Under the immediate successors of Peter the Great the "defensive" policy towards the Jews gradually became an "offensive" one. The magnates at the Russian court, who dominated Russia under the label of "The Supreme Secret Council," called attention to the unnecessary proximity of the Jewish colony in Smolensk to the center of the Empire. The district of Smolensk bordering on Poland harbored a group of White Russian Jews, who earned a livelihood by a trade profitable at that time, the lease of excise and customs duties. One of these big tax-farmers, a certain Borukh Leibov (son of Leib), even had the courage to build a synagogue for the few Jews of the village of Zverovich. This aroused the ire of the local Greek Orthodox priest, who in his naïveté was convinced that the establishment of a synagogue would result in diverting his flock from the Church and converting it to Judaism. The inhabitants began to bombard St. Petersburg with their protests, the elders of the Holy Synod became alarmed, the specter of the "Judaizing heresy" once more flitted across their vision, and, as a result, Empress Catherine I. issued, in March, 1727, an ukase[211] through the Supreme Secret Council, that Borukh and his associates be removed from their office in connection with the excise and customs duties, and "be deported immediately from Russia beyond the border."
A month later another even stricter ukase was promulgated by the Empress through the Supreme Secret Council, which affected all Jews in the border provinces, particularly those residing in Little Russia. The ukase decreed that "the Jews, both of the male and the female sex, who have settled in the Ukraina and in other Russian cities, be deported immediately from Russia beyond the border, and in no circumstances be admitted into Russia, of which fact they shall in all places be strictly forewarned." The exiles were forbidden to carry gold and silver coins abroad, into the Polish dominions. They were ordered to exchange them for copper money prior to their expulsion. This ukase was a gross violation not only of the ancient rights of the Jews who had been left in Little Russia after its annexation by Muscovy, but also of the autonomy of the province and its elective authorities, the hetmans, to whom the right of initiative belonged in such cases.
The arbitrariness of the central Government called forth the protest of the Little Russian Cossacks, who were otherwise far from friendly to the Jews. In the name of "the Zaporozhian army on both sides of the Dnieper"[212] Hetman Daniel Apostol addressed a petition to St. Petersburg, pleading for the admission of traveling Jewish salesmen to the Little Russian fairs, in view of their commercial usefulness. A reply to this petition may be found in an ukase which the Supreme Secret Council issued in 1728, in the name of Emperor Peter II., the latter still being a minor. One of its clauses runs thus:
The Jews are permitted to visit temporarily the fairs of Little Russia for commercial purposes, but they are only allowed to sell their goods wholesale, and not retail, by ells and in pounds. The money taken in from the sale of these goods shall be used to buy other goods. In no circumstances shall they be allowed to carry gold and silver money from Little Russia abroad.... The [permanent] residence of the Jews in Little Russia is forbidden by virtue of the ukase of the previous year, 1727.
In this way the Jews who had been illegally deported were now "graciously" granted the right of temporary visits to the fairs. Moreover, even this right was hedged about by severe restrictions, such as the prohibition of retail business, and the compulsion of leaving in the country the money taken in for their goods, for the purpose of equalizing imports and exports.
In 1731, this act of "grace" was extended to the Government of Smolensk, and three years later another concession was wrested from the authorities. The representatives of the "Border Province of Sloboda," the present Government of Kharkov, petitioned the Russian ruler to grant permission to the Jews visiting the fairs to sell their goods not only wholesale but also retail, "by ells and in pounds," in view of the fact that "in the Sloboda regiments there are few business men, and their trade is unsatisfactory." Empress Anna complied with the request in 1774. In the same year the privilege concerning the retail trade of Jews at the fairs was extended to the whole of Little Russia, in compliance with a petition of its Christian inhabitants.
But this avalanche of "favors" and "privileges"—the partial restoration of rights which had been grossly trampled upon—suddenly stopped, and was followed by a series of cruel repressions. The change was prompted by the Muscovite fear of Jews, the traditional dread felt by the Russian people of the specter of "Jewish seduction." An occurrence had taken place which was enough to strike terror to the hearts of people with old Muscovite notions. The above-mentioned tax-farmer of Smolensk, Borukh Leibov, who, even after his expulsion, continued to cross the forbidden Polish-Russian frontier, had occasion, during his stay in Moscow, to come in close contact with Alexander Voznitzin, a retired captain of the navy, and "seduced him." Voznitzin, who was wont to speculate about religious matters, studied the Bible under the guidance of his Jewish friend, and his eyes were opened. He realized that the Biblical doctrine of one God was incompatible with the dogmas of the Greek Church and with the cult of ikons, in which he had been brought up. Voznitzin became convinced of the truth of Judaism, and, having made up his mind to embrace the Jewish religion, he decided to brave the difficulties and dangers which such a step implied. He went to the little town of Dubrovna, in the Government of Moghilev, near Smolensk, where the son of Borukh Leibov resided, to undergo there the ceremony of circumcision and accept the principles and practices of Judaism. Voznitzin's conversion became known, and the Captain, together with his teacher Borukh, were brought to justice. They were conveyed to St. Petersburg, and turned over to the awe-inspiring "Chancellery for Secret Inquisitorial Affairs."
The accused were put on the rack and confessed their "crimes." Voznitzin admitted having embraced "the Jewish law," and having uttered "blasphemous words against the Holy Church," while Borukh Leibov owned that he had "seduced" Voznitzin from the path of Greek Orthodoxy. In addition, Borukh was accused of having, "together with other Jews," predisposed the common people in Smolensk in favor of the Jewish religion, and of having insulted, by word and deed, the local Russian Pope Abramius, in connection with the establishment of a Jewish synagogue in the village of Zverovich. The latter crimes, however, were not investigated further in view of the fact that the conversion of Voznitzin was sufficient to inflict the death penalty on Borukh. The Inquisitorial Court hastened to announce its verdict, basing it upon the "statute" of Tzar Alexis Michaelovich. The report of the Senate elicited in 1738 an Imperial resolution,[213] decreeing that "both of them [Voznitzin and Borukh] shall be executed and burned, in order that other ignorant and godless people, witnessing this, shall not turn away from the Christian law, and such seducers as the above-mentioned Jew Borukh shall not dare to lead them astray from the Christian law and convert them to their own laws." The auto-da-fé took place in St. Petersburg, on a public square, in the presence of a large crowd of spectators, on July 15, 1738.
This one isolated incident was sufficient to rekindle in the Government circles of St. Petersburg the inveterate Muscovite hatred against "unbaptized Jews" and to justify further violence against them. It had come to the knowledge of the authorities that, contrary to the ukase of 1727, numerous Jews were still residing in Little Russia, being employed on the estates of the Russian landowners as arendars and innkeepers. It had also been ascertained that the Jews who came from the Polish part of the Ukraina to visit the fairs in many cases settled permanently in Little Russia. The Government found such a state of affairs unendurable. In 1739 the Senate decreed the expulsion of the Jews from Little Russia, whither in recent years they had penetrated "from the other side of the Dnieper." In reply to this Senatorial rescript, the Military Chancellery of Little Russia reported that an immediate expulsion of the Jews was fraught with danger, on account of the war with Turkey, which was going on at that time, "since their present expulsion might be accompanied by spying." The Cabinet of Ministers, acting upon the representation of the Senate, passed the resolution, that "the expulsion of the Jews shall be postponed until the termination of the present Turkish War." When the war was over, Empress Anna issued an ukase, in 1740, ordering the execution of the postponed expulsion. The number of Jews liable to expulsion was found to be 292 of the male sex and 281 of the female sex, who resided on 130 manorial estates, altogether a handful of 573 Jewish souls, who had obtained shelter on the outskirts of Russia.