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The Midrash Raba
on the book of Esther relates that when the letters
calling for the extermination of the Jews were sealed
and given to Haman, he and all the members of his group
departed from the king blissful thinking the days of the
Jews' destruction was at hand.
As they were walking,
they soon encountered Mordechai running after some
school children and followed after him to see what he
was up to. When Mordechai caught up to them, he asked
one of the children, "Tell me the verse you are
learning?" The child answered, "Do not fear a sudden
peril" (Psalms 3:25). Upon hearing the conversation,
Haman angrily declared, "My first victims will be the
children." After witnessing the declaration of faith of
a child, Haman seethed in anger and declared that his
first victims would be the children.
It was the simple faith
and determination of a Jewish child that he detested so.
It was also the fact that Haman understood that the
survival of any people was based upon the young. Without
the young there is no future.
That hatred also burned
within Czar Nicholas I. A professed anti-Semite, he
detested the Jews. Where other Tsars had failed in their
efforts to break those bonds that held the Jewish
community of the Yiddishkeit rich Pale Settlement
together, Nicholas was determined to succeed. Upon
accepting the throne in 1825 the new Czar, harsh and
cruel was no doubt aware that efforts to force the
Jewish community to accept Russian Orthodoxy failed
miserably.
Decrees calling for
their resettlement, along with restrictions and the
burdens of excessive taxes were all to no avail. The
Jews willingly accepted the travails that came with
being Jewish over the privileges offered if they
accepted baptism. When Nicholas became Tsar in 1825, he
was determined to change that status quo. He knew that
the discriminatory laws heaped upon the Jews alone would
not achieve his objectives, he had another plan for the
Jews.
If the adults could not
be coerced, then the targets would be the children. If
baptism could not be won, or coerced, then it would be
forced.
On August 27, 1827,
Nicholas published the decree known as the, "Rekrutschina"
which officially called for the recruitment of Jewish
boys between the ages of twelve and twenty-five for the
military. In reality, many children younger then twelve
were forced into service into service. From the age of
eighteen, their service would continue for an additional
twenty-five years. The decree was an attempt to
institute a large-scale enforcement of Jewish boys to
accept baptism.
For the next thirty
years, approximately seventy thousand Jews,
approximately fifty thousand of who were children, were
forced into the military. After being sent away far from
their homes, efforts to proselatize them began. If they
could not be persuaded with inducements such as a meal,
after days of starvation, or sleep, after being kept
awake, they would inevitably face torture.
The 'Cantonists', as
they were known, demonstrated the type of heroism in
their efforts to resist, rare for adults, let alone
children. Many children died due to the physical
punishment, others terrorized by the intimidation and
torture, accepted baptism. Some held out and never
succumbed.
For thirty years, the
Jewish community was traumatized, and their cohesiveness
as a community suffered. That too was no doubt part of
Nicholas' strategy. Parents panicked with the fear that
at any moment their sons could be abducted. The Kahal
(the Jewish community) was forced to supply recruits and
hired Chappers, (kidnappers) to steal children
from their homes thus pitting Jew against Jew. Wealthier
Jewish members of guilds were exempted by the decree,
which only added to the growing division and resentment
among Jews. It can be argued that the very close unity
of the Jews was never fully restored.
Nicholas was
perpetually diligent in his efforts. He closely
monitored the rates at which children were being
baptized. In 1844, he instituted monthly reporting by
each battalion on their progress in baptizing children
as he urged more stringent measures against the boys.
When he was given a report that all the children in one
particular battalion in Saratover had been baptized, he
triumphantly wrote, "Praise the Lord."
In 1853, using the
Crimean war as a pretext, Nicholas seeking to further
terrorize the Jews, increased the quota of recruits from
each town and authorized that any Jew without a proper
passport be detained as a 'vagrant' and held as a
recruit. This law put any Jew who left the confines of
his town in danger, for papers could be confiscated or
lost. Furthermore any Jew was authorized and offered
incentives to detain a fellow Jew without papers. Even
though only a few Jews participated, and while the vast
majority detested such practices, the Jewish community
was torn further asunder.
It is difficult to
perceive the chaos of that era. Those years in the early
1850's were a living nightmare for the Jews of the Pale
Settlement. Nicholas had apparently struck their
Achilles heal, their children and their unity. The Jews
much have no doubt wondered, how much longer could this
torture continue? Would it get even worse? How much
longer could they endure?
Fortunately for the
Jewish community, relief arrived. Nicholas' career as
their antagonist ended on February 19, 1855, with his
death, and his successor Alexander II, six months later
issued the beginning of a series of laws, which
incrementally abolished the terms of the Cantonist
system. The sense joy and celebration among Jews when
they heard the news was overwhelming. February 19, was
also the holiday of Purim; the same day that Haman and
his forces had planned to destroy the Jews, and were
defeated by the Jews.
There would be many
future oppressors of the Jews in Russia, but that Purim
day, as in ancient Persia and in Tsarist Russia was a
day of 'deliverance and salvation'. A day when the
plans' of two Hamans were thwarted. |
