The Jews in Russian History
S4---DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 11, 1953
Florinsky Describes Origin of the Pale and Discrimination
Michael T. Florinsky, in his
two volume "Russia: A History
and an Interpretation," (Mac-
millan) makes . frequent men-
tion of the position of Jews un-
der the Czars.
Considering the highly valu-
able data already available in
Simeon Dubnow's histories of
the Jews in Poland and Russia,
Mr. Florinsky's history, exceed-
ingly good in itself, can not be
considered as of tremendous im-
portance for those doing re-
search on the subject of Russian
Jewry.
The history. itself, monu-
mental, is worthy of the many
years of study and compilation
conducted by the able author.
It is a result of sincere and de-
voted work, and the facts com-
piled will be helpful in guiding
the reader towards an under-
standing of the years covered—
from the earliest times in Russia
until March 1918.
As in all histories of Russia,
Mr. Florinsky makes mention of
the Judaization of the Khazars.
He devotes considerable space to
the activities of the Judaizers in
Russia in the 15th century, their
conflict with churchmen, the
disputations between the Juda-
izers who "proved to be better
theologians than their oppon-
ents" and the leniency of the
Moscow government toward -.;
th em.
very basis of the national and
religious organization that had
safeguarded the identity of the
nation through centuries of dis-
persion and persecution."
But a footnote indicates that
this law perpetuated the Pale of
Settlement, that Jews were
barred from agriculture and
from distilling beverages. Then
there is another important foot -
note, relating to legislation in
1835, which reveals the follow-
ing facts:
Trouble began for the Jews
in Russia with the decree of
Dec. 2, 1742, which prohibited
them from residing there and
ordered them to leave unless
they embraced the Greek Or-
thodox faith. "There is no evi-
dence, however," the author
tells us, "that the government
actually attempted to enforce
the Draconian law."
Personal Instruction
"Although the school legis-
lation of this period contained
no discrimination against
Jews, the number of Jewish
students • in Russian schools
remained small. Of some 15,000
students enrolled in 58 gym-
nasiums in 1853, only 155 were
Jews. Nicholas was no friend
of the Jews, whom he de-
scribed in his diary in 1816 as
`regular leeches'. The policy of
his reign was to bring about
the assimilation of the Jews
through the elimination of
their 'religious fanaticism and
racial exclusiveness.' "
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Jews from schools, from trades
and professions.
The concluding chapter, deal-
ing with the two revolutions of
1917, tells that "for the first
time In Russian history Jews
acquired full civic rights." Thus:
the end of Czarism. Florinsky
tells Russia's story well.
The sudden appearanee of
about 50 new anthologies in
bookstores this year led Ben
Hecht to remark: "If you steal
one man's stuff, it's plagiarism.
If you steal that of several men,
it's research." Dorothy Parker
recently defined anthologists as
lazy fellows who like to spend a
quiet evening at home "raiding
a good book."
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Jews were restricted from set-
tlement on land in Russia by
decree of Oct. 16, 1752, which
threw open the country's large
expanses to foreigners "except
the Jews." This is how the Pale
of Settlement came into being:
"As a result of the annexa-
tion of the Polish provinces,
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with their large Jewish popu-
lation, the position of the
Jews was legalized, but the so-
lution adopted had little in
common with the principles of
the Enlightenment. The Jews,
who had formerly been pro-
hibited from residing in Rus-
sia (except, after 1769, in the
province of Novorossisk), were
permitted to settle in specified
areas, subject to the payment
of taxes higher than those
borne by the Christian popu-
lation. There thus came into
being the 'Jewish pale,' which
remained a distinct feature of
Russian constitutional ar-
rangements until the end of
the empire."
Thus it was: endless anti-
Semitism and untold sufferings
in Jewish ranks, as the second
volume of Florinsky's work
shows.
In his analysis of the educa-
tional laws of Russia, Mr. Flor -
insky speaks of Jews "still fan-
rttically attached to an ancient
tradition of racial and religious
exclusiveness." He was speak-
ing of the law of Dec. 9, 1804,
which supposedly liberalized
legislation, removing restrictions
for students eligible for univer-
sity degrees. "The Jewish com-
munities," according to Mr. Flor-
insky, "interpreted the law as
an attempt at destroying the
The author himself is a victim
of the charge of "Fanaticism"
against Russian Jews. The fact
is that in the period described
all the people involved could
have been spoken of as suffering
from a measure of fanaticism.
The Jewish position, aggravated
as it was by horrible persecu-
tions in Russia, was affected by
discrimination which forced the
people to resort to many means
necessary for self-preservation.
Mr. Florinsky unfortunately
overlooks this fact in his other-
wise scholarly work which is de-
ficient in its treatment of the
Jewish problem. However, the
reader must take into account
the fact that he did not write a
Jewish history, and for that he
must go to Dubnow.
Mr. Florinsky briefly men-
tions the anti-Semitism of the
Czars, the various discriminat-
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