Lecture 9: 2 October 2013
Lecture 9: 2 October 2013 Making Jews Russian? • Jewish leadership system questioned • Focus on political transformations • Hasidic court & yeshivas during a time of change in Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth • Late 1600s onward – Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth; rebellions, battles between noblemen and kings o Series of invasions by Sweden, Ottoman empire, Russia o Battleground between Sweden and Russia • 1772 – 1795: Partitioning in Poland o Mostly goes to Russia – tsar is glad to have access to new resources, but has to control the people in its region 100 different ethnic groups Many of these groups (Poles, Ukrainians, Bella-Russians) each have different set of needs and conflicts Jews are the largest non-Slavic and non-Christian group Rulers of the largest Jewish population in the world (700,000) Late 18th – late 19th century: population grows to 5,000,000 Rulers are faced with questions: • Are Jews capable of being loyal subjects? • To what extent should the government try to integrate the Jews? How might we characterize the Russians policy toward Jews in the late 19th century? To what extent did these policies have an impact of Jewish lives? Russian Policy • Jewish policy is typically a part of a larger issue that officials are concerned with • 1917, barely any laws that are made with only Jews in mind • Policies towards Jews are designed to strengthen the Russian empire without endangering the status-quo • Catherine the Great – 1795 – deeply worried that if they extend more rights or too many rights that there may be a revolution • Walk thin line between educating population and introducing some industrialization, while preserving some of the same, ex – legal structure o Nobles, clergy, merchants, peasants, urban dwellers o Russian empire is motivated by political and economic goals, rather than religious ones Political & economic considerations
1790s – members of the Christian Merchant class, complain to Catherine the Great that Jewish merchants have been infiltrating Moscow and creating economic competition • Bans Jews from entering into the Russian interior (St. Petersburg and Moscow) • Delineates the provinces in which Jews are allowed to live o The Pale of Settlement: borders finalized in 1835 Considered the greatest restriction Jews face, but unlike ghettos: • Region that they are confined to are not exclusively lived in by Jews; Poles, Ukrainians, etc. – Jews are only 12% • Residents are considered privileged • Jews are allowed to engage in any commerce except alcoholic (prevent tension between barkeepers and Jewish patrons) Inconsistent and difficult to implement • Russian policy throughout the empire is characterized by a lack of consistency • Why? Jews don’t fit into the classes; classified as merchants, urban-dwellers o In some ways good, Jews place are not totally set in stone o Christian merchant class would be angry and could lead to tensions 1808, Tsar Alexander I – wants Jews out of the rural regions of the Pale Settlement Community structures in place – in 1795, Catherine the Great forbids the Kehilla from dealing with any matter other than a few 1844, Russian government abolishes the Kehillot o Jews go around the system o Instead of having rabbi listed as an official, say that he is the slaughterer o Form voluntary societies o Jews can determine matters of their own community Crown Rabbis – formerly instituted by Tsar Nicholas I (1825 – 1855) o Implement what happened in France o Rabbis that are instructed to enforce loyalty to the Russian state
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o Tax on candles to create seminaries that he is going to run; recruit Jews to go to rabbinic seminaries to learn about Judaism but also Russian culture 150 people go = not a success o Impose the crown rabbis on all of the communities Have no say in religious rights of these community All in all, the legislation does not translate to the communities Only exception – the conscription of Jews
Tsar Nicholas I • Aggressive approach to integrate all people and make them useful and serviceable to the state • Only way to do this – conscription o Enlisting people into military service • Prior to 1820, Jews were exempt from enlisting in the army o Classified as townspeople and merchants – two groups were deemed more important to stay on the ground transacting money rather than being at the battlefield o Paid a tax instead of being soldiers • Nicholas thinks that the army is the only way to make all the groups loyal • 1827 – Jews are now required to provide conscripts o Have to serve 25 years in the army (same amount as others) o One important distinction – Jews had to provide conscripts from ages 12-25 rather than 18-25; between 12-18, must go to special school to prepare for army service The age difference is because Nicholas felt that he had to draft them while they were still malleable Known as cantanis 4/1000 Jews Rich people could buy their way out, poor people had to go Conscription • Tsar demands that rabbis provide the conscripts to them • Leaders are members of weakened Kahal • Targeting Jews who are impoverished and indebted o Do not want to send sons of taxpayers because they are seen as useful o Trying to find ways to minimize the amount of impoverished people in their communities Less welfare to give o Russian government permits Jewish leaders to target anyone who has broken the law Relationship between poverty and criminality o Unmarried, unskilled, illiterate, poor
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o Young Jews from poor families, often orphans Put out lists with people to conscript, create bribery May be on the list if a Jew caused a disturbance in the community o Wealthy people escape the draft o Local doctor can declare that person is unfit to be in draft Women’s lives Khapper – 1860s – kidnappers 1827 – 1855: 50-70,000 Jews are conscripted; 40,000 of which are children 1917, 1.5 million Jews are conscripted Alexander Herzen (1812 – 1870) – wrote about Jewish children in army Want younger Catholic Poles in the army to turn them into Russian Orthodox Only 1/3 convert Adults drafted – can have religious rituals when not in service, can work around Jewish holidays, and synagogues established for Jews o 99% remain Jewish Nicholas I – These Jews think of themselves as Russian; exposure to language, command of Russians, comrades are Russian o One benefit as Jewish soldier – can live anywhere after duty is finished Beyond the Pale of Settlement 1874 – reduced from 25 years to 6 years
The Great Reforms • Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) • Tries to create reforms • Local, self government for rural towns • Relaxes censorship laws – boom in publications in many languages • Emancipates the peasants • Designed to stimulate the growth of cities and the economy • Impact on Jews – the cantanist system is abolished; service is reduced to 6 years • Selective integration – certain groups of Jews can have their rights expanded: retired soldiers, Jewish merchants, artisans and university graduates o Permitted to live beyond the Pale of Settlement o University students and graduates are exempt from the draft • Similar to Western European style of emancipation University • Allows Jewish males to leave Pale of Settlement • Allowed to take up jobs as lawyers in the new system
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Allowed to become engineers for the railroad Journalists in newspaper industry with relaxed censorship rules Attend Russian universities Physical departure from the Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement o Transformative experience Vladimir Harkavi – a student in the 1860s, goes to Moscow o Implies that there is a new freedom, speak in Russian together o University creates new space for people to interact Describe themselves as their own separate estate – intelligentsia o Jewish press writing about intelligentsia o Around 10,000 people o Play pivotal role in reshaping how Jews think about wƒho they are and where they belong o Ruskii evrei – Russian Jew
Policy • When reading legislation, think about context and comparison • Spoke about how Jewish policy is a part of a larger issue that rulers are concerned with • Trying to make all of the groups loyal to the state • What happens on the ground with legislation – policies directed toward Jews had little impact on daily lives – exclusions: conscription and Pale of Settlement • On the eve of the 20th century, Jews are living in Pale of Settlement and speak Yiddish, but the army & university leave significant marks on Jewish life, and begin a change in the community o Change in self-definition – birth of concept as Russian Jew o Rise in Jewish student
1790s – members of the Christian Merchant class, complain to Catherine the Great that Jewish merchants have been infiltrating Moscow and creating economic competition • Bans Jews from entering into the Russian interior (St. Petersburg and Moscow) • Delineates the provinces in which Jews are allowed to live o The Pale of Settlement: borders finalized in 1835 Considered the greatest restriction Jews face, but unlike ghettos: • Region that they are confined to are not exclusively lived in by Jews; Poles, Ukrainians, etc. – Jews are only 12% • Residents are considered privileged • Jews are allowed to engage in any commerce except alcoholic (prevent tension between barkeepers and Jewish patrons) Inconsistent and difficult to implement • Russian policy throughout the empire is characterized by a lack of consistency • Why? Jews don’t fit into the classes; classified as merchants, urban-dwellers o In some ways good, Jews place are not totally set in stone o Christian merchant class would be angry and could lead to tensions 1808, Tsar Alexander I – wants Jews out of the rural regions of the Pale Settlement Community structures in place – in 1795, Catherine the Great forbids the Kehilla from dealing with any matter other than a few 1844, Russian government abolishes the Kehillot o Jews go around the system o Instead of having rabbi listed as an official, say that he is the slaughterer o Form voluntary societies o Jews can determine matters of their own community Crown Rabbis – formerly instituted by Tsar Nicholas I (1825 – 1855) o Implement what happened in France o Rabbis that are instructed to enforce loyalty to the Russian state
• • •
•
• •
o Tax on candles to create seminaries that he is going to run; recruit Jews to go to rabbinic seminaries to learn about Judaism but also Russian culture 150 people go = not a success o Impose the crown rabbis on all of the communities Have no say in religious rights of these community All in all, the legislation does not translate to the communities Only exception – the conscription of Jews
Tsar Nicholas I • Aggressive approach to integrate all people and make them useful and serviceable to the state • Only way to do this – conscription o Enlisting people into military service • Prior to 1820, Jews were exempt from enlisting in the army o Classified as townspeople and merchants – two groups were deemed more important to stay on the ground transacting money rather than being at the battlefield o Paid a tax instead of being soldiers • Nicholas thinks that the army is the only way to make all the groups loyal • 1827 – Jews are now required to provide conscripts o Have to serve 25 years in the army (same amount as others) o One important distinction – Jews had to provide conscripts from ages 12-25 rather than 18-25; between 12-18, must go to special school to prepare for army service The age difference is because Nicholas felt that he had to draft them while they were still malleable Known as cantanis 4/1000 Jews Rich people could buy their way out, poor people had to go Conscription • Tsar demands that rabbis provide the conscripts to them • Leaders are members of weakened Kahal • Targeting Jews who are impoverished and indebted o Do not want to send sons of taxpayers because they are seen as useful o Trying to find ways to minimize the amount of impoverished people in their communities Less welfare to give o Russian government permits Jewish leaders to target anyone who has broken the law Relationship between poverty and criminality o Unmarried, unskilled, illiterate, poor
• • • • • • • • • • •
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o Young Jews from poor families, often orphans Put out lists with people to conscript, create bribery May be on the list if a Jew caused a disturbance in the community o Wealthy people escape the draft o Local doctor can declare that person is unfit to be in draft Women’s lives Khapper – 1860s – kidnappers 1827 – 1855: 50-70,000 Jews are conscripted; 40,000 of which are children 1917, 1.5 million Jews are conscripted Alexander Herzen (1812 – 1870) – wrote about Jewish children in army Want younger Catholic Poles in the army to turn them into Russian Orthodox Only 1/3 convert Adults drafted – can have religious rituals when not in service, can work around Jewish holidays, and synagogues established for Jews o 99% remain Jewish Nicholas I – These Jews think of themselves as Russian; exposure to language, command of Russians, comrades are Russian o One benefit as Jewish soldier – can live anywhere after duty is finished Beyond the Pale of Settlement 1874 – reduced from 25 years to 6 years
The Great Reforms • Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) • Tries to create reforms • Local, self government for rural towns • Relaxes censorship laws – boom in publications in many languages • Emancipates the peasants • Designed to stimulate the growth of cities and the economy • Impact on Jews – the cantanist system is abolished; service is reduced to 6 years • Selective integration – certain groups of Jews can have their rights expanded: retired soldiers, Jewish merchants, artisans and university graduates o Permitted to live beyond the Pale of Settlement o University students and graduates are exempt from the draft • Similar to Western European style of emancipation University • Allows Jewish males to leave Pale of Settlement • Allowed to take up jobs as lawyers in the new system
• • • • • •
Allowed to become engineers for the railroad Journalists in newspaper industry with relaxed censorship rules Attend Russian universities Physical departure from the Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement o Transformative experience Vladimir Harkavi – a student in the 1860s, goes to Moscow o Implies that there is a new freedom, speak in Russian together o University creates new space for people to interact Describe themselves as their own separate estate – intelligentsia o Jewish press writing about intelligentsia o Around 10,000 people o Play pivotal role in reshaping how Jews think about wƒho they are and where they belong o Ruskii evrei – Russian Jew
Policy • When reading legislation, think about context and comparison • Spoke about how Jewish policy is a part of a larger issue that rulers are concerned with • Trying to make all of the groups loyal to the state • What happens on the ground with legislation – policies directed toward Jews had little impact on daily lives – exclusions: conscription and Pale of Settlement • On the eve of the 20th century, Jews are living in Pale of Settlement and speak Yiddish, but the army & university leave significant marks on Jewish life, and begin a change in the community o Change in self-definition – birth of concept as Russian Jew o Rise in Jewish student
