Читать книгу A Jewish Journey - Sheldon Cohen - Страница 26

Nicholas’s oldest son, Alexander, age 36, succeeded his father to the throne. The new Czar Alexander II, instituted far-reaching reforms. He abolished a system of serfdom in spite of vigorous opposition from the landed gentry. By the 1861 Emancipation Act, Russian serfs received their personal freedom from the landowners and given plots of land. The goal was to create a class of people who would be responsible for their own economic and personal welfare.

In the end, this did not succeed as everyone had hoped, but the psychological impact was great.

As far as the Jews were concerned, Alexander continued with his father’s policy of promoting assimilation. His most important benefit to the Jews was the abolition of the cantonist system. No longer would khapers kidnap Jewish twelve-year-old children for service in the military schools. Also, those Jews classified as “useful” were allowed to leave the Pale. As a result, Jewish communities in some of the larger cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow grew.

The husband of one of Rabbi Shepsel’s daughters was a prominent physician who lived out of the Pale as a respected member of Moscow’s Jewish community.

Shepsel watched his son Jacob grow into mature young adulthood in this changing environment. He was now nineteen years old, much taller then his father and with the same dark complexion. He received a fine Jewish education by attending the modern Jewish school, which Shepsel had organized in the community. He had both Torah and some secular education. He could not attend the schools, which were being set up under the decree of Czar Nicholas I and continued by Alexander II.

Jacob, raised in this milieu was anxious to attend the new seminary established in Vilna and to become a rabbi like his father. This desire on the part of his son to attend the new seminary was anathema to Shepsel, but he realized that the more opposition he offered, the more he would steel Jacob’s determination.

Jacob had grown into a fine religious young man. He was clean-shaven with bright brown eyes. He was respectful of his parents, and had never given them a bit of trouble. He helped his father teach the Torah to young children in the synagogue.

“You’re so old fashioned, father. Don’t you see how Jewish life is changing in Russia? The new Czar is helping our people and giving us opportunities we never had before,” said Jacob.

“I have done all I can to educate you in the Torah, and I’m proud of the result. All I can ask is that you join the ranks of the rabbis throughout history who’ve kept Judaism alive as we wandered the world and were driven from place to place. My only fear is that you become changed by the education you receive and lose that mission.”

“I know how you feel about Haskalah,” said Jacob, “but I see much good in it. I think fears of it ending Judaism will never happen, because we’ve faced much more terror throughout the ages, and yet here we are.”

“Yes, here we are, but all throughout history the threats against us were threats against a single unified religion. We took our beatings, we died, but we persisted. The difference now is that the threats to us are internal and our own people are involved. I fear we’ll be torn apart from within, and if we are divided against ourselves, then we may not survive.”

Jacob listened with a serious, respectful expression. “I know there are divisions between us. Why even in our own family there is my grandfather, of blessed memory, who was a Hasid. You and I are orthodox. Will I stay orthodox? That’s my intention, but I don’t know what might change to move me closer to the Maskilim and the reform movement. I have nothing against the Maskilim. I have spoken with them and I know them and they seem to be as concerned about a Jewish heritage as I know you are.”

The rabbi shrugged as if resigned to his son’s words. He said, “Again, I know you’ll make your own way in life and make your own decisions. But I just want you to be aware that when a people are divided amongst themselves, then the forces against them will have an easier time in dominating them. That’s my fear. Be alert to this and try and be a unifying force for your people. Never let them lose track of the fact that God has kept us together and that belief in Him is paramount. I say this because there’s a disturbing trend I notice. That is that some Jews deny the presence of the Almighty. If they question, there is still hope, if they deny, then they’re lost to us.”

“I think it’s impressive that the Jewish people are willing to change with the times,” said Jacob. “There are religions that refuse to change. They’ve been the same for thousands and hundreds of years. I see that as a source of future trouble as the world modernizes.”

“History may prove you right, Jacob.”

Jacob left for Vilna, and Shepsel and his wife watched him leave with tears of both sorrow and hope.

While Jacob studied, Shepsel continued his mission.

Conditions in Russia had improved since Alexander II became Czar, but in the community of Tiktin, conditions remained the same. The great majority of Jews living there, classified non-useful, were poor trades people, shopkeepers, peddlers, middlemen, and artisans. Few of them enrolled in Czar Nicholas’s schools feeling that all they had left was their Jewish identity and they were not willing to risk that. They were all proud of their beautiful synagogue that constituted the center of their religious life. Jews had been living in Tiktin since 1522 and some of their rabbi’s had been well-known Jewish ethical, legal and scriptural authorities.