History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 1 [of 3]: From the Beginning until the Death of Alexander I (1825)Dubnow, Simon
History
History of the Jews in Russia and Poland, Volume 1 [of 3]: From the Beginning until the Death of Alexander I (1825)
Dubnow, Simon
Jews -- Poland -- History; Jews -- Russia -- History; Poland -- History; Russia -- History
The last to respond to the Governmental inquiry was the nobility of
Lithuania. The marshals of the nineteen Lithuanian districts, who met in
1800, submitted their "opinion," which had been adopted with only three
dissenting votes, to Friesel, the Governor of Vilna. The three opposing
marshals suggested leaving the Jews in the condition which had prevailed
under the Polish _régime_. All the others drafted a plan of Jewish
"reform," which was even more radical than that of the nobles of Minsk
and Podolia. The Jews were to be barred not only from distilling and
keeping taverns of their own, but also from the sale of spirits in the
manorial public houses. The Jewish rural population, which would thus be
deprived of all means of subsistence, was to be transferred partly to
the cities, partly "to be scattered over the crown and manorial
settlements, where they might be allowed to grow corn and to mortgage
and farm estates." The economic reform was to be supplemented by one
affecting the inner life of the Jews. It was necessary "to abolish the
Jewish costume and introduce among the Jews the form of dress customary
among the other inhabitants." Altogether the separateness of the Jews
was to be broken down, for "they constitute a people by themselves, and
as such have their own administration ... in the form of synagogues and
Kahals, which not only arrogate to themselves spiritual authority, but
also meddle in all civil affairs and in matters appertaining to the
police." These measures would bring about the amalgamation of the Jews
with the surrounding population.
The "reformatory" ardor of the Lithuanian nobles, who thought it
necessary to bracket the problem of Kahal autonomy with the sale of
alcohol, was the effect of outside interference. Friesel, the Governor
of Vilna, who was a cultivated German, and as such was acquainted with
the state of the Jewish problem in Germany, found it necessary to
address himself to the Lithuanian marshals twice, their first statement
having been found "unsatisfactory." Only a second revision of the views
of the nobles, which included the plan of inner reforms, satisfied
Friesel. In April, 1800, Friesel forwarded these recommendations to the
Senate, accompanying them by his own comprehensive memorandum, which to
a large extent was obviously based on Chatzki's and Butrymovich's
projects submitted some ten years previously to the "Jewish Commission"
of the Quadrennial Diet.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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