.... ______ P_....'-" .....- ..._'_i __ ·_ ... ~ .~ ___ _ 1 , l' {j ',,\ THE JEWISH CONVERT. IN' CZARtsT RUBSIA by, ..., / ~ Mindy B. Avrieh-Skapinker , .1 A thesia"~ubmitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Researcn in partial fulftlment of the j ~equirements for the degree of .. Master of Arts j J Department of Jewish Studies / M~Gill University 1 M01'ltrea l, canada October 1980 ./ " '-. + ------------------. ~' 1; i, tf ~ TABLE OF CONTENTS î~ l' G §, Page 4,: ~s tract- .............................................. .. .... i .'" Resume . .. .. · .' .................... ii Prefà.ce •••••••••••• Il • . ......... ................ iii " Introduction • ••••••••••••• , ................. If • ........... v Chapter l •.••••••..•. • •••••••• (1 • . .......... l C-h-apter 2 ........................................... -' . .. • • . 10 Chapter 3 ........... " ...........•.....................\, ... "J- 15 . Chapter 4 .. ..............\ ...................... 31 1 Chapter 5 . .. .. .. ~ ...... • •• 1 •••••••••••••••••• Chapter 6 .................. ,..,. .......................... ., Chapter 7 ......... 11 ......... • ••••••••••••• Il ••••••••• 1163 , Conclusion .............................. , ............... Footnotes • fi ................~ • . ..... ............ 82 r! Bibliography · .................. .. ..... ~ . • tI •••••• 95 \ / ---' ./ .J -.. \ ,) \ o ,,' ABSTRACT .. G. , ~ .. " The nineteenth century saw dynamic and fundament·al changes in bath Russian and RUBsian-Jewish life. In the course of the \ eentury Russian Jewry faced many new challenges both from within i ts own ranks and from outs ide. Con.vers ion represented one response to these chal1enge~. Because conversion tou'ehed on and/or grew out of sorne of the rnost basic issues and developments in Russian-Jewish ~life in this period, the history . , 1 "j of conversion in the Czarist Empire in sorne measure at least, refleets the Russ!an-Jewish-" experienee as-a who le • The Jewish convert 'was not cast as it were, from one ~uld: he came from a wide var!ety of backgrounds. Sirnilarly, he was not prompted to conversion by one JOOtiver his motivation 1 depended. quite natural1y, on the cireumstanees of his life, his personal make-up, etc. The Russian rulers, by virtue of the polieies they brougHt to bear at different times, piayed their part in the decisions----- of many eonverts. 50 too in its way did the Jewish community,. And al though in the end the cOOverts 'tIere .. individuals, ~ertain types can be identified. " J ' Name: ---pfindy Avrich-Skapinker· Title of Thes!s: The Jew!sh Convert in Czarist RUBsia Department: Jewish Studi~s Degree: Master of Arts .....1_---- __________ .--,-., "~"-,~----- 6 •• " , RESUME \ Le dix-neuvième siècle a vu apparaftre des .changements \ , 1 fondamentales et dynamiques dans la vie des _juifs-russes aussi bién que dans la vie des russes. Au cours de ce siècle, la , \ c0l9'1lunaute juive devait faire face a plusiers nouvelles ~ ~ 1 demandes. La conversion representait une re ponse a ces demandes. Parce que la conversion a touché' quelques unes des , ~ plus importantes issus et developments dans la vie juive-russe dans cette é'poque,. l'histoire de la C9~~~üm dans l'Empire Czarist symbolisai t, au moins tians certaine senses, l'experience juive-russe em sa to'talit~. Le convert juif n'~ta~t pas un seul, gènr\, il répresentait \ rt~ une divérsité de classes et de coûturnes. ne la meme faCjon, il ~ C ~. ;,. ~', , n'avait pas un seul motive. Sa motivation dependait 1:l . 1 l,' naturellement sur les circonstances "de ·sa vie, sa personalite à~ ~ t, 1 ~ g etc. Les monarchs russes, a cause de leurs plans, ont joue ~I leurs role'" dans les dec1sl,onsl'. • de plusiers converts. La , 1 communaute juive aussi a eu son influence. Et 'bien que , " finallement chaque convert un nous 1.' ~tait individ~, pourri~ns J quand même identifi~r. certains~, génres • 1 ,- , .. Noml Mindy" Avrich-Skapin'ker- ,Titre de la' These:" ") Le Convert Juif dans la Russie Czatiste JI ':,. - Departement: Etudes Juives ., " o Degre: KartN cie. &!'ts - "/ • , ... '1 ... '.. ."" ~ ... __ r" • ... r __ ... _" PREF~CE Ta d~te, the whole issue of apçsta,sy in 1 the Russian Empire has received but scant attention from historians.. This i9 true . '\\ despite the fact that Jewish -converts were present on the Russian scene in greater and 1esser 1umbers in every period of Russian-Jewish history and despite the fact that for certain 1 periods' at least, ample archivaI materials ate available and accessible. Al though this author was unfort.unaihey no~ able to consult th~ following documents,___ ~~s aware of their existence: l) YlVa Institute, Archives of tve Lithuanian Consistory in Vilna- J Conversions Records containing files of Jews who converted to Russian Orthodoxy in Lithuania from the 1630s until World War \ '. IIr 2) the Papers of the Church's Mission to the Jews, the 1 " !' former London Society for the Promotion of Christianity among the Jews in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, containing materials , \. on cClf;l.,versions in Russia in the late nineteénth and early l twentieth centuries. The bio,i'aphies- of th~ bes~-knô~ converts of the period were collected in ~our volumes entitled Meshumodim, ti pn un siluetn- funem noentn over (Warsaw u.d.) by Sh.L. Tsitron, and in one volume, Heshumodim in Rus1and (New-York, 1946) by the historian Saul Ginsburg. Unfortunately, neither provided sources for the facts Ol' the bibliographies. Michael Fred, Stanislawski, in his Ph.D. thesis (unpublished) for Harvard / o Upiversity, 1979, devoted a section tc'conversion during the reign of Nicholas ~I.2 ~ ~ ---_....... ~ ~ 4 __ .... ... .. ~- . " ~ .. , .... ~ ... ~ ","~"~ -~- L t ~','" ( \ , f \ (- , ~~ 1 iv - • 'l, Ü J i- " This study presents' an overview of the issue oi conversion " f-: in the Russian Empire in the nineteenth century. Its main a~m ~, ~: i8 to discover the motivations of the various types of converts t - f' in any given period and to relate them to the issues - , \~' political, socio-economic, ~c., of the day. It is hoped that . by 100'king at the policies of the. four regimes in question and the details of the biographies of certain representati ve individuals, that a picture of the nin~teenth century Russian-Jewish convert in his various -guisês wi1~ _emerge. , 1 ,f • ~' • " 1 ~' j \, l Hi_iael Jtre4 Stanislavski, D' TrIUl~I'!!!'tfQ!l 0' lewish societl ÏJ. Itu!lâa 18""'1"', ,.210 ",- t ni' • j .. ' INTRODUCTION ( The connection between an individual and his commun!t:.y, . : 1 f·------­ wrLtes Arthur Ruppin, i9 not immutatlle or indissoluble. f t Gi~en a èertain set or combination of circurnstances' then, the d:~ individual will willingly or unwillingly sornehow alter or even sever his original relationship wïth his community. Conversion represrnts one way, a drastic way in the eyes of sorne, th~t the individual can effect this change in pis relations with the . communi t y • Ordinarily, conversion, the substitution of one religion / for another, does not involve a change in anything but the individual's religioue affiliation. In the case of the Jews, \ howeverj becaus~ of the interdependent natu.re of religion and nationality, or differently put, because of the all-pervasive " nature oi the Jewish religion, conversion'usually represents a great. deal more than the replacement of Judai\rn by, for ex~mple, Christianity or Islam. The act of conversion tends tô affeçt . the whol~ of the individual'rather' than....--- only that part of him ~ which is a religious being. The secularism which is present'in our age, it is worth bearing in mind, is of fairly recent . ori-ginr it w.as not possi'ble in éarlier ages t.o simply opt out, to withdraw into non-denominationalisrn. Religion was not, in otner words, "a private l'\atter". 1 There have been two types of conversion, in the long experience of the Jewish people - volunta~ and involuntary. o Involuntary conversion is forced conversi0n, conversion .,' undergone un~ler-<lUre88, usually the threat of death. Voluntary- , / - vi - conversion on the other, hand, involves at teast sorne measur~ of choice. An indi~.ridual may Ç?hoose .to convert for a vari'ety"of reasons ~ he rnay be genuinely convinced of the tenets of his adoptive faith - a believer~ he may have career goals that cannot be realized unless he is 1:>aptized r he may s'eek conversion in order to marry, to acquire 'certain advantages, status perh'aps ~ he may simply want to be rel·ieved of burdensome disabilities. Whatever the lti:iti vation and regardless "-;;'f whether undergone eagerly or reluctantly, both voluntary and involuntary con~ersion -have contributed significantly at various tirnes toward the depletion of Jewish numbers. And although conversion 1 in and, of itself has never constituted the mDst serious threat to Jewish survi val, it has been an endurJ.ngl ' feature of Jewish bistory, including Russian-Jewish history. The following study seeks to explore the question of ";. conversion by Je~s to Christianity in the Czarist Empire in'--fhe nineteenth century. Who is the J'ewish convert and what 'are his' motives? What forces are at work in the society Which convince /------ a person of the neceésity or desirability of taking this step 1 - or, conversely, act against his taking this step. What are~~-~ the j pOllcies of the four monarchs who ruled during this period: do . / " they favour baptisrn, actively encourage it? How do the changing tirnes and historical events affect the rate of and the reasons , for conversion?. Does the act of.! conversion allow the indi vidual to realize those needs or goals for'which he undergoes it - i8 o , ) the host society, in otl}er words, receptive te the convert or ." o '../ vii ( does he retain the stigma <Df his Jewish birth? What is the \ attitude of the Jewish community to the conver't - when and where does -he remain active in that community and wnen and where does 1 he become lost to or even active against .it? These a.re the !O -\ -~. issues which will be addressed in the ensuing pages. Assimilation and what may he called assimilation' s mst ex:-reme exp~ession, conversiorr, never achieved the level or the ! ," intensity in Czarist Russia that they did for example, in t- ~ i- , Germany-.