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Page 10
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 Aufkl�rungs-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![40]
Another typically, though not exclusively, Slavonic Jewish institution
was the study-hall, or bet 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.
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.
Such was the pre-Haskalah period. From the meagre data at our disposal
we are justified in concluding, that, left undisturbed, the Slavonic
Jews 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."
(Notes, pp. 305-310.)
CHAPTER II
THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION
1648-1794
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 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.[1] 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 _Judaeus infidelis_ 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 each with a piece of money, and thanked
them for the pleasure they had afforded him.[2]
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