by Larry Domnitch
The
concluding Neilah prayer on Yom Kippur, represents the final
chance through fervent and impassioned prayer to appeal to
the mercy of the Almighty. One short prayer at one
particular moment on one Yom Kippur at Neilah encapsulated a
tragic era in Jewish History, and moved an entire
congregation to tears. Abraham Lewin, the author of a book
in Yiddish entitled, Kantonisten, (Cantonists) related an
incident on Yom Kippur involving a Cantonist in a synagogue
in an unnamed Russian city.
The Cantonists were
child-recruits in the Russian military. The Russian Tzar,
Peter the Great, devised the system in which young men were
drafted to serve in the military for prolonged terms. Tzar
Nicholas Pavolovich (1827-1855) used this system as a
vehicle to force Jewish children to accept Baptism. The
children were literally stolen from their homes in the
shtetles and forced to serve long extended terms as
trainees and then as soldiers when they reached the age of
eighteen. They faced severe pressure by all means including
torture to accept baptism. Prior Russian Tzars may have
repeatedly failed to induce the Jews of the Pale Settlement
to abandon their faith, but Nicholas was determined to
enforce his will upon the children.
The fact that this
particular Cantonist entered a shul on Yom Kippur indicates
that he most probably had never succumbed to the enormous
pressure to accept Baptism. Had he undergone Baptism, he
would have been officially listed as a Christian and
prohibited from ever entering a synagogue during the reign
of Nicholas.
Levin relates that the
congregation appointed the Cantonist to lead the Neilah
(concluding) prayers -- the most hallowed moment of the
year. This was a great honor, especially for a guest. The
gesture clearly demonstrated one of great admiration for the
man who tenaciously held on to his faith at all costs.
The soldier of Tzar
Nicholas made his way to the front of the shul. Having
forgotten almost all the religious training he had received
as a child including the ability to read Hebrew, he could
not recite, nor lead the Neilah prayers. However,
before the congregation, he expressed a powerful prayer from
the heart, which shook the entire congregation. He
proclaimed, "Father in Heaven, what shall I pray for? I can
not pray for children for I never got married and have no
hope to raise a family, I am too old to start anew. I can't
pray for life, for what value is such a life? It would be
better for me if I died. I can not pray to be able to make a
living since Nicholas provides for my daily food. The only
thing I can pray for is, "Yisgadal VeYoiskadash Shmei
Rabah" meaning "May your name be blessed forever" (from
the Kaddish).
When hearing these
words, the entire congregation wept. They wept over the
plight of the poor individual and his difficult life of
travail. They also wept for the tens of thousands of other
Cantonists who were forced to endure the same hardships, as
well as their families, and communities who were forced to
endure the losses of so many of their sons and brothers.
Many Cantonists had died from the rigors, or had accepted
Baptism, others were simply lost in Siberia hundreds of
miles away from their homes. All Jewish communities of
Russia were faced with the Tzars' quotas of providing
recruits.
The Tzar issued the orders, the
leaders of each town's Kahal (Jewish communal
organization) which for the most part perceived
non-compliance as not an option, provided the recruits, and
the Chappers (kidnappers) did the dirty work of the
Kahal for a fee. Many Kahal leaders could not simply argue
that they had no choice. It was the poor, who were the
recruits, and many Kahal officials profited from payments
from the wealthy for their sons' exemptions. How
demoralizing and traumatizing that era was for the Jews of
Russia! That too was no doubt part of Nicholas' strategy.
All Jews who lived under the Tzar's rule were no doubt
effected by the horrors of this era.
On Yom Kippur, at the
moment of Neilah, a congregation was confronted with
the horrors of that era by the heartfelt words of a true
hero. A hero who was one of thousands who stood against
Nicholas and displayed a type of heroism unusual for adults,
let alone children. In his own words, he added untold
significance to that moment of Neilah. He reminded
the congregation of the sinners, and the many heroes of that
era. On that Yom Kippur day, the moment of Neilah was
truly one of reckoning and regret for all those present. |
