The election of Jewish deputies in Vilna in 1818: government projects and Jewish claims
2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 43; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/13501674.2013.814376
ISSN1743-971X
Autores Tópico(s)Jewish Identity and Society
ResumoAbstract This article focuses on the election of the so-called deputies of the Jewish people in Vil'na (Vilnius) in 1818. At the time, the Russian government perceived Jewish society as a “state within a state” with its own secret government. Russian rule tried to legalise and control that imagined government or to neutralise and repress it. The Jewish elite used these mental constructs of the Russian ruling circles and positioned themselves as the holders of the “Jewish rule,” demanding the usual prerogatives of nobility. Keywords: Russian EmpireJewish deputiesVil'na (Vilnius)1818 Notes Fienn, Kiria nää'māna, 35–6. Gessen, “Deputati evreiskogo naroda pri Aleksandre I;” Pen, “Deputatsia evreiskogo naroda;” Klier, Rossiia sobiraet svoikh evreev, 280–6. See: Minkina, “Evrei i vlast',” 165–86; Minkina, Cyny Rakhil, 28–161. The election of the 1812 deputies were undertaken on the personal initiative of the empire's Jewish communities. These deputies were the military contractors, Lazar Dillon and Zundel Zonnenberg, who used their influence within the Russian imperial army in relation to policy towards Jews. For further information, see: Minkina, Cyny Rakhil, 143–61, 175–84; Minkina, “Evrei v ‘bol'shom politicheskom svete’;” 88–9, 92, 99–103, 107–11. Polnoe sobranie zakonov rossiiskoi imperii [The complete collected laws of the Russian Empire”], vol. XXIV, 27106, 24 October 1817. In his report to the Lithuanian military governor, A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, on 19 May 1818, Jewish Deputy Dillon stated that Vil'na assembly deputies would remain in St Petersburg “for ever”: presentation of Dillon to Lithuanian military governor A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 19 May 1818, Central Archive of the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP), Jerusalem, HM 2/9737.1. Pen, “Deputatsia evreiskogo narod,” 1: 75. Circular from the Minister of Police, S.K. Viazmitinov, to Belarusian, Kherson and Little Russian military governors, and Astrakhan, Kiev, Minsk, Volhynian and Podolian civilian governors, 20 October 1817, CAHJP, RU 132. Secret correspondence between S.K. Viazmitinov to Lithuanian military governor A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 20 October 1817, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1. Dispatches from Belarusian, Kherson and Malorusskii military governors and Podolsk, Volyn and Kiev civilian governors to Minister of Police S.K. Viazmitinov, 12 December 1817 to 17 July 1818, CAHJP, RU 1326. All reports recorded only the election of candidates and their names, and sometimes their social status (“merchant,” “man in the street,” “rabbi”). These documents were discussed by Gessen, who compiled a list of all provincial candidates: Gessen, “Deputati evreiskogo naroda pri Aleksandre I,” 3: 28; 4: 197. The governors of Astrakhan and the Caucasus reported to Viazmitinov that “the Jews do not know why or which deputies to elect”: report from the governor of the Caucasian province to S.K. Viazmitinov, 19 November 1817; report of the Astrakhan governor Viazmitinov, 20 November 1817, CAHJP, RU 1326. Pen, “Deputatsia evreiskogo naroda,” 2: 50–2. Taurida civilian governor and Ekaterinoslav governor to Lithuanian military governor A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 12 April 1818 and 7 May 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1. The situation was more complex in the latter case. The Ekaterinoslav “Jewish community” had elected two deputies and were going to send them to Vilna, but due to “circumstances controlled by the Ministry of Police,” the governor filed a petition refusing to participate in the elections. This development may indicate a conflict between those who were inclined to accept the government's proposals and those who perceived them as useless and promising nothing for the Ekaterinoslav community. Sonnenberg to A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 20 April 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.40–1; Dillon to A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 19 May 1818, LVIA. F. 378. BS.l.51–51v. While Sonnenberg sought support from the kahal, Dillon did not participate in the initial stages of the elections in March 1818, as he “was with his Majesty in Warsaw”: Dillon to A.K. Benckendorff, 24 January 1829, CAHJP, HM 2/9450.10. See also application from Dillon to Tsar Nicholas I, 6 February 1829, CAHJP, RU 644. Dillon's presence in Warsaw probably had something to do with the Polish sejm's debate on the granting of Jewish civil rights in the Kingdom of Poland; see: Visnitser, “Proekty reformy eveiskogo byta v gertsogstve Varshavskom i Tsarstve Pol'skom,” 164–221; Eisenbach, The Emancipation of the Jews in Poland, 148–263. The Kingdom of Poland was exempted from the elections of 1818, illustrating that the authorities considered Polish Jews a separate subject of management and legislation. Eliezer (Leizer Borukhovich) Dillon (de Leon, Dellion) (born 1768 Nesvizh, died 1838 Vil'na) merchant of the first guild, contractor, Jewish deputy from 1812 to 1818 assistant to Jewish Deputy M. Eisenstadt from 1818 to 1821. In 1805, he was involved in supplying arms to the Russian army from his factories, but his influence in military circles was only acquired in 1806–7. During the triumphal entry of Alexander I into Vilnius on 14 April 1812, he was among the welcoming party of local Jewish “celebrities” and managed to attract the attention of the Tsar. Between 1812 and 1814, he was a Jewish deputy at the headquarters of the Russian army. At the same time, he was involved with covert military agents. He was awarded three medals “for diligence.” In 1814, he accompanied Alexander I to the Congress of Vienna in Paris and Berlin. He carried out sensitive personal orders of the Tsar. From 1816 to 1817, he resided in St Petersburg as a Jewish deputy. In 1818, Dillon accompanied Alexander I on a visit to the sejm in Warsaw. In the same year, he tried to get elected, and, according to some accounts, blackmailed participants in the meeting of electors in Vilna, but was only approved as a deputy to the deputy. From 1818 to 1821, he again resided in St Petersburg, but, following an incident in which he incurred the displeasure of the Tsar after accompanying him in another trip abroad, he was sent under escort to Nesvizh. Folk interpretation of this episode was reflected in a Jewish legend, according to which Alexander I's attention was drawn to Dillon's thirteen-year-old daughter. Apparently, Dillon boldly declared that he never would give his daughter to a non-Jew, even the Tsar, which had unfortunate consequences not just for Dillon, but for all Russian Jews. Between 1821 and 1829, Dillon was investigated for a number of frauds and false denunciations. In 1830 and 1831, he took part in the Polish uprising, serving both rebels and Russian troops. The inscription on his tombstone indicates that he died in 1838 in Vil'na. Yehuda Zundel (Yudl Zundel, Zundel Moiseevich) Sonnenberg (born 1758 Grodno, died after 1826); merchant of the first guild, contractor, Jewish deputy from 1812 to 1823. In the first decade of the nineteenth century, he was the unofficial representative (shtadlan) of the Grodno Jewish community to the governor. In 1812, he came to the fore as a major military contractor, and deputy at military headquarters. He was awarded two medals “for diligence.” In 1813, Alexander I gave him the project of changing the legal status of Russian Jews, which included such measures as the abolition of restrictions on movement and economic activities, the introduction of equal representation of Jews in city administrations, as well as judicial autonomy. From 1817 to 1823, he resided in St Petersburg as a Jewish deputy. He took an active part in the life of St Petersburg's Jewish community, financially supported those who migrated to the capital city, and on Saturdays arranged for his apartment to be opened for prayer. In 1820, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich asked for Sonnenberg to be removed from office for his “insolence before the authorities.” Alexander I did not approve the decision until 1823. Z. Sonnenberg to Lithuanian military governor A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 20 April 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.40v. A.N. Golitsyn to A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 25 July 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.1.78–9; 78 оb. Ibid. Today the street is called “Žemaitjos gatve.” Report from Vil'na police chief to A.M. Rimskii-Korsakov, 6 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.82–82v. Report of candidate expenses from the Mogilev province at the meeting of electors in Vilna, Pinkhas Shik and Mikhel' Eisenstadt, CAHJP, RU 1326.L.101. P. Schick and M. Eisenstadt meticulously listed the amount they spent on the servants who accompanied them from Shklov to Vilnius and back: “for sugar, coffee, tea and other beverages,” for driving on droshkies, and even “for underwear and other small costs.” Having servants, the carriage, expensive clothes and other signs of an aristocratic lifestyle were intended to demonstrate the high status and prestige of candidates delegated by their communities to Vilna. Unsurprisingly, Shik and Eisenstadt's expenses far exceeded the amount they were issued by their kahal. Report of Podolsk governor S.K. Viazmitinov, 16 November 1818,. HM 2/9737.1.l. L.94–94оb. Report of Lithuanian police chief to A.M. Rimskii-Korsakov, 3 October 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.144–144v. Report on Vilnius meeting of electors to A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 19 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.86. Ibid. Report on Vilnius meeting of electors to A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 19 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.87. Lapkovskii, Beinush (Beynush Jankelevich), member of the third merchant's guild, mayor of Vitebsk (in 1814), Jewish deputy 1818 to 1822. By origin, he belonged to the elite of the Jewish community of Vitebsk, and was a Hassidic follower of Tzaddik Shneur Zalman. In 1800, came to St Petersburg to try to appeal the plight of Shneur Zalman, who was imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 1812 Lapkovskii distinguished himself in the capture of Russian troops in Vitebsk, participated in skirmishes with the French and was severely wounded in the arm. After the liberation of the Jews of Vitebsk, he complained to Major-General V. Garp about the oppression of the city's administration, and Garp set up a kind of “dual power”: along with the existing mayor, a Pole, Lapkovskii was appointed as mayor as well. In 1818, he was nominated as a candidate from the Jewish communities of Vitebsk province. From 1819 to 1822, he resided in St Petersburg as a Jewish deputy. In 1822, he went on vacation and did not return. For more details on this, see: Minkina, Cyny Rakhil, 167–8, 179–84; Minkina, “Evrei v ‘bol'shom politicheskom svete’,” 93, 103, 111. Michael Eisenstadt, Shklov's “man in the street,” was known as the author of a poem in Hebrew devoted to the war of 1812 and published in Shklov in 1814, the time of his election as a delegate to the meeting in Vilnius. According to him, he served the Jews of Shklov and Mogolev as a lawyer for some thirty years. In the spring of 1817, he, along with Pinchas Schick, was sent to St Petersburg as the attorney of the Jews of Mogilev province. Eisenstadt was a Jewish deputy until its abolition in 1825. For more details, see Minkina, Cyny Rakhil, 165–8, 169, 174–5, 178, 183–8, 190–3. Report on Vilnius meeting of electors to A.M. Rimsky-Korsakov, 19 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.86–7. Ibid. Minkina, “Hillel Markevich i ego proekt evreiskoi reform,” 354. Margolis participated in the Vil'na meeting as the candidate of Volyn province. Report of Vil'na electoral assembly, 19 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.135–135 оb. This is evidenced by a list of the meeting's participants, once contained in a now lost Vil'na pinkas. See Fienn, Kiria nää'māna, 35–6. Report of the Vil'na meeting to A.M. Rimskii-Korsakov, 12 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.89. Resolution of the Vilnius meeting, 19 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.128 and v. Literally: “For as it is written, I am poor and small.” That this quotation is from the First Book of Samuel is indicated by marginalia on the document by the secretary of the meeting, the Vil'na Jew Isaac Sinaiskii. 1 Kings 9: 7, 21. The biblical story of Saul's reign basically says that, in spite of the prophet Samuel's warning, the Jews insisted on the election of a king, representative of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, the youngest son of Kish, Saul (the Vil'na assembly used the words that applied to Saul – “poor” and “small.” See: McKane, “A Note on Esther IX and 1 Samuel XV,” 260–1; Koperlovich, “Pomni, chto sdelal tebe Amalek,” 34–7. It should also be noted that the name “Amalek” in Jewish texts became a byword for all the enemies of the Jews. Apparently, it was occasionally used metaphorically. Thus, in the Pinkas of the burial society of Kamenetz-Podolsk, “Amalek” is used in 1797 as a term indicating that Poles had expelled Jews from the city; see Petrovsky-Shtern, “Russian Legislation and Jewish Self-Governing Institutions,” 118. Cost estimates for the Vil'na assembly deputation, 12 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.93v. Report of Vil'na police chief to A.N. Rimskii-Korsakov, 3 October 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.144v. The luxurious lifestyle of the Jewish deputies was often remarked upon in Jewish historical tradition in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries; see: Tsitron, Shtadlonim, 103–4, 112–13; Litvin, Yiddishe neshomes, 4; Minkina, “Evreiskie deputaty pervoi chetverti XIX v. v cemeinykh predaniiakh i folk'lorpnykh narrativakh,” 382–6. In turn, these stories were parodied in popular stories in the 1860s and 1870s by the writer A.M. Dik. In one novel, he describes the ordeal of deputies in the capital: they chased a goat through the main streets of St Petersburg, chased by the police, and peddled herbs and biscuits, and were starving and begging: Dik, Der ershter nabor, 5–7. However, in the same novel Dik also mentions that Tsar Alexander I was planning to use the deputations to control the Jews. According to Dik, the deputies were ignorant, bigoted, in constant conflict with each other and unsuited to the tasks assigned to them. Decoration expenses for certain Jewish deputies and their offices to Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Education A.N. Golitsyn by Z. Sonnenberg, 30 January 1819, CAHJP, RU 1326.L.125–125ob. The history of the organisation of the deputies' office is also reflected in Jewish tradition, where it is called the “kleyn department” (“little department”): Tsitron, Shtadlonim, 103. Note on the service and the behaviour of the Minsk citizen Abram Solomon, 1831, CAHJP, HM 2 / 9560.16.F.1; Solomonov, Mysli izrail ' tianina , 3. Memorandum of Minister of Religious Affairs and Public Education A.N. Golitsyn to Jewish Deputy Z. Sonnenberg, 30 January 1819, CAHJP, RU 1326.Л.123оb–124. Report of the Vil'na meeting to A.M. Rimskii-Korsakov, 12 August 1818, CAHJP, HM 2/9737.1.l.91. Report of A.N. Golitsyn to civilian governor of Kamenets-Podolsk, 2 September 1819, CAHJP, RU 1326.L.188–188ob; report of Volynian civilian governor V.P. Kochubey, 30 July 1821, ibid., L.197ob. The “communities who do not agree on the contributions expected of them” were given the right to present their case to the Tsarist authorities. Apparently, there was no complete rejection of “donating” to the deputies, but it actually turned into an additional tax on the Jewish population, determined according to time and contribution. Markevich reported that “up to seven million roubles were collected for the maintenance of several members of the deputies at the same time” in 1818. Later, local kahals initiated new taxes for deputies: from 20 kopecks to two roubles per week from each Jew. In some communities collection of these taxes continued after an official abolition of Jewish deputation, up to 1826. According to Markevich, a significant portion of the collected money was appropriated by local kahal members; see Minkina, “Hillel Markevich i ego proekt evreiskoi reform,” 355. Minutes of the Committee of Ministers, 17 September 1818, Rossiisskii gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv (Russian State Historical Archive), f.1149, Оp.2, D.11а, L. 338. Minutes of the Committee of Ministers, 4 January 1819, ibid. Memorandum from A.N. Golitsyn to Z. Sonnenberg, 30 January 1819, CAHJP, RU 1326.L.124. Ibid. The deputies from these provinces were Sonnenberg (Grodno), Lapkovskii (Vitebsk) and Eisenstadt (Mogilev). For discussion of the history of the unrealised project of organising a Sanhedrin, initially put forward by the Jewish Committee at the end of 1803, see Minkina, “Rossisskii Sinerdrion,” 181–92.
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