Footnote 22:[(return)]
Duprey, Great Masters of Russian Literature (Engl. transl. Dole, New York, 1886), p. 151.
Footnote 23:[(return)]
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.
Footnote 24:[(return)]
Shereshevsky, O Knigie Kahala, St. Petersburg, 1872; Seiberling, Gegen Brafmann's Buch des Kahals, Vienna, 1881; Ha-Shahar, iv. 621; xi. 242.
Footnote 25:[(return)]
Prelooker, Heroes and Heroines of Russia, London, p. 120; Ha-Shiloah, xvii. 257-263.
Footnote 26:[(return)]
Zederbaum, 'Ayin Zofiyah, Warsaw, 1877, pp. 7-8; Prelooker, Under the Czar, etc., pp. 8-21.
Footnote 27:[(return)]
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:
"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 turn into poison, and he may contract a stubborn disease which no physician will be able to cure.
"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.
"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!'
"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.
"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 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.
"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.
"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.
"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 'pogroms,' when the children asked their parents: 'Why do they beat us? Are we, too, Jews (Razve vy tozhe Yevrey)?'"
Footnote 28:[(return)]
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.