Polish-Jewish Relations: 1,300 Keyword-Phrase-Indexed Book Reviews (by Jan Peczkis)

Empire Jews: Jewish Nationalism and Acculturation in 19th- And Early 20th-Century Russia, by Brian Horowitz. 2009

Jews Themselves Confirm: Jewish Soul is Not Polish Soul. Mid-19th Century Polish Jews Divorced From Poland. Jews in Unproductive Occupations. Early Zydokomuna

This work is a biographically-oriented one. It features the ideas of notable Jews such as Lev Levanda, Shimon An-sky, Vladimir “Ze’ev” Jabotinsky, Simon Dubnov, Henrik Sliozberg, and several others.

Many interesting facts are presented. For instance, Avram Harkavy accepted the Khazar origin of Russia’s Jews. (p. 110). Simon Dubnov, faced with the conflicting notions of what it meant to be Jewish, “resolved” it with a Hegelian dialectic. The Orthodox Jews were the thesis, the assimilationist Jews were the antithesis, and the nationalist (Yiddishist) Jews were the synthesis. (p. 113).

OVERALL LACK OF JEWISH SOLIDARITY WITH POLAND

Most so-called Russian Jews were really Polish Jews that had been inherited by the tsarist Russian Empire after the Partitions of Poland. Most of these Jews appear to have been driven primarily by opportunism. Horowitz writes, (quote) [Lev] Levanda was not alone in siding with Russia. Many Jews in the 1840s and 1850s saw an opportunity for social advancement in the Russian education system and little room for social mobility within Polish culture. (unquote). (p. 15).

ENDEKS AND JEWS AGREE: JEWISH SOUL IS NOT POLISH SOUL

The informed reader probably knows that Poles (notably the Endeks) are attacked for thinking that even assimilated Polish Jews cannot understand the Polish spirit. However, the Germans of Weimar Germany also felt the same way about even assimilated German Jews being unable to understand the Teutonic spirit, and Russians felt the same way about even assimilated Russian Jews being unable to understand the Russian spirit. Pointedly, however, Jews ALSO believed the same way–namely that even well-intentioned gentiles cannot understand the Jewish spirit.

Thus, author Brian Horowitz writes, (quote) Acknowledging the success of Jewish authors in penetrating the Russian spirit, writers such as Evgeny Cherikov, Maksim Gorky and Fyodor Solugub reacted indignantly when Sholem Asch complained that Cherikov, the author of a new drama, EVREI (Jews), had no right to treat the theme, since he was not Jewish and therefore unable to understand intimately what Jews experienced. Enraged, Cherikov complained that Jews had no right to censor Russians. Andrei Bely, the Symbolist poet, penned an anti-Jewish manifesto, and even the liberal Kornei Chukovsky argued against Jewish involvement in Russian culture. (unquote). (p. 6).

JEWS IN PARASITIC OCCUPATIONS ACKNOWLEDGED BY JEWS

This theme is usually considered the property of anti-Semites. It is therefore interesting to note that some Jews (e. g, the MASKILIM, or enlightened Jews) also thought in terms of this theme, and did so seriously. Horowitz adds that, (quote) [Leon] Bramson was an advocate of the so-called “productivization of the Jews”, according to which the “Jewish problem” could be solved if Jews were to engage in productive occupations, such as manufacturing, crafts, and agriculture (as opposed to trade). The notion was of course popular among Russian MASKILIM, whom Bramson admired. (unquote). (p. 122). The German MASKILIM also fingered their fellow Jews for their “unproductive” occupations. See:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2020/12/18/zydokomuna-exculpation-fails-jews-did-not-have-it-bad-jews-in-parasitic-occupations-admitted-by-jews-themselves-jewish-profiteering-1920-polish-soviet-war-jews-back-ussr-sloin/

There were also more recent Jewish calls for Jews to stop avoiding physical labor. For instance, see:

https://www.jewsandpolesdatabase.org/2019/11/04/like-jews-like-endeks-yiddishist-prylucki-weiser/

JEWS AND EARLY COMMUNISM (ZYDOKOMUNA): DOUBLE STANDARD ON NONVIOLENCE

Author Brian Horowitz discusses how Shimon An-sky emphasized the view that Jews were a uniquely nonviolent and ethical-spiritual people, and that they scorned military might. (p. 37). However, Horowitz points out that Shimon An-sky effectively was a chameleon, (quote) For example, only three years before, during the Revolution of 1905, An-sky vaunted physical strength. As a leader of Russia’s most important revolutionary party, the Socialist Revolutionaries, An-sky insisted that might offered the sole means of removing the tsar and bringing about a better society. (unquote). (p. 37).