Alfieri= (wish Periodical airier
Friday, September 27, 1946
CLIFTON AVENUE - CINCINNATI 20, OHIO
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Page Three
A SOLDIER OF CZAR NICHOLAS
By ROBERT SEELAV
I came within a hair's breadth
p
DONOR OF $50,000
TO YESHIVA UNIVERSITY
showed colorful evidence of his
indulgence.
On his lap was a large tome of
the Talmud but he appeared to be
always concentrated on one page
for a full day. I never saw him
turn the page and I marveled. I
stared at grandfather, presuming
that he had heard the reference
to him. He returned my gaze and
I suffered with impatience, silent-
ly. He had heard the directive but
he hid not fully awakened to the
task before him.
"Jacob," he finally uttered,
"mother Is right, absolutely right.
We live in a land where'the cus-
toms, after thousands of years,
are still foreign to us. But we
must observe, in order to know
what to expect, and avoid trouble,
so far as possible."
"Czar Nicholas believes that all
Russia and all the Russians be-
long to him. The Russian people
do not deny this idea and there-
fore Czar Nicholas is fully con
vinced of It. And if the Russians
are serfs and property it should
follow that our people are still
lower in his esteem. But that is
where our grasp of the mind of
Czar fails us. He extends to us
certain privileges which the serfs
do not have. Do not try to un-
derstand this perplexing situation.
Just accept it as a phenomenon
without brains."
Grandfather paused, staring at
me as if to follow the reaction
upon my. mind of his great wis-
dom. But I was as troubled as
he was and my mind as blank as
apparently that of the Czar. The
great luminary and God, the Czar,
began to shrink In my esteem.
"A Czar must have soldiers,"
he continued and as all persons
belong to him the Czar just takes
them; that is right, he takes them
into military service. And for
25 years! The Russian must go,
and at a very early age, same as
yours and even younger.
"Here we have a slight ad.
vantage, for some unknown rea-
son. Our children are not ordered
of being drafted Into the famous
brigade of the Soldiers of Czar
Nicholas. That was a notable mili-
tary group serving the great
"White" Czar, Nicholas the First.
I suppose you have never heard
of it or the adventures of any of
k its members. Such is the brief
life of Fame that, only a few
generations away, and their mem-
ory is as ancient and archaic as
the arguebuse.
The soldiery I speak ot was a
noted institution. It was—but let
me present the story in my own
personal way.
I was a mere child
rely eight
years old, residing in the un-
known, small township of West!.
kov. No one but the tax collector
had any idea of its location, the
railroad was many miles away and
the whistle of the locomotive was
an indistinct sound in our ears.
We lived humbly and .poor. None
, The late Enrico Cards, Ambassador
of the few publications of the out- of
San Marino to the French Republic,
side world ever reached us. But donor of annual $1.000 Mordecai Ben
we all knew one another; each David Award to an American Jew "for
family claimed kinship to its patriotism and noteworthy achieve.
neighbors, for all or almost all of ment." for which purpose he coo.
tributed $50,000. Winner of this year's
the residents were descendants of award "for indefatigable and self.sae.
the noted lumber merchant that rificing devotion to duty and note.
first laid its foundation there. worthy achievements," is Dr. Joseph
Tradition was that the first set- J. Schwartz, distinguished alumnus of
University, who is chairman of
tlers came from Spain after the Yeshiva
the European Executive Council of the
expulsion by the Inquisition and American Jewish Joint Distribution
that someone, now unidentified, Committee.
had the Letters of Descent to
verify it. But tradition and gos. on the return
could not see
sip hive no defined line. In any a step ahead in t„1: total black-
event all this mattered little. The ness. Food was brofight to us so
township was like one large fam- that we do not lose a moment of
ily. Everyone attended the festive study — never mind the wasted
affairs, followed to the grave bodies.
every deceased person, entered any
On this occasion the summer
home without a formal announce- was at its peak and we reached
ment and settled all their differ- our homes earlier.
ences without garbed judges.
"Mother,” I asked, "may I go
There were no sharp social lines
in Wasilkov. The only persons of over and play with my cousins?",
"Oh, no, child. There is real
distinction were those of greater
learning, be they artisans, work- danger. Two towering men have
ers or men of affairs. The Ignor- been seen lurking near the bridge,
ant lout was not respected. Aris- just outside of the town. This
tocracy was limited to those who forebodes evil."
"And what would they do to 4
propounded wisely the words of
the Sages or translated into com- me, mother? My walk is only
HOLIDAY GREETINGS
mon Yiddish the sophistries of across the alley. If they called to
me
I
would
run,
fast.
And
it
is
the Talmud.
We laid away our dead in sim. not dark yet."
"Ask grandfather. He will tell
pie grave; the rich and the poor
alike, one next to another without you all about it."
I turned to grandfather, who
distinction and with no special or
was
seated in his usual place. To
decorative markers. In the syna-
COAL and COKE
gogue a few had the privilege to me it seemed as if he never moved
an
inch
from
his
steady
position,
stand nearer the Ark of the
1 7 4 0 0 RYAN ROAD
Covenant but in general all min. in the same place. He smoked his
pipe occasionally, but more often
glad freely.
TW. 2-3 5 30
My little friends and I sat on he drew in his snuff, a bit loudly,
and
every
hair
in
his
beard
rough wooden benches at school
rags and velvets together; we
shared our meals often and after
,4 VERY JOYOUS ROSH HASHONAH TO ALL
a while this became a "right"
and not a "charity;" we played
our "games" and annoyed the
Rabbi, as have all the generations
CATERERS
back for untold years.
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MILE ROAD
8620
WEST
SIX
The school hours were long and
we knew from infancy the hard-
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ships of life. In the winter, at a
tender age, we made our way to
the school through darkness and
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to join. They wait until they have frightened.
reached maturer years and then,
''Can they take me from my
possibly, after legal proceedings, home?" I asked.
they may be drafted, and for a
"No," said grandfather reas-
shorter period.
suringly. "No. That is one of the
"But,"—and he repeated this peculiar workings of the mind of
again and again—"but, if you are a Czar and its strange regula-
on 'the public street or road and tions. No one can come in and
his soldiers seize you, then you seize you."
That was relief indeed.
are in, for the 25 years!"
"But, grandfather, last year the
Now I was bewildered and truly
r
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