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History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II by S.M. Dubnow

S >> S.M. Dubnow >> History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume II




[Footnote 1: i.e., Dialectics. Comp. Vol. I, p. 122.]

[Footnote 2: The title of the philosophic treatise of Rabbi Shneor
Zalman. See Vol. I, p. 372, n. 1.]

His successor Rabbi Mendel Lubavicher proved an energetic organizer of
the hasidic masses. He was highly esteemed not only as a learned
Talmudist--he wrote rabbinical _novellae and response--and as a preacher
of Hasidism, but also as a man of great practical wisdom, whose advice
was sought by thousands of people in family matters no less than in
communal and commercial affairs. This did not present him from being a
decided opponent of the new enlightenment. In the course of Lilienthal's
educational propaganda in 1843, Rabbi Mendel was summoned by the
Government to participate in the deliberations of the Rabbinical
Committee at St. Petersburg. There he found himself in a tragic
situation. He was compelled to give his sanction to the Crown schools,
although he firmly believed that they were subversive of Judaism, not
only because they were originated by Russian officials, but also because
they were intended to impart secular knowledge. The hasidic legend
narrates that the Tzaddik pleaded before the Committee passionately, and
often with tears in his eyes, not only to retain in the new schools the
traditional methods of Bible and Talmud instruction, but also to make
room in their curriculum for the teaching of the Cabala. Nevertheless,
Rabbi Mendel was compelled to endorse against his will the "godless"
plan of a school reform, and a little later to prefix his approbation to
a Russian edition of Mendelssohn's German Bible translation. His
attitude toward contemporary pedagogic methods may be gauged from the
epistle addressed by him in 1848 to Leon Mandelstamm, Lilienthal's
successor in the task of organizing the Jewish Crown schools. In this
epistle Rabbi Mendel categorically rejects all innovations in the
training of the young. In reply to a question concerning the edition of
an abbreviated Bible text for children, he trenchantly quotes the famous
medieval aphorism:

The Pentateuch was written by Moses at the dictation of God. Hence
every word in it is sacred. There is no difference whatsoever
between the verse "And Timna was the concubine" (Gen. 36. 12) and
"Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deut 6. 4). [1]

[Footnote 1: See Maimonides' exposition of the dogma of the divine
origin of the Torah in his Mishnah Commentary, _Sanhedrin_, chapter X.]

Withal, the leaders of the Northern Hasidim were, comparatively
speaking, "men of the world," and were ready here and there to make
concessions to the demands of the age. Quite different were the Tzaddiks
of the South-west. They were horrified by the mere thought of such
concessions. They were surrounded by immense throngs of Hasidim,
unenlightened, ecstatic, worshipping saints during their lifetime.

The most honored among these hasidic dynasties was that of Chernobyl.
[1] It was founded in the Ukraina toward the end of the eighteenth
century by an itinerant preacher, or Maggid, called Nahum. [2] His son
Mordecai, known under the endearing name "Rabbi Motele" (died in 1837),
attracted to Chernobyl enormous numbers of pilgrims who brought with
them ransom money, or _pidyons_. [3] Mordecai's "Empire" fell asunder
after his death. His eight sons divided among themselves the whole
territory of the Kiev and Volhynia province.

[Footnote 1: A townlet in the government of Kiev.]

[Footnote 2: See Vol. I, p. 382.]

[Footnote 3: The term is used in the Bible to denote a sum of money
which "redeems" or "ransoms" a man from death, as in the case of a
person guilty of manslaughter (Ex. 22. 30) or that of the first-born son
(Ex. 13. 13; 34. 20). The Hasidim designate by this term the
contributions made to the Tzaddik, in the belief that such contributions
have the power of averting from the contributor impending death or
misfortune.]

Aside from the original center in Chernobyl, seats of Tzaddiks were
established in the townlets of Korostyshev, Cherkassy, Makarov, Turisk,
Talno, Skvir and Rakhmistrovka. This resulted in a disgraceful rivalry
among the brothers, and still more so among their hasidic adherents.
Every Hasid was convinced that reverence was due only to his own
"Rebbe," [1] and he brushed aside the claims of the other Tzaddiks.
Whenever the adherents of the various Tzaddiks met, they invariably
engaged in passionate "party" quarrels, which on occasions, especially
after the customary hasidic drinking bouts, ended in physical violence.

[Footnote 1: Popular pronunciation of the word "rabbi," A hasidic
Tzaddik is designated as "Rebbe," in distinction from the rabbi proper,
or the _Rav_ (in Russia generally pronounced _Rov_), who discharges the
rabbinical functions within the community.]

The whole Chernobyl dynasty found a dangerous rival in the person of the
Tzaddik Israel Ruzhiner (of Ruzhin), the great-grandson of Rabbi Baer,
the apostle of Hasidism, known as the "Mezhiricher Maggid." [1] Rabbi
Israel settled in Ruzhin, a townlet in the government of Kiev, about
1815, and rapidly gained fame as a saint and miracle-worker. His
magnificent "court" at Ruzhin was always crowded with throngs of
Hasidim. Their onrush was checked by special "gentlemen in waiting," the
so-called _gabba'im,_ who were very fastidious in admitting the people
into the presence of the Tzaddik--dependent upon the size of the
proffered gifts. Israel drove out in a gorgeous carriage, surrounded by
a guard of honor. The gubernatorial administration of Kiev, presided
over by the ferocious Governor-General Bibikov, received intimations to
the effect "that the Tzaddik of Ruzhin wielded almost the power of a
Tzar" among his adherents, who did not stir with out his advice. The
police began to watch the Tzaddik, and at length found an occasion for a
"frame-up."

[Footnote 1: On Rabbi Baer see Vol. I, p. 229 et seq.]

When, in 1838, the Kahal of Ushitza, in the government of Podolia, was
implicated in the murder of an informer, [1] Rabbi Israel of Ruzhin was
arrested on the charge of abetting the murder. The hasidic "Tzar"
languished in prison for twenty-two months. He was finally set free and
placed under police surveillance. But he soon escaped to Austria, and
settled in 1841 in the Bukovina, in the townlet of Sadagora, near
Chernovitz, where he established his new "court." Many Hasidim in Russia
now made their pilgrimage abroad to their beloved Tzaddik; in addition,
new partisans were won among the hasidic masses of Galicia and the
Bukovina. Rabbi Israel died in 1850, but the "Sadagora dynasty" branched
out rapidly, and proved a serious handicap to modern progress during the
stormy epoch of emancipation which followed in Austria soon afterwards.

[Footnote 1: See above, p. 84 et seq.]

Another hot-bed of the Tzaddik cult was Podolia, the cradle of Hasidism.
In the old residence of Besht, [1] in Medzhibozh, the sceptre was held
by Rabbi Joshua Heshel Apter, who succeeded Besht's grandson, Rabbi
Borukh of Tulchyn. [2] For a number of years, between 1810 and 1830, the
aged Joshua Heshel was revered as the nestor of Tzaddikism, the haughty
Israel of Ruzhin being the only one who refused to acknowledge his
supremacy. Heshel's successor was Rabbi Moyshe Savranski, who
established a regular hasidic "court," after the pattern of Chernobyl
and Ruzhin.

[Footnote 1: See Vol. I, p. 222 et seq.]

[Footnote 2: See Vol. I, p. 384.]

The only Tzaddik to whom it was not given to be the founder of a dynasty
was the somewhat eccentric Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav, [1] a great-grandson
of Besht. After his death, the Bratzlav Hasidim, who followed the lead
of his disciple Rabbi Nathan, suffered cruel persecutions at the hands
of the other hasidic factions. The "Bratzlavers" adopted the custom of
visiting once a year, during the High Holidays, the grave of their
founder in the city of Uman, in the government of Kiev, and subsequently
erected a house of prayer near his tomb. During these pilgrimages they
were often the target of the local Hasidim who reviled and often
maltreated them. The "Bratzlavers" were the Cinderella among the
Hasidim, lacking the powerful patronage of a living Tzaddik. Their
heavenly patron, Rabbi Nahman, could not hold his own against his living
rivals, the earthly Tzaddiks--all too earthly perhaps, in spite of their
saintliness.

[Footnote 1: A town in Podolia. See Vol. I, p. 382 et seq.]

The Tzaddik cult was equally diffused in the Kingdom of Poland. The
place of Rabbi Israel of Kozhenitz and Rabbi Jacob-Isaac of Lublin, who
together marshalled the hasidic forces during the time of the Varsovian
duchy, was taken by founders and representatives of new Tzaddik
dynasties. The most popular among these were the dynasty of Kotzk, [1]
established by Rabbi Mendel Kotzker (1827-1859), and that of Goora
Kalvaria, [2] or Gher, [3] founded by Rabbi Isaac Meier Alter [4] (about
1830-1866). The former reigned supreme in the provinces, the latter in
the capital of Poland, in Warsaw, which down to this day has remained
loyal to the Gher dynasty.

[Footnote 1: A town not far from Warsaw. Comp. Vol. I, p. 303, n. 1.]

[Footnote 2: In Polish, _Gora Kalwarya_, a town on the left bank of the
Vistula, not far from Warsaw.]

[Footnote 3: This form of the name is used by the Jews.]

[Footnote 4: Called popularly in Poland _Reb Itche Meier_, a name still
frequently found among the Jews of Warsaw, who to a large extent are
adherents of the "Gher dynasty."]

The Polish "Rebbes" [1] resembled by the character of their activity the
type of the Northern, or _Habad_, Tzaddiks rather than those of the
Ukraina. They did not keep luxurious "courts," did not hanker so
greedily after donations, and laid greater emphasis on talmudic
scholarship.

[Footnote 1: See p. 120, n. 1.]

Hasidism produced not only leaders but also martyrs, victims of the
Russian police regime. About the time when the Tzaddik of Ruzhin fell
under suspicion, the Russian Government began to watch the Jewish
printing-press in the Volhynian townlet of Slavuta. The owners of the
press were two brothers, Samuel-Abba and Phinehas Shapiro, grandsons of
Besht's companion, Rabbi Phinehas of Koretz. The two brothers were
denounced to the authorities as persons issuing dangerous mystical books
from their press, without the permission of the censor. This
denunciation was linked up with a criminal case, the discovery in the
house of prayer, which was attached to the printing-press, of the body
of one of the compositors who, it was alleged, had intended to lay bare
the activities of the "criminal" press before the Government. After a
protracted imprisonment of the two Slavuta printers in Kiev, their case
was submitted to Nicholas I. who sentenced them to _Spiessruten_ [1] and
deportation to Siberia. During the procedure of running the gauntlet,
while passing through the lines of whipping soldiers, one of the
brothers had his cap knocked off his head. Unconcerned by the hail of
lashes from which he was bleeding, he stopped to pick up his cap so as
to avoid going bare-headed, [2] and then resumed his march between the
two rows of executioners. The unfortunate brothers were released from
their Siberian exile during the reign of Alexander II.

[Footnote 1: See above, p. 85, n. 1.]

[Footnote 2: According to an ancient Jewish notion, which is current
throughout the Orient, baring the head is a sign of frivolity and
disrespect towards God.]

Hasidic life exhibited no doubt many examples of lofty idealism and
moral purity. But hand in hand with it went an impenetrable spiritual
gloom, boundless credulity, a passion for deifying men of a mediocre and
even inferior type, and the unwholesome hypnotizing influence of the
Tzaddiks. Spiritual self-intoxication was accompanied by physical. The
hasidic rank and file, particularly in the South-west, began to develop
an ugly passion for alcohol. Originally tolerated as a means of
producing cheerfulness and religious ecstasy, drinking gradually became
the standing feature of every hasidic gathering. It was in vogue at the
court of the Tzaddik during the rush of pilgrims; it was indulged in
after prayers in the hasidic "Shtiblach," [1] or houses of prayer, and
was accompanied by dancing and by the ecstatic narration of the
miraculous exploits of the "Rebbe." [2] Many Hasidim lost themselves
completely in this idle revelry and neglected their business affairs and
their starving families, looking forward in their blind fatalism to the
blessings which were to be showered upon them through the intercession
of the Tzaddik.

[Footnote 1: The word, which is a diminutive of German _Stube_, "room,"
denotes, like the word _Klaus_, the room, or set of rooms, in which the
Hasidim assemble for prayer, study, and recreation.]

[Footnote 2: See above, p, 120, n. 1.]

It would be manifestly unjust to view the hasidic indulgence in alcohol
in the same light as the senseless drunkenness of the Russian peasant,
transforming man into a beast. The Hasid drank, and in moderate doses at
that, "for the soul," "to banish the grief which blunteth the heart," to
arouse religious exultation and enliven his social intercourse with his
fellow believers. Yet the consequences were equally sad. For the habit
resulted in drowsiness of thought, idleness and economic ruin,
insensibility to the outside world and to the social movements of the
age, as well as in stolid opposition to cultural progress in general. It
must be borne in mind that during the era of external oppression and
military inquisition the reactionary force of Hasidism acted as the only
antidote against the reactionary force from the outside. Hasidism and
Tzaddikism were, so to speak, a sleeping draught which dulled the pain
of the blows dealt out to the unfortunate Jewish populace by the Russian
Government. But in the long run the popular organism was injuriously
affected by this mystic opium. The poison rendered its consumers
insensible to every progressive movement, and planted them firmly at the
extreme pole of obscurantism, at a time when the Russian ghetto
resounded with the first appeals calling its inmates toward the light,
toward the regeneration and the uplift of inner Jewish life.


3. THE RUSSIAN MENDELSSOHN (ISAAC BAER LEVINSOHN)

It was in the hot-bed of the most fanatical species of Hasidism that the
first blossoms of Haskalah [1] timidly raised their heads. Isaac Baer
Levinsohn, from Kremenetz in Podolia (1788-1860), had associated in his
younger days with the champions of enlightenment in adjacent Galicia,
such as Joseph Perl, [2] Nahman Krochmal, [3] and their followers. When
he came back to his native land, it was with the firm resolve to devote
his energies to the task of civilizing the secluded masses of Russian
Jewry. In lonesome quietude, carefully guarding his designs from the
outside world which was exclusively hasidic, he worked at his book
_Te'udah, be-Israel_ ("Instruction in Israel"), which after many
difficulties he managed to publish in Vilna in 1828. In this book our
author endeavored, without trespassing the boundaries of orthodox
religious tradition, to demonstrate the following elementary truths by
citing examples from Jewish history and sayings of great Jewish
authorities:

[Footnote 1: A Hebrew term meaning "enlightenment." It is a translation
of the German _Aufklaerung_, and was first applied to the endeavors made
in the time of Moses Mendelssohn (died 1886) to introduce European
culture among the Jews of the ghetto.]

[Footnote 2: Died 1839. He became famous through his anti-hasidic parody
_Megalle Temirin_, "Revealing Hidden Things," written in the form of
letters in imitation of the hasidic style. Peri's book has been
frequently compared with the medieval _Epistolae obscurorum vivorum_,
which are ascribed to Ulrich von Hutten (d. 1523). See P. 127.]

[Footnote 3: Died 1840. Famous as the author of _More Nebuke ha-Zeman_,
"Guide of the Perplexed of (Our) Time," a profound treatise, dealing
with Jewish theological and historical problems.]

1. The Jew is obliged to study the Bible as well as Hebrew grammar
and to interpret the biblical text in accordance with the plain
grammatical sense.

2. The Jewish religion does not condemn the knowledge of foreign
languages and literatures, especially of the language of the
country, such knowledge being required both in the personal interest
of the individual Jew and in the common interest of the Jewish
people.

3. The study of secular sciences is not attended by any danger for
Judaism, men of the type of Maimonides having remained loyal Jews,
in spite of their extensive general culture.

4. It is necessary from the economic point of view to strengthen
productive labor, such as handicrafts and agriculture, at the
expense of commerce and brokerage, also to discourage early
marriages between persons who are unprovided for and have no
definite occupation.

These commonplaces sounded to that generation like epoch-making
revelations. They were condemned as rank heresies by the all-powerful
obscurantists and hailed as a gospel of the approaching renaissance by
that handful of progressives who dreamt of a new Jewish life and, cowed
by the fear of persecution, hid these thoughts deep down in their
breasts.

A similar fear compelled Levinsohn to exercise the utmost reserve and
caution in criticizing the existing order of things. The same
consideration forced him to shield himself behind a pseudonym in
publishing his anti-hasidic satire _Dibre Tzaddikim_, "The Words of the
Tzaddiks," [1] (Vienna, 1830), a rather feeble imitation of _Megalle
Temirin_, the Hebrew counterpart of the "Epistles of Obscure Men," by
Joseph Perl. [2] His principal work, entitled _Bet Yehudah_, "The House
of Judah," a semi-philosophic, semi-publicistic review of the history of
Judaism, remained for a long time in manuscript. Levinsohn was unable to
publish it for the reason that even the printing-press of Vilna, the
only one to issue publications of a non-religious character, was afraid
of bringing out a book which had failed to receive the approbation of
the local rabbis. Several years later, in 1839, the volume finally came
out, clothed in the form of a reply to inquiries addressed to the author
by a high Russian official.

[Footnote 1: Literally, "The Words of the Righteous," with reference to
Ex. 23. 8:]

[Footnote 2: See the preceding page, n. 1.]

From the point of view of Jewish learning, _Bet Yehudah_ can claim but
scanty merits. It lacks that depth of philosophic-historic insight which
distinguishes so brilliantly the "Guide of the Perplexed of Our Time" of
the Galician thinker Krochmal. [1] The writer's principal task is to
prove from history his rather trite doctrine that Judaism had at no time
shunned secular culture and philosophy.

[Footnote 1: See the preceding page, n. 2.]

For the rest, the author fights shy of the difficult problems of
religious philosophy, and is always on the lookout for compromises. Even
with reference to the Cabala, with which Levinsohn has but little
sympathy, he says timidly: "It is not for us to judge these lofty
matters" (Chapter 135). Fear of the orthodox environment compels him to
observe almost complete silence with reference to Hasidism, although, in
his private correspondence and in his anonymous writings he denounces it
severely. Levinsohn concludes his historic review of Judaism with a
eulogy upon the Russian Government for its kindness toward the Jews (Ch.
151) and with the following plan of reform suggested to it for execution
(Ch. 146):

To open elementary schools for the teaching of Hebrew and the tenets
of the Jewish religion as well as of Russian and arithmetic, and to
establish institutions of higher rabbinical learning in the larger
cities; to Institute the office of Chief Rabbi, with a supreme
council under him, which should be in charge of Jewish spiritual and
communal affairs in Russia; to allot to a third of the
Russian-Jewish population parcels of land for agricultural purposes;
to prohibit luxury in dress and furniture in which even the
impecunious classes are prone to indulge.

Levinsohn was not satisfied to propagate his ideas by purely literary
means. He anticipated meagre results from a literary propaganda among
the broad Jewish masses, in which the mere reading of such "licentious"
books was considered a criminal offence. He had greater faith in his
ability to carry out the regeneration of Jewish life with the powerful
help of the Government. As a matter of fact, Levinsohn had long before
this begun to knock at the doors of the Russian Government offices. Far
back in 1823 he had presented to the heir-apparent Constantine
Pavlovich [1] a memorandum concerning Jewish sects and a project looking
to the establishment of a system of Jewish schools and seminaries.
Moreover, before publishing his first work _Te'udah_, he had submitted
the manuscript to Shishkov, the reactionary Minister of Public
Instruction, applying for a Government subsidy towards the publication
of a work which demonstrates the usefulness of enlightenment and
agriculture, "instills love for the Tzar as well as for the people with
which we share our life, and recounts the innumerable favors which they
have bestowed upon us."

[Footnote 1: Being the eldest brother of Alexander I., Constantine was
the legitimate heir to the Russian throne. He resigned in favor of his
younger brother Nicholas. See above, p. 13, n. 2.]

These words were penned on December 2, 1827, three months after the
promulgation of the baneful conscription ukase ordering the compulsory
enlistment of under-aged cantonists! The request was complied with. A
year later the humble Volhynian litterateur received by imperial command
an "award" of 1000 rubles ($500) "for a work having for its object the
moral transformation of the Jews." This "award" came when the volume had
already appeared in print, in the terrible year 1828 which was marked by
the first conscription of Jewish recruits, the ominous turn in the
ritual murder trial of Velizh and the constant tightening of the knot of
disabilities.

But these events failed to cure the political _naivete_ of Levinsohn. In
1831 he laid before Lieven, the new Minister of Public Instruction, a
memorandum advocating the necessity of modifications in Jewish religious
life. Again in 1833 he came forward with the dangerous proposal to close
all Jewish printing-presses, except those situated in towns in which
there was a censorship. The project was accompanied by a "list of
ancient and modern Hebrew books, indicating those that may be considered
useful and those that are harmful"--the hasidic works were declared to
belong to the latter category. Levinsohn's project was partly
instrumental in prompting the grievous law of 1836, which raised a cry
of despair in the Pale of Settlement, ordering a revision of the entire
Hebrew literature by Russian censors. [1]

[Footnote 1: See above, p. 42 et seq.]

Levinsohn's action would have been ignoble had it not been naive. The
recluse of Kremenetz, passionately devoted to his people but wanting in
political foresight, was calling Russian officialdom to aid in his fight
against the bigotry of the Jewish masses, in the childish conviction
that the Russian authorities had the welfare of the Jews truly at heart,
and that compulsory measures would do away with the hostility of the
Jewish populace toward enlightenment. He failed to perceive, as did also
some of his like-minded contemporaries, that the culture which the
Russian Government of his time was trying to foist upon the Jews was
only apt to accentuate their distrust, that, so long as they were the
target of persecution, the Jews could not possibly accept the gift of
enlightenment from the hands of those who lured them to the baptismal
font, pushed their children on the path of religious treason, and were
ruthless in breaking and disfiguring their whole mode of life.

In his literary works Levinsohn was fond of emphasizing his relations
with high Government officials. This probably saved him from a great
deal of unpleasantness on the part of the fanatic Hasidim, but it also
had the effect of increasing his unpopularity among the orthodox. The
only merit the latter were willing to concede to Levinsohn was that of an
apologist who defended Judaism against the attacks of non-Jews. During
the epidemic of ritual murder trials, the rabbis of Lithuania and
Volhynia addressed a request to Levinsohn to write a book against this
horrid libel. At their suggestion he published his work _Efes Damim_,
"No Blood!" (Vilna, 1837), [1] in the form of a dialogue between a Jewish
sage and a Greek-Orthodox patriarch in Jerusalem.

[Footnote 1: With a clever allusion to the geographic name Ephes-dammim,
I Sam. 17. 1.]

Somewhat later Levinsohn wrote other apologetic treatises, defending the
Talmud against the attacks contained in the book _Netibot 'Olam_ [1]
published in 1839 by the London missionary M'Caul. Levinsohn's great
apologetic work _Zerubbabel_, which appeared several years after his
death, was equally dedicated to the defence of the Talmud. It has,
moreover, considerable scientific merit, being one of the first research
works in the domain of talmudic theology. A number of other publications
by Levinsohn deal with Hebrew philology and lexicography. All these
efforts support Levinsohn's claim to the title of Founder of a modern
Jewish Science in Russia, though his scholarly achievements cannot be
classed with those of his German and Galician fellow-writers, such as
Rapoport, Zunz, Jost and Geiger.

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