemned as a mere imitation of +Protestant Christianity. To renovate Judaism! What a stigma on a +religion that had endured through the ages, and is rich in all that +makes for holiness and right living! The old garment needs no new +patches. It still fits and will fit "the eternal people" till time +is no <span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id= +"page265"></a>{265}</span> more. Since the reform movement in +Germany went back to the time of Mendelssohn, Smolenskin hurled the +missiles of his criticism against the Berlin sage, forgetting that +for more than half a century his example and encouragement had +served to awaken a love of knowledge in the hearts of his +countrymen. But he saw that in the home of Haskalah, the +<i>Biur</i>, and the Meassefim, apostasy increased, Hebrew was +almost forgotten, and Judaism was declining, and he blamed the +pellucid water at the source of the stream for the muddy pool at +its mouth. Mendelssohn, however, lacked no defenders among his +Russo-Jewish coreligionists, and their sentiments were voiced by +Abraham Bär Gottlober in an opposition periodical, The Light +of Day (Ha-Boker Or, Lublin, 1876). "Why," exclaimed the editor, +"were it not for him and his reforms ... were it not for that grand +and noble personality ... neither you nor I should have been what +we are!" It was only the sad sincerity of Smolenskin that mitigated +the errors he had committed in regard to the history of his people +and the theology of its religion.</p> +<p>But the militant editor of Ha-Shahan, who wielded his pen like a +halberd, to deal out blows to those of whose views he disapproved, +became as tender <span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id= +"page266"></a>{266}</span> as a father when he set out to write +about the people. His love for the masses whom he knew so well was +almost boundless. Underlying their superstitions, crudities, and +absurdities is the "prophetic consciousness," of which they have +never been entirely divested. The heder is indeed far from what a +school should be, and the yeshibah is hardly to be tolerated in a +civilized community; yet what spiritual feasts, what noble +endeavors, and what unselfish devotion are witnessed within their +dingy walls! Jewish observances are sometimes cumbersome and +sometimes incompatible with modern life, but what beauty of +holiness, what irresistible influences emanate and radiate from +most of them! Under an uninviting exterior and beneath the +accumulated drift of countless generations he discerned the +precious jewel of self-sacrifice for an ideal. It was this sympathy +and broad-mindedness, expressed in his <i>Ha-Toëh</i>, his +<i>Simhat Hanef</i>, <i>Keburat Hamor</i>, <i>Gemul Yesharim</i>, +and <i>Ha-Yerushah</i> that will ever endear him to the Hebrew +reader.</p> +<p>Such, in brief, was the life of the man who bore the chief part +in framing and moulding the Haskalah of the "eighties," which was +devoted to the development of Hebrew literature and the +rejuvenation of the Hebrew people. Loving the Hebrew <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267"></a>{267}</span> tongue +with a passion surpassing everything else, he censured the German +Jewish savants for writing their learned works in the vernacular, +and was on the alert to discover and bring out new talent and win +over the indifferent and estranged. Dreaming of the redemption of +his people, he paved the way for the Zionistic movement, which +spread with tremendous rapidity after his death. And his sincerity +and ability were repaid in the only coin the poor possess—in +love and admiration. Pilgrimages were made, sometimes on foot, to +behold the editor of Ha-Shahar and the author of +<i>Ha-Toëh</i>. The greatest journalists in St. Petersburg +united in honoring him when he visited the Russian capital in 1881. +And when he was snatched away in the midst of his usefulness, a +victim of unremitting devotion to his people, not only Maskilim, +but Mitnaggedim and Hasidim felt that "a prince and a mighty one +had fallen in Israel!"</p> +<p>(Notes, pp. <a href="#notes-5">322-327</a>.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id= +"page268"></a>{268}</span> +<h2><a name="chap6" id="chap6">CHAPTER VI</a></h2> +<h3>THE AWAKENING</h3> +<h4>1881-1905</h4> +<p>The reign of Alexander III, like that of Nicholas I, was devoid +of even that faint glamor of liberalism which, in the days of +Alexander I and Alexander II, had aroused deceptive hopes of better +times. During the thirteen years of Alexander III's autocracy +(1881-1894) not a ray of light was permitted to penetrate into Holy +Russia. On May 14, 1881, the manifesto prohibiting the slightest +infringement of the absolute power of the czar was promulgated, to +continue unbroken till the Russo-Japanese war.</p> +<p>The liberal current which had carried away his predecessors when +they first mounted the throne was checked, the sluices of +Slavophilism were opened, the history of Russian thinkers became +again, as Herzen said, "a long list of martyrs and a register of +convicts."</p> +<p>Nicholas Ignatiev, a rabid reactionary, a second Jeffreys, +became chief of the Ministry of the Interior; <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269"></a>{269}</span> Katkoff, +a repentant liberal and exile, was appointed the czar's chief +adviser, the Richelieu behind the throne; and Pobyedonostsev, whom +Turgenief called the "Russian Torquemada," obtained supremacy over +Melikoff, and was appointed procurator of the Holy Synod. With such +as these at the head of the Russian bureaucracy, there may have +been some foundations for the rumor that an imperial ukase decreed +the pillage and slaughter of the Jews, and the muzhiks, obedient to +the behests of the "little father," and smarting under the pain of +disappointment, vented their venom on their Jewish compatriots. +Before the new czar had been on his throne three months, Russia was +drenched with Jewish blood. There began saturnalia of rape, +plunder, and murder, the like of which had been witnessed nowhere +in Europe. For half a year the pogroms which began in Yelisavetgrad +(April 27, 28) swept like a tornado over southern Russia, visiting +more than one hundred and sixty communities with fire and sword, +resulting in outrages on women, in the murder of old and young, in +the ruin of millions of dollars of property. The Black Hundreds of +the nineteenth century put to shame the Haidamacks of the +eighteenth and the Cossacks of the seventeenth. In the words of the +Bishop <span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id= +"page270"></a>{270}</span> of Canterbury to Sir Moses Montefiore, +it looked "as if the enemy of mankind was let loose to destroy the +souls of so many Christians and the bodies of so many Jewish +people."</p> +<p>But it would be a vain attempt, and out of keeping with the +object of this work, to describe in detail the "bloody assizes" and +the infernal tragedies that ensued upon the accession of Alexander +III; the moral degeneracy and the economic ruin that spread over +the mighty empire; the shudder that passed over the civilized +world, and was expressed in indignation meetings held everywhere, +especially in Great Britain and in the United States (February, +1882), to protest, "in the name of civilization, against the spirit +of medieval persecution thus revived in Russia." Suffice it to say +that even when the mob, tired of carnage, ceased its work of +extermination, the bloodthirstiness of those in authority was not +assuaged. Such a policy was inaugurated against the Jews as would, +according to Pobyedonostsev, "force one-third of them to emigrate, +another third to embrace Christianity, and the remainder to die of +starvation." With this in view, his Majesty the Emperor, "prompted +by a desire to protect the Jews against the Christians," was +graciously pleased to give his assent to the Resolutions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id= +"page271"></a>{271}</span> of the Committee of Ministers, on the +third of May, 1882, <i>i.e.</i> to the notorious "temporary +measures," or "May laws," framed by Ignatiev, against the will of +the Council of the Empire.</p> +<p>These "temporary measures" have remained in force to this day. +With them was resuscitated all the inimical legislation of the +past, beginning with the time of Elizabeta Petrovna. What was +favorable was suppressed; the unfavorable was most rigorously +enforced. Jews living outside the Pale were driven back into it on +the slightest pretext and in the most inhuman manner. To increase +the already unendurable congestion, the Pale was made smaller than +before. In accordance with the first clause of the "May laws," Jews +were expelled from the villages within the Pale itself. In 1888 the +districts of Rostov and Taganrog, which till then had belonged to +the Pale, and had been developed largely through Jewish enterprise, +were torn away and amalgamated with the Don district, in which Jews +were not permitted to reside. This was followed by expulsions from +St. Petersburg (1890), Moscow, (1891), Novgorod, Riga, and Yalta +(1893), and the abrogation of the time-honored privileges of the +Jews of Bokhara (1896). Even those who, as skilled artisans or +discharged <span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id= +"page272"></a>{272}</span> soldiers, had been privileged to reside +wherever they chose, were expelled with their wives and the +children born in their adopted city. Their only salvation lay in +conversion. Converts were especially favored, and were offered +liberal inducements. By becoming a convert to the Orthodox Russian +Church, a Jew is immediately freed from all the degrading +restrictions on his freedom of movement and his choice of a +profession. Converts, without distinction of sex, are helped +financially by an immediate payment of sums from thirteen to thirty +rubles, and until recently were granted freedom from taxation for +five years. If a candidate for Greek Christianity is married, his +conversion procures him a divorce, and, unless she likewise is +converted, his wife may not marry again. By conversion, a Jew may +escape the consequence of any misdeed against a fellow-Jew, for, to +quote the Russian code, "in actions concerning Jews who have +embraced Christianity Jews may not be admitted as witnesses, if any +objection is raised against them as such." The penal code provides +that Jews shall pay twice and treble the amount of the fine to +which non-Jews are liable under similar circumstances. Jews were +excluded from the professions to which they had turned in the +"sixties" and "seventies," <span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" +id="page273"></a>{273}</span> and in which they had been eminently +successful; they were not allowed to hold any civil or municipal +office; they were forbidden even to be nurses in the hospitals or +to give private instruction to children in the homes.</p> +<p>And still persecution did not cease. Not satisfied with starving +the bodies of five millions of Jews, Russian legislators were +determined to crush them intellectually. The Slavophils could not +brook seeing "non-Russians" surpass their own people in the higher +walks of life. The Jews, finally successful in emancipating +themselves from the trammels of rabbinism, had transferred their +extraordinary devotion from the Talmud to secular studies. They +filled the schools and the universities of the empire with zealous +and intelligent pupils, who carried off most of the honors. They +contributed forty-eight pupils to the gymnasia out of every ten +thousand, while the Christians contributed only twenty-two. This +was regarded an unpardonable sin. "These Jews have the audacity to +excel us pure Russians," Pobyedonostsev is reported to have +exclaimed, and measures were taken to suppress their dangerous +tendency. As early as 1875 a law was passed withholding from Jewish +students the stipends they had hitherto received from a fund set +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id= +"page274"></a>{274}</span> aside for that purpose. In 1882 the +number of Jewish students in the Military Academy of Medicine was +limited to five per cent, and later it was reduced to zero. +Thereafter one professional school after another adopted a +percentage provision, and some excluded Jews altogether. Finally, +"seeing that many Jewish young men, eager to benefit by a higher +classical, technical, or professional education," presented +themselves every year for admission to the universities, that they +passed their examination and continued their studies at the various +schools of the empire, the Government deemed it "desirable to put a +stop to a state of affairs which is so unsatisfactory." +Consequently the ministry limited the attendance of Jews residing +in places within the Pale to ten per cent in all schools and +universities (December 5, 1886; June 26, 1887), in places without +the Pale to five per cent, and in Moscow and St. Petersburg to +three per cent, of the total number of pupils in each school and +university. Of the four hundred young Jews who had successfully +passed their matriculation examination at the beginning of the +scholastic year 1887-1888, and had thus acquired the right of +entering the university, three hundred and twenty-six were refused +admission, and in many schools and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page275" id="page275"></a>{275}</span> universities they were +denied even the small per cent the law permitted.</p> +<p>When, nevertheless, in spite of the many restrictions, the Jew +at last obtained the coveted degree, the Government rendered it +nugatory by depriving him of the right of enjoying the fruit of his +labor and self-sacrifice. He could not practice as an army +physician or jurist, nor obtain a position as an engineer or a +Government or municipal clerk. In the army, he was not allowed to +hold any office, and, though he might be an expert chemist, he +could never fill the post of a dispenser (March 1, 1888). He was +excluded from the schools for the training of officers, and if he +passed the examination on the subjects taught there, his +certificate could not contain the usual statement that there "was +no objection to admitting him to the military schools."<a id= +"footnotetag6-1" name="footnotetag6-1"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-1"><sup>1</sup></a></p> +<p>These restrictive measures were not relaxed when Alexander III +was succeeded by his son Nicholas II (1894). If anything, they were +more rigorously executed, and the mob was encouraged to multiply +its outrages upon the defenceless Jews. The closing years of the +nineteenth century wiped out the promises of its opening years. +Blood accusations followed by riots became of frequent occurrence. +Irkutsk (1896), Shpola, and Kiev <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page276" id="page276"></a>{276}</span> (1897), Kantakuzov +(Kherson), Vladimir, and Nikolayev (1899) gave the Jews a foretaste +of what they had to expect when the Black Hundreds, encouraged by +the Government and incited by Kruzhevan and Pronin, would be let +loose to enact the scenes that took place in Kishinev and Homel +before the Russo-Japanese war, and in hundreds of towns after it. +The difficulties in the way of securing an education were +increased. Russia did not believe in an "irreducible minimum" where +the rights of her Jews were concerned. Under Nicholas II the number +of Jewish women admitted to medical schools was put at three per +cent of the total number of students; the newly-established School +for Engineers in Moscow was closed to Jewish young men altogether; +and the students of both sexes in the schools were constantly +harassed by the police because of the harsh laws concerning the +rights of residence. Some splendidly equipped institutions of +learning were allowed to remain almost empty rather than admit +Jewish students.<a id="footnotetag6-2" name= +"footnotetag6-2"></a><a href="#footnote6-2"><sup>2</sup></a></p> +<p>This was the worst punishment of all, the most relentless +vengeance wreaked on a helpless victim. "Of all the laws which +swept down upon them from St. Petersburg and Moscow," says +Leroy-Beaulieu with characteristic insight into the soul of +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id= +"page277"></a>{277}</span> Israel, "those which they [the Jews] +find hardest to bear are the regulations that block their entrance +to the Russian universities." The bloodless weighed heavier than +the bloody pogroms. Consumed with a desire for education, wealthy +Russian Jews made an attempt to establish higher schools of their +own, without even drawing upon the surplus money of the kosher-meat +fund, which had originally been created for such purposes. Baron de +Hirsch, too, offered two million dollars for the higher and +technical education of the Jews. But every attempt proved +fruitless. Baron de Hirsch's munificence was flatly refused. In the +school which Mr. Weinstein opened at Vinitza, Podolia, no more than +eight Jews were allowed to attend among eighty Christians, and in +the one at Gorlovka, founded by another Jew (Polyakov), only five +per cent were admitted.<a id="footnotetag6-3" name= +"footnotetag6-3"></a><a href="#footnote6-3"><sup>3</sup></a></p> +<p>Writers are wont to speak of this as a reactionary period. The +description applies to the Russians; among the Jews it was a period +of reawakening.<a id="footnotetag6-4" name= +"footnotetag6-4"></a><a href="#footnote6-4"><sup>4</sup></a> They +were disillusioned. They saw that Russification without +emancipation, as their unsophisticated fathers had told Lilienthal, +meant extermination. The first and worst pogroms were perpetrated +in those places where the Jews were like their Russian <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page278" id="page278"></a>{278}</span> neighbors +in every respect, except in the eyes of the law, and with the +approval of some who were devotees of the Narodnaya Volya. The +Jewish consciousness reasserted itself. If Pobyedonostsev +accomplished his fiendish design as regards emigration, more than a +million Jews having left Russia within the last twenty years; if he +has almost succeeded in causing them to die of starvation; yet his +hope of forcing a third of them to conversion was a disappointment +and a delusion. The Jews showed that the traditional description +applied to them, "stiff-necked," was not undeserved. While the +Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Armenians have undergone conversion +in multitudes, they whose suffering by far exceeded that of any +other "non-Russian" nationality remained, with insignificant +exceptions, loyal to the religion of their fathers.<a id= +"footnotetag6-5" name="footnotetag6-5"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-5"><sup>5</sup></a></p> +<blockquote> +<p>The Russian Jews—says Zunser—sobered down from the +orgies of assimilation, and its worshippers abandoned their idol. +Those who had almost forgotten that they were of the camp of Israel +began to return to its tents. The Jewish physicians, jurists, +technologists, and the entire so-called Jewish "intelligentia," who +heretofore had never cared to speak a word of Yiddish to a Jew, +resumed their native tongue; they began to send their children to +the Jewish hadarim, and adopted once more Jewish ways and customs. +Several hundred Jewish university students, proverbially +irreligious, sent to Vilna for tefillin [phylacteries]!</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id= +"page279"></a>{279}</span> +<p>In many cities fasts were observed and prayers for forgiveness +offered, and the prodigal sons of Israel repaired to the synagogue, +participated in the services, and wept with their more steadfast +though equally unfortunate coreligionists. Many converts, too, +began to feel qualms of conscience, and endeavored to make up for +their youthful indiscretions. Some of them fled to places of +safety, and returned to Judaism. The gifted young poet Simon +Yakovlevich Nadsohn died of a broken heart. Sorkin, the classmate +and friend of Levanda, committed suicide, while Levanda, the great +novelist of assimilation, was so affected by the massacres and +their consequences, that he became melancholy, and died in an +asylum for the insane.<a id="footnotetag6-6" name= +"footnotetag6-6"></a><a href="#footnote6-6"><sup>6</sup></a></p> +<p>If this was the fate of the assimilated and estranged, one may +guess the effect of the reaction on the religious. If the students +of the universities sacrificed their careers, their daily bread, +for the austere satisfaction of discharging their moral obligation +to the best of their knowledge, the students of the Law, always +loyal to the heritage of their people, became more zealous than +ever. Lilienblum who, in 1877, believed that life without a +university education was not worth living, became a repentant +sinner. Russian Jewry seethed with <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page280" id="page280"></a>{280}</span> religious enthusiasm. Moses +Isaac Darshan, "the Khelmer Maggid," preached for six hours at a +time to crowded synagogues. Asher Israelit, less trenchant, but +equally effective, exhorted crowds to repentance. Zebi Hirsh +Masliansky, a finished orator, went from town to town, and aroused +a love for whatever was connected with the history and religion of +the Jewish people. In Kovno those who were preparing themselves for +the rabbinate formed something like a new sect, the Mussarnikes +(Moralists), which practiced asceticism and self-abnegation to an +extraordinary degree.<a id="footnotetag6-7" name= +"footnotetag6-7"></a><a href="#footnote6-7"><sup>7</sup></a></p> +<a name="illus-lilienblum" id="illus-lilienblum"></a> +<center><img width="250" height="322" src= +"images/illus-lilienblum.png" alt="Moses Lilienblum" /></center> +<center>Moses Löb Lilienblum, 1843-1910</center> +<p>Those, however, were most affected who had been misled by dreams +of assimilation. They suffered most, for they lost most. Their +hopes were blighted, their hearts broken. The leading-strings +proved to be a halter. They saw they had little to expect at the +hands of those they had believed to have become fully civilized, +and they were embittered toward civilization, which had showed them +flowers, but had given them no fruit. In a work, <i>Sinat 'Olam +le-'Am 'Olam</i> (<i>Eternal Hatred for the Eternal People</i>, +Warsaw, 1882), Nahum Sokolov proved, like Smolenskin before him, +that anti-Semitism was ineradicable, that the fight against the +Jews was a fight to the death, that even emancipation <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281"></a>{281}</span> helps +little to remove the animosity innate in one people against +another, and until the "end of days" foretold by the prophets of +yore there will never cease the eternal hatred to the eternal +people. This became the dominant opinion. It dawned upon many that +the only salvation for the Jews lay in becoming a nation once more. +A yearning for a new fatherland and a new country seized young and +old. The times were auspicious. Cosmopolitanism was everywhere +giving place to nationalism. The little Balkan States had broken +the yoke of Ottoman rule, and become self-governing nations since +1878. In Poland, Hungary, and Ireland, home rule was advocated with +fervor that threatened a revolution. Italy and Germany became +united under their own king or emperor. And the Russian Jews, tired +of the constant conflicts with the surrounding peoples, experienced +the desire which had prompted their ancestors to be like all the +other nations.</p> +<p>Sokolov's sentiments were reinforced in an anonymous pamphlet +written by Doctor Leo Pinsker (1821-1891), one of the foremost +physicians of Odessa. His <i>Auto-Emancipation</i> (Berlin, 1882) +is now recognized as the forerunner of Herzl's <i>Judenstaat</i>, +which appeared fifteen years later. Pinsker accepts as an axiom +what Sokolov had tried <span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id= +"page282"></a>{282}</span> to demonstrate as a proposition. +Jew-hatred, he claims, like Lombroso in his work on anti-Semitism, +is a "platonic hatred," a hereditary mental disease, which two +thousand years' duration has so aggravated as to render it +incurable. As the Jewish problem is international, it can be solved +only by nationalism. He admits some of the charges brought against +the Jews by anti-Semites, but Jewish failings result from Christian +intolerance. In a land of their own they will develop into a +Muster-nation, a model people.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The wretches—cries he—they mock the eagle that once +soared sky-high, and saw divinity itself, because he can no longer +fly after his wings are broken! Give us but our independence, allow +us to take care of ourselves, grant us but a little strip of land +like that of the Servians and Rumanians, give us a chance to lead a +national existence, and then prate about our lacking manly virtues. +What we lack is not genius (Genialität) but self-consciousness +(Selbstgefühl) and appreciation of our value as men +(Bewusstsein der Menschenwürde), of which we were deprived by +you!</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Of course, it requires many years and a great expenditure of +money to establish a nation on a firm basis. But in Pinsker's +dictionary the word "impossible" does not exist. "Far, very far," +says he, "is the haven of rest towards which our souls are turning. +We know not even whether it be East <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page283" id="page283"></a>{283}</span> or West. But be the road +never so long, it cannot seem too long to the wanderers of two +thousand years."</p> +<p>Pinsker's impassioned appeal made a deep impression. It was +obvious that colonization would be the shortest road to +renationalization. But as to the place in which the colonies should +be established, no agreement could be reached. Pinsker, like Herzl +after him, left the problem unsolved. Some preferred America or +even Spain. In southern Russia a society, 'Am 'Olam (The Eternal +Nation), was organized on communistic principles. It sent an +advance guard to the United States, where, as the Sons of the Free, +they established several settlements, the best-known of which was +New Odessa, in Oregon.<a id="footnotetag6-8" name= +"footnotetag6-8"></a><a href="#footnote6-8"><sup>8</sup></a> The +majority, however, preferred Palestine, the land which, in weal or +woe, in pain or pleasure, remains ever dear to the Jewish heart; +the land to which the ancient exiles by the waters of Babylon had +vowed that sooner than forget her would their right hands forget +their cunning and their tongues cleave to the roofs of their +mouths; the possession whereof had been held out as the most +alluring promise, and to be deprived of which the prophets had +regarded as the severest punishment.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id= +"page284"></a>{284}</span> +<p>Zionism, even Territorialism, among the Russian Jews is by no +means solely the result of modern anti-Semitism. At the same time +that Mordecai Manuel Noah was planning his Jewish state Ararat in +western New York (1825), Gregori Peretz, who, as a child, had been +converted, with his father, to the dominant religion, and had been +advanced to the rank of an officer in his Majesty's army, was +dreaming of the renationalization of his alienated brethren. As a +leading figure in the councils of the Dekabrists, he never ceased +his efforts until his comrades accepted the restoration of Israel +to his pristine place among the nations of the earth as part of +their revolutionary programme. But with the suppression of the +Dekabrists by Nicholas I the scheme died "a-borning," and sank into +oblivion. Later, David Gordon revived the yearnings of Judah Halevi +by his articles in the weekly Ha-Maggid (1863), which he edited in +Lyck, Prussia. Smolenskin's writings resound with a love for Zion +from the very beginning of his literary career. And a rising young +Hebraist, Eliezer ben Yehudah, while still a student of medicine, +wrote, in 1878, and again in 1880, stirring letters to the editor +of Ha-Shahar, in which he advocated the return to the Holy Land and +the revival of the holy <span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id= +"page285"></a>{285}</span> tongue as a <i>conditio sine qua non</i> +for the realization of the Jewish mission. These views, at first +advocated by the Hebrew-writing and Hebrew-reading Maskilim, +gradually filtered into the various strata of Russo-Jewish society, +and when the clouds began to gather fast in Russia's sky, and the +change in the monarch's policy augured the approach of evil times, +Zionism rapidly made enthusiastic converts even among the most +Russified of the Jewish youth. On November 6, 1884, for the first +time in history, a Jewish international assembly was held at +Kattowitz, near the Russian frontier, where representatives from +all classes and different countries met and decided to colonize +Palestine with Jewish farmers.</p> +<p>Since then Haskalah in Russia has become nationalistic and +Palestinian. Even those who were at first opposed to it gradually +grew friendly, and finally became "lovers of Zion" (Hobebe Zion). +Among the Russo-Jewish students in Vienna, Smolenskin, the militant +Zionist, organized an academic society, Kadimah, a name which, +meaning Eastward and Forward, contains the philosophy of Zionism in +a nutshell. Seeing that the Alliance Israélite Universelle +encouraged emigration to America, both he and Ben Yehudah published +violent attacks <span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id= +"page286"></a>{286}</span> on the French society, and endeavored to +thwart its plans as far as possible.<a id="footnotetag6-9" name= +"footnotetag6-9"></a><a href="#footnote6-9"><sup>9</sup></a> The +Hebrew weekly Ha-Meliz, published in St. Petersburg, was a staunch +supporter of the movement, and a little later Ha-Zefirah, published +in Warsaw, which was at first indifferent, if not antagonistic, +joined the ranks. In Russian, too, the Razsvyet and especially the +Buduchnost spread Zionism among their readers, while books, +pamphlets, and poems were published in Yiddish for circulation +among the masses. In addition to the Hobebe Zion societies formed +in many cities, secret societies were organized, such as the famous +Bene Mosheh (Sons of Moses), which had for its object the moral and +intellectual improvement of the future citizens of the Jewish +Republic; the Bilu (initials of Bet Ya'akob leku we-nelekah, "O +House of Jacob, come and let us go"), formed by Israel Belkind, who +went to Palestine with his fellow-students of the University of +Kharkov, and founded the colony of Gederah; and the Hillul (Hereb +la-Adonaï u-le-Arzenu, "A sword for God and our land"), the +members of which pledged themselves to remove any obstacle to the +cause of nationalism, even at the cost of their lives. The Bone +Zion (Builders of Zion), a sort of Masonic fraternity, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287"></a>{287}</span> was a +very potent secret society, which undertook to constitute itself a +provisional Jewish Government, and assiduously watched the +Zionistic societies and their leaders in every portion of the +globe.<a id="footnotetag6-10" name="footnotetag6-10"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-10"><sup>10</sup></a></p> +<p>These dreamy youths, however, heartbroken and disgusted with a +civilization which had failed to redeem its promises, proved but +poor material for laying the foundations for a future nation. It +was as with the Darien Company organized by William Paterson when +Scotland was sorely distressed, and the Champ d'Asile, by the +remnant of Napoleon's grand army—a fine idea, but the men and +the means were wanting to execute it. The colonies in Palestine +fared no better than those in America. They were opposed by the +Government from without and by many of the orthodox Jews from +within. The former, though claiming to be glad to see the Jews +emigrate, though declaring to the Jewish delegation that pleaded +for mercy, <i>Zapadnaya graniza dlya vas otkrita</i> ("the Western +frontier is open to you"), was still, Pharaoh-like, reluctant to +see so many "undesirable citizens" leave, and prohibited the +formation of organizations to accomplish the end. The orthodox were +against the movement on religious grounds, because it was "forcing +the end" of Israel's trouble before <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page288" id="page288"></a>{288}</span> the destined day of God +arrived.<a id="footnotetag6-11" name="footnotetag6-11"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-11"><sup>11</sup></a> But with the "nineties" the +movement received a strong impetus. Alexander Zederbaum, the +publisher of Ha-Meliz, succeeded in obtaining a charter (February +9, 1890) for the Association for the Aid of Colonization in +Palestine and Syria. Such eminent rabbis as Mordecai Eliasberg, his +son Jonathan, Samuel Mohilever, N.Z.Y. Berlin, and Mordecai Joffe +espoused the cause, and set the example for their less prominent +colleagues. When the question arose whether Jewish agriculturists +in Palestine are obliged to observe the Biblical injunction not to +till the ground in the seventh year (shemittah), Rabbi Isaac +Elhanan Spector of Kovno, the leading rabbi and Talmudist of his +time, decided, in opposition to the Jerusalem rabbinate, that the +law had ceased to be effective with the destruction of the Temple. +Baron Edmond de Rothschild of Paris also came to the rescue of the +colonists, and, more important still, there began an immigration of +Russo-Jewish farmers into Palestine, of the class, numbering about +ninety-five thousand souls, whom Arnold White described as "an +active, well set-up, sun-burnt, muscular, agricultural people, +marked by all the characteristics of a peasantry of the highest +character." With them the colonies began to flourish, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289"></a>{289}</span> the debts +were paid off, and a better regime set in. "There was no crime or +drunkenness," says Bentwich, "in those settlements, and the only +usurer was a Russian peasant, who charged the Jewish borrowers +thirty-six per cent for loans. If ever I saw practical religion +carried into daily life, it was among those brave and sober Hebrew +ploughmen."<a id="footnotetag6-12" name= +"footnotetag6-12"></a><a href="#footnote6-12"><sup>12</sup></a></p> +<p>Whatever may be one's views on Zionism, there can be no doubt +that it has proved a power for good in Russia. It introduced new +ideals and revived old expectations. It has accomplished, in a +measure, the fond hope of the Maskilim and awakened within the +Russian Jew a feeling of self-respect and a "consciousness of human +worth." Different and contending elements it has coalesced into +one. It has, above all, brought back to the fold the doubting +Thomases and careless Gallios, even the avowed scoffers, among the +Jewish youth, and imbued them with courage and pride,<a id= +"footnotetag6-13" name="footnotetag6-13"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-13"><sup>13</sup></a> and given them a new shibboleth, +<i>Meine Kunst der Welt, mein Leben meinem Volke</i> ("My art for +the world, my life for my people").</p> +<p>"We have seen our youths return to us," writes Lilienblum,<a id= +"footnotetag6-14" name="footnotetag6-14"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-14"><sup>14</sup></a> "and our hearts were filled with +joy. In their restoration we found balm for our wounds, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id= +"page290"></a>{290}</span> and with rapturous wonderment we asked +'who has borne us these?'" The poets welcomed them with songs. +Gordon, whose sorrow had silenced his muse, was inspired once more +and called:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Behold our sons, of whom we despaired,</p> +<p>Return to us, the great and the small;</p> +<p>God's grace is not ended, our power's unimpaired,</p> +<p>Again we shall live, and rise after the fall!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Frug sang in Russian:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="i10">My own Nation,</p> +<p>Thou art not alone; thy sons behold</p> +<p>Coming back in crowds as in days of old!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>And Zunser represented Rachel as soliloquizing in Yiddish:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Through the windows what am I seeing,</p> +<p>Like turtle-doves hitherward fleeing?</p> +<p>Are my Joseph and Benjamin knocking at my door?</p> +<p>O Heavens, O mighty wonder!</p> +<p>Those are my children yonder!</p> +<p>Yes, my dearest and my truest coming home once more!</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>But Zionism is not exclusively either a political or a religious +movement. It is both plus something else; it is eminently +educational. It has produced novelists and poets, whose writings +are full of the virility and beauty of a rejuvenated nation. In +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id= +"page291"></a>{291}</span> Jaffa it established a high school (Bet +ha-Sefer), it inspired Doctor Chazanowicz to establish a national +library, and ways and means are being considered to establish a +national university in Palestine.</p> +<p>Even among the devotees of the arts it has given rise to a new +romantic school, young painters and sculptors who are depicting +their Judenschmerz.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>Their cunning hands—says Mr. Leo Mielziner—have +mastered the technique of their art, be it in Moscow or Munich, or +Berlin, or Paris, but the heart which inspires their brush or +mallet pulsates in Palestine. The wandering Jew in them pauses, not +to portray the impression of the foreign lands and stranger +customs, but to depict his own suffering, his own Heimweh, his own +aspirations.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Struck, Ashkenasi, Maimon, Hirszenberg, Gottlieb, Epstein, +Löbschütz, and Schatz are the leaders of this new +movement. The last-named, together with Ephraim Moses Lilien of +Galicia, perhaps the greatest Jewish illustrator of our time, has +founded a national school, Bezalel, to propagate Jewish art in +Palestine, on the same principles on which the great national art +schools of other countries are based. The language of instruction +is Hebrew.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the Society for the Promotion of Haskalah continued +its work of Russification and <span class="pagenum"><a name= +"page292" id="page292"></a>{292}</span> general civilization. After +1880 its activity was greatly enhanced, and its members worked with +renewed zeal. It opened elementary schools, and expended large sums +on stipends for students, and the publication of useful and +scholarly books. The branch in Odessa secured two hundred and +thirty-one new members in one year (1900), making the total in that +city alone nine hundred and sixty-eight. It organized a bureau of +information on pedagogic subjects, and through the liberality of +Kalonymos Wissotzky instituted prizes for original works in Hebrew +or Russian. Individual philanthropists did their utmost to +counterbalance the restrictions on education.<a id= +"footnotetag6-15" name="footnotetag6-15"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-15"><sup>15</sup></a></p> +<p>Trade schools were opened by the Committee for the Promotion of +a Knowledge of Trade and Agriculture among the Jews of Russia, in +Minsk, Vilna, and Vitebsk, besides fifteen manual training schools +for boys and twenty for girls, in which the indigent pupils are +provided with food, clothes, and books. In 1900 thirteen new +schools were opened in Kherson and Yekaterinoslav, to supply the +educational demand of the thirty-eight colonies existing in those +Governments. In the vicinity of Minsk a Junior Republic was +organized, and in many cities art and choral societies were +formed.<a id="footnotetag6-16" name="footnotetag6-16"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-16"><sup>16</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id= +"page293"></a>{293}</span> +<p>The desire for self-help and the tendency towards organization, +to which Zionism gave an impetus, was rapidly reflected in every +sphere of Russo-Jewish activity. In a series of works and articles, +Jacob Wolf Mendlin, who studied under Lassalle, pointed out the +importance of the co-operative system. Accordingly, a union was +organized by the Jewish salesmen in Warsaw. In 1897 a conference of +Jewish workingmen was held in that city and Der allgemeine +jüdische Arbeiterbund in Littauen, Polen, und Russland +(Federation of Jewish Labor Unions in Lithuania, Poland, and +Russia) was perfected. It published three papers as its organs, Die +Arbeiterstimme, Der jüdischer Arbeiter, and, in Switzerland, +Letzte Nachrichten. Soon workmen's associations and artisans' clubs +appeared wherever there was a sufficient number of Jewish tailors, +hatters, bookbinders, etc., for the purpose of increasing and +improving the value of their production, and to do away with +middlemen and money-lenders. They organized a tailors', dyers', and +shoemakers' union in Kharkov, and a carpenters' union in Minsk, for +mutual support in the struggle for existence, and for the +construction of sanitary workingmen's houses. The cultural desire +of the handicraftsmen, constituting twelve per <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294"></a>{294}</span> cent of +the Russo-Jewish population and occasionally fifty-two per cent +(Odessa), seventy-three per cent (Kovno), and even ninety per cent +(Byelostok), is phenomenal. Their object is not only physical +improvement. Their highest aim is that their members be enabled, by +means of efficient night schools and private instruction, to +acquire elementary and higher education; in the words of the +constitution of the carpenters' union of Minsk, "to protect their +material interests, raise their moral and intellectual status, and +foster efforts of self-help."<a id="footnotetag6-17" name= +"footnotetag6-17"></a><a href="#footnote6-17"><sup>17</sup></a></p> +<p>The Hebrew teachers, a class which, though more respected, +underwent as hard a struggle as the workingmen, banded themselves +together in 1899 in the Society for Aiding Hebrew Teachers of the +Province of Vilna. Their president was Michael Wolper, the +inspector of the Hebrew Institute and successor to Wohl as censor +of Hebrew publications. Similar attempts were made in Bessarabia. +Rabbi Shachor, chairman of the Hebrew Teachers' Association of +Yekaterinoslav, was instrumental in opening a normal school +conducted on Chautauqua principles, and so advanced the cause of +education considerably.<a id="footnotetag6-18" name= +"footnotetag6-18"></a><a href="#footnote6-18"><sup>18</sup></a></p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id= +"page295"></a>{295}</span> +<p>With the establishment of the rabbinical seminaries and the +ukase (May 3, 1855) that only such may officiate as rabbis as have +completed a prescribed course of study, Russian Jewry was placed in +a sore predicament. It was a very difficult task to find men who +united secular knowledge with that thorough mastery of Talmudic +literature which the Jews of Russia exact from their rabbis. Every +community was compelled to appoint two rabbis: an orthodox rabbi +(dukhovny rabbin) and a "crown," or Government, rabbi (kazyony +rabbin). The people recognized only the authority of the former, +the Government that of the latter. The consequence was that a man +with a mere high-school education would apply for, and would often +receive, the position of crown-rabbi. His duties consisted in +merely keeping a register of marriages, births, and deaths, +administering the oath, and the like. The many lawyers and +physicians who were debarred from practicing their professions +sought to become candidates for the rabbinate. To avoid the +unpleasant results which followed, Rabbi Chernovich of Odessa and +Rabbi I.J. Reines of Lyda established seminaries in Odessa and +Lyda, to take the place and to continue the teaching of the Vilna +and the Volozhin yeshibot, which had been closed, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296"></a>{296}</span> and to +furnish proper rabbis for the various congregations.<a id= +"footnotetag6-19" name="footnotetag6-19"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-19"><sup>19</sup></a></p> +<p>The century-long struggle for enlightenment had a telling +effect. What the early Maskilim had only dreamed of finally came to +be. The metamorphosis was so great and so general as to be hardly +credible. It was shown by Mr. Landman, in a paper read before the +Russo-Jewish Historical Society of Odessa, that while among the +Gentiles of that city the reading public constituted seven per cent +of the population, among Jews it was no less than thirty-three per +cent, and twenty-five per cent of all readers were Jewish +women.<a id="footnotetag6-20" name="footnotetag6-20"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-20"><sup>20</sup></a> By 1905 there were two Yiddish +and three Hebrew dailies, besides several weekly, monthly, and +quarterly periodicals and annuals in Yiddish, Hebrew, and Russian, +notwithstanding the fact that a numerous class depended on the +general Russian literary output for their mental pabulum.</p> +<p>As the number of those who read Hebrew was still considerable, +Abraham Löb Shalkovich (Ben Avigdor) began, with the +assistance of a number of Maskilim, the publication of "penny +literature" (Sifre Agorah, Warsaw, 1893). Shortly afterwards the +Ahiasaf Society and, a little later, the Tushiyah Society were +founded. The object was <span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id= +"page297"></a>{297}</span> to edit and publish "good and useful +books in the Hebrew language for the spread of knowledge and the +teaching of morality and culture among the Hebrew youth, also +scientific books in all departments of learning." Both these +associations have done admirable work. They have published many +good text-books for teaching Hebrew and Jewish history, an +illustrated periodical for children, Olam Katan (The Little World), +and numerous works of interest to the adult. Among their +publications were, besides the original writings of Peretz, Taviov, +Frischman, Berdichevsky, Chernikhovsky, and others, also +translations from Bogrov, Byron, Frug, Hugo, Nordau, Shakespeare, +Spencer, Zangwill, Zola, critical biographies of Aristotle, +Copernicus, George Eliot, Heine, Lassalle, Nietzsche, Rousseau, and +a great many equally famous men of letters, which followed each +other in promiscuous but uninterrupted succession, all handsomely +printed and prettily bound, and sold at a moderate price.</p> +<p>One evil, however, remained, in the face of which both the +Maskilim and the financiers found themselves utterly helpless, the +evil of the exclusion of Jews from the universities. They could +found elementary and high schools for the young, night schools and +Sabbath Schools for the adult working-men, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298"></a>{298}</span> but to +establish a university was an absolute impossibility. Jewish youths +were again compelled, as in the days of Tobias Cohn and Solomon +Maimon, to seek in foreign lands the education denied them in their +own. Austria, Switzerland, France, and chiefly Germany, became once +more the Meccas whither Russo-Jewish graduates repaired to finish +their studies, and where they formed a sort of Latin Quarters of +their own, and led almost a communal life. Their numbers in the +German universities grew to such proportions, and their material +condition became so wretched, that a society was organized in +Berlin for the express purpose of helping them. On the other hand, +the authorities protested (1906) against expending the funds +granted each year for German educational institutions on the +education of non-Germans, and the Akademischer Club of Berlin +passed resolutions demanding a regulation against their admission. +In Leipsic alone, of the six hundred and sixty-two foreign students +who attended the university, three hundred and forty, or over +one-half, are Russian Jews (1906). Of the five hundred and +eighty-six students enrolled in the Commercial University, three +hundred and twenty-two are foreigners, among whom Russians +predominate, and of the <span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id= +"page299"></a>{299}</span> eight hundred students who attend the +Royal Conservatory of Music, three hundred are foreigners, also +mostly Russians. Russians constitute two hundred and two of the +three hundred and forty-seven pupils in the Dresden Polytechnicum, +and sixty out of one hundred and thirty-seven in the Dresden +Veterinary College, while in the Freiberg School of Mines and in +the Tharand Forestry Academy they are in a majority, though they +pay twice, and in some places three times, the amount of tuition +fee required from the native students. The proportion is still +greater in the Swiss universities of Basle, Berne, Geneva, +Lausanne, and Zurich, where they sometimes constitute three-fourths +of the entire student body in the medical schools (Geneva, +1907).</p> +<p>And as for the progress made by the Russo-Jewish woman, it is +wonderful, indeed. It is hardly a quarter of a century since +attention began to be given to her mental development, and yet she +has seldom lagged behind her sisters in more enlightened lands, and +has lately attained to a proud height. Vilna, with her "many +well-educated wives," attracted the attention of Montefiore in the +early "forties"; Tarnopol speaks in terms of high praise of the +Jewish women of Odessa in the "sixties"; <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300"></a>{300}</span> they +"charm by their culture, by the ease and precision with which they +speak several European languages, by the correctness of their +judgment, and the beauty of their conversation."<a id= +"footnotetag6-21" name="footnotetag6-21"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-21"><sup>21</sup></a> The memoirs of Madame Pauline +Wengeroff throw a sidelight also on the accomplishments of her +sisters in the less enlightened districts of Russian Jewry. But in +the last quarter of the nineteenth and the early part of the +twentieth century, their advance was prodigious.<a id= +"footnotetag6-22" name="footnotetag6-22"></a><a href= +"#footnote6-22"><sup>22</sup></a> When decent Jewish women were +prohibited to reside in St. Petersburg, some of the Jewish female +students, at the risk of their reputation, secured the yellow +ticket of the prostitute rather than sacrifice their education. But +the majority went to other countries. The press has lately been +interested in what these seekers for light in foreign lands have +accomplished, and reported the successes of Fanny Berlin, who +graduated from the University of Berne as doctor of law <i>summa +cum laude</i>, and of Miss Kanyevsky of Zinkoff (Poltava), who was +the first woman to take her degree as engineer at the Ecole des +Pontes et Chaussees, in Paris.</p> +<blockquote> +<p>It is a curious fact—remarks a correspondent in the Pall +Mall Gazette—the majority [of lady doctors practicing in +Paris] are Russian Jewesses, just as are the greatest number of +young <span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id= +"page301"></a>{301}</span> women medical students. At a rough +calculation there are three hundred ladies pursuing medical studies +at the various schools, and working side by side with the male +students. The reason of the invasion of the Jewess is, of course, +the disabilities that exist in Russia for those of the faith of +Israel ... disabilities that are hardly lessened in Germany. +Moreover, there exists only one university in Russia, and that is +in St. Petersburg. Some of the women who graduate in medicine do +extremely well afterwards in practice, and are greatly in vogue in +the highest society in Paris.... The lady doctor who is also a +Russian subject has likewise found a field for her energies in +China, where Russian influence is so dominant at the present +moment.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>Another writer, in Harper's Bazaar, speaking of girl-students in +Paris, has this to say:</p> +<blockquote> +<p>The Russian students are an interesting class in Paris. There +are some one hundred and thirty of them in all, nearly all Hebrews, +as the Russian universities admit only about four Jews to every +hundred students. Their monthly allowance from their families is +often no more than twenty dollars, and out of that they must pay +board, room-rent, and all outside expenses. These Russian "new +women" are extraordinary students. Mlle. Lepinska, one of the first +to graduate in medicine, presented a thesis six hundred and sixty +pages long to her astonished professors.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>With pitying admiration the world looks on the struggle for +enlightenment of these brave sons and daughters of Judah. Their +trials and tribulations, <span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" +id="page302"></a>{302}</span> their heart-burnings and +disappointments, have inspired poets and painters, novelists and +playwrights. From Chamisso's <i>Abba Glusk Leczeka</i> to +Korolenko's <i>Skazanye o Florye Rimlyaninye</i>, czars have died +or have been assassinated, statesmen have risen and fallen, but the +Russian Jew, like the heroes of the poem or novel, did not wait to +conquer by submitting. Thanks to his indomitable spirit he has made +unexampled progress. Within the last twenty-five years he has not +only emancipated himself, but he is now the most potent factor in +the struggle for the emancipation of his countrymen. Within these +years he has become the recognized torch-bearer of liberty and +enlightenment in darkest Russia. Uvarov justified his inhuman +treatment of the Jews by the plea that they are "orthodox and +believers in the Talmud." The latest excuse (1904) of von Plehve +was that "if we admitted Jews to our universities without +restriction, they would surpass our Russian students and dominate +our intellectual life." But neither the former prevails, nor the +latter, nor their henchmen who fill the columns of the Grazhdanin, +Kievlyanin, Novoye Vremya, and the like. The words and writings of +such noble and world-famous Russians as Popoff, Demidov, +Strogonoff, Bershadsky, Shchedrin, Tolstoi, <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303"></a>{303}</span> and the +cream of the Russian "intelligentia," as well as such foreigners as +Mommsen, Gladstone, Leroy-Beaulieu, and Michael Davitt, will have +their salutary effect. The consciousness of the Russian people will +awaken. The attitude lately manifested both in St. Petersburg and +the provinces against the <i>Kontrabandisti</i>, a libellous play +written by an apostate Jew, Levin, will become more and more +general. Then the heroic effort and the unexampled progress of the +Russian Jews will be more fully appreciated, and a patriotic nation +will gratefully acknowledge its indebtedness to that smallest but +most energetic and self-sacrificing portion of its heterogeneous +population, the Jews, who have done so much, not only for Jewish +Russians, but for Christian Russians as well, to hasten the time +when "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be +increased."</p> +<p>(Notes, pp. <a href="#notes-6">327-330</a>.)</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id= +"page305"></a>{305}</span> +<h2><a name="notes" id="notes">NOTES</a></h2> +<h3>ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE NOTES</h3> +<p>AZJ = Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums, Leipsic, +1837—<br /> +FKI = Fünn, Keneset Yisraël, Warsaw, 1860.<br /> +FKN = Fünn, Kiryah Ne'emanah, Vilna, 1860.<br /> +FSL = Fünn, Safah le-Ne'emanim, Vilna, 1881.<br /> +GMC = Ginzberg and Marek, Yevreyskiya Narodniya Pyesni, St. +Petersburg, 1901.<br /> +HUH = Harkavy, Ha-Yehudim u-Sefat ha-Selavim, Vilna, 1867.<br /> +JE = Jewish Encyclopedia, 12 vols., New York, 1901-1906.<br /> +LBJ = Levinsohn, Bet Yehudah, Warsaw, 1901.<br /> +LTI = Levinsohn, Te'udah be-Yisraël, Warsaw, 1901.<br /> +WMG = Wengeroff, Memoiren einer Grossrautter, i., Berlin, 1908.</p> +<h3><a name="notes-1" id="notes-1">CHAPTER I</a></h3> +<h4>THE PRE-HASKALAH PERIOD</h4> +<h4>?-1648</h4> +<h4>(pp. 17-52)</h4> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-1" name= +"footnote1-1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-1">(return)</a> +<p>Mention might, indeed, be made of Dr. Zunz's pioneer work in his +Aelteste Nachrichten über Juden und jüdische Gelehrte in +Polen, Slavonien, Russland (Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin, 1875, +iii. 82-87), and Firkovich, who, in his Abne Zikkaron (Vilna, +1872), threw much light on the history of the Crimean Jews. The +best contributions to the subject, however, are those of Harkavy, +Russ i Russkiye v Sred. Yevr. Lit. (Voskhod, 1881), and +Malishevsky, Yevreyi v Yuzhnoy Rossii i Kieve, v. x-xii. Vyekakh, +St. Petersburg, 1878.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-2" name= +"footnote1-2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-2">(return)</a> +<p>LTI, p. 33, n. 2; LBJ, ii. 94, n. 2.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id= +"page306"></a>{306}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-3" name= +"footnote1-3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-3">(return)</a> +<p>See JE, s.v. Azov, and Kertch. See also Fishberg, The Jews: A +Study of Race and Environment, New York, 1911, pp. 150, +192-194.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-4" name= +"footnote1-4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-4">(return)</a> +<p>See Judah Halevi's Kuzari, Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-5" name= +"footnote1-5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-5">(return)</a> +<p>Minor, Rukovodstvo, Moscow, 1881, iv; Ha-Pardes, St. Petersburg, +1902, p. 155.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-6" name= +"footnote1-6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-6">(return)</a> +<p>HUH, pp. 31-32, 69-76.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-7" name= +"footnote1-7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-7">(return)</a> +<p>Yevrey Minister, Voskhod, 1885, v. 105 f.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-8" name= +"footnote1-8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-8">(return)</a> +<p>JE, i. 112, 119, 223; viii. 652.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-9" name= +"footnote1-9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-9">(return)</a> +<p>The synagogue in Brest-Litovsk, which Saul Wahl built in memory +of his wife Deborah, was demolished in 1836. WMG, p. 84.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-10" name= +"footnote1-10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-10">(return)</a> +<p>HUH, pp. 77-134.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-11" name= +"footnote1-11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-11">(return)</a> +<p>JE, x. 569.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-12" name= +"footnote1-12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-12">(return)</a> +<p>The story of Zacharias de Guizolfi deserves to be given at +greater length. He was a prince and ruler of the Taman peninsula +near the Black Sea (1419). After he had been unsuccessful in a war +against the Turks, Czar Ivan III sent him a message sealed with the +gold seal (March 14, 1484) as follows:</p> +<p>"By the grace of God, the great ruler of the Russian land, the +Grand Duke Ivan Vassilyevich, czar of all the Russias, to Skariya +the Hebrew.</p> +<p>"You have written to us through Gabriel Patrov, our guest, that +you desire to come to us. It is our wish that you do so. When you +are with us, we shall give you evidence of our favorable +disposition toward you. Should you wish to serve us, we will confer +honors upon you. But should you not wish to remain with us, and +prefer to return to your country, you shall be free to go."</p> +<p>For some reason or other, Zacharias never accomplished his +contemplated trip, notwithstanding the many inducements repeatedly +offered by the czar during a period of eighteen years. Perhaps it +was because of the disturbances which rendered transportation +dangerous; possibly because he preferred to serve the khan rather +than the czar, for we find him, in 1500, a resident of Circassia. +See JE, vi. 107-108; vi. 12.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id= +"page307"></a>{307}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-13" name= +"footnote1-13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-13">(return)</a> +<p>E.g. Barakha, the hero (1601), Ilyash Karaimovich, the starosta +(1637), and Motve Borokhovich, the colonel (1647). See JE, ii. 128; +iv. 283; ix. 40.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-14" name= +"footnote1-14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-14">(return)</a> +<p>See Czacki, Rosprava o Zhydakh, Vilna, 1807, p. 93; Buchholtz, +Geschichte der Juden in Riga, Riga, 1899, p. 3; Mann, Sheerit +Yisraël, Vilna, 1818, ch. 30; Virga, Shebet Yehudah, Hanover, +1856, pp. 147 f., and Graetz, Geschichte der Juden, ix. 480.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-15" name= +"footnote1-15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-15">(return)</a> +<p>The Subbotniki, Dukhobortzi, and the other dissenting, but +non-Jewish, sects are not referred to here, though they may have +received their inspiration from Jews or through Judaism.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-16" name= +"footnote1-16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-16">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, 1881, i. 73-75; JE, vii. 487-488; ix. 570; Bramson, K +Istorii Pervonachalnaho Obrazovaniya Russkikh Yevreyev, St. +Petersburg, 1896, pp. 4-6.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-17" name= +"footnote1-17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-17">(return)</a> +<p>Sternberg, Die Proselyten im xvi. und xvii. Jahrhundert, AZJ, +1863, pp. 67-68 (ibid, in L'univers Israelite, 1863, pp. 272 f.); +Mandelkern, Dibre Yeme Russyah, Warsaw, 1875, pp. 231 f.; +Yevreyskaya Enziklopedya, s.v. Zhidostvuyushchikh; Bedrzhidsky in +Zhurnal Ministerstva Narodnaho Prosvyeshchanya, St. Petersburg, +1912, pp. 106-122; Jewish Ledger, Jan., 1902, p. 3; Emden, Megillat +Sefer, ed. Cohan, p. 207, Warsaw, 1896. On Count Pototzki, see Ger +Zedek, in Yevreyskaya Biblyotyeka, St. Petersburg, 1892; Gershuni, +Sketches of Jewish Life and History, New York, 1873, pp. 158-224 +(also Introduction), and S.L. Gordon's ballad in Ha-Shiloah (Ger +Zedek), i. 431. On Pototzki and Zaremba, see Gere Zedek (Anon.), +Johannisberg, 1862. On modern Russian Gerim, see Die Welt, July 5, +1907, pp. 16-17 (Palestine), B'nai B'rith News, May 13, 1913 +(United States), and Leroy-Beaulieu, Israel among the Nations, +Engl. transl., New York, 1900, p. 110, n. 1; Yiddishes Tageblatt, +July 16 and 23, 1913, Gerim in Russland, and Vieder vegen Gerim; +JE, i. 336; vii. 369-370, 489.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-18" name= +"footnote1-18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-18">(return)</a> +<p>HUH, pp. 3, 21 f.; Minor, op. cit., p. 4; Yevreyskiya Nadpisi, +St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 217; Sefer ha-Yashar, no. 522; Eben +ha-'Ezer, no. 118. On [Hebrew: Bn'n Hrogi] see Monatsschrift, xxii. +514.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id= +"page308"></a>{308}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-19" name= +"footnote1-19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-19">(return)</a> +<p>Catalogue de Rossi, in. 200; Ha-Maggid, 1860, pp. 299-302; HUH, +pp. 33, 40.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-20" name= +"footnote1-20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-20">(return)</a> +<p>Autobiography, p. 39.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-21" name= +"footnote1-21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-21">(return)</a> +<p>LBJ, ii. 95, n.; Ha-'Ibri, New York, viii., no. 33; Lehem +ha-Panim, Hil. Nedarim, no. 228.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-22" name= +"footnote1-22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-22">(return)</a> +<p>Nishmat Hayyim, Lemberg, 1858, p. 83a; Azulaï, Shem +ha-Gedolim, s.v. Horowitz; FKN, p. 74, and Ha-Maggid, in. 159. Cf. +Sheerit Yisraël, ch. 32, and Edelman, Gedulat Shaül, +London, 1854. Reifman, in Ha-Maggid, claims that to Luria belongs +the honor of being the first-known Jewish author.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-23" name= +"footnote1-23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-23">(return)</a> +<p>See Zikronot, ed. Cohan, pp. 62-66, 90, 313, 336, 380, passim; +Schechter, Studies in Judaism, Philadelphia, 1908, ii. 132.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-24" name= +"footnote1-24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-24">(return)</a> +<p>Margoliuth, Hibbure Likkutim, Venice, 1715, Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-25" name= +"footnote1-25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-25">(return)</a> +<p>Horowitz, Frankfurter Rabbinen, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1883, pp. +30-35; FKN, pp. 73-91; Emden, op. cit, p. 125; and biographies.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-26" name= +"footnote1-26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-26">(return)</a> +<p>LTI, ii. 81, n.; Hannover, Yeven Mezulah, Warsaw, 1872, p. +7b.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-27" name= +"footnote1-27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-27">(return)</a> +<p>Zunz, Literaturgeschichte, pp. 433-435, 442; Buber, Anshe Shem, +Cracow, 1895, pp. 307-309; Benjacob, Ozar ha-Sefarim, p. 396; JE, +xi. 217; Bikkure ha-'Ittim, 1830, p. 43. Jacob of Gnesen, I +suspect, must have lived in Russia.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-28" name= +"footnote1-28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-28">(return)</a> +<p>Steinschneider, Jewish Literature, pp. 235, 240; Benjacob, op. +cit, p. 396.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-29" name= +"footnote1-29"></a><b>Footnote 29:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-29">(return)</a> +<p>JE, xii. 265-266: "Enfin les incrédules les plus +déterminés n'out presque rien allégué +qui ne soit dans le Rampart de la Foi du Rabbin Isaac."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-30" name= +"footnote1-30"></a><b>Footnote 30:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-30">(return)</a> +<p>Nusbaum, Historya Zhidóv, i. p. 180; Edelman, op. cit, +attributes the coming of Saul Wahl to this cause.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-31" name= +"footnote1-31"></a><b>Footnote 31:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-31">(return)</a> +<p>The Elim (Amsterdam, 1629), if not, as the Karaites maintain, +actually the work of Zerah Troki, was surely the result of the +problems submitted by him to Delmedigo.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-32" name= +"footnote1-32"></a><b>Footnote 32:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-32">(return)</a> +<p>JE, iv. 504; vii. 264; xii. 266; Ha-Eshkol, iii. and iv. (R.M. +Jarre); LTI, ii. 80; Benjacob, op. cit, no. 1428.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id= +"page309"></a>{309}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-33" name= +"footnote1-33"></a><b>Footnote 33:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-33">(return)</a> +<p>Zunz, Ritus, Berlin, 1859, p. 73, and Gottesdienstliche +Vorträge, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1892, p. 452, n.a.; Wessely, +Dibre Shalom we-Emet, ii. 7; Benjacob, op. cit., no. 1187.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-34" name= +"footnote1-34"></a><b>Footnote 34:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-34">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, 1893, i. 79; New Era Illustrated Magazine, v.; FNI, p. +28 f.; JE, i. 113; ii. 22, 622; xii. 265.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-35" name= +"footnote1-35"></a><b>Footnote 35:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-35">(return)</a> +<p>JE, vii. 454.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-36" name= +"footnote1-36"></a><b>Footnote 36:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-36">(return)</a> +<p>JE, i. 372; iv. 140; Ha-Yekeb, 1894, p. 68.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-37" name= +"footnote1-37"></a><b>Footnote 37:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-37">(return)</a> +<p>Bersohn, Tobiasz Cohn, Warsaw, 1872.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-38" name= +"footnote1-38"></a><b>Footnote 38:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-38">(return)</a> +<p>Cf. FKN, pp. 38-42 (Vilna constitution); Hannover, op. cit., p. +23a; Ha-Modia' la-Hadashim, II. i. II, and JE, s.v. Council, Kahal, +Lithuania, etc.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-39" name= +"footnote1-39"></a><b>Footnote 39:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-39">(return)</a> +<p>See GMC, pp. 59 f., and compare with this Lermontoff's Cossack +Cradle-Song, which may be taken as a type:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Sleep, my child, my little darling, sleep, I sing to thee;</p> +<p class="i2">Silently the soft white moonbeams fall on thee and +me.</p> +<p>I will tell thee fairy stories in my lullaby;</p> +<p class="i2">Sleep, my child, my pretty darling, sleep, I sing to +thee.</p> +<p>Lo, I see the day approaching when the warriors meet;</p> +<p class="i2">Then wilt thou grasp thy rifle and mount thy charger +fleet.</p> +<p>I will broider in thy saddle colors fair to see,</p> +<p>Sleep, my child, my little darling, sleep, I sing to thee.</p> +<p>Then my Cossack boy, my hero brave and proud and gay,</p> +<p class="i2">Waves one farewell to his mother and rides far +away.</p> +<p>Oh, what sorrow, pain and anguish then my soul shall fill,</p> +<p class="i2">As I pray by day and night that God will keep thee +still!</p> +<p>Thou shalt take a saint's pure image to the battlefield,</p> +<p class="i2">Look upon it when thou prayest, may it be thy +shield.</p> +<p>And when battles fierce are raging, give one thought to me;</p> +<p class="i2">Sleep, my darling, calmly, sweetly, sleep, I sing to +thee.</p> +<p> </p> +<p>—Westminster Gazette.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>See Güdemann, Quellen zur Geschichte des Unterrichts, +Berlin, 1891, pp. 285-286; Ha-Boker Or, i. 315 (on Dubno); +Ha-Meliz, 1894, no. 254 (on Mohilev); Zunz, Gottesdienstliche +Vorträge, pp. 122g and 470a; cf. Weiss, Zikronotaï, +Warsaw, 1895, pp. 53-83.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id= +"page310"></a>{310}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote1-40" name= +"footnote1-40"></a><b>Footnote 40:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag1-40">(return)</a> +<p>Cf. Güdemann, Geschichte des Erziehungswesens, iii. 94, n., +and see Dembitzer, Kelilat Yofi, Introduction, and Meassef, St. +Petersburg, 1902, p. 205, n.</p> +</blockquote> +<h3><a name="notes-2" id="notes-2">CHAPTER II</a></h3> +<h4>DAYS OF TRANSITION</h4> +<h4>1648-1794</h4> +<h4>(pp. 53-109)</h4> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-1" name= +"footnote2-1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-1">(return)</a> +<p>JE, s.v. Bratzlav.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-2" name= +"footnote2-2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-2">(return)</a> +<p>In the diary of a Polish squire we find the following item: +"Jan. 5. As the lessee Herszka had not yet paid me the rental of 91 +gulden, I went to his house to get my debt. According to the +contract, I can arrest him and his wife for as long as I wish, +until he settles the bill, and so I ordered him locked up in the +pig-sty and left his wife and his sons in the inn. The youngest +son, however, I took with me to the palace to be instructed in the +rudiments of our religion. The boy is unusually bright and shall be +baptized. I already wrote to our priest concerning it, and he +promised to come to prepare him. Leisza at first stubbornly refused +to make the sign of the cross and repeat our prayers, but Strelicki +administered a sound whipping, and to-day he even ate ham. Our +venerable priest Bonapari ... is inventing all manner of means to +break his stiff-neckedness." Meassef, St. Petersburg, 1902, pp. +192-193.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-3" name= +"footnote2-3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-3">(return)</a> +<p>See Wolkonsky, Pictures of Russian History and Literature, +Boston, 1897, p. 136.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-4" name= +"footnote2-4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-4">(return)</a> +<p>Orshansky, in Yevreyskaya Biblyotyeka, ii. 207.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-5" name= +"footnote2-5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-5">(return)</a> +<p>Meassef, St. Petersburg, 1902, p. 195; Beck and Brann, +Yevreyskaya Istoriya, p. 326; JE, iv. 155; xi. 113.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-6" name= +"footnote2-6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-6">(return)</a> +<p>Meassef, p. 200. On Russia at the time of Peter the Great, see +Macaulay, History of England, ch. xxiii., where he describes the +"savage ignorance and the squalid poverty of the barbarous +country." In that country "there was neither literature nor +science, neither school nor college. It was not till more than a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id= +"page311"></a>{311}</span> hundred years after the invention of +printing that a single printing-press had been introduced into the +Russian empire, and that printing-press speedily perished in a +fire, which was supposed to have been kindled by priests." When +Pyoter Vyeliki (Peter the Great), while in London, saw the +archiepiscopal library, he declared that "he had never imagined +that there were so many printed volumes in the world." See also +Carlyle, History of Frederick the Great, iv. 7.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-7" name= +"footnote2-7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-7">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, pp. 126-132; Voskhod, 1893; on the Hasidim and Mitnaggedim +see below.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-8" name= +"footnote2-8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-8">(return)</a> +<p>Ma'aseh Tobiah, p. 18; Meassef, pp. 206-209; Geiger (Melo +Hofnayim, Berlin, 1840, pp. 1-29) published Delmedigo's +corroboration of this statement.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-9" name= +"footnote2-9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-9">(return)</a> +<p>Rapoport, Etan ha-'Ezrahi, Ostrog, 1776, Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-10" name= +"footnote2-10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-10">(return)</a> +<p>Cf. Zederbaum, Keter Kehunnah, pp. 72-74, 84, 121, etc., and +Ha-Shiloah, xxi. 165; Schechter, Studies in Judaism, i., +Philadelphia, 1896, i. 17 f., and Greenstone, The Messiah Idea in +Jewish History, pp. 237 f. According to some, Judah he-Hasid and +his followers went to Palestine in the expectation, not of the +Messiah, but of Shabbataï Zebi, who was believed to have been +in hiding for forty years, in imitation of the retirement of Moses +in Midian for a similar period of years. "The ruins of Rabbi Judah +he-Hasid's synagogue" and Yeshibah in Jerusalem still keep the +memory of the event fresh in the minds of Palestinian Jews.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-11" name= +"footnote2-11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-11">(return)</a> +<p>Among the many wonderful episodes in the life of the master, his +biographer mentions also that he could swallow down the largest +gobletful in a single gulp (Shibhe ha-Besht, Berdichev, 1815, pp. +7-8). The best, though not an impartial work on Hasidism is +Zweifel's Shalom 'al Yisraël, 4 vols., Zhitomir, +1868-1872.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-12" name= +"footnote2-12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-12">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Boker Or, iv. 103-105: [Hebrew: H'fkormot Mn Nshmot M'lh +Hngon.]</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-13" name= +"footnote2-13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-13">(return)</a> +<p>Cf. Emden, op. cit., p. 185, and Shimush, Amsterdam, 1785, pp. +78-80, with Pardes, ii. 204-214.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-14" name= +"footnote2-14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-14">(return)</a> +<p>See Schechter, op. cit., pp. 73-93; Silber, Elijah Gaon, 1906; +Levin, 'Aliyat Eliyahu, Vilna, 1856, and FKN, pp. 133-155.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-15" name= +"footnote2-15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-15">(return)</a> +<p>Levin, op. cit., pp. 28-30.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id= +"page312"></a>{312}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-16" name= +"footnote2-16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-16">(return)</a> +<p>See Ha-Bikkurim, i. 1-26; ii. 1-20; Ha-Zeman (monthly), 1903, +ii. 6; Plungian, Ben Porat, Vilna, 1858, p. 33; Keneset +Yisraël, iii. 152 seq.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-17" name= +"footnote2-17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-17">(return)</a> +<p>Sirkes (Bayit Hadash, Cracow, 1631, p. 40) decides that Jews may +employ in their synagogue melodies used in the church, since "music +is neither Jewish nor Christian, but is governed by universal +laws." See also Hayyim ben Bezalel's Wikkuah Mayim Hayyim, +Introduction, and passim.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-18" name= +"footnote2-18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-18">(return)</a> +<p>See J.S. Raisin, Sect, Creed and Custom in Judaism, +Philadelphia, 1907, p. 9, and ch. viii.; Ha-Meliz, x. 186, +192-194.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-19" name= +"footnote2-19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-19">(return)</a> +<p>See Ha-Zeman (monthly), 1903, ii. 7.; Shklov, Euclidus, +Introduction; Keneset Yisraël, 1887, and Hagra on Orah Hayyim, +Shklov, 1803, Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-20" name= +"footnote2-20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-20">(return)</a> +<p>See Graetz, op. cit, xi. 590, 604, 606. The Gaon, who as a rule +was very mild, lost patience with the Hasidim and wielded the +weapons of the kuni (or stocks and exposures) and excommunication +without mercy. The Hasidim were also accused of being not only +religious dissenters but revolutionaries. Zeitlin, quoted in +Yiddishes Tageblatt, from the Moment, March, 1913.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-21" name= +"footnote2-21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-21">(return)</a> +<p>See Karpeles, Time of Mendelssohn, p. 297; Kayserling, +Mendelssohn, p. 12; Ha-Meliz, 1900, nos. 194-196.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-22" name= +"footnote2-22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-22">(return)</a> +<p>Epstein, Geburat ha-Ari, Vilna, 1870, p. 29; Rabinovich, Zunz, +Warsaw, 1896; Wessely, op. cit., ii.; Linda, Reshit Limmudim, +Berlin, 1789, and Ha-Zeman (monthly), ii. 28.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-23" name= +"footnote2-23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-23">(return)</a> +<p>Delitzsch, Zur Geschichte der jüdischen Poesie, Leipsic, +1836, p. 118; Bernfeld, Dor Tahapukot, Warsaw, 1897, pp. 88 f. +Dubno also edited Luzzatto's La-Yesharim Tehillah, which, according +to Slouschz, marks the beginning of the renaissance in Hebrew +belles-lettres.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-24" name= +"footnote2-24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-24">(return)</a> +<p>Published in Berlin in 1793. It was translated into English by +Murray (Solomon Maimon, Boston, 1888) and into Hebrew by Taviov +(Warsaw, 1899).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-25" name= +"footnote2-25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-25">(return)</a> +<p>Bernfeld, op. cit., ii. 66 f. JE, s.v. Maimon; and Autobiography +(Engl. transl.), p. 217. For Maimon's system of philosophy and also +for a complete bibliography of his writings, see <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313"></a>{313}</span> Kunz, Die +Philosophic Salomon Maimons, Heidelberg, 1912, pp. xxv, 531.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-26" name= +"footnote2-26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-26">(return)</a> +<p>Wolff, Maimoniana, Berlin, 1813, p. 177.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-27" name= +"footnote2-27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-27">(return)</a> +<p>How touching and suggestive is the word [Hebrew: Shbi] in an +acrostic at the end of his Introduction to his Gibe'at ha-Moreh, a +commentary on the Moreh Nebukim:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>'hobi ykr kor'</p> +<p>'bi vshm shmi hd'</p> +<p>Shbi bmlt bhtboknn</p> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-28" name= +"footnote2-28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-28">(return)</a> +<p>See Murray's Introduction to the Autobiography; Auerbach, +Dichter und Kaufmann; Zangwill, Nathan the Wise and Solomon the +Fool.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-29" name= +"footnote2-29"></a><b>Footnote 29:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-29">(return)</a> +<p>FKI, p. 196.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-30" name= +"footnote2-30"></a><b>Footnote 30:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-30">(return)</a> +<p>Maggid, Toledot Mishpehot Ginzberg, pp. 52-53; Emden, +Sheëlat Ya'abez, Altona, 1739, p. 65 a.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-31" name= +"footnote2-31"></a><b>Footnote 31:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-31">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, pp. 109-114, 269; FKI, p. 300.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-32" name= +"footnote2-32"></a><b>Footnote 32:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-32">(return)</a> +<p>FKI, p. 394; Delitzsch, op. cit, p. 84.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-33" name= +"footnote2-33"></a><b>Footnote 33:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-33">(return)</a> +<p>L'univers Israélite, liii. 831-841: "C'est, vous le +voyez, un juif polonais qui contribua puissamment à +l'émancipation des juifs de France. Et je me demande si le +Judaisme du monde entier ne doit pas rendre hommage à notre +coreligionnaire polonais autant peut-être qu' à +Menasse ben Israël." FKI, p. 333; Ha-Meliz, ii. no. 50; +Shulammit, iii. 425; Graetz, op. cit. (Engl. transl.), v. 443.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-34" name= +"footnote2-34"></a><b>Footnote 34:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-34">(return)</a> +<p>See Berliner, Festschrift, 1903, pp. 1-4.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-35" name= +"footnote2-35"></a><b>Footnote 35:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-35">(return)</a> +<p>See Ha-Meliz, viii. nos. 11, 22, 23; FSL, p. 139; Monatsschrift, +xxiv, 348-357.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-36" name= +"footnote2-36"></a><b>Footnote 36:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-36">(return)</a> +<p>Delitzsch, op. cit., pp. 115-118; Ha-Zeman (monthly), ii. 23 +f.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-37" name= +"footnote2-37"></a><b>Footnote 37:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-37">(return)</a> +<p>See Meassef, 1788, p. 32, and Levin's ed. of Moreh Nebukim, +Zolkiev, 1829, Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-38" name= +"footnote2-38"></a><b>Footnote 38:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-38">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meassef, 1809, pp. 68-75, 136-171.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-39" name= +"footnote2-39"></a><b>Footnote 39:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-39">(return)</a> +<p>See Sefer ha-Berit, Introduction, and Weissberg, +Aufklärungsliteratur, Vienna, 1898, p. 83.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-40" name= +"footnote2-40"></a><b>Footnote 40:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-40">(return)</a> +<p>FKI, p. 428.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id= +"page314"></a>{314}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-41" name= +"footnote2-41"></a><b>Footnote 41:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-41">(return)</a> +<p>See Emden, Torat ha-Kenaot, pp. 123-127, and Hitabkut (Pinczov's +letters); Voskhod, 1882, nos. viii-ix; FSL, pp. 136-137; +Friedrichsfeld, Zeker Zaddik, p. 12.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-42" name= +"footnote2-42"></a><b>Footnote 42:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-42">(return)</a> +<p>Maimon, Autobiography, pp. 106-107; FSL, p. 135.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-43" name= +"footnote2-43"></a><b>Footnote 43:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-43">(return)</a> +<p>See LTI, ii. 96, n. 1, and Yellin and Abrahams, Maimonides, p. +160, and reference on p. 330, n. 72; Ha-Zeman (monthly), i. +102-103; Margolioth, Bet Middot, p. 20. Heine's admiration for +these idealists or those who succeeded them is well worth quoting. +In his essay on Poland, he says: "In spite of the barbaric fur cap +which covers his head and the even more barbaric ideas which fill +it, I value the Polish Jew much more than many a German Jew with +his Bolivar on his head and his Jean Paul inside of it.... The +Polish Jew in his unclean furred coat, with his populous beard and +his smell of garlic and his Jewish jargon, is nevertheless dearer +to me than many a Westerner in all the glory of his stocks and +bonds."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-44" name= +"footnote2-44"></a><b>Footnote 44:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-44">(return)</a> +<p>Op. cit. Letter ii.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote2-45" name= +"footnote2-45"></a><b>Footnote 45:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag2-45">(return)</a> +<p>Likkute Kadmoniot, Vilna, 1860, Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<h3><a name="notes-3" id="notes-3">CHAPTER III</a></h3> +<h4>THE DAWN OF HASKALAH</h4> +<h4>1794-1840</h4> +<h4>(pp. 110-161)</h4> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-1" name= +"footnote3-1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-1">(return)</a> +<p>See Orshansky, in Yevreyskaya Biblyotyeka, ii. 240; Drabkin, in +Monatsschrift, xix-xx.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-2" name= +"footnote3-2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-2">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, pp. 27, 303.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-3" name= +"footnote3-3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-3">(return)</a> +<p>JE, iv. 301; Plungian, op. cit, p. 59.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-4" name= +"footnote3-4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-4">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, p. 193.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-5" name= +"footnote3-5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-5">(return)</a> +<p>JE, iv. 407.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-6" name= +"footnote3-6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-6">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, p. 193; Jellinek, Kuntres ha-Rambam, pp. 39f.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-7" name= +"footnote3-7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-7">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, v. 360.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-8" name= +"footnote3-8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-8">(return)</a> +<p>Jost, Culturgeschichte, Berlin, 1847, p. 302.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-9" name= +"footnote3-9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-9">(return)</a> +<p>Steinschneider, 'Ir Vilna, 1900, p. 146.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-10" name= +"footnote3-10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-10">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, 1881, ii. 29-30; 1900, p. 55.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id= +"page315"></a>{315}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-11" name= +"footnote3-11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-11">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, pp. 277-279.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-12" name= +"footnote3-12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-12">(return)</a> +<p>See Rabinovitz, Ma'amar 'al ha-Defosat ha-Talmud, Munich, 1876, +p. 112. Cf. Zweifel, op. cit., iv. 7.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-13" name= +"footnote3-13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-13">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, pp. 277-279.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-14" name= +"footnote3-14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-14">(return)</a> +<p>Toledot Adam, pp. 14 b, 16 b, 24 b, 75 b, 84 a.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-15" name= +"footnote3-15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-15">(return)</a> +<p>See Plungian, op cit., pp. 46-47, 91; Voskhod, 1900, ix. 77; +Ha-Zeman (monthly), 1903, iii. 22-30; see also Die Zukunft, New +York, July, 1913, pp. 713 f.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-16" name= +"footnote3-16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-16">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, Dec., 1890, pp. 142 f.; Ha-Boker Or, Jan., 1881.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-17" name= +"footnote3-17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-17">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, 1888, iii. 37 f; Rodkinson, Toledot 'Ammude HaBaD.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-18" name= +"footnote3-18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-18">(return)</a> +<p>Cohan, Rabbi Yisraël Ba'al Shem Tob, 1900, p. 67.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-19" name= +"footnote3-19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-19">(return)</a> +<p>'Ammude Bet Yehudah, xxvii., and see Ha-Zeman (monthly), ii. +8-15.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-20" name= +"footnote3-20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-20">(return)</a> +<p>Buchholtz, op. cit., Beilage 14, pp. 137-138.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-21" name= +"footnote3-21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-21">(return)</a> +<p>See Weissberg, op. cit., p. 53; Talmud Leshon Russiah, Vilna, +1825; Moda' li-Bene Binah, ibid., 1826; cf. Baër Heteb, +Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-22" name= +"footnote3-22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-22">(return)</a> +<p>Helel ben Shahar, Warsaw, 1804, Introduction, and p. 81. See +Peri ha-Arez Yashan, Letter 2, quoted by Dubnow, Pardes, ii. +210-211.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-23" name= +"footnote3-23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-23">(return)</a> +<p>Keneset Yisraël, i. 138; Morgulis, Voprosi Yevreyskoy +Zhizni, pp. 7-10.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-24" name= +"footnote3-24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-24">(return)</a> +<p>Enziklopedichesky Slovar, St. Petersburg, 1895, xvii. 642.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-25" name= +"footnote3-25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-25">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Shahar, x. 44-52; FKN, p. 33; Ha-Boker Or, i. 145-146.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-26" name= +"footnote3-26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-26">(return)</a> +<p>FSL, p. 164.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-27" name= +"footnote3-27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-27">(return)</a> +<p>See Günzburg, Ha-Debir, Warsaw, 1883, ii. 55; Israelitische +Annalen, 1840, p. 263.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-28" name= +"footnote3-28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-28">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Zeman (monthly), iii. 10.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-29" name= +"footnote3-29"></a><b>Footnote 29:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-29">(return)</a> +<p>Minor, op. cit, p. 46; Lerner, Yevreyi v Novorossiskom Kraye, +Odessa, 1901, p. 234; Monatsschrift, xviii. 234 f., 477 f., 551 +f.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-30" name= +"footnote3-30"></a><b>Footnote 30:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-30">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, 1881, i-iii; Ha-Zeman (monthly), iii. 11-14.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-31" name= +"footnote3-31"></a><b>Footnote 31:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-31">(return)</a> +<p>Op. cit, pp. 208-209.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-32" name= +"footnote3-32"></a><b>Footnote 32:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-32">(return)</a> +<p>Cf. Graetz, xi. 50; Kayserling, op. cit, p. 288; Fünn, +Sofre Yisraël, Vilna, 1891, pp. 138-143; WMG, p. 135.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id= +"page316"></a>{316}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-33" name= +"footnote3-33"></a><b>Footnote 33:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-33">(return)</a> +<p>Graetz, xi. 590, 604, 606; Annalen, xx. 467; Kayserling, op. +cit., p. 307; Landshut, Toledot Anshe Shem, p. 85.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-34" name= +"footnote3-34"></a><b>Footnote 34:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-34">(return)</a> +<p>[Hebrew: Yd Tshlhu 'l Rm''d Bsfri]. Weiss, Zikronotaï, p. +58, n.; Ha-Zeman (monthly), i. and iii. 18-19.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-35" name= +"footnote3-35"></a><b>Footnote 35:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-35">(return)</a> +<p>Zweifel, op. cit., pp. 35-40, and Ha-Hasidut we-ha-Musar in +Ha-Meliz, 1897; Toledot Mishpehot Shneersohn, in Ha-Asif, v. 35-40, +and Nefesh Hayyim, iii. 3.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-36" name= +"footnote3-36"></a><b>Footnote 36:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-36">(return)</a> +<p>Mandelkern, Dibre Yeme Russyah, iii. 98; American Israelite, +nos. 15, 18, etc. (My Travels in Russia); Gordon, Ha-Azamot +ha-Yebashot, Odessa, 1899; AZJ, 1854, p. 22; Zunser, Biography, New +York, 1905, pp. 15-19 (Engl. transl., pp. 14-18); Shenot Ra'inu +Ra'ah, in Ha-Meliz, 1860; Sefer ha-Shanah, iii. 82-101, and GMC, +nos. 43-50. One of these songs runs as follows:</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>On the streets in tears we're wading,</p> +<p>In our bairns' blood we might be bathing;</p> +<p>What a misfortune, ah, wellaway—</p> +<p>Will never dawn the better day?</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Little infants from heder are torn,</p> +<p>And forced to wear the soldier's uniform;</p> +<p>What a misfortune, etc.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Our leaders, rabbis, and honored elders,</p> +<p>E'en help to impress them for the czar's soldiers;</p> +<p>What a misfortune, etc.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Seven sons has Zushe Rakover,</p> +<p>Yet not a one for the army is over;</p> +<p>What a misfortune, etc.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Leah, the widow, has an only son,</p> +<p>And for the kahal's sins he's gone;</p> +<p>What a misfortune, etc.</p> +</div> +</div> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id= +"page317"></a>{317}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-37" name= +"footnote3-37"></a><b>Footnote 37:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-37">(return)</a> +<p>GMC, no. 42. On similar enthusiasm among the Galician Maskilim, +see Erter, Kol Kore, in Ha-Zofeh le-Bet Yisrael, Warsaw, 1890, pp. +131-133.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-38" name= +"footnote3-38"></a><b>Footnote 38:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-38">(return)</a> +<p>Elk, Die jüdischen Kolonien in Russland, +Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1886, pp. 28-53, 60-80, 119-140, 153-160, +205-208; Jastrow, Beleuchtungen, etc., Hamburg, 1859, pp. +109-113.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-39" name= +"footnote3-39"></a><b>Footnote 39:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-39">(return)</a> +<p>See Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, Berlin, 1875, pp, 279-290; Jost, +Freimüthige Beleuchtung, Berlin, 1830; and Culturgeschichte, +pp. 302-303.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-40" name= +"footnote3-40"></a><b>Footnote 40:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-40">(return)</a> +<p>Rabinovitz, op. cit., pp. 11-18.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-41" name= +"footnote3-41"></a><b>Footnote 41:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-41">(return)</a> +<p>On Volozhin, see Ha-Kerem, 1887, pp. 67-77; Bikkurim, 1865, pp. +6-45; Ozar ha-Sifrut, iii.; Ha-Asif, iii.; Ha-Meliz, 1900, nos. +16-18; Schechter, op. cit., i. 93-98; Horowitz, Derek 'Ez +ha-Hayyim, Cracow, 1895. The yeshibah was reopened under the +deanship of Rabbi Raphael Shapira of Bobruisk, and still exists, +though in a rather precarious condition.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-42" name= +"footnote3-42"></a><b>Footnote 42:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-42">(return)</a> +<p>Read the vivid description in WMG, p. 147.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-43" name= +"footnote3-43"></a><b>Footnote 43:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-43">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, ii. 563-564.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-44" name= +"footnote3-44"></a><b>Footnote 44:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-44">(return)</a> +<p>Uvarov's opinion of the Talmud was "razvrashchal i +raz-vrashchayet" ("it has been degrading and is degrading"). +Nicholas granted special privileges to the Karaites, and claimed +they were the genuine Israelites, chiefly because they did not +follow the precepts of the Talmud.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-45" name= +"footnote3-45"></a><b>Footnote 45:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-45">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, ii. 562-563.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-46" name= +"footnote3-46"></a><b>Footnote 46:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-46">(return)</a> +<p>See Loewe, Diaries of Sir Moses and Lady Montefiore, London, +1890, i. 100, 231, 311-312, passim; Günzburg, Debir, ii. +99-108; (Dick), Ha-Oreah, Königsberg, 1860.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-47" name= +"footnote3-47"></a><b>Footnote 47:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-47">(return)</a> +<p>Günzburg, op. cit., pp. 115-117, 122-125; Leket Amarim +(suppl. to Ha-Meliz), St. Petersburg, 1887, pp. 81-86; AZJ, ix. +nos. 46-50; x. nos. 5, 49, etc.; Jastrow, op. cit., p. 12, +Lubliner, De la condition politique .... dans le royaume de +Pologne, Brussels, 1860 (especially pp. 44-45).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote3-48" name= +"footnote3-48"></a><b>Footnote 48:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag3-48">(return)</a> +<p>GMC, no. 255.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id= +"page318"></a>{318}</span> +<h3><a name="notes-4" id="notes-4">CHAPTER IV</a></h3> +<h4>CONFLICTS AND CONQUESTS</h4> +<h4>1840-1855</h4> +<h4>(pp. 162-221)</h4> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-1" name= +"footnote4-1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-1">(return)</a> +<p>Diakov states that "when the population degenerated in West +Russia, business and industry declined, and the number of the rich +greatly diminished, while the nobles, embittered against the +Government, did absolutely nothing for their country, the Jews +formed an exception.... There is no doubt that they are doing their +utmost for the regeneration of our land, despite the restrictions +heaped upon them without any cause" (Elk, op. cit., p. 41 seq.). +Surovyetsky likewise maintains that "after the devastation of +Poland because of the numerous wars, the ruining of so many cities, +and the almost total extermination of their inhabitants ... the +Jews alone effected the regeneration of our trade. They alone +upheld our tottering industries .... We may safely affirm that +without them, without their characteristic mobility, we should +never have recovered our commerce and wealth" (Jastrow, op. cit., +p. 12).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-2" name= +"footnote4-2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-2">(return)</a> +<p>See AZJ, April 29, 1844, and Orient, 1844, P-224, in which the +correspondent adds: "It is a touching sight to see these laborers +(as longshoremen), for the most part aged, perform their fatiguing +duties in the streets during the hottest seasons, endeavoring to +lighten their heavy burdens by the repetition of Biblical and +Talmudic passages."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-3" name= +"footnote4-3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-3">(return)</a> +<p>Ozar ha-Sifrut, 1877; Annalen, 1839, pp. 345-346, and 1841, no. +31. Bikkure ha-'Ittim, 1821, pp. 168-172; FSL, p. 150; Paperna, +Ha-Derammah (Eichenbaum's letter); Ha-Boker Or, 1879, pp. 691-698; +Occident, v. 255; Pirhe Zafon, ii. 216-217; Ha-Maggid, 1863, p. +348; Orient, 1841, p. 266; Lapin, Keset ha-Sofer, Berlin, 1857, p. +8, and Morgulis, op. cit., p. 48.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-4" name= +"footnote4-4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-4">(return)</a> +<p>Jost, Culturgeschichte, pp. 308-309; Morgulis, op. cit., p. 27; +Atlas, Mah Lefanim u-mah Leaher, Warsaw, 1898, pp. 44 f.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id= +"page319"></a>{319}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-5" name= +"footnote4-5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-5">(return)</a> +<p>Sbornik of the Minister of Education, iii. 140; Ha-Shahar, iv. +569.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-6" name= +"footnote4-6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-6">(return)</a> +<p>See An die Verehrer, Freunde und Schüler, etc., Leipsic, +1823, pp. 122-125.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-7" name= +"footnote4-7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-7">(return)</a> +<p>Ueber die Verbesserung der Israeliten im Königreich Polen, +Berlin, 1819.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-8" name= +"footnote4-8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-8">(return)</a> +<p>Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften, pp. 296-297; Jost, op. cit, p. 304; +Jastrow, op. cit, pp. 41 f.; and Zederbaum, Kohelet, St. +Petersburg, 1881, p. 6.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-9" name= +"footnote4-9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-9">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, v. 493.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-10" name= +"footnote4-10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-10">(return)</a> +<p>Maggid Yeshu'ah, Vilna, September, 1842. It is reproduced, +together with many Haskalah reminiscences, by Gottlober in Ha-Boker +Or, iv. (Ha-Gizrah we-ha-Binyah). According to Gottlober the Hebrew +is Fünn's translation from the original German. Yet Hebrew +letters (Leket Amarim, St. Petersburg, 1888) were published in +Lilienthal's name.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-11" name= +"footnote4-11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-11">(return)</a> +<p>See AZJ, 1842, no. 41; Mandelstamm, Hazon la-Moëd, Vienna, +1877, pp. 19, 21, 25-27; Leket Amarim, pp. 86-89; Kohelet, p. 12; +Morgulis, op. cit, p. 55; Ha-Pardes, pp. 186-199; Nathanson, Sefer +ha-Zikronot, Warsaw, 1878, p. 70; Lilienthal, in American +Israelite, 1854 (My Travels in Russia), and Jüdisches +Volksblatt, 1856 (Meine Reisen in Russland), and Der Zeitgeist, +1882, p. 149.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-12" name= +"footnote4-12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-12">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, v. 252, 296.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-13" name= +"footnote4-13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-13">(return)</a> +<p>WMG, pp. 185-200; AZJ, 1844, pp. 75, 247; 1845, pp. 304-305; +1846, p. 18; American Israelite, i. 156.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-14" name= +"footnote4-14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-14">(return)</a> +<p>Rede, etc., Riga, 1840, p. 5.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-15" name= +"footnote4-15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-15">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Pardes, i. 202-203. See Bramson, op. cit., pp. 26-27; WMG, p. +118.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-16" name= +"footnote4-16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-16">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Kokabim, 1868, pp. 61-78; Ha-Kerem, 1887, pp. 41-62; Zweifel, +op. cit, pp. 55-56.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-17" name= +"footnote4-17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-17">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Mizpah, 1882, p. 17; Kohelet, p. 16; Sbornik of the Minister +of Education, 1840, pp. 340, 436-437, and Supplement, pp. 35-38; +Prelooker, Under the Czar and Queen Victoria, London, pp. 4-5; cf. +AZJ, 1846, p. 86.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-18" name= +"footnote4-18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-18">(return)</a> +<p>Elk, op. cit, ch. iii.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id= +"page320"></a>{320}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-19" name= +"footnote4-19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-19">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, v. 493; Nathanson, Sefat Emet, p. 92; Mandelstamm, op. +cit., pp. 31-32, and Morgulis, op. cit, pp. 102-147.</p> +<p>On tax collectors, cf. the English ballad quoted by Macaulay +(History of England, ch. iii.):</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>Like plundering soldiers they'd enter the door,</p> +<p>And made a distress on the goods of the poor,</p> +<p>While frightened poor children distractedly cried;</p> +<p>This nothing abated their insolent pride.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>And the Yiddish folk song (GMC, no. 55):</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>The excise young fellows,</p> +<p>They are tremendously wild:</p> +<p>They shave their beards,</p> +<p>And ride on horses,</p> +<p>Wear overshoes,</p> +<p>And eat with unwashed hands.</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>Their lack of confidence in the permanence of the schools is +expressed in the following song (GMC, no. 53):</p> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>May we soon be released from the Jewish Goless,</p> +<p>When we shall be expelled from the Gentile Scholess +(schools).</p> +</div> +</div> +<p>On the struggle to retain the so-called Jewish mode of dress, +see I.M. D(ick), Die Yiddishe Kleider Umwechslung, Vilna, 1844.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-20" name= +"footnote4-20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-20">(return)</a> +<p>Op. cit., pp. 12-13; cf. Letteris, in Moreh Nebuke ha-Zeman, +Introduction, pp. xv-xvi; Bramson, op. cit., pp. 34-35, 43-44, and +Levanda, Ocherki Proshlaho, St. Petersburg, 1876.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-21" name= +"footnote4-21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-21">(return)</a> +<p>Cf. Buckle, History of Civilization, New York, 1880, ii. +529-538.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-22" name= +"footnote4-22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-22">(return)</a> +<p>"Fifty years ago," says Mr. Rubinow (Bulletin of the Bureau of +Labor, no. 72, Washington, Sept., 1907, p. 578), "the educational +standard of the [Russian] Jews was higher than that of the Russian +people at large is at present."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-23" name= +"footnote4-23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-23">(return)</a> +<p>Mandelkern, op. cit., iii. 33.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id= +"page321"></a>{321}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-24" name= +"footnote4-24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-24">(return)</a> +<p>Buckle, op. cit., pp. 140-142, notes 33-37.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-25" name= +"footnote4-25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-25">(return)</a> +<p>The same phenomenon was witnessed to a certain extent also in +Galicia, where for a while Haskalah flourished in great splendor. +There, too, the charm and fecundity of German literature, the +similarity of Yiddish to German, and the privileges the Austrian +Government accorded them, proved too strong a temptation for the +Jews, and many of those who became enlightened were rapidly +assimilated with their Gentile countrymen. While, therefore, in +Galicia the Haskalah movement lasted longer than in Germany, it had +ceased long before it reached its fullest development in Russia. +Austrian civilization accelerated the assimilation of the educated, +Polish prejudice retarded the progress of the masses. So that +though Erter, Letteris, Krochmal, Goldenberg, Mieses, Rapoport, +Perl, and Schorr exerted a great influence in Russia, their own +country remained unaffected. Many of them, like A. Peretz, +Eichenbaum, Feder, Pinsker, Werbel, and Rosenfeld emigrated to +Russia, where they found a wider field for their activities, while +others, like Professor Ludwig Gumplowicz, the sociologist, +Marmorek, the physician, and Scheps, the litterateur, became +alienated from their former coreligionists.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-26" name= +"footnote4-26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-26">(return)</a> +<p>Keneset Yisraël, iii. 84; Gottlober, Za'ar Ba'ale Hayyim, +Zhitomir, 1868: [Hebrew: T'rng Nfshi 'lid Ki] (comp. Ps. xlii, and +Shir ha-Kabod, last verse).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-27" name= +"footnote4-27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-27">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, v. 243. Cf. Buchholtz, op. cit., pp. 82-116.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-28" name= +"footnote4-28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-28">(return)</a> +<p>Occident, v. 255; Yevreyskaya Biblyotyeka, ii. 207-210.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-29" name= +"footnote4-29"></a><b>Footnote 29:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-29">(return)</a> +<p>1840, no. 9.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-30" name= +"footnote4-30"></a><b>Footnote 30:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-30">(return)</a> +<p>Emden, Megillat Sefer, p. 5; Günzburg, Debir, ii. 105-106; +Mandelstamm, op. cit, i. 3-4, 11; Annalen, 1841, no. 31.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-31" name= +"footnote4-31"></a><b>Footnote 31:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-31">(return)</a> +<p>FKN, pp. 246-247; Günzburg, op. cit., i. 48. Moses Reines +also points out the fact that the prominent rabbis did not withhold +their approval of the most typical Haskalah works when their +authors were not suspected of heresy, as shown by Abele's haskamah +on Levinsohn's Te'udah be-Yisraël, Tiktin's on Günzburg's +Toledot ha-Arez, and Malbim's on Zweifel's Sanegor (Ozar ha-Sifrut, +1888, p. 61).</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id= +"page322"></a>{322}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-32" name= +"footnote4-32"></a><b>Footnote 32:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-32">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Boker Or, 1879, no. 4; FKI, pp. 537-538, 1132; Ha-Lebanon, +1872, no. 35; Ha-Zefirah, 1879, no. 9; Jewish Chronicle, May 4, +1877; Keneset Yisraël, 1887, pp. 157-162; Ha-Meliz, ix. +(1889), nos. 198-199, 201, 232; Jost, op. cit., p. 305. Da'at +Kedoshim, St. Petersburg, 1897, pp. 19, 22, 27.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote4-33" name= +"footnote4-33"></a><b>Footnote 33:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag4-33">(return)</a> +<p>These biographical sketches, first published respectively in the +New Era Illustrated Magazine (1905, pp. 387-396) and the American +Israelite (April 25, 1907), are drawn from the following sources; +Houzner, I.B. Levinsohn (Russian), Odessa, 1862; Nathanson, Sefer +ha-Zikronot (Heb.), Warsaw, 1878; Yiddishe Bibliotek (Yid.), Kiev, +1888; also Annalen, 1839, no. 17; Ha-Maggid, 1863, p. 381; +Ha-Zefirah, 1900, p. 197; Maggid, op. cit., pp. 86-115; +Günzburg, Debir, i. and ii., Warsaw, 1883; Kiryat Sefer, +Vilna, 1835 (esp. Letters 85-93, 101-102); Abi'ezer, Vilna, 1863; +Lebensohn, Kiryat Soferim, Vilna, 1847; Pardes, i. 192; Recke und +Napyersky, Allgemeines Schriftsteller und Gelehrten Lexicon der +Provinzen Livland, Esthland und Kurland, Mitau, 1829, pp. 147-148; +and the works referred to in the text.</p> +</blockquote> +<h3><a name="notes-5" id="notes-5">CHAPTER V</a></h3> +<h4>RUSSIFICATION, REFORMATION, AND ASSIMILATION</h4> +<h4>1856-1881</h4> +<h4>(pp. 222-267)</h4> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-1" name= +"footnote5-1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-1">(return)</a> +<p>San Donato, The Jewish Question, St. Petersburg, 1883, p. +36.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-2" name= +"footnote5-2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-2">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meliz, 1888, nos. 95, 163; Gordon, Iggerot, Warsaw, 1894, +ii., and Russky Vyestnik, 1858, i. 126.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-3" name= +"footnote5-3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-3">(return)</a> +<p>Scholz, Die Juden in Russland, Berlin, 1900, pp. 102-107; +Hessen, Galeriya, p. 23; Voskhod, 1881, v. 1893; viii; Russky +Yevrey, 1882, i.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-4" name= +"footnote5-4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-4">(return)</a> +<p>Second Complete Russian Code, xxv, nos. 24, 768; xxvii. nos. 26, +508.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-5" name= +"footnote5-5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-5">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, October, 1881; Chwolson, Die Blutanklage, +Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1901, p. 117.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-6" name= +"footnote5-6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-6">(return)</a> +<p>Zunser, Biography, p. 28.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id= +"page323"></a>{323}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-7" name= +"footnote5-7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-7">(return)</a> +<p>Kol Shire Mahallalel, i. 79-91.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-8" name= +"footnote5-8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-8">(return)</a> +<p>Kol Shire YeLeG, i. 43.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-9" name= +"footnote5-9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-9">(return)</a> +<p>Bramson, op. cit, pp. 52-54; Russky Yevrey, 1879, nos. +16-17.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-10" name= +"footnote5-10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-10">(return)</a> +<p>Rosenthal, Toledot Hebrat Marbe Haskalah, i. 3, 19, 103, +158-159; ii. Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-11" name= +"footnote5-11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-11">(return)</a> +<p>How happy the Maskilim of that time were to save their fellows +from the darkness of ignorance can be seen from the following +anecdote told by a Maskil in a retrospective mood (Ha-Shiloah, +xvii., 257-258): "Among the first of our young men to enter the +gymnasium of my native town of Mohilev were Ackselrod and the +Leventhal brothers. The former began to give instruction while he +was still in the third grade .... One morning he suddenly +disappeared. After several days of anxious search it was discovered +that he had left on foot for Shklov, a distance of about thirty +vyersts, and while there he succeeded in persuading fifteen boys to +leave the yeshibah and come with him to Mohilev, where, like a +puissant warrior returning in triumph, he went with his little army +to the different homes to secure board and lodging for them while +they were being prepared for admission into the gymnasium."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-12" name= +"footnote5-12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-12">(return)</a> +<p>Op. cit., p. 35 (Engl. transl., p. 26).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-13" name= +"footnote5-13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-13">(return)</a> +<p>Op. cit., p. 9.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-14" name= +"footnote5-14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-14">(return)</a> +<p>Max Raisin, The Reform Movement, etc. (reprint from the Year +Book of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, xvi.), +Introduction.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-15" name= +"footnote5-15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-15">(return)</a> +<p>Odessky Yevrey, 1847 (Novaya Yevreyskaya Synagoga v Odessa).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-16" name= +"footnote5-16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-16">(return)</a> +<p>Hessen, op. cit., p. 68; Voskhod, 1881, p. 132.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-17" name= +"footnote5-17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-17">(return)</a> +<p>Rosenthal, op. cit., p. 70; Gordon, Iggerot, nos. 60-62; +Ha-Meliz, xx, nos. 8, 11, 13.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-18" name= +"footnote5-18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-18">(return)</a> +<p>Voskhod, 1900, v.; Sefer ha-Shanah, ii. 288-290.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-19" name= +"footnote5-19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-19">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meliz, 1899, no. 39.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-20" name= +"footnote5-20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-20">(return)</a> +<p>Ben Sion, Yevrey Reformatory, St. Petersburg, 1882. In his +manifesto (Ha-Meliz, April 21, 1881) Gordon declared: "We have +discarded the dusty Talmud. We cannot rest satisfied, in questions +of religion, with the worm-eaten carcass, with the observances +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id= +"page324"></a>{324}</span> of rabbinical Judaism." See Ha-Shiloah, +ii. 53. See also Kahan, Meahore ha-Pargud (reprint from Ha-Meliz, +1885), St. Petersburg, 1886.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-21" name= +"footnote5-21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-21">(return)</a> +<p>Prelooker, op. cit., pp. 24 f.; Voskhod, Feb. 3, 1886; Razsvyet, +1881, no. 25.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-22" name= +"footnote5-22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-22">(return)</a> +<p>Duprey, Great Masters of Russian Literature (Engl. transl. Dole, +New York, 1886), p. 151.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-23" name= +"footnote5-23"></a><b>Footnote 23:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-23">(return)</a> +<p>Rosenthal, op. cit, i. 66, 103, 158-159; Ha-Maggid, 1868, p. 18. +Cf. McClintock and Strong, Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical +Cyclopedia, New York, 1891, ii. 805. The beautiful synagogue which +the Jews began to erect in Moscow at the cost of half a million +rubles was declared by Pobyednostsev to be "too high and imposing," +and they were compelled to destroy the cupola and deform the +interior. Nevertheless it had to remain a "dead" synagogue, until +Nicholas II was pleased to give permission to open it.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-24" name= +"footnote5-24"></a><b>Footnote 24:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-24">(return)</a> +<p>Shereshevsky, O Knigie Kahala, St. Petersburg, 1872; Seiberling, +Gegen Brafmann's Buch des Kahals, Vienna, 1881; Ha-Shahar, iv. 621; +xi. 242.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-25" name= +"footnote5-25"></a><b>Footnote 25:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-25">(return)</a> +<p>Prelooker, Heroes and Heroines of Russia, London, p. 120; +Ha-Shiloah, xvii. 257-263.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-26" name= +"footnote5-26"></a><b>Footnote 26:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-26">(return)</a> +<p>Zederbaum, 'Ayin Zofiyah, Warsaw, 1877, pp. 7-8; Prelooker, +Under the Czar, etc., pp. 8-21.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-27" name= +"footnote5-27"></a><b>Footnote 27:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-27">(return)</a> +<p>It may not be superfluous to quote here the vivid picture given +of the period I am now describing by Eliakum Zunser in his +interesting autobiography; the more, as it is depicted very much in +the style of the Maskilim of to-day:</p> +<p>"It is an accepted law in hygiene that the digestive system must +not be overburdened at any one time by too much food, that eating +must not be done hastily, and, above all, great care must be taken +to choose wholesome and digestible food. These principles are still +more important to one who is hungry, who has abstained from food +for any length of time. He should select the healthy and light +foods, and partake of little at first until the powers of digestion +are fully restored. Should he neglect to observe these simple +rules, he will ruin his digestive system, the food will +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id= +"page325"></a>{325}</span> turn into poison, and he may contract a +stubborn disease which no physician will be able to cure.</p> +<p>"This is exactly what happened to our Russian Jews from 1860 to +1880. For many long centuries they had endured an intellectual +fast. The Government had debarred them from the world's culture. +They were closely packed together in the narrow and dark ghettos. +They knew of their synagogues, yeshibot, and prayer-houses +(Kloisen) on the one hand, and of their little stores on the other. +That there was a great world beyond and without, a world of +culture, education, and civilization, of this they had only heard. +A great many of them strove to break through the bounds that +confined them and step into the world of light and life; but the +Cossack, lead-laden whip in hand, stood there ready to drive them +back.</p> +<p>"The thirst for education and civilization became daily more +intense, and reached the utmost limits of endurance. Five million +Russian Jews raised their hands to the Government and pleaded for +mercy: 'Release us from this ghetto! We, too, are human beings! +Give us breathing space! Give us light! We are faint and starving!' +And the Cossack promptly answered 'Nazad ('Back!') Here you are and +here you remain—not a step further!'</p> +<p>"And all at once, lo! there came a light! Alexander II, as soon +as he ascended the throne, opened wide the doors of the ghetto, and +the Russian Jews, young and old, men and women, rushed to the new +culture. All crowded to the dainty dish, and no time was lost in +making up for the intellectual fast.</p> +<p>"But here happened what usually occurs after a long fast. The +wiser partook of food with discretion. They selected the +ingredients which were wholesome, and which their system could +digest. All unripe, objectionable food they rejected; their main +object was to select the food which the Jewish system could +assimilate. The governing principle was to unite Jewish learning +with the new culture. They knew that among the new delicacies there +were many that were injurious and unhealthy, though the defects +were disguised by alluring spices; but those who had <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326"></a>{326}</span> not lost +the innate, unerring Jewish scent found no difficulty in +distinguishing that which was sound from the injurious, and they +remain strong and faithful Jews to this day.</p> +<p>"Others, and they formed the greater part of the Russian Jews, +seized things as they came. Nay, the more dangerous the delicacy, +the more the relish with which it was devoured. And these +delicacies were gorged at such a rate as to cause constitutional +disorder. They who were a little wiser somehow shook off the +objectionable matter, and became 'whole' again; and a great number +'died,' and a still greater number are dangerously 'sick' to this +very day.</p> +<p>"The sick among our Russian brethren, those who partook in +dangerous quantities of the unwholesome delicacies, believed that +they would solve all difficulties by 'Russification,' that is, by +abandoning the old Jewish culture and adopting Russian mannerisms +and customs—by ceasing to lead Jewish lives and by leading +the lives of Russians. A great number of Jewish literary men of +those times believed that if the Russian Jews would become +'Russified,' and would adopt modern civilization, they would +receive full and equal rights, on the same terms as the other +nationalities. These literary men were dazzled by the little +liberty Alexander II granted the Russian Jews, and they did not +understand that he pursued the same object as his father, Nicholas +I. In the days of Alexander II, many more Jews were converted to +Christianity than in the bitter days of Nicholas I; and many who +were not converted remained but caricatures of real Jews.</p> +<p>"The so-called 'Jewish Aristocracy' in Russia, and especially +the wealthy Jews of North Russia, of St. Petersburg, Moscow, and +Kharkov, Russified at top speed. They removed from their homes and +their home-life anything that was in the least degree Jewish. They +shattered all that for thousands of years had been holy and dear to +the Jew. Like apes they imitated the manners and customs of the +Christians. The younger children did not even know that they were +descended from Jews, as was the case in the first <span class= +"pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327"></a>{327}</span> +'pogroms,' when the children asked their parents: 'Why do they beat +us? Are we, too, Jews (Razve vy tozhe Yevrey)?'"</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote5-28" name= +"footnote5-28"></a><b>Footnote 28:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag5-28">(return)</a> +<p>For a full biography see Brainin, Perez ben Mosheh Smolenskin, +Warsaw, 1896; Keneset Yisraël, i. 249-286; Ha-Shiloah, i. +82-92, and his works, especially Ha-Toëh be-Darke ha-Hayyim, +Vienna, 1876.</p> +</blockquote> +<h3><a name="notes-6" id="notes-6">CHAPTER VI</a></h3> +<h4>THE AWAKENING</h4> +<h4>1881-1905</h4> +<h4>(pp. 268-303)</h4> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-1" name= +"footnote6-1"></a><b>Footnote 1:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-1">(return)</a> +<p>Most of this is based on Persecution of the Jews in Russia, +Philadelphia, 1891, pp. 8-18, 22, 35, 51-82, 184-185; Frederick, +The New Exodus, London, 1892, pp. 192-208; Errera, Les juifs +russes, Brussels, 1893, pp. 29, 43 f., 89-90, 188-189. Between 1883 +and 1885, the Mining Institute and Engineering Institute for Public +Roads adopted the five per cent limit, the Kharkov Technical +Institute a ten per cent limit, and the Veterinary Institute, of +the same city, the only one of the sort in Russia, excluded Jews +altogether.</p> +<p>"My zemlyakes" (countrymen), says a reminiscent writer, "soon +after they had finished their course in engineering, had taken each +a different road. One became a crown-rabbi, one a flour merchant, a +third a bookkeeper, but none of them could, on account of his +religion, legally pursue his chosen vocation" (Yiddishes Tageblatt, +New York, May 13, 1908).</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-2" name= +"footnote6-2"></a><b>Footnote 2:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-2">(return)</a> +<p>Urussov, Memoirs of a Russian Governor (Engl. transl., New York, +1908), pp. 70, 90-91. "Out of 266 students admitted to the Kharkov +University in 1901, only 8 were Jews, though at least 12 had +'finished the gymnasium,' not only with the 'highest possible' +marks, but with gold medals. At the Technological Institute of the +same city, 7 were Jews in a total of 240, though 12 applying for +admission had received the 'highest possible' marks. At the Kiev +University, of 580 new students, 32, all of them medallists, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id= +"page328"></a>{328}</span> were Jews. How many applied for +admission, the daily and weekly press, from which these figures are +taken, did not report."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-3" name= +"footnote6-3"></a><b>Footnote 3:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-3">(return)</a> +<p>Ner ha-Ma'arabi, vii, 27.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-4" name= +"footnote6-4"></a><b>Footnote 4:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-4">(return)</a> +<p>"He who claims that a spirit of reaction has affected our people +as a whole," says Moses Reines (Ozar ha-Sifrut, ii. 45), "is +greatly mistaken. That the children of the poor from whom learning +cometh forth still forsake their city and country and acquire +knowledge, ... that societies for the spread of Haskalah are formed +every day, ... that strict and pious Jews send their sons and +daughters to where they can obtain enlightenment, that rabbis, +dayyanim, and maggidim urge their children to become proficient in +the requirements of the times ... write for the press ... and +deplore the gezerot (restrictions) regarding admission to +schools—all this proves convincingly that they do not see +right who complain that our entire nation is going backward."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-5" name= +"footnote6-5"></a><b>Footnote 5:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-5">(return)</a> +<p>See Ha-Maggid, 1899, no. 160. While in 1848 there were 2446 and +in 1854, 4439 converts, in 1860-1880 there were from 350 to 450 per +annum, in 1881, 572, in 1882, 610, and in 1883, 461 converts. With +the spread of Zionism conversions continued to diminish, and, while +there were relapses during the renewed pogroms of 1891 and 1901, +they decreased materially, though the Jewish population is +constantly on the increase.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-6" name= +"footnote6-6"></a><b>Footnote 6:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-6">(return)</a> +<p>Autobiography, pp. 42-51. See also Kahan, Meahore ha-Pargud, pp. +15-17.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-7" name= +"footnote6-7"></a><b>Footnote 7:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-7">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meliz, 1900, no. 123; Luah Ahiasaf, 5696, p. 312; Zablotzky +and Massel, Ha-Yizhari, Manchester, 1895, Introduction; Ha-Meliz, +xxxvii, no. 36; The Menorah, April, 1904.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-8" name= +"footnote6-8"></a><b>Footnote 8:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-8">(return)</a> +<p>Yalkut Ma'arabi, 1904, pp. 46 f.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-9" name= +"footnote6-9"></a><b>Footnote 9:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-9">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Shahar, x. 511, 30; Habazelet, 1882, no. 2.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-10" name= +"footnote6-10"></a><b>Footnote 10:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-10">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Le'om, 1906, nos. 21-22; Belkind, in Ha-Zefirah, no. 46, +1913; Lubarsky and Lewin-Epstein, Derek Hayyim, New York, 1905.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-11" name= +"footnote6-11"></a><b>Footnote 11:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-11">(return)</a> +<p>Greenstone, The Messiah Idea in Jewish History, ch. viii.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-12" name= +"footnote6-12"></a><b>Footnote 12:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-12">(return)</a> +<p>The Progress of Zionism, pp. 3-4; cf. Voskhod, 1895, iv.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id= +"page329"></a>{329}</span> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-13" name= +"footnote6-13"></a><b>Footnote 13:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-13">(return)</a> +<p>Zamenhof's new universal language was primarily intended to be +the international language of his people, "who are speechless, and +therefore without hope, scattered over the world, and hence unable +to understand one another, obliged to take their culture from +strange and hostile sources."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-14" name= +"footnote6-14"></a><b>Footnote 14:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-14">(return)</a> +<p>Ahiasaf, iv.; Gordon, op. cit., i. xxi; Razsvyet, 1882, i.; +Magil's Kobez (Collection), no. 3, p. 45.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-15" name= +"footnote6-15"></a><b>Footnote 15:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-15">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meliz, 1899, no. 256; 1901, no. 2; weekly Voskhod, 1893, no. +40; monthly Voskhod, 1894, iv. Some Jewish financiers erected +gymnasia in Vilna and Warsaw, improved the condition of the +hadarim, and turned many Talmud Torahs into technical schools. Of +the Lodz Talmud Torah a writer says that "no Jewish community, even +outside of Russia, possesses such an institution, not excepting the +Hirsch schools in Galicia."</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-16" name= +"footnote6-16"></a><b>Footnote 16:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-16">(return)</a> +<p>London, Unter jüdischen Proletariern, 1898, pp. 81-83; +Bramson, K Istorii, etc., pp. 63-69, 71-74; Ha-Meliz, xli., no. 246 +(1901, no, 35); Ha-Zefirah, xxix., no. 285; and the Jewish Gazette, +July 16, 1909 (Kunst und Nationalismus). The Ha-Zamir (a choral +society), founded in Lodz by Nissan Schapira, counts its members by +the thousands.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-17" name= +"footnote6-17"></a><b>Footnote 17:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-17">(return)</a> +<p>London, op. cit, pp. 64-74; Ha-Meliz, 1900, nos. 192-193; +Rubinow, op. cit., pp. 530-532, 548-553, 561-566.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-18" name= +"footnote6-18"></a><b>Footnote 18:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-18">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meliz, 1901, nos. 20, 27, 36, 54, 95.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-19" name= +"footnote6-19"></a><b>Footnote 19:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-19">(return)</a> +<p>Atlas, Mah Lefanim u-mah Leaher, pp. 53 f.; Ha-Meliz, 1900, no. +47; 1901, no. 27.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-20" name= +"footnote6-20"></a><b>Footnote 20:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-20">(return)</a> +<p>Ha-Meliz, 1901, no. 87.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-21" name= +"footnote6-21"></a><b>Footnote 21:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-21">(return)</a> +<p>Réflexions sur l'état des israélites +russes, Odessa, 1871, pp. 121-122.</p> +</blockquote> +<blockquote class="footnote"><a id="footnote6-22" name= +"footnote6-22"></a><b>Footnote 22:</b><a href= +"#footnotetag6-22">(return)</a> +<p>Kayserling, Die jüdischen Frauen, Leipsic, 1879, pp. +306-313; Rubinow, op. cit., p. 581. The Russian Jewess has already +produced several writers above the average (Einhorn, Mosessohn, Ben +Yehudah, Sarah and Eva Schapira) in Hebrew, has given Russian +literature at least one novelist of note (Rachel Khin), has +furnished leaders in the movement for the emancipation of women +(Maria Saker), and especially for the liberation of Russia +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page330" id= +"page330"></a>{330}</span> (Finger, Helfman, Levinsohn, Novinsky, +Rabinovich). According to Mr. Rabinow, the Russo-Jewish "women and +girls use every available means" to obtain an education, and at +least fifty per cent of them possess a knowledge of Russian in +addition to their vernacular Yiddish.</p> +</blockquote> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id= +"page331"></a>{331}</span> +<h2><a name="bibliography" id="bibliography">BIBLIOGRAPHY</a></h2> +<p>An asterisk (*) marks a book or periodical of especial +importance.</p> +<p>Antin, The Promised Land, Boston and New York, 1912.</p> +<p>Atlas, Mah Lefanim u-mah Leaher, Warsaw, 1898.</p> +<p>Baskerville, The Polish Jew, New York, 1906.</p> +<p>Ben Sion, Yevreyi Reformatory, St. Petersburg, 1882.</p> +<p>Bentwich, The Progress of Zionism, New York, 1899.</p> +<p>Bernfeld, Dor Tahapukot, Warsaw, 1897.</p> +<p>Bershadsky, Zhurnal Ministerstva Narodnaho Prosvyeshchaniya, St. +Petersburg, 1912.</p> +<p>Bersohn, Tobiasz Cohn, Warsaw, 1872.</p> +<p>Blaustein, Memoirs, New York, 1813, pt. 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An Appreciation, Philadelphia, 1910.</p> +<p>Rodkinson, Toledot 'Ammude HaBaD, Königsberg, 1876.</p> +<p>Rosensohn, 'Ezah we-Tushiah, Vilna, 1870.</p> +<p>Rosensohn, Shelom Ahim, Vilna, 1870.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page336" id= +"page336"></a>{336}</span> +<p>*Rosenthal, Toledot Hebrat Marbe Haskalah, i., St. Petersburg, +1885; ii., ibid., 1890.</p> +<p>*Rubinow, Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 72, Washington, +Sept., 1907.</p> +<p>*San Donato, The Jewish Question, St. Petersburg, 1883.</p> +<p>Sbornik of the Ministry of Education, in., St. Petersburg.</p> +<p>Schechter, Studies in Judaism, i., Philadelphia, 1896; ii., +ibid., 1908.</p> +<p>*Scholz, Die Juden in Russland, Berlin, 1900.</p> +<p>*Seiberling, Gegen Brafmann's Buch des Kahals, Vienna, 1881.</p> +<p>Shatzkes, Ha-Mafteah, Warsaw, 1866-1869.</p> +<p>*Shereshevsky, O Knigie Kahala, St. Petersburg, 1872.</p> +<p>Silber, Elijah Gaon, New York, 1906.</p> +<p>Slouschz, La renaissance de la littérature +hébraïque, Paris, 1903. Heb., Warsaw, 1906; Engl. +transl., Philadelphia, 1909.</p> +<p>*Smolenskin, Ha-Toëh be-Darke ha-Hayyim, Vienna, 1876, 4 +vols.</p> +<p>Smolenskin, Keburat Hamor, ibid., 1874.</p> +<p>Sokolov, Sinat 'Olam le-'Am 'Olam, Warsaw, 1882.</p> +<p>*Steinschneider, 'Ir Vilna, Vilna, 1900.</p> +<p>Sternberg, Die Proselyten in Polen im xvi und xvii Jahrhundert, +AZJ, 1863, pp. 67-68; L'univers Israélite, 1863, pp. +272-273.</p> +<p>*Tarnopol, Réflexions sur l'état des +israélites russes, Odessa, 1871.</p> +<p>Troki, Hizzuk Emunah, Leipsic, 1857.</p> +<p>*Urussov, Memoirs of a Russian Governor, Engl. transl., New +York, 1908.</p> +<p>Weiss, Zikronotaï, Warsaw, 1895.</p> +<p>Weissberg, Aufklärungsliteratur, Vienna, 1898.</p> +<p>Weissberg, Le-Toledot ha-Sifrut ha-'Ibrit ha-Hadashah be-Polin +we-Russyah, Mi-Mizrah u-mi-Ma'arab, Berlin, 1895.</p> +<p>*Wengeroff, Memoiren einer Grossmutter, i., Berlin, 1908.</p> +<p>Wessely, Dibre Shalom we-Emet, Berlin, 1782.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page337" id= +"page337"></a>{337}</span> +<p>Wiener, The History of Yiddish Literature, New York, 1899.</p> +<p>*Wolf, Maimoniana, Berlin, 1813.</p> +<p>Wolkonsky, Pictures of Russian Life and Literature, Boston, +1897.</p> +<p>Yevrey Minister, Voskhod, 1885, v.</p> +<p>Yevreyskaya Enziklopedya, St. Petersburg, 14 vols.</p> +<p>Zablotzky and Massel, Ha-Yizhari, Manchester, 1895.</p> +<p>*Zederbaum, 'Ayin Zofiyah, Warsaw, 1877.</p> +<p>Zederbaum, Keter Kehunnah, Odessa, 1868.</p> +<p>Zederbaum, Kohelet, St. Petersburg, 1881.</p> +<p>*Zunser, Biography, Yiddish (and Engl. transl.), New York, +1905.</p> +<p>*Zunz, Aelteste Nachrichten über Juden und jüdische +Gelehrte in Polen, Slavonien, Russland. Gesammelte Schriften, +Berlin, 1875, iii. 82-87.</p> +<p>Zweifel, Sanegor, Warsaw, 1894.</p> +<p>*Zweifel, Shalom 'al Yisraël, Zhitomir, 1868-1872, 4 +vols.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page339" id= +"page339"></a>{339}</span> +<h2><a name="index" id="index">INDEX</a></h2> +<p>Abele, Abraham, Talmudist, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page199">199</a>.<br /> +<i>Abi'ezer</i>, by Günzburg, <a href= +"#page220">220</a>.<br /> +Abraham, son of Elijah Gaon, <a href="#page119">119</a>.<br /> +Abramovich, Andrey, statesman, <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Abramovitsch, Solomon Jacob, novelist, <a href= +"#page203">203</a>.<br /> +Adelsohn, Wolf, "the Hebrew Diogenes," <a href= +"#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Aguilar, Grace, on Russo-Jewish misery, <a href= +"#page154">154</a>.<br /> +Ahiasaf Society, <a href="#page296">296-297</a>.<br /> +Aleksey (Abraham), proselyte-priest, <a href= +"#page25">25</a>.<br /> +Alexander I, during his period of tolerance, <a href= +"#page111">111-113</a>;<br /> + during his period of intolerance, <a href= +"#page127">127-138</a>, <a href="#page140">140</a>, <a href= +"#page144">144</a>, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href= +"#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page192">192</a>, <a href= +"#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page249">249</a>, <a href= +"#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Alexander II, referred to, <a href="#page11">11</a>, <a href= +"#page79">79</a>, <a href="#page261">261</a>;<br /> + reign of reforms, <a href="#page222">222-226</a>;<br /> + favorable attitude towards Jews, <a href= +"#page224">224-225</a>, <a href="#page229">229-231</a>;<br /> + the Narodniki, <a href="#page236">236</a>;<br /> + change of policy, <a href="#page248">248-255</a>;<br /> + plotted against and assassinated, <a href= +"#page255">255-258</a>.<br /> +Alexander III, referred to, <a href="#page80">80</a>, <a href= +"#page255">255</a>;<br /> + restrictions, <a href="#page268">268-270</a>;<br /> + pogroms, <a href="#page269">269</a>;<br /> + "May Laws," <a href="#page270">270-273</a>;<br /> + Jews excluded from schools by, <a href= +"#page273">273-275</a>.<br /> +Alexander Jagellon and the Jews, <a href="#page21">21</a>.<br /> +Allgemeine jüdische Arbeiterbund, Der, in Littauen, Polen, und +Russland, <a href="#page293">293</a>.<br /> +Alliance Israélite Universelle, programme of, <a href= +"#page236">236</a>;<br /> + criticism of, <a href="#page285">285-286</a>.<br /> +Altaras, Jacques Isaac, philanthropist, <a href= +"#page157">157</a>.<br /> +America. See <a href="#index-united-states">United States, +the</a>.<br /> +'Am 'Olam Society, <a href="#page283">283</a>.<br /> +Amsterdam, referred to, <a href="#page22">22</a>;<br /> + a place of refuge for Russo-Polish proselytes, <a href= +"#page27">27</a>;<br /> + elects Russo-Jewish rabbis, <a href= +"#page33">33-34</a>;<br /> + place of study, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href= +"#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>, <a href= +"#page126">126</a>, <a href="#page165">165</a>.<br /> +Antokolsky, Mark, sculptor, <a href="#page241">241</a>.<br /> +Anton, Carl, author, <a href="#page64">64</a>.<br /> +Apostol, Cossack hetman, <a href="#page57">57</a>.<br /> +Apotheker, Abraham Ashkenazi, author, <a href= +"#page40">40</a>.<br /> +Arbeiterstimme, Die, <a href="#page293">293</a>.<br /> +Aristotle, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page216">216</a>, +<a href="#page297">297</a>.<br /> +<i>Ascension of Elijah</i>, <a href="#page134">134</a>.<br /> +Ashkenazi, Meïr, envoy of the Khan of the Tatars, <a href= +"#page23">23</a>.<br /> +Ashkenazi, Meïr, rabbinical author, quoted, <a href= +"#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page33">33</a>.<br /> +Ashkenazi, Solomon, statesman, <a href="#page23">23</a>.<br /> +Assemblies, Jewish, under Alexander I, <a href="#page117">117</a>, +<a href="#page128">128</a>;<br /> + under Nicholas I, <a href="#page151">151</a>, <a href= +"#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page174">174-176</a>;<br /> + in Vilna, <a href="#page165">165</a>;<br /> + under Alexander II, <a href="#page230">230</a>;<br /> + at Kattowitz, <a href="#page285">285</a>.<br /> +Auerbach, Berthold, on Maimon, <a href="#page88">88</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-austria" id="index-austria">Austria</a>, Haskalah +in, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a>;<br /> + influence on Russian Maskilim, <a href= +"#page195">195</a>;<br /> + place of study for Russian Jews, <a href= +"#page285">285</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>.<br /> + See also <a href="#index-galicia">Galicia</a>.<br /> +<i>Auto-Emancipation</i>, <a href="#page281">281-283</a>.<br /> +<i>'Ayit Zabua'</i>, <a href="#page244">244-245</a>.</p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page340" id= +"page340"></a>{340}</span> +<p>Baku, antiquity of, <a href="#page20">20</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-jacob-barit" id="index-jacob-barit">Barit, Jacob</a> +("Yankele Kovner"), scholar, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page255">255</a>, <a href="#page259">259</a>.<br /> +Bathory, Stephen, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Beer, Michel, champion of Jewish rights, <a href= +"#page114">114</a>.<br /> +Behalot, <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href= +"#page161">161</a>.<br /> +Behr, Issachar Falkensohn, poet, <a href="#page90">90-91</a>, +<a href="#page108">108</a>.<br /> +Belkind, Israel, Zionist, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Belzyc, Jacob Nahman, author, <a href="#page36">36</a>.<br /> +Bene Mosheh Society, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Bennett, Solomon, of Polotzk, engraver, champion of Jewish rights +in England, <a href="#page95">95-96</a>.<br /> +Bentwich, on Jewish colonists in Palestine, <a href= +"#page289">289</a>.<br /> +Ben Yehudah, Eliezer, Hebraist, <a href= +"#page284">284-285</a>.<br /> +Beobachter, Der, an der Weichsel, <a href="#page124">124</a>, +<a href="#page196">196</a>.<br /> +Berdichev, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>, <a href= +"#page239">239</a>.<br /> +Berek, Joselovich, colonel, <a href="#page115">115</a>.<br /> +Berlin, <a href="#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page78">78</a>, +<a href="#page80">80</a>, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href= +"#page84">84</a>, <a href="#page85">85</a>, <a href= +"#page90">90</a>, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href= +"#page93">93</a>, <a href="#page120">120</a>, <a href= +"#page126">126</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href= +"#page251">251</a>, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href= +"#page291">291</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>.<br /> +Berlin, Moses, uchony Yevrey, <a href="#page230">230</a>.<br /> +Berlin, Naphtali Zebi Judah, dean of Yeshibah, <a href= +"#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page254">254</a>, <a href= +"#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Bernfeld, on Maimon, <a href="#page86">86</a>.<br /> +Besht, Israel Baal Shem [Tob], referred to, <a href= +"#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page122">122</a>, <a href= +"#page123">123</a>; his life, <a href= +"#page66">66-69</a>;<br /> + opposition to rabbinism, <a href="#page67">67</a>, +<a href="#page70">70</a>, <a href="#page71">71</a>, <a href= +"#page75">75</a>;<br /> + his influence, <a href="#page76">76</a>;<br /> + his biography, <a href="#page134">134</a>.<br /> +Bet ha-Midrash, description of the, <a href= +"#page50">50-51</a>.<br /> +Bet ha-Sefer, in Jaffa, <a href="#page290">290-291</a>.<br /> +<i>Bet Yehudah</i>, by Levinsohn, <a href= +"#page209">209-210</a>.<br /> +Bezalel, school of art, <a href="#page291">291</a>.<br /> +Bibikov, on Russian Jews, <a href="#page162">162</a>.<br /> +Bible, the, ancient Russo-Jewish commentaries on, <a href= +"#page28">28</a>;<br /> + customs of (according to Elijah Vilna), <a href= +"#page74">74</a>;<br /> + the <i>Biur</i> on, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href= +"#page82">82</a>;<br /> + Mendelssohn's translation, <a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page131">131</a>, <a href="#page193">193</a>, <a href= +"#page203">203</a><br /> + translated into Russian, <a href="#page239">239</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>.<br /> +Bibleitsy (Dukhovnoye Bibleyskoye Bratstvo), <a href= +"#page247">247-248</a>.<br /> +Bielski, on Jewish proselytes, <a href="#page27">27</a>.<br /> +Bilu Society, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +<i>Biur</i>, commentary, collaborators on, <a href= +"#page81">81</a>;<br /> + welcomed, <a href="#page82">82</a>;<br /> + banned, <a href="#page132">132</a>;<br /> + studied, <a href="#page193">193</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page265">265</a>.<br /> +Blood-accusation, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href= +"#page115">115</a>, <a href="#page145">145</a>, <a href= +"#page155">155</a>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, <a href= +"#page213">213</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page275">275-276</a>.<br /> +Bogdanovich, Judah, merchant, <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Bokhara, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href= +"#page271">271</a>.<br /> +Bolingbroke, quoted, <a href="#page215">215</a>.<br /> +Bompi, Issachar, bibliophile, <a href="#page166">166-167</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Bone Zion Society, <a href="#page286">286-287</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-common-prayer" id="index-common-prayer">Book of +Common Prayer</a>, old translation of, <a href= +"#page30">30</a>;<br /> + suggested changes in, <a href="#page175">175</a>;<br /> + new Russian translation, <a href="#page239">239</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>.<br /> +Brafmann, Jacob, delator, <a href="#page254">254</a>.<br /> +Bratzlav, <a href="#page53">53-54</a>.<br /> +Brest-Litovsk, Jewish community in, <a href="#page20">20</a>;<br /> + granted privileges, <a href="#page21">21</a>;<br /> + Talmudists of, <a href="#page34">34</a>;<br /> + persecution of Hasidim in, <a href= +"#page76">76</a>;<br /> + Haskalah in, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href= +"#page166">166</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Brody, <a href="#page195">195</a>.<br /> +Buchner's <i>Der Talmud in seiner Nichtigkeit</i>, <a href= +"#page146">146</a>.<br /> +Buckle, on Russian civilization, <a href="#page190">190</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page245">245</a>.<br /> +Buduchnost, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Byelostok, <a href="#page113">113</a>, <a href="#page199">199</a>, +<a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page294">294</a>.</p> +<p>Calvinism, in Poland, <a href="#page56">56</a>.<br /> +Cantonists, <a href="#page138">138-139</a>, <a href= +"#page142">142</a>, <a href="#page171">171</a>, <a href= +"#page225">225</a>.<br /> +Carlyle, quoted, <a href="#page88">88</a>, <a href= +"#page109">109</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page341" id= +"page341"></a>{341}</span> Caro, Joseph Hayyim, rabbi, <a href= +"#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Casal, Jonas, physician, <a href="#page39">39</a>.<br /> +Casimir IV, Jews under, <a href="#page26">26</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Catherine II, favors the Jews, <a href="#page110">110-111</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>, <a href="#page147">147</a>, <a href= +"#page249">249</a>.<br /> +Chamisso, on "the Glusker Maggid," <a href="#page132">132</a>, +<a href="#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Chaucer on "beggar students," <a href="#page48">48</a>.<br /> +Chazanowicz, Joseph, Zionist, <a href="#page291">291</a>.<br /> +Chernichevsky's <i>What to Do</i>, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Chernigov, Isaac of, Talmudist, <a href="#page29">29</a>.<br /> +Chernyshev, Governor-General, proclaims religious liberty, <a href= +"#page110">110</a>.<br /> +Chiarini, Abbé Luigi, anti-Talmudist, <a href= +"#page145">145</a>, <a href="#page146">146</a>.<br /> +Chmielnicki, Cossack hetman, <a href="#page48">48</a>, <a href= +"#page52">52</a>, <a href="#page53">53</a>, <a href= +"#page54">54</a>, <a href="#page58">58</a>, <a href= +"#page64">64</a>, <a href="#page77">77</a>, <a href= +"#page149">149</a>.<br /> +Chozi Kokos, statesman, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href= +"#page55">55</a>.<br /> +Chufut-Kale (Rock of the Jews), <a href="#page19">19</a>.<br /> +Clement VIII, pope, <a href="#page72">72</a>.<br /> +Clement XIV, pope, <a href="#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Clermont-Tonnerre, on Zalkind Hurwitz, <a href= +"#page93">93</a>.<br /> +Coën, Moses, court physician and statesman, <a href= +"#page40">40-41</a>.<br /> +Cohen, Shalom, litterateur, <a href="#page99">99</a>.<br /> +Cohn, Tobias, physician, <a href="#page41">41-42</a>;<br /> + on Polish Jews, <a href="#page64">64</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page101">101</a>, <a href= +"#page298">298</a>.<br /> +Coins, with Hebrew inscriptions, <a href="#page21">21</a>.<br /> +Colonists, under Nicholas I, <a href="#page140">140-144</a>, +<a href="#page160">160</a>;<br /> + under Alexander II, <a href="#page228">228</a>;<br /> + in America, <a href="#page283">283</a>;<br /> + in Palestine, <a href="#page283">283</a>, <a href= +"#page286">286-289</a>.<br /> +Commendoni, on Lithuanian Jews, <a href="#page24">24</a>.<br /> +Converts to Christianity, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href= +"#page26">26</a>, <a href="#page64">64</a>, <a href= +"#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page136">136</a>, <a href= +"#page139">139</a>, <a href="#page146">146</a>, <a href= +"#page168">168</a>, <a href="#page177">177-178</a>, <a href= +"#page248">248</a>, <a href="#page254">254</a>, <a href= +"#page260">260</a>, <a href="#page270">270-273</a>, <a href= +"#page278">278-279</a>, <a href="#page303">303</a>.<br /> +Cossacks, Jews as, <a href="#page23">23-24</a>.<br /> +Costume, Jewish, origin of, <a href="#page115">115</a>;<br /> + opposition of Maskilim to, <a href="#page166">166</a>, +<a href="#page175">175</a>;<br /> + Friedländer opposes, <a href= +"#page170">170</a>;<br /> + enforced change of, by Government, <a href= +"#page179">179</a>;<br /> + in Courland, <a href="#page194">194</a>.<br /> +Council of the Four Countries, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href= +"#page208">208</a>.<br /> +Courland, Jews admitted into, <a href="#page111">111</a>;<br /> + annexed to Russia, <a href="#page113">113</a>;<br /> + taxes in, <a href="#page129">129</a>;<br /> + colonists from, <a href="#page140">140</a>;<br /> + stronghold of Haskalah, <a href= +"#page193">193-194</a>.<br /> +Cracow, <a href="#page27">27</a>, <a href="#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Crémieux, Adolphe, statesman, <a href="#page154">154</a>, +<a href="#page175">175</a>.<br /> +Crimea, the, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href= +"#page23">23</a>.<br /> +Crusades, the, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href= +"#page52">52</a>.<br /> +Cyril, apostle to Slavonians, <a href="#page28">28</a>.<br /> +Czacki, Tadeusz, Polish historian, defends Jews, <a href= +"#page114">114</a>;<br /> + praises them, <a href="#page115">115</a>.<br /> +Czartorisky, Prince, and the Polish Jews, <a href="#page94">94</a>, +<a href="#page116">116</a>.<br /> +Czatzskes, Baruch, translator, <a href="#page124">124</a>.</p> +<p>Dainov, Zebi Hirsh, "the Slutsker Maggid," <a href= +"#page246">246</a>.<br /> +Damascus Affair, the, <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href= +"#page208">208</a>.<br /> +Danzig's <i>Hayye Adam</i>, <a href="#page147">147</a>.<br /> +Darshan, Moses Isaac, "the Khelmer Maggid," <a href= +"#page280">280</a>.<br /> +<i>Dead Souls</i>, by Gogol, <a href="#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Delacrut, philosopher, <a href="#page37">37</a>.<br /> +Delitzsch, on Dubno, <a href="#page81">81</a>;<br /> + on Hebrew poetry, <a href="#page98">98</a>;<br /> + on Satanov, <a href="#page99">99</a>.<br /> +Delmedigo, Joseph, physician, <a href="#page24">24</a>.<br /> +<i>Derek Selulah</i>, by Temkin, <a href="#page146">146</a>.<br /> +Diakov, on Russian Jews, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a> (<a href="#footnote4-1">n. 1</a>).<br /> +Dillon, Eliezer, financier, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href= +"#page125">125</a>.<br /> +Dob Bär, biographer of Besht, <a href= +"#page123">123</a>.<br /> +Dolitzky, Menahem Mendel, poet, <a href="#page98">98</a>, <a href= +"#page243">243</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page342" id= +"page342"></a>{342}</span> <i>Dos Polische Yingel</i>, by Linetzky, +<a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href="#page244">244</a>.<br /> +Dostrzegacz Nadvisyansky, <a href="#page196">196</a>.<br /> +Dubno, <a href="#page65">65</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Dubno, Solomon, grammarian, <a href="#page81">81-82</a>, <a href= +"#page98">98</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>.<br /> +Dubnow, Simon, historian, <a href="#page17">17</a>.<br /> +Dyerzhavin's <i>Mnyenie</i>, <a href="#page118">118</a>.</p> +<p>Edels, Samuel (Maharsha), Talmudist, <a href= +"#page72">72</a>.<br /> +<i>Efes Dammim</i>, by Levinsohn, <a href="#page208">208</a>, +<a href="#page213">213</a>.<br /> +Efrusi, Hayyim, communal worker, <a href="#page165">165</a>.<br /> +Eger, Akiba, rabbi, <a href="#page149">149</a>.<br /> +Eisenmenger's <i>Entdecktes Judenthum</i>, <a href= +"#page146">146</a>.<br /> +Eishishki, antiquity of, <a href="#page20">20</a>.<br /> +Eliasberg, Jonathan, rabbi, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Eliasberg, Mordecai, rabbi, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Elijah Gaon, <a href="#page70">70-76</a>;<br /> + his curriculum of study, <a href="#page73">73</a>, +<a href="#page74">74</a>;<br /> + his appreciation of science and influence on Haskalah, +<a href="#page74">74</a>, <a href="#page75">75</a>;<br /> + reputed to be the author of <i>Sefer ha-Berit</i>, +<a href="#page102">102</a>;<br /> + his disciples, <a href="#page119">119-121</a>, <a href= +"#page126">126</a>, <a href="#page150">150</a>;<br /> + his biography, <i>Ascension of Elijah</i>, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page197">197</a>, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href= +"#page212">212</a>, <a href="#page220">220</a>.<br /> +Eliot, George, on Maimon's Autobiography, <a href= +"#page88">88</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page297">297</a>.<br /> +Elizabeta Petrovna, <a href="#page57">57</a>, <a href= +"#page135">135</a>, <a href="#page195">195</a>.<br /> +Emden, Jacob, Talmudist, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href= +"#page91">91</a>, <a href="#page94">94</a>, <a href= +"#page197">197</a>.<br /> +England, Russian Jews in, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href= +"#page93">93-96</a>, <a href="#page109">109</a>;<br /> + sympathy of, <a href="#page154">154-157</a>, <a href= +"#page270">270</a>.<br /> +<i>Entdecktes Judenthum</i>, by Eisenmenger, <a href= +"#page146">146</a>.<br /> +Erter, Isaac, satirist, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href= +"#page217">217</a>.<br /> +Esterka, Polish Jewish queen (?), <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Euclid, in Hebrew, <a href="#page105">105</a>.<br /> +Exportation Law of 1843, <a href="#page152">152-154</a>, <a href= +"#page179">179</a>.<br /> +Eybeschütz, Jonathan, Talmudist, <a href="#page64">64</a>, +<a href="#page78">78</a>.</p> +<p>Falk, Hayyim Samuel Jacob, Baal Shem, <a href= +"#page93">93-94</a>.<br /> +<i>Fathers and Sons</i>, by Turgenief, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Finkel, Elijah, educator, <a href="#page164">164</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-folk-songs" id="index-folk-songs">Folk Songs</a>, +<a href="#page137">137-138</a>, <a href="#page141">141</a>, +<a href="#page161">161</a>, <a href="#page232">232</a>, <a href= +"#page316">316</a> (n. <a href="#footnote3-36">36</a>), <a href= +"#page320">320</a> (n. <a href="#footnote4-19">19</a>).<br /> + See also <a href= +"#index-lullabies">Lullabies</a>.<br /> +France, Russian Jews in, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href= +"#page92">92-93</a>, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href= +"#page109">109</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>, <a href= +"#page300">300-301</a>.<br /> +Franco-Russian war, <a href="#page116">116-117</a>, <a href= +"#page204">204</a>.<br /> +Frank, physician, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href= +"#page127">127</a>.<br /> +Frank, Jacob (Yankev Leibovich), founder of the Frankists, <a href= +"#page64">64-65</a>, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <a href= +"#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href= +"#page131">131</a>.<br /> +"Freitisch," <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href= +"#page151">151</a>.<br /> +Friedländer, David, scholar and philanthropist, referred to, +<a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page237">237</a>;<br /> + on the improvement of Jews in Poland, <a href= +"#page169">169-170</a>.<br /> +Frug, Simon, poet, <a href="#page290">290</a>, <a href= +"#page297">297</a>.<br /> +Fünn, Joseph, historian, <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href= +"#page203">203</a>.</p> +<p>Gaden, Stephen von, court physician and statesman, <a href= +"#page40">40</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-galicia" id="index-galicia">Galicia, Haskalah +in</a>, <a href="#page12">12</a>, <a href="#page321">321</a> (n. +<a href="#footnote4-25">25</a>);<br /> + Hasidism in, <a href="#page69">69</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href= +"#page195">195</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>, <a href= +"#page291">291</a>.<br /> + See also <a href="#index-austria">Austria</a>.<br /> +Germany, Haskalah in, <a href="#page12">12</a>;<br /> + emigration from, <a href="#page30">30</a>;<br /> + Russo-Polish rabbis in, <a href= +"#page33">33-34</a>;<br /> + Russo-Jewish Maskilim in, <a href="#page77">77-91</a>, +<a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>;<br /> + Hebrew poetry of, <a href="#page97">97-98</a>;<br /> + object of Maskilim in, <a href="#page99">99-100</a>, +<a href="#page107">107</a>;<br /> + Haskalah encouraged by the Government, <a href= +"#page102">102</a>;<br /> + by Jewish financiers, <a href="#page237">237</a>;<br /> + opposition to Haskalah in, <a href= +"#page105">105-106</a>, <a href="#page131">131-133</a>, <a href= +"#page188">188</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page343" id= +"page343"></a>{343}</span> state of Judaism in, +<a href="#page168">168-169</a>;<br /> + reason for speedy Germanization of Jews in, <a href= +"#page191">191</a>;<br /> + Jewish science in, <a href="#page219">219</a>;<br /> + influence of, on Russian Maskilim, <a href= +"#page192">192-198</a>;<br /> + a place of refuge, <a href="#page252">252</a>;<br /> + restrictions against refugees in, <a href= +"#page298">298-299</a>, <a href="#page301">301</a>.<br /> +Gibbon, Edward, referred to, <a href="#page24">24</a>.<br /> +Ginzberg, Asher (Ahad Ha-'Am), and Haskalah, <a href= +"#page13">13</a>.<br /> +Glückel von Hameln's <i>Memoirs</i>, <a href= +"#page33">33</a>.<br /> +"Glusker Maggid, the," <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Goethe on Maimon, <a href="#page89">89</a>:<br /> + on Behr, <a href="#page90">90</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page189">189</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>.<br /> +Gogol's Jewish traitor, <a href="#page224">224</a>;<br /> + influence of his <i>Dead Souls</i>, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Gordin, Jacob, ethical culturist, <a href="#page247">247</a>.<br /> +Gordon, David, litterateur, <a href="#page284">284</a>.<br /> +Gordon, J.L., and Haskalah, referred to, <a href="#page13">13</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page261">261</a>;<br /> + poetry of, <a href="#page98">98</a>;<br /> + and Levinsohn, <a href="#page212">212</a>;<br /> + on the new era, <a href="#page232">232</a>;<br /> + attacks the Talmud, <a href="#page243">243</a>;<br /> + laments the effect of Haskalah, <a href= +"#page260">260</a>;<br /> + on Zionism, <a href="#page290">290</a>.<br /> +Gordon, Jekuthiel, scientist, <a href="#page92">92</a>.<br /> +Gottlober, Abraham Bär, on Hasidism, <a href= +"#page69">69</a>;<br /> + on Luria, <a href="#page168">168</a>;<br /> + and Levinsohn, <a href="#page212">212</a>;<br /> + on Russification, <a href="#page231">231</a>;<br /> + defends Mendelssohn, <a href="#page265">265</a>.<br /> +Graetz, on Maimon, <a href="#page83">83</a>;<br /> + on Slavonic Jews, <a href="#page103">103</a>.<br /> +Granovsky, on Jewish emancipation, <a href= +"#page228">228</a>.<br /> +Grazhdanin, <a href="#page253">253</a>, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Gregory X, pope, <a href="#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Grodno, Jewish community in, <a href="#page20">20</a>;<br /> + a Talmudic centre, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href= +"#page34">34</a>;<br /> + scene of martyrdom, <a href="#page57">57</a>;<br /> + persecution of Hasidim in, <a href= +"#page76">76</a>;<br /> + Talmud published in, <a href= +"#page148">148-149</a>;<br /> + Maskilim, <a href="#page201">201</a>.<br /> +Guizolfi, Zacharias de, statesman, <a href="#page23">23</a>, +<a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page306">306</a> (n. <a href= +"#footnote1-12">12</a>).<br /> +Günzberg, Benjamin Wolf, student, <a href= +"#page91">91</a>.<br /> +Günzburg, Horace, financier, <a href="#page237">237</a>.<br /> +Günzburg, Joseph Yosel, financier, <a href= +"#page237">237</a>.<br /> +Günzburg, Mordecai Aaron, <a href="#page13">13</a>, <a href= +"#page204">204</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>;<br /> + his life, <a href="#page213">213-221</a>;<br /> + on Minhagim, <a href="#page215">215</a>;<br /> + his impress on Hebrew literature, <a href= +"#page217">217-219</a>;<br /> + his <i>Abi'ezer</i>, <a href="#page220">220</a>.<br /> +Gurovich, Marcus, educator, <a href="#page228">228</a>.</p> +<p>HaBad, reform sect of Hasidim, <a href="#page122">122</a>.<br /> +Ha-Boker Or, <a href="#page265">265</a>.<br /> +Ha-Emet, <a href="#page256">256</a>.<br /> +Haggadah shel Pesah, Russian translation of, <a href= +"#page239">239</a>.<br /> +Haidamacks, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href= +"#page269">269</a>.<br /> +Hakohen, Ephraim, rabbi, <a href="#page34">34</a>.<br /> +Hakohen, Joseph, rabbi, <a href="#page19">19</a>, <a href= +"#page195">195</a>.<br /> +Hakohen, Raphael, rabbi, <a href="#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Ha-Maggid, <a href="#page284">284</a>.<br /> +Ha-Meliz, <a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, +<a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Hannover, Nathan, his <i>Safah Berurah</i>, <a href= +"#page39">39</a>;<br /> + his <i>Yeven Mezulah</i>, quotation from, <a href= +"#page48">48-49</a>.<br /> +Harkavy, Abraham, Orientalist, <a href="#page17">17</a>, <a href= +"#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>.<br /> +Ha-Shahar, <a href="#page242">242</a>, <a href= +"#page261">261-262</a>, <a href="#page265">265</a>, <a href= +"#page267">267</a>.<br /> +Hasidim, <a href="#page65">65</a>;<br /> + their teachings, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <a href= +"#page67">67</a>, <a href="#page150">150</a>;<br /> + spread, <a href="#page69">69</a>;<br /> + persecuted by the Mitnaggedim, <a href= +"#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>;<br /> + efforts at reconciliation with Mitnaggedim, <a href= +"#page120">120-121</a>, <a href="#page260">260</a>;<br /> + reformed, <a href="#page122">122</a>;<br /> + united with Mitnaggedim against Haskalah, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>;<br /> + fought by Maskilim, <a href="#page168">168</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page344" id= +"page344"></a>{344}</span> Haskalah, definitions of, <a href= +"#page12">12-13</a>;<br /> + writers on, <a href="#page14">14</a>;<br /> + regarded differently in Germany and Russia, <a href= +"#page103">103-108</a>, <a href="#page131">131</a>;<br /> + opposition to, <a href="#page132">132-150</a>, <a href= +"#page185">185-188</a>;<br /> + in the "forties," <a href="#page164">164-197</a>;<br /> + influence of Germany on, <a href= +"#page191">191-199</a>;<br /> + in Galicia, <a href="#page205">205</a>;<br /> + Levinsohn's advice on, <a href= +"#page212">212</a>;<br /> + Günzburg's opinion of, <a href= +"#page216">216</a>;<br /> + spreads under Alexander II, <a href= +"#page230">230-248</a>;<br /> + disappointments of, <a href= +"#page232">232-234</a>;<br /> + and Reform Judaism, <a href= +"#page242">242-248</a>;<br /> + cosmopolitan, <a href="#page255">255-257</a>;<br /> + romantic and pessimistic, <a href= +"#page278">278-281</a>;<br /> + Zionistic, <a href="#page283">283-291</a>.<br /> +<i>Ha-Toëh be-Darke ha-Hayyim</i>, <a href="#page266">266</a>, +<a href="#page267">267</a>.<br /> +<i>Hattot Ne'urim</i>, <a href="#page232">232-234</a>.<br /> +<i>Hayye Adam</i>, by Danzig, <a href="#page147">147</a>.<br /> +Ha-Zefirah, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Hebrew literature: style, <a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href= +"#page97">97</a>, <a href="#page217">217-218</a>;<br /> + poetry, <a href="#page98">98</a>;<br /> + Reform Judaism in, <a href= +"#page242">242-248</a>;<br /> + necessity of (Smolenskin), <a href= +"#page264">264</a>.<br /> +Heder, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a>.<br /> +Hegel, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href="#page192">192</a>.<br /> +Heilprin, Joseph, financier, <a href="#page175">175</a>.<br /> +Heine, referred to, <a href="#page297">297</a>;<br /> + on Polish Jews, <a href="#page314">314</a> (n. <a href= +"#footnote2-43">43</a>).<br /> +Helena, Princess, proselyte, <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +Heller, Yom-Tob Lipman, rabbi, <a href="#page37">37</a>.<br /> +Herz, Marcus, disciple of Kant, <a href="#page85">85</a>.<br /> +Herzl, Theodore, Zionist, <a href="#page263">263</a>, <a href= +"#page281">281</a>, <a href="#page283">283</a>.<br /> +Hillul Society, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Hirsch, Baron de, <a href="#page277">277</a>.<br /> +<i>Hizzuk Emunah</i>, Voltaire's opinion on, <a href= +"#page37">37</a>.<br /> +Hobebe Zion, <a href="#page285">285</a>, <a href= +"#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Horn, Meïr, educator, <a href="#page164">164</a>.<br /> +Horowitz, Isaiah, Cabbalist, <a href="#page33">33</a>.<br /> +Horowitz, Phinehas, rabbi, <a href="#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Horowitz, Shabbataï, rabbi, <a href="#page34">34</a>.<br /> +Horowitz, Shmelke, rabbi, <a href="#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Horwitz, Aaron Halevi, rabbi, <a href="#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Hurwitz, Hirsh, educator, <a href="#page164">164</a>.<br /> +Hurwitz, Hyman, professor, <a href="#page95">95</a>.<br /> +Hurwitz, Judah Halevi, translator, <a href="#page92">92</a>, +<a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page121">121</a>, <a href= +"#page123">123</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>.<br /> +[Hurwitz], Phinehas Elijah, encyclopedist, <a href= +"#page101">101-103</a>, <a href="#page214">214</a>.<br /> +Hurwitz, Zalkind, champion of Jewish rights in France, <a href= +"#page92">92-93</a>.<br /> +Huss, influence of, in Poland, <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +<i>Hut ha-Meshullash</i>, by Kohn, <a href="#page244">244</a>.</p> +<p>Ibn Ezra, Abraham, commentaries on his works, <a href= +"#page30">30</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>.<br /> +Ignatiev, Nicholas, <a href="#page268">268</a>.<br /> +'Illuyim, <a href="#page47">47</a>.<br /> +Ilye, Manasseh of, Talmudist, <a href="#page120">120-121</a>, +<a href="#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>.<br /> +<i>Information about the Killing of Christians</i>, etc., by +Skripitzyii, <a href="#page229">229</a>.<br /> +Innocent IV, pope, <a href="#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Inventions, <a href="#page201">201-202</a>.<br /> +Israelit, Asher, Maggid, <a href="#page280">280</a>.<br /> +Israelita, Polish weekly, <a href="#page247">247</a>.<br /> +Isserles, Moses, rabbi, <a href="#page50">50</a>, <a href= +"#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Italy, a place of attraction for Russian Jews, <a href= +"#page37">37</a>, <a href="#page40">40</a>, <a href= +"#page91">91-92</a>, <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href= +"#page165">165</a>.<br /> +Ivan the Terrible, <a href="#page55">55-56</a>, <a href= +"#page152">152</a>.</p> +<p>Jacob Isaac, court physician, <a href="#page39">39</a>.<br /> +Jaffe, Daniel, scholar, <a href="#page90">90</a>.<br /> +Jaffe, Mordecai (Lebushim), Talmudist, <a href="#page37">37</a>, +<a href="#page61">61</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>.<br /> +Jastrow, Marcus, rabbi, <a href="#page159">159</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>.<br /> +Jekuthiel, Solomon, financier, <a href="#page204">204</a>.<br /> +<i>Jerusalem</i>, by Mendelssohn, <a href="#page209">209</a>.<br /> +Jerusalem, pilgrimage to, <a href="#page65">65</a>.<br /> +Jesuits, in Poland, <a href="#page54">54</a>, <a href= +"#page58">58</a>.<br /> +Joffe, Mordecai, rabbi, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page345" id= +"page345"></a>{345}</span> Joseph ben Isaac Levi, philosopher, +<a href="#page38">38</a>.<br /> +Josephovich, Abraham, statesman, <a href="#page21">21-22</a>.<br /> +Josephovich, Michael, nobleman, <a href="#page21">21-22</a>.<br /> +Judah Halevi, poet and philosopher, <a href="#page28">28</a>, +<a href="#page98">98</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>, <a href= +"#page284">284</a>.<br /> +Judah Hasid, mystic, founder of the original Hasidim, <a href= +"#page65">65</a>.<br /> +Judaizing heresy. See <a href= +"#index-proselytism">Proselytism</a>.<br /> +<i>Judex Judaeorum</i>, <a href="#page44">44</a>.<br /> +Jüdischer Arbeiter, Der, <a href="#page293">293</a>.</p> +<p><i>Kab ha-Yashar</i>, referred to, <a href= +"#page63">63</a>.<br /> +Kadimah Society, <a href="#page285">285</a>.<br /> +Kahal, <a href="#page44">44</a>;<br /> + oppression by, <a href="#page61">61</a>;<br /> + denunciation of, <a href="#page254">254</a>.<br /> +Kalisz, antiquity of, <a href="#page20">20</a>.<br /> +Kamenetz-Podolsk, antiquity of, <a href="#page41">41</a>.<br /> +Kant, favorite with Maskilim, <a href="#page79">79</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>;<br /> + on Maimon, <a href="#page85">85</a>, <a href= +"#page88">88</a>, <a href="#page89">89</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page189">189</a>.<br /> +Kant, the Hebrew, <a href="#page106">106</a>.<br /> +Kaplan, Wolf, educator, <a href="#page225">225</a>.<br /> +Karaites, discussions with Rabbanites, <a href= +"#page36">36</a>;<br /> + with Christians, <a href="#page37">37</a>;<br /> + Nicholas I on, <a href="#page136">136</a>.<br /> +Katkoff, defends Jews under Alexander II, <a href= +"#page225">225</a>;<br /> + becomes a reactionary under Alexander III, <a href= +"#page269">269</a>.<br /> +Kattowitz, conference of, <a href="#page285">285</a>.<br /> +Katz, Meir, Talmudist, <a href="#page61">61</a>.<br /> +Katzenellenbogen, Hayyim, Talmudist, <a href= +"#page40">40</a>.<br /> +Katzenellenbogen, Moses, <a href="#page40">40</a>.<br /> +Kaufman, Governor-General, convokes conference, <a href= +"#page255">255</a>.<br /> +Kertch, Archbishop of, tries to convert Jews, <a href= +"#page25">25</a>.<br /> +Kharkov, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Khazars, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, +<a href="#page25">25</a>.<br /> +Khelm, antiquity of, <a href="#page20">20</a>.<br /> +Khelm, Ephraim of, liturgist, <a href="#page35">35</a>.<br /> +Kherson, <a href="#page28">28</a>, <a href="#page142">142</a>, +<a href="#page144">144</a>, <a href="#page160">160</a>, <a href= +"#page292">292</a>.<br /> +Kiev, early settlement of Jews in, <a href= +"#page19">19-20</a>;<br /> + their influence, <a href="#page23">23</a>;<br /> + proselytism in, <a href="#page25">25</a>;<br /> + Talmudists of, <a href="#page29">29</a>, <a href= +"#page31">31</a>;<br /> + University of, <a href="#page126">126</a>;<br /> + expulsions from, <a href="#page153">153</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page226">226</a>, <a href="#page227">227</a>, <a href= +"#page275">275</a>.<br /> +Kishinev, <a href="#page154">154</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page185">185</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a>, <a href= +"#page276">276</a>.<br /> +Kissilyef, on emigration, <a href="#page158">158</a>.<br /> +Klaczke, G., educator, <a href="#page166">166</a>.<br /> +<i>Kniga Kahala</i>, <a href="#page254">254-255</a>.<br /> +Kobrin, Joseph of, liturgist, <a href="#page35">35</a>.<br /> +Kohen, Naphtali, rabbi, <a href="#page34">34</a>.<br /> +Kohen, Shabbataï, rabbi and historian, <a href= +"#page35">35-36</a>.<br /> +Kohn's <i>Hut ha-Meshullash</i>, <a href="#page244">244</a>.<br /> +Kol Mebasser, <a href="#page242">242</a>.<br /> +Königsberg, <a href="#page33">33</a>, <a href= +"#page79">79</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href= +"#page120">120</a>, <a href="#page126">126</a>, <a href= +"#page132">132</a>.<br /> +<i>Kontrabandisti</i>, by Levin, <a href="#page303">303</a>.<br /> +Körner, on Maimon, <a href="#page89">89</a>.<br /> +Korobka, <a href="#page129">129</a>.<br /> +Korolenko's <i>Skazanye O Florye Rimlyaninye</i>, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Kovno, Government of, <a href="#page20">20</a>;<br /> + city of, <a href="#page21">21</a>;<br /> + Talmudists of, <a href="#page34">34</a>;<br /> + Maskilim in, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>;<br /> + Mussarnikes in, <a href="#page280">280</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page288">288</a>, <a href= +"#page294">294</a>.<br /> +Kramsztyk, Isaac, rabbi, <a href="#page247">247</a>.<br /> +Krochmal, Nahman, philosopher, <a href="#page205">205</a>.<br /> +Krüdener, Baroness, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href= +"#page129">129</a>, <a href="#page251">251</a>.<br /> +Kruzhevan, <a href="#page276">276</a>.<br /> +Kryloff, <a href="#page175">175</a>, <a href= +"#page189">189</a>.<br /> +Kuritzin, Theodore, proselyte, <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +Kusselyevsky, physician, <a href="#page127">127</a>.</p> +<p>Ladi, Shneor Zalman of, <a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href= +"#page122">122-123</a>.<br /> +Landau, Ezekiel, rabbi, <a href="#page78">78</a>, <a href= +"#page133">133</a>.<br /> +Landau, Moses, educator, <a href="#page164">164</a>.<br /> +Lassalle, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href="#page293">293</a>, +<a href="#page297">297</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page346" id= +"page346"></a>{346}</span> Lebensohn, Abraham Dob Bar, poet, +<a href="#page98">98</a>, <a href="#page212">212</a>, <a href= +"#page244">244</a>.<br /> +Leczeka, Abba, "the Glusker Maggid," <a href="#page132">132</a>, +<a href="#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Leibnitz, <a href="#page79">79</a>, <a href="#page88">88</a>.<br /> +Leibov, Baruch, martyr, <a href="#page57">57</a>.<br /> +Lemberg, court of, <a href="#page44">44</a>;<br /> + fair at, <a href="#page49">49</a>.<br /> +Leo, the court physician, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href= +"#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page55">55</a>.<br /> +Lermontoff's spy, <a href="#page224">224</a>.<br /> +Leroy-Beaulieu, Anatole, on Maimon, <a href= +"#page130">130</a>;<br /> + on university restrictions, <a href= +"#page276">276-277</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page303">303</a>.<br /> +Lessing, Ephraim, on Israel Zamoscz, <a href= +"#page77">77</a>;<br /> + on Behr, <a href="#page90">90</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page192">192</a>.<br /> +Letteris, Meïr Halevi, poet, <a href="#page205">205</a>.<br /> +Letzte Nachrichten, <a href="#page293">293</a>.<br /> +Levanda, Lyev, novelist, <a href="#page203">203</a>, <a href= +"#page279">279</a>.<br /> +Levin, Judah, merchant, <a href="#page204">204</a>.<br /> +Levin, Mendel, Hebrew and Yiddish author, <a href= +"#page99">99-101</a>, <a href="#page116">116</a>, <a href= +"#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page195">195</a>, <a href= +"#page217">217</a>.<br /> +Levin's <i>Kontrabandisti</i>, <a href="#page303">303</a>.<br /> +Levinsohn, I.B., and Haskalah, <a href="#page13">13</a>;<br /> + on the settlement of Jews in Russia, <a href= +"#page18">18</a>;<br /> + on the effect of Chmielnicki's massacres, <a href= +"#page52">52</a>;<br /> + his life, <a href="#page204">204-213</a>;<br /> + <i>Te'udah be-Yisraël</i>, <a href= +"#page205">205-207</a>, <a href="#page209">209</a>, <a href= +"#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page221">221</a>;<br /> + <i>Efes Dammim</i>, <a href="#page208">208</a>, +<a href="#page213">213</a>;<br /> + <i>Bet Yehudah</i>, <a href= +"#page209">209-210</a>;<br /> + <i>Zerubbabel</i>, <a href="#page210">210-211</a>, +<a href="#page213">213</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page219">219-220</a>.<br /> +Liboschüts, Jacob, physician and philanthropist, <a href= +"#page91">91</a>.<br /> +Liboschüts, Osip Yakovlevich, court physician, <a href= +"#page126">126</a>.<br /> +Lichtenstadt, Moses, communal worker, <a href= +"#page165">165</a>.<br /> +Lieberman, Aaron ("Arthur Freeman"), socialist, <a href= +"#page256">256</a>.<br /> +Lieven, Prince Emanuel, <a href="#page209">209</a>.<br /> +Lilien, Ephraim Moses, artist, <a href="#page291">291</a>.<br /> +Lilienblum, Moses Löb, skeptic, <a href= +"#page232">232-234</a>;<br /> + attacks the Talmud, <a href="#page242">242</a>;<br /> + repentant, <a href="#page279">279</a>;<br /> + Zionist, <a href="#page289">289-290</a>.<br /> +Lilienthal, Max, referred to, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href= +"#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page151">151</a>, <a href= +"#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page183">183</a>, <a href= +"#page277">277</a>;<br /> + opens school in Riga, <a href="#page165">165</a>, +<a href="#page170">170</a>;<br /> + his personality, <a href="#page171">171-172</a>;<br /> + his <i>Maggid Yeshu'ah</i> and his efforts in behalf of +Russian Jews, <a href="#page174">174-176</a>;<br /> + his disillusionment, <a href= +"#page177">177-180</a>;<br /> + his opinion on Russia, <a href= +"#page179">179</a>;<br /> + how regarded by Maskilim, <a href= +"#page172">172-173</a>, <a href="#page180">180-181</a>;<br /> + on the Jews of Courland, <a href= +"#page194">194</a>;<br /> + on the Jews of Odessa, <a href= +"#page196">196</a>;<br /> + his supporters, <a href="#page198">198-199</a>, +<a href="#page200">200</a>;<br /> + Günzburg on, <a href="#page216">216</a>.<br /> +Linetzky's <i>Dos Polische Yingel</i>, <a href="#page242">242</a>, +<a href="#page244">244</a>.<br /> +"Lishmah" ideal, <a href="#page107">107</a>.<br /> +Lithuania, Magna Charta of, <a href="#page21">21</a>;<br /> + Jewish merchants of, <a href="#page22">22</a>;<br /> + description by Cardinal Commendoni and by Delmedigo, +<a href="#page24">24</a>;<br /> + Talmudic centre, <a href="#page31">31-35</a>;<br /> + status of Jews of, under Ivan the Terrible, <a href= +"#page55">55</a>;<br /> + after the massacres, <a href="#page60">60</a>;<br /> + opposition to Hasidism in, <a href="#page65">65</a>, +<a href="#page69">69</a>;<br /> + method of study in, <a href="#page71">71-72</a>;<br /> + inclination to Haskalah in, <a href= +"#page105">105-109</a>;<br /> + annexed to Russia, <a href="#page113">113</a>;<br /> + Russified, <a href="#page124">124-125</a>;<br /> + colonization in, <a href="#page143">143-144</a>, +<a href="#page159">159</a>;<br /> + Talmud published in, <a href= +"#page148">148-149</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page195">195</a>.<br /> +Litvack, Judah, deputy, <a href="#page93">93</a>.<br /> +Livonia, Jewish merchants of, <a href="#page22">22</a>;<br /> + Gentiles remonstrate on behalf of Jews of, <a href= +"#page57">57</a>;<br /> + stronghold of Haskalah, <a href= +"#page193">193-194</a>.<br /> +Loewe, Louis, Orientalist, quoted, <a href="#page155">155</a>, +<a href="#page199">199</a>.<br /> +London, <a href="#page94">94</a>, <a href="#page126">126</a>, +<a href="#page129">129</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page347" id= +"page347"></a>{347}</span> Louis XIV, and the Treaty of Ryswick, +<a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Lover of Enlightenment societies, <a href="#page165">165</a>.<br /> +Lublin, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page34">34</a>, +<a href="#page40">40</a>;<br /> + fair at, <a href="#page49">49</a>;<br /> + Haskalah in, <a href="#page105">105</a>.<br /> +Lublin, Meïr (Maharam), Talmudist, <a href= +"#page72">72</a>.<br /> +Lukas, "the little Jew," <a href="#page25">25</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-lullabies" id="index-lullabies">Lullabies</a>, +Russo-Jewish, quoted, <a href="#page46">46</a>, <a href= +"#page309">309</a> (n. <a href="#footnote1-39">39</a>).<br /> + See also <a href="#index-folk-songs">Folk +Songs</a>.<br /> +Luria, David, philanthropist, <a href="#page166">166</a>, <a href= +"#page168">168</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>.<br /> +Luria, Solomon, Talmudist, <a href="#page40">40</a>;<br /> + censures the liberality of Isserles, <a href= +"#page50">50</a>;<br /> + opposes the kahal, <a href="#page61">61</a>;<br /> + his method of study, <a href="#page72">72</a>.<br /> +Luther's doctrines in Poland, <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +Luzzatto, Moses Hayyim, poet, <a href="#page92">92</a>.<br /> +Lyons, Israel, grammarian, <a href="#page95">95</a>.</p> +<p><i>Ma'aseh Tobiah</i>, <a href="#page42">42</a>.<br /> +Macaulay, on Russian civilization, <a href="#page310">310</a> (n. +<a href="#footnote2-6">6</a>).<br /> +McCaul's <i>Old Paths</i>, <a href="#page146">146</a>, <a href= +"#page211">211</a>.<br /> +<i>Maggid Yeshu'ah</i>, by Lilienthal, <a href= +"#page174">174-176</a>.<br /> +Maimon, Solomon, <a href="#page81">81-89</a>;<br /> + quoted, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href= +"#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page106">106</a>;<br /> + Autobiography, <a href="#page83">83</a>, <a href= +"#page88">88</a>;<br /> + his philosophy, <a href="#page84">84-87</a>;<br /> + his contributions to the Meassef, <a href= +"#page98">98</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page108">108</a>, <a href= +"#page130">130</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>, <a href="#page298">298</a>.<br /> +Maimuni, commentators on his <i>Moreh Nebukim</i>, <a href= +"#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page84">84</a>, <a href= +"#page89">89</a>;<br /> + retranslated by Levin, <a href= +"#page100">100</a>;<br /> + his <i>Mishneh Torah</i>, translated, <a href= +"#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>;<br /> + his Hebrew style, <a href="#page97">97</a>.<br /> +Malak, Abraham, Hasid, <a href="#page122">122</a>.<br /> +Malak, Hayyim, Hasid, <a href="#page65">65</a>.<br /> +Manasseh ben Israel, <a href="#page32">32</a>;<br /> + his <i>Nishmat Hayyim</i>, <a href= +"#page63">63</a>;<br /> + his activity, <a href="#page96">96</a>.<br /> +Mandelkern, Solomon, rabbi, <a href="#page203">203</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>.<br /> +Mandelstamm, Benjamin, on Lilienthal, <a href= +"#page173">173</a>;<br /> + quoted, <a href="#page186">186</a>;<br /> + on Vilna, <a href="#page198">198</a>;<br /> + and Levinsohn, <a href="#page212">212</a>.<br /> +Mandelstamm, Leon, graduate from University of St. Petersburg, +<a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page252">252</a>.<br /> +Mane, Mordecai Zebi, poet, <a href="#page98">98</a>.<br /> +Mann, Eliezer, "the Hebrew Socrates," <a href= +"#page38">38</a>.<br /> +Mann, Menahem, martyr, <a href="#page27">27</a>.<br /> +Manoah, Handel, mathematician, <a href="#page38">38</a>.<br /> +Mapu, Abraham, novelist, <a href="#page244">244-245</a>.<br /> +Margolioth, Judah Löb, rabbi, <a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page125">125</a>.<br /> +Markusevich, Isaac, physician, <a href="#page127">127</a>.<br /> +Marx, Karl, his teachings promulgated, <a href= +"#page256">256</a>;<br /> + his name assumed, <a href="#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Masliansky, Zebi Hirsh, Maggid, <a href="#page280">280</a>.<br /> +May laws, <a href="#page270">270-275</a>.<br /> +Meassef, contributors to, <a href="#page98">98-100</a>;<br /> + condemned, <a href="#page132">132</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page265">265</a>.<br /> +<i>Megillah 'Afah</i>, <a href="#page36">36</a>.<br /> +Meisels, Berish, rabbi, <a href="#page246">246</a>.<br /> +Melammedim, in Germany, <a href="#page35">35</a>, <a href= +"#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page80">80</a>;<br /> + in Russia, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href= +"#page294">294</a>.<br /> +<i>Memorbuch</i> of Mayence, <a href="#page29">29</a>.<br /> +Mendelssohn, Meyer, communal worker, <a href= +"#page140">140</a>.<br /> +Mendelssohn, Moses (Rambman, "Dessauer"), appealed to by +Mitnaggedim, <a href="#page75">75</a>;<br /> + his contact with Russiam Jews, <a href= +"#page76">76-78</a>;<br /> + his friends and followers, <a href="#page81">81-90</a>, +<a href="#page135">135</a>;<br /> + his philosophy, <a href="#page88">88</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page92">92</a>;<br /> + presumed to be author of <i>Sefer ha-Berit</i>, +<a href="#page102">102</a>;<br /> + his translation of the Pentateuch, <a href= +"#page78">78</a>, <a href="#page81">81</a>, <a href= +"#page105">105</a>, <a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href= +"#page133">133</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page348" id= +"page348"></a>{348}</span> post-Mendelssohnian period +in Germany, <a href="#page168">168</a>;<br /> + in Russia, <a href="#page192">192</a>, <a href= +"#page193">193</a>;<br /> + his <i>Jerusalem</i>, <a href="#page209">209</a>;<br /> + his <i>Phaedon</i>, <a href="#page214">214</a>;<br /> + Alexander I's ideal Jew, <a href= +"#page128">128</a>;<br /> + the "Russian Mendelssohn," <a href= +"#page213">213</a>;<br /> + Smolenskin and Gottlober on, <a href= +"#page265">265</a>.<br /> +Mendlin, Jacob Wolf, socialist, <a href="#page293">293</a>.<br /> +Meseritz, Bär of, promoter of Hasidism, <a href= +"#page65">65</a>.<br /> +<i>Midrash Talpiyot</i>, <a href="#page63">63</a>.<br /> +Mielziner, Leo, on Zionist artists, <a href= +"#page291">291</a>.<br /> +Mikhailovich, Czar Aleksey, <a href="#page40">40</a>.<br /> +Milman, on Maimon's Autobiography, <a href="#page88">88</a>.<br /> +Minhagim, according to Elijah Vilna, <a href= +"#page73">73-74</a>;<br /> + according to M.A. Günzburg, <a href= +"#page215">215</a>.<br /> +Minor, Solomon Zalkind, "the Russian Jellinek," <a href= +"#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page236">236</a>.<br /> +Minsk, <a href="#page21">21</a>;<br /> + Talmudists of, <a href="#page34">34</a>,<br /> + persecution of Hasidim in, <a href= +"#page76">76</a>;<br /> + schools in, <a href="#page166">166-167</a>, <a href= +"#page292">292</a>;<br /> + reception of Lilienthal in, <a href="#page172">172</a>, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br /> + Maskilim of, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page201">201-235</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page292">292</a>, <a href= +"#page293">293</a>.<br /> +Mirabeau's reference to Hurwitz, <a href="#page92">92</a>.<br /> +Mitau, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page216">216</a>.<br /> +Mitauer, Elias, communal worker, <a href="#page140">140</a>.<br /> +Mitnaggedim, opposition to Hasidism, <a href="#page70">70</a>, +<a href="#page131">131</a>;<br /> + efforts of, at reconciliation with Hasidim, <a href= +"#page120">120-121</a>;<br /> + make common cause with Hasidim against Maskilim, +<a href="#page134">134</a>, <a href="#page260">260</a>.<br /> +<i>Mnyenie</i>, by Dyerzhavin, <a href="#page118">118</a>.<br /> +Mohilev, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>, +<a href="#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href= +"#page202">202</a>.<br /> +Moldavia, <a href="#page40">40-41</a>.<br /> +Molo, Francisco, economist, <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Montefiore, Sir Moses, visits Russia, <a href= +"#page155">155-157</a>;<br /> + invited to Russia, <a href="#page175">175</a>;<br /> + entertained, <a href="#page200">200</a>;<br /> + visit of 1872 to Russia, <a href= +"#page230">230</a>;<br /> + on the pogroms, <a href="#page270">270</a>;<br /> + on Russo-Jewish women, <a href= +"#page299">299</a>.<br /> +Morgulis, Manasseh, litterateur, <a href="#page14">14</a>, <a href= +"#page187">187-188</a>.<br /> +Morschtyn, George, proselyte (?), <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +<i>Mosaïde</i>, by Wessely, <a href="#page98">98</a>.<br /> +Moscow, proselytism in, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href= +"#page26">26</a>;<br /> + expulsions from, <a href="#page56">56</a>, <a href= +"#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>;<br /> + Jews admitted to, <a href="#page111">111</a>;<br /> + converts in, <a href="#page177">177</a>;<br /> + Russification in, <a href="#page240">240</a>;<br /> + restrictions in the University of, <a href= +"#page274">274</a>, <a href="#page276">276</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page291">291</a>.<br /> +Moses, martyr, <a href="#page57">57</a>.<br /> +Mussarnikes, <a href="#page280">280</a>.<br /> +Muzhiks, emancipation of, <a href="#page222">222-223</a>;<br /> + education of, <a href="#page236">236-237</a>;<br /> + restlessness of, <a href="#page249">249-250</a>;<br /> + socialism among, <a href="#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Mylich, George Gottfried, Lutheran champion of Jewish rights, +<a href="#page113">113-114</a>.</p> +<p>Nachlass, Wolf, Cantonist, <a href="#page139">139</a>.<br /> +Napoleon, convokes the Sanhedrin, <a href="#page93">93</a>;<br /> + his invasion of Russia, <a href="#page112">112</a>, +<a href="#page113">113</a>;<br /> + his defeat, <a href="#page115">115-117</a>, <a href= +"#page128">128</a>;<br /> + on Vilna, <a href="#page197">197</a>.<br /> +Narodnaya Volya Society, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href= +"#page278">278</a>.<br /> +Narodniki, <a href="#page236">236-237</a>.<br /> +Nazimov, Governor-General, champion of Jews, <a href= +"#page201">201</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>.<br /> +Nebakhovich, Alexander, theatrical director, <a href= +"#page201">201</a>.<br /> +Nebakhovich, Leon (Löb), first defender of Russian Jews in +Russian, <a href="#page114">114</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>, +<a href="#page130">130</a>;<br /> + dramatist, <a href="#page189">189</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page349" id= +"page349"></a>{349}</span> Nebakhovich, Michael, editor of comic +paper, <a href="#page201">201</a>.<br /> +Nemirov, <a href="#page59">59</a>.<br /> +Nemirov, Jehiel Michael of, scholar, <a href= +"#page35">35</a>.<br /> +Nestor's Chronicles, <a href="#page20">20</a>.<br /> +Nicholas I, referred to, <a href="#page104">104</a>, <a href= +"#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page222">222</a>, <a href= +"#page229">229</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>, <a href= +"#page249">249</a>, <a href="#page253">253</a>, <a href= +"#page260">260</a>, <a href="#page268">268</a>, <a href= +"#page284">284</a>;<br /> + his policy, <a href="#page135">135-160</a>;<br /> + his recruiting, <a href="#page135">135-139</a>;<br /> + his colonization scheme, <a href= +"#page140">140-143</a>;<br /> + attempts at conversion of Jews, <a href= +"#page144">144-147</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a>;<br /> + his Exportation Law, <a href= +"#page152">152-154</a>;<br /> + his accusations refuted, <a href= +"#page162">162-164</a>;<br /> + investigates number of learned Jews, <a href= +"#page167">167</a>, <a href="#page168">168</a>, <a href= +"#page198">198</a>;<br /> + outwitted, <a href="#page184">184</a>;<br /> + on Jews of Odessa, <a href="#page196">196</a>.<br /> +Nicholas II, referred to, <a href="#page80">80</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>;<br /> + persecution of Jews under, <a href= +"#page275">275-277</a>.<br /> +Nieszvicz, <a href="#page82">82</a>, <a href="#page114">114</a>, +<a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page127">127</a>, <a href= +"#page197">197</a>.<br /> +Nisanovich, Itshe, physician, <a href="#page39">39</a>.<br /> +<i>Nishmat Hayyim</i>, by Manasseh ben Israel, <a href= +"#page63">63</a>.<br /> +Noah, Mordecai Manuel, statesman, <a href="#page284">284</a>.<br /> +Nomenclature, Russo-Jewish, <a href="#page30">30</a>.<br /> +Notkin, Nathan, diplomat and philanthropist, <a href= +"#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>.<br /> +Novgorod, <a href="#page25">25</a>, <a href="#page139">139</a>, +<a href="#page271">271</a>.<br /> +Novy Israil Society, <a href="#page248">248</a>.</p> +<p>Odessa, schools in, <a href="#page164">164</a>, <a href= +"#page185">185</a>;<br /> + Lilienthal in, <a href="#page176">176</a>;<br /> + Jewish influences in, <a href= +"#page194">194-197</a>;<br /> + Talmud Torah of, <a href="#page226">226</a>;<br /> + Haskalah in, <a href="#page233">233-235</a>;<br /> + Russification of, <a href="#page240">240</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>;<br /> + assimilation in, <a href="#page248">248</a>;<br /> + pogromy in, <a href="#page253">253</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page251">251</a>, <a href= +"#page292">292</a>, <a href="#page294">294</a>, <a href= +"#page295">295</a>, <a href="#page296">296</a>;<br /> + Jewish women of, <a href="#page299">299-300</a>.<br /> +'Olam Katan, <a href="#page297">297</a>.<br /> +<i>Old Paths</i>, by McCaul, <a href="#page146">146</a>, <a href= +"#page211">211</a>.<br /> +Ostrog, <a href="#page44">44</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>.</p> +<p>Pale, the Jewish, <a href="#page188">188</a>, <a href= +"#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>, <a href= +"#page274">274</a>.<br /> +Palestine, rehabilitation of, <a href="#page13">13</a>;<br /> + settlers from, in Russia, <a href="#page18">18</a>, +<a href="#page27">27</a>;<br /> + longing for, <a href="#page153">153</a>, <a href= +"#page283">283</a>;<br /> + Smolenskin on, <a href="#page263">263-264</a>.<br /> +Parlovich, Arthur, physician, <a href="#page126">126</a>.<br /> +Patapov, Governor-General, convokes a conference, <a href= +"#page259">259</a>.<br /> +Paul I, <a href="#page62">62</a>, <a href="#page111">111</a>, +<a href="#page112">112</a>.<br /> +Paul III, pope, <a href="#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Pechersky, St. Feodosi, <a href="#page25">25</a>.<br /> +Peretz, Abraham, diplomat, <a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href= +"#page125">125</a>, <a href="#page130">130</a>.<br /> +Peretz, Gregori, Dekabrist, <a href="#page192">192</a>, <a href= +"#page249">249</a>, <a href="#page284">284</a>.<br /> +Perl, Joseph, educator, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href= +"#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page205">205</a>.<br /> +Perl, S., educator, <a href="#page166">166</a>.<br /> +Persia, immigrants from, <a href="#page19">19</a>.<br /> +Peter the Great, conquers the Tatars, <a href= +"#page54">54</a>;<br /> + his attempts to civilize Russia, <a href= +"#page56">56</a>;<br /> + surrender of Riga to, <a href="#page123">123</a>.<br /> +<i>Phaedon</i>, by Mendelssohn, <a href="#page214">214</a>.<br /> +Philippson, Ludwig, rabbi, <a href="#page154">154</a>, <a href= +"#page158">158</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>.<br /> +Phillips, Phinehas, founder of the Anglo-Jewish family, <a href= +"#page94">94</a>.<br /> +Pinczows, the, scholars, <a href="#page104">104-105</a>.<br /> +Pinner, Ephraim Moses, Talmudist, <a href="#page145">145</a>.<br /> +Pinsk, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>, +<a href="#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page242">242</a>.<br /> +Pinsker, Leo, nationalist, <a href="#page263">263</a>, <a href= +"#page281">281-283</a>.<br /> +Pinsker, Simhah, scholar, <a href="#page108">108-109</a>, <a href= +"#page164">164</a>, <a href="#page195">195</a>.<br /> +Pirogov, Nikolai Ivanovich, liberal school superintendent, <a href= +"#page226">226-228</a>.<br /> +Plehve, von, on restrictions, <a href="#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Plungian, Ezekiel Feiyel, Talmudist, <a href="#page119">119</a>, +<a href="#page203">203</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page350" id= +"page350"></a>{350}</span> Pobyedonostsev, influences Alexander II, +<a href="#page250">250-251</a>;<br /> + procurator of the Holy Synod, <a href= +"#page269">269</a>;<br /> + his policy regarding Jews, <a href= +"#page270">270</a>;<br /> + on Jewish superiority, <a href= +"#page273">273</a>.<br /> +Podolia, <a href="#page60">60</a>, <a href="#page64">64</a>, +<a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href= +"#page195">195</a>, <a href="#page277">277</a>.<br /> +Pogodin, on early Russian Jews, <a href="#page19">19</a>.<br /> +Pogromy, <a href="#page253">253</a>, <a href= +"#page269">269-270</a>.<br /> +Poimaniki, <a href="#page136">136-138</a>, <a href= +"#page152">152</a>, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href= +"#page184">184</a>.<br /> +Poimshchiki, <a href="#page137">137</a>.<br /> +Polack, Jacob, Talmudist, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href= +"#page104">104</a>.<br /> +Poland, early settlement of Jews in, <a href= +"#page20">20</a>;<br /> + political eminence of, <a href= +"#page22">22-23</a>;<br /> + proselytism in, <a href="#page26">26</a>;<br /> + after Chmielnicki's massacres, <a href= +"#page53">53-55</a>;<br /> + influence of Calvinism in, <a href= +"#page56">56-57</a>;<br /> + during the rozbior, <a href="#page58">58</a>;<br /> + after the annexation, <a href="#page113">113</a>;<br /> + Jewish loyalty to, <a href= +"#page115">115-116</a>;<br /> + under Nicholas I, <a href="#page158">158-159</a>;<br /> + use of Polish in, <a href="#page196">196</a>;<br /> + sympathy with, and adoption of language of, <a href= +"#page246">246-247</a>.<br /> +Polonnoy, Jacob Joseph of, follower of Besht, <a href= +"#page65">65</a>;<br /> + his <i>Toledot Ya'akob Yosef</i> burnt in Vilna, +<a href="#page76">76</a>;<br /> + mentioned, <a href="#page122">122</a>, <a href= +"#page132">132</a>.<br /> +Polotsk, <a href="#page55">55</a>, <a href="#page95">95</a>.<br /> +Poltava, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page239">239</a>, +<a href="#page300">300</a>.<br /> +Popes, <a href="#page72">72</a>, <a href="#page253">253</a>.<br /> +Posner, Solomon, philanthropist, <a href= +"#page143">143-144</a>.<br /> +Pototzki, Count Valentine, proselyte, <a href= +"#page27">27</a>.<br /> +Prayer book. See <a href="#index-common-prayer">Book of Common +Prayer</a>.<br /> +Prelooker, Jacob, <a href="#page241">241-242</a>, <a href= +"#page248">248</a>.<br /> +Printing-press, permission to establish, <a href= +"#page110">110</a>;<br /> + first publications from, <a href= +"#page124">124</a>;<br /> + restrictions removed from use of, <a href= +"#page230">230</a>.<br /> +Prochovnik, Abraham, Jewish king of Poland (?), <a href= +"#page22">22</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-proselytism" id="index-proselytism">Proselytism</a>, +<a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href="#page20">20</a>, <a href= +"#page24">24-28</a>.<br /> +Public schools, admission of Jews to, <a href="#page111">111</a>, +<a href="#page118">118</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>;<br /> + exclusion of Jews from, <a href= +"#page273">273-275</a>.<br /> +Pumpyansky, Aaron Elijah, rabbi, <a href="#page203">203</a>, +<a href="#page246">246</a>.<br /> +Pushkin's prisoner, <a href="#page224">224</a>.</p> +<p>Querido, Jacob, mystic, <a href="#page64">64</a>.</p> +<p>Rabbinical seminaries, <a href="#page144">144-145</a>, <a href= +"#page165">165</a>, <a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href= +"#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page182">182</a>, <a href= +"#page196">196</a>, <a href="#page202">202-203</a>.<br /> +Rabbis, position of, in Russo-Poland, <a href= +"#page44">44-45</a>;<br /> + required to know Russian, German, or Polish, <a href= +"#page125">125</a>;<br /> + opposed by Maskilim, <a href="#page173">173</a>;<br /> + Lilienthal on, <a href="#page174">174</a>, <a href= +"#page181">181</a>;<br /> + Günzburg on, <a href="#page216">216-217</a>;<br /> + dukhovny and kazyony, <a href= +"#page295">295-296</a>.<br /> +Rabinovich, Osip, litterateur, <a href="#page201">201</a>, <a href= +"#page238">238</a>, <a href="#page243">243</a>.<br /> +Rabinowitz, Joseph, assimilationist, <a href= +"#page248">248</a>.<br /> +Rachmailovich, Affras, merchant, <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Radziwill, Prince, <a href="#page24">24</a>, <a href= +"#page39">39</a>, <a href="#page62">62</a>.<br /> +Rapoport, Solomon Löb, rabbi, <a href= +"#page205">205</a>.<br /> +Rasiner, Israel, zaddik, <a href="#page211">211</a>.<br /> +Raskolniki, <a href="#page248">248</a>.<br /> +Rathaus, Abraham, merchant, <a href="#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Razsvyet, <a href="#page238">238</a>, <a href= +"#page243">243-244</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Reform Judaism, and the Haskalah, <a href= +"#page242">242-248</a>;<br /> + sermons in Russian, <a href="#page246">246</a>;<br /> + Smolenskin on, <a href="#page264">264-265</a>.<br /> +Reform synagogues, in Odessa, <a href="#page196">196</a>;<br /> + in Warsaw, <a href="#page197">197</a>;<br /> + in Vilna, <a href="#page198">198</a>.<br /> +Reines, Isaac Jacob, rabbi, <a href="#page295">295</a>.<br /> +Reis, Joseph, grandfather of Wessely, <a href= +"#page77">77</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page351" id= +"page351"></a>{351}</span> Revolutionaries, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>, <a href="#page248">248-251</a>, <a href= +"#page255">255-258</a>.<br /> +Riesser, Gabriel, champion of Jewish emancipation, <a href= +"#page78">78</a>.<br /> +Riga, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page180">180</a>, <a href= +"#page185">185</a>, <a href="#page195">195</a>, <a href= +"#page197">197</a>, <a href="#page225">225</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>.<br /> +Risenci, Jonathan of, rabbi, <a href="#page104">104</a>.<br /> +Rivkes, Moses, commentator, <a href="#page34">34</a>.<br /> +Romm, Menahem Mann, publisher, <a href= +"#page148">148-149</a>.<br /> +Rosensohn, Joseph, rabbi, <a href="#page127">127</a>.<br /> +Rosensohn, Moses, reformer, <a href="#page247">247</a>.<br /> +Rosenthal, Leon, financier, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page237">237-238</a>.<br /> +Rothschild, Baron Edmund de, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Rurik, Varangian prince, <a href="#page19">19</a>.<br /> +Russia, Haskalah in, contrasted with Haskalah in Galicia and +Germany, <a href="#page12">12</a>;<br /> + arrival of German Jews in, <a href= +"#page18">18</a>;<br /> + antiquity of Jews in, <a href="#page19">19</a>;<br /> + privileges of Jews in, <a href="#page21">21</a>;<br /> + Jewish envoys to, <a href="#page22">22</a>;<br /> + mentioned by medieval scholars, <a href= +"#page28">28-29</a>;<br /> + Sefardim and Ashkenazim resort to, <a href= +"#page33">33-34</a>;<br /> + scientists in, <a href="#page37">37-39</a>;<br /> + physicians in, <a href="#page39">39-42</a>;<br /> + status of Jews of, before Chmielnicki's uprising, +<a href="#page42">42-45</a>;<br /> + Jewish self-government, school system, and mode of +living in, <a href="#page45">45-52</a>;<br /> + under Ivan the Terrible, <a href= +"#page55">55-56</a>;<br /> + under Peter the Great, <a href="#page56">56</a>;<br /> + under Elizabeta Petrovna, <a href= +"#page57">57</a>;<br /> + state of civilization of, <a href="#page60">60</a>, +<a href="#page107">107</a>;<br /> + favorable conditions in, under Catherine II, Paul I, +and Alexander I, <a href="#page110">110-128</a>;<br /> + Jewish patriotism toward, under Alexander I, <a href= +"#page117">117</a>;<br /> + Russification of Jews of, <a href= +"#page124">124-125</a>;<br /> + opposition to Haskalah in, <a href="#page133">133</a> +f.;<br /> + Jewish colonization in, <a href= +"#page140">140-144</a>;<br /> + crusade against the Talmud in, <a href= +"#page145">145-147</a>;<br /> + opinions of prominent Gentiles on Jews of, <a href= +"#page162">162</a>, <a href="#page224">224-225</a>;<br /> + literature and civilization of, under Nicholas I, +<a href="#page189">189-190</a>;<br /> + under Alexander II, <a href= +"#page222">222-226</a>;<br /> + Jewish contribution to civilization of, <a href= +"#page201">201-202</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>;<br /> + sermons in, <a href="#page246">246</a>;<br /> + defenders of Jews in, <a href= +"#page302">302-303</a>;<br /> + Macaulay on civilization of, <a href="#page310">310</a> +(n. <a href="#footnote2-6">6</a>).</p> +<p>Sack, Hayyim, financier, <a href="#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Sackheim, Joseph, merchant, <a href="#page200">200</a>.<br /> +<i>Safah Berurah</i>, by Hannover, <a href="#page39">39</a>.<br /> +St. Petersburg, Imperial Hermitage in, <a href= +"#page19">19</a>;<br /> + scene of martyrdom, <a href="#page57">57</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href= +"#page104">104</a>, <a href="#page267">267</a>, <a href= +"#page276">276</a>, <a href="#page286">286</a>, <a href= +"#page300">300</a>;<br /> + Jews permitted in, <a href="#page111">111</a>, <a href= +"#page117">117</a>, <a href="#page126">126</a>;<br /> + expelled from, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href= +"#page153">153</a>, <a href="#page271">271</a>;<br /> + deputation to, <a href="#page129">129</a>;<br /> + rabbinical conferences, <a href="#page151">151</a>, +<a href="#page173">173</a>, <a href="#page174">174-176</a>, +<a href="#page230">230</a>;<br /> + converts in, <a href="#page177">177</a>;<br /> + first graduate of University of, <a href= +"#page200">200</a>;<br /> + restriction of students in, <a href= +"#page274">274</a>;<br /> + Russification in, <a href="#page240">240</a>;<br /> + revolutionaries at, <a href="#page258">258</a>.<br /> +Salanter, Israel, rabbi, <a href="#page241">241</a>.<br /> +Samuel ben Avigdor, rabbi, <a href="#page79">79</a>.<br /> +Samuel ben Mattathias, Talmudist, <a href="#page40">40</a>.<br /> +Sanchez, Antonio Ribeiro, physician, <a href= +"#page57">57</a>.<br /> +Sanhedrin, the, and French Russian Jews, <a href= +"#page93">93</a>.<br /> +Satanov, Isaac Halevi, litterateur, <a href="#page99">99</a>, +<a href="#page217">217</a>.<br /> +Schapira, Moses, publisher, <a href="#page148">148</a>.<br /> +Schapiro, Constantin, poet, <a href="#page98">98</a>.<br /> +Schechter, Solomon, on Hasidism, <a href="#page69">69</a>.<br /> +Schick, Baruch (Shklover), scientist, <a href="#page94">94</a>, +<a href="#page96">96</a>, <a href="#page105">105-106</a>, <a href= +"#page119">119</a>, <a href="#page125">125</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page352" id= +"page352"></a>{352}</span> Schiller, on Maimon, <a href= +"#page89">89</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page192">192</a>.<br /> +Schools, secular, <a href="#page163">163-165</a>, <a href= +"#page182">182-185</a>, <a href="#page195">195-196</a>, <a href= +"#page227">227-228</a>, <a href="#page229">229</a>, <a href= +"#page235">235</a>, <a href="#page239">239</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page273">273-274</a>, <a href= +"#page276">276-277</a>, <a href="#page290">290-292</a>, <a href= +"#page297">297</a>.<br /> +<i>Sefer ha-Berit</i>, <a href="#page102">102</a>.<br /> +Seiberling, Joseph, censor of Hebrew books, <a href= +"#page200">200</a>.<br /> +Shabbataï Zebi, pseudo-Messiah, <a href="#page64">64</a>, +<a href="#page69">69</a>.<br /> +Shalkovich, Abraham Lob (Ben Avigdor), <a href= +"#page296">296</a>.<br /> +Shatzkes' <i>Ha-Mafteah</i>, <a href="#page244">244</a>.<br /> +Shavli, Moses of, writer of polemics, <a href= +"#page36">36</a>.<br /> +<i>Shibhe ha-Besht</i>, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>.<br /> +Shklov, <a href="#page105">105</a>, <a href= +"#page124">124</a>.<br /> +Shkud, Mikel of, rabbi, <a href="#page61">61</a>.<br /> +Shneersohn, Menahem Mendel, zaddik, <a href="#page175">175</a>, +<a href="#page176">176</a>.<br /> +Shmoilovich, Abraham, merchant, <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +<i>Shulhan 'Aruk</i>, commentators on, <a href="#page34">34</a>, +<a href="#page36">36</a>;<br /> + its effect on Jewish life, <a href= +"#page73">73</a>;<br /> + Elijah Vilna on, <a href="#page74">74</a>;<br /> + criticism of, <a href="#page123">123</a>;<br /> + annotations to, <a href="#page127">127</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page215">215</a>.<br /> +Siberia, <a href="#page140">140-143</a>, <a href= +"#page160">160</a>.<br /> +<i>Sin'at 'Olam le-'Am 'Olam</i>, <a href= +"#page280">280-281</a>.<br /> +Sixtus V, pope, <a href="#page72">72</a>.<br /> +<i>Skazanye O Florye Rimlyaninye</i>, by Korolenko, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Skripitzyn's <i>Information about the Killing of Christians</i>, +etc., <a href="#page229">229</a>.<br /> +Slonim, Samson of, rabbi, <a href="#page106">106</a>.<br /> +Slonimsky, Hayyim Selig, inventor and editor, <a href= +"#page199">199</a>, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page201">201-202</a>, <a href="#page203">203</a>.<br /> +Slutsk, <a href="#page76">76</a>, <a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page202">202</a>.<br /> +"Slutsker Maggid, the," <a href="#page246">246</a>.<br /> +Smolensk, <a href="#page21">21</a>, <a href= +"#page162">162</a>.<br /> +Smolenskin, Perez, and Haskalah, <a href="#page13">13</a>;<br /> + his descriptions of the heder and yeshibah, <a href= +"#page50">50</a>, <a href="#page266">266</a>;<br /> + his life, <a href="#page261">261-267</a>;<br /> + his conception of Haskalah, <a href= +"#page261">261</a>;<br /> + on nationalism, <a href="#page262">262-263</a>, +<a href="#page284">284</a>;<br /> + on reformers, <a href="#page264">264-265</a>;<br /> + attacks Mendelssohn, <a href="#page265">265</a>;<br /> + on the prophetic consciousness of the Jewish masses, +<a href="#page266">266-267</a>;<br /> + his popularity, <a href="#page267">267</a>;<br /> + organizes the Kadimah, <a href= +"#page285">285</a>;<br /> + opposes the Alliance Israélite Universelle, +<a href="#page285">285</a>.<br /> +Sobieski, John, <a href="#page39">39</a>.<br /> +Society for the Promotion of Haskalah among the Russian Jews, +<a href="#page237">237-239</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>, +<a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href="#page291">291-292</a>.<br /> +Sofer, Moses, rabbi, <a href="#page133">133</a>.<br /> +Sofer, Shabbataï, rabbi, <a href="#page36">36</a>.<br /> +Sokolov, Nahum, publicist, <a href="#page280">280</a>.<br /> +Sosima, monkish proselyte, <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +Spector, Isaac Elhanan, rabbi, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Speir, Bima, of Mohilev, opponent of Frank, <a href= +"#page104">104</a>.<br /> +Spinoza and Maimon compared, <a href="#page86">86</a>, <a href= +"#page88">88</a>.<br /> +Stern, Abraham Jacob, inventor, <a href="#page201">201</a>.<br /> +Stern, Bezalel (Basilius), pedagogue, <a href="#page164">164</a>, +<a href="#page165">165</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>, <a href= +"#page176">176</a>.<br /> +Strashun, Mattathias, Talmudist, <a href="#page203">203</a>.<br /> +Surovyetsky, on Russian Jews, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href= +"#page318">318</a> (n. <a href="#footnote4-1">1</a>).<br /> +Switzerland, <a href="#page257">257</a>, <a href= +"#page298">298</a>, <a href="#page299">299</a>, <a href= +"#page300">300</a>.</p> +<p><i>Talmud, Der, in seiner Nichtigkeit</i>, by Buchner, <a href= +"#page146">146</a>.<br /> +Talmud, the, the study of, <a href="#page31">31</a>, <a href= +"#page71">71-72</a>;<br /> + burnt in public, <a href="#page70">70</a>;<br /> + customs of, according to Elijah Gaon, <a href= +"#page74">74</a>;<br /> + attacks on, <a href="#page145">145-147</a>, <a href= +"#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page242">242-248</a>;<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page353" id= +"page353"></a>{353}</span> published in Russia, +<a href="#page147">147-149</a>;<br /> + neglected in Germany, <a href="#page168">168</a>.<br /> +Talmud Torah, the, <a href="#page47">47</a>, <a href= +"#page184">184</a>.<br /> +Talmudists, ancient Russo-Jewish, <a href= +"#page28">28-30</a>;<br /> + opposed by Hasidism, <a href="#page66">66</a>;<br /> + in Vilna, <a href="#page197">197-198</a>.<br /> +Tarnopol, on Russo-Jewish women, <a href= +"#page299">299-300</a>.<br /> +Taz, David, rabbi, <a href="#page34">34</a>.<br /> +Temkin's <i>Derek Salulah</i>, <a href="#page146">146</a>.<br /> +<i>Te'udah be-Yisraël</i>, by Levinsohn, <a href= +"#page205">205-207</a>, <a href="#page209">209</a>, <a href= +"#page210">210</a>, <a href="#page212">212</a>.<br /> +<i>Toledot Ya'akob Yosef</i>, by Jacob Joseph Polonnoy, <a href= +"#page65">65</a>.<br /> +Tolstoi, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page250">250</a>, +<a href="#page302">302</a>.<br /> +Troki, city, <a href="#page22">22</a>.<br /> +Troki, Abraham, author and physician, <a href= +"#page39">39</a>.<br /> +Troki, Isaac ben Abraham, Karaite scholar, <a href= +"#page36">36</a>.<br /> +Turgenief, on Russia, <a href="#page224">224</a>;<br /> + his Zhid, <a href="#page224">224</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page245">245</a>, <a href= +"#page250">250</a>;<br /> + on Alexander II, <a href="#page251">251</a>;<br /> + his <i>Virgin Soil</i>, and <i>Fathers and Sons</i>, +<a href="#page257">257</a>;<br /> + his Lithuanian Jewish character, <a href= +"#page259">259-260</a>.<br /> +Tushiyah Society, <a href="#page296">296-297</a>.</p> +<p>Ukraine, the, Jewish community in, <a href= +"#page20">20</a>;<br /> + famous for scholars, <a href="#page35">35-36</a>;<br /> + Jewish self-government in, <a href= +"#page44">44</a>;<br /> + expulsions from, <a href="#page56">56-57</a>;<br /> + state of morality in, <a href="#page64">64</a>;<br /> + Hasidism in, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href= +"#page122">122</a>;<br /> + first school in, <a href="#page164">164</a>.<br /> +Uman, <a href="#page59">59</a>, <a href="#page164">164</a>.<br /> +<a name="index-united-states" id="index-united-states">United +States</a>, the, <a href="#page158">158</a>, <a href= +"#page220">220</a>, <a href="#page270">270</a>, <a href= +"#page283">283</a>.<br /> +Uvarov, on persecution, <a href="#page155">155</a>, <a href= +"#page302">302</a>;<br /> + on "re-education," <a href="#page171">171</a>, <a href= +"#page174">174</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>, <a href= +"#page182">182</a>.</p> +<p>Vassile Lupu, hospodar of Moldavia, <a href= +"#page40">40</a>.<br /> +Vassilyevich, Ivan, <a href="#page23">23</a>, <a href= +"#page26">26</a>.<br /> +Vernacular, the, <a href="#page18">18</a>, <a href= +"#page29">29</a>, <a href="#page30">30-31</a>, <a href= +"#page38">38</a>, <a href="#page188">188</a>, <a href= +"#page194">194</a>, <a href="#page255">255</a>.<br /> +Vilna, scene of martyrdom, <a href="#page27">27</a>;<br /> + Talmudists of, <a href="#page34">34</a>;<br /> + kahal of, <a href="#page62">62</a>;<br /> + persecution of Hasidim, <a href="#page76">76</a>;<br /> + the last rabbi of, <a href="#page79">79</a>;<br /> + notables of, <a href="#page91">91</a>, <a href= +"#page92">92</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a>, <a href= +"#page150">150</a>;<br /> + first graduates from University of, <a href= +"#page126">126-127</a>;<br /> + opposition to Haskalah in, <a href= +"#page133">133</a>;<br /> + first publication of the Talmud in, <a href= +"#page148">148-149</a>;<br /> + first assembly of Maskilim in, <a href= +"#page165">165</a>;<br /> + innovations in, <a href="#page166">166</a>;<br /> + reception of Lilienthal in, <a href="#page172">172</a>, +<a href="#page173">173</a>;<br /> + rabbinical seminary at, <a href="#page175">175</a>, +<a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page202">202</a>;<br /> + yeshibot of, <a href="#page197">197</a>;<br /> + Haskalah in, <a href="#page198">198</a>, <a href= +"#page200">200</a>, <a href="#page206">206</a>, <a href= +"#page246">246</a>;<br /> + champions of Jews in, <a href="#page225">225</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page230">230</a>, <a href= +"#page292">292</a>, <a href="#page295">295</a>.<br /> +<i>Virgin Soil</i>, by Turgenief, <a href="#page257">257</a>.<br /> +Vital, Hayyim, Cabbalist, <a href="#page103">103</a>, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>.<br /> +Vitebsk, <a href="#page128">128</a>, <a href="#page202">202</a>, +<a href="#page292">292</a>.<br /> +Vitebsk, Menahem Mendel of, zaddik, on Haskalah, <a href= +"#page135">135</a>.<br /> +Vladimir, grand duke, <a href="#page20">20</a>.<br /> +Volhynia, jurisdiction over, <a href="#page44">44</a>;<br /> + massacres in, <a href="#page60">60</a>;<br /> + Hasidism in, <a href="#page69">69</a>, <a href= +"#page81">81</a>, <a href="#page104">104</a>;<br /> + first complete edition of the Talmud published in, +<a href="#page148">148</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page162">162</a>, <a href= +"#page195">195</a>;<br /> + blood accusations in, <a href="#page208">208</a>.<br /> +Volozhin, Hayyim, dean, <a href="#page135">135</a>, <a href= +"#page150">150-151</a>, <a href="#page175">175</a>, <a href= +"#page176">176</a>.<br /> +Volozhin, Isaac of, dean, <a href="#page151">151</a>.<br /> +Volozhin, yeshibah of, <a href="#page150">150-152</a>, <a href= +"#page245">245</a>, <a href="#page295">295</a>.<br /> +Vosnitzin, Captain, martyr, <a href="#page27">27</a>, <a href= +"#page57">57</a>.</p> +<p>Wahl, Saul, Jewish Polish king (?), <a href= +"#page22">22</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page354" id= +"page354"></a>{354}</span> Warsaw, Jewish community in, <a href= +"#page20">20</a>;<br /> + persecution in, <a href="#page58">58</a>;<br /> + protest at, <a href="#page62">62</a>;<br /> + defended by Jewish soldiers, <a href= +"#page115">115</a>;<br /> + first Yiddish paper in, <a href= +"#page124">124</a>;<br /> + rabbinic college of, <a href="#page144">144-145</a>, +<a href="#page170">170</a>, <a href="#page202">202</a>;<br /> + censor in, <a href="#page148">148</a>;<br /> + condition of, <a href="#page159">159</a>;<br /> + German influence in, <a href="#page196">196</a>;<br /> + Maskilim of, <a href="#page202">202</a>, <a href= +"#page206">206</a>, <a href="#page246">246</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page286">286</a>.<br /> +Way, Lewis, English missionary, <a href="#page129">129-130</a>, +<a href="#page144">144</a>.<br /> +Weigel, Katharina, proselyte, <a href="#page27">27</a>.<br /> +Wengeroff's <i>Memoirs</i>, <a href="#page163">163</a>;<br /> + on Russo-Jewish women, <a href= +"#page300">300</a>.<br /> +Wessely, Naphtali Hartwig, quoted, <a href="#page38">38</a>;<br /> + course of study prescribed by, <a href= +"#page75">75</a>;<br /> + his ancestry, <a href="#page77">77</a>;<br /> + his opinion on Russo-Jewish students, <a href= +"#page80">80</a>, <a href="#page92">92</a>, <a href= +"#page108">108</a>;<br /> + his <i>Mosaïde</i>, <a href= +"#page98">98</a>;<br /> + his <i>Yen Lebanon</i>, <a href= +"#page105">105</a>;<br /> + his Epistles and <i>Yen Lebanon</i> banned, <a href= +"#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>.<br /> +<i>What to Do</i>, by Chernichevsky, <a href= +"#page257">257</a>.<br /> +White, on Jewish farmers, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Wissotzky, Kalonymos, philanthropist, <a href= +"#page292">292</a>.<br /> +Wohl, censor of Hebrew books, <a href="#page252">252</a>, <a href= +"#page294">294</a>.<br /> +Wolf, Levy, jurist, <a href="#page126">126</a>.<br /> +Wolff's <i>Metaphysics</i>, <a href="#page84">84-86</a>;<br /> + <i>Mathematics</i>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href= +"#page108">108</a>.<br /> +Wolper, Michael, educator, <a href="#page294">294</a>.<br /> +Women's education, <a href="#page45">45-46</a>, <a href= +"#page253">253</a>, <a href="#page258">258</a>, <a href= +"#page259">259</a>, <a href="#page276">276</a>, <a href= +"#page296">296</a>, <a href="#page299">299-301</a>.<br /> +<i>Words of Peace and Truth</i>, by Wessely, <a href= +"#page75">75</a>.<br /> +Workingmen, Russo-Jewish, <a href="#page163">163</a>, <a href= +"#page293">293-294</a>, <a href="#page318">318</a> (n. <a href= +"#footnote4-2">2</a>).</p> +<p>Yankele Kovner. See <a href="#index-jacob-barit">Barit, +Jacob</a>.<br /> +Yaroslav, fair of, <a href="#page49">49</a>.<br /> +Yaroslav, Aaron, friend of Mendelssohn, <a href= +"#page81">81</a>.<br /> +Yavan, Baruch, diplomat, <a href="#page104">104</a>.<br /> +Yelisavetgrad, <a href="#page247">247</a>, <a href= +"#page269">269</a>, <a href="#page292">292</a>.<br /> +<i>Yen Lebanon</i>, by Wessely, <a href="#page105">105</a>, +<a href="#page132">132</a>, <a href="#page133">133</a>, <a href= +"#page192">192</a>.<br /> +Yeralash, <a href="#page201">201</a>.<br /> +Yeshibat 'Ez Hayyim, <a href="#page150">150-152</a>, <a href= +"#page175">175</a>, <a href="#page184">184</a>, <a href= +"#page254">254</a>.<br /> +Yeshibot, <a href="#page32">32</a>, <a href="#page46">46-49</a>, +<a href="#page168">168</a>.<br /> +<i>Yeven Mezulah</i>, by Hannover, <a href= +"#page48">48-49</a>.<br /> +Yiddish, as spoken by Russian Jews, <a href="#page38">38</a>;<br /> + first used for secular instruction, <a href= +"#page100">100-101</a>, <a href="#page124">124</a>;<br /> + first weekly in, <a href="#page123">123</a>, <a href= +"#page196">196</a>;<br /> + studied for missionary purposes, <a href= +"#page145">145</a>;<br /> + employed by Maskilim, <a href="#page167">167</a>, +<a href="#page232">232</a>;<br /> + by Zionists, <a href="#page286">286</a>.</p> +<p>Zabludovsky, Jehiel Michael, Talmudist, <a href= +"#page199">199</a>.<br /> +Zacharias, monkish proselyte, <a href="#page26">26</a>.<br /> +Zacharias of Kiev, missionary, <a href="#page25">25</a>.<br /> +Zaddikim, <a href="#page66">66</a>, <a href="#page122">122</a>, +<a href="#page220">220</a>.<br /> +Zamoscz, city, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href= +"#page202">202</a>.<br /> +Zamoscz, Israel Moses Halevi, instructor of Mendelssohn, <a href= +"#page77">77</a>, <a href="#page90">90</a>, <a href= +"#page195">195</a>.<br /> +Zamoscz, Reuben of, quoted, <a href="#page80">80</a>.<br /> +Zamoscz, Solomon of, liturgical poet, <a href= +"#page35">35</a>.<br /> +Zangwill, on Maimon, <a href="#page88">88</a>;<br /> + referred to, <a href="#page297">297</a>.<br /> +Zaremba, proselyte, <a href="#page27">27</a>.<br /> +Zaslav, fair of, <a href="#page49">49</a>;<br /> + blood accusation in, <a href="#page208">208</a>.<br /> +Zaslaver, Jacob, Massorite, <a href="#page36">36</a>.<br /> +Zbitkover, Samuel, financier, <a href="#page116">116</a>.<br /> +Zederbaum, Alexander, publisher, <a href="#page288">288</a>.<br /> +Zeitlin, Joshua, financier, <a href="#page118">118-119</a>.<br /> +<i>Zeker Rab</i>, <a href="#page124">124</a>.<br /> +Zelmele, Talmudist, <a href="#page119">119-120</a>.<br /> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page355" id= +"page355"></a>{355}</span> <i>Zerubbabel</i>, by Levinsohn, +<a href="#page210">210-212</a>, <a href="#page213">213</a>.<br /> +Zhagory, <a href="#page200">200</a>, <a href= +"#page202">202</a>.<br /> +Zhitomir, rabbinical seminary at, <a href="#page175">175</a>, +<a href="#page186">186</a>, <a href="#page197">197</a>, <a href= +"#page202">202</a>, <a href="#page248">248</a>;<br /> + printing-press in, <a href="#page230">230</a>;<br /> + trade school in, <a href="#page235">235</a>;<br /> + Evening and Sabbath schools in, <a href= +"#page239">239</a>.<br /> +Zionism, <a href="#page267">267</a>, <a href= +"#page284">284-287</a>:<br /> + difficulties of, <a href="#page287">287-288</a>;<br /> + effect of, <a href="#page289">289-291</a>.<br /> +<i>Zohar</i>, <a href="#page63">63</a>, <a href= +"#page134">134</a>.<br /> +Zunser, Eliakum, badhan, on Alexander II, <a href= +"#page231">231</a>;<br /> + on Orthodoxy, <a href="#page240">240-241</a>;<br /> + on the "intelligentia," <a href= +"#page278">278</a>;<br /> + on Zionism, <a href="#page290">290</a>;<br /> + on the awakening, <a href="#page324">324-327</a> (n. +<a href="#footnote5-27">27</a>).</p> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<h6>The Lord Baltimore Press<br /> +Baltimore, MD., U.S.A.</h6> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HASKALAH MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 15921-h.txt or 15921-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/5/9/2/15921">https://www.gutenberg.org/1/5/9/2/15921</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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