the
crowd.

On his return to St. Petersburg, Lilienthal presented Uvarov with a
report which convinced the Minister that the execution of the
school-reform was a difficult but not a hopeless task.

On June 22, 1842, an imperial rescript was issued, placing all Jewish
schools, including the heders and yeshibahs, under the supervision of
the Ministry of Public Instruction. Simultaneously it was announced that
the Government had summoned a Commission of four Rabbis to meet in St.
Petersburg for the purpose of "supporting the efforts of the Government"
in the realization of the school-reform. This Committee was to serve
Russian Jewry as a security that the school-reforms would not be
directed against the Jewish religion.

At the same time Lilienthal was ordered to proceed again to the Pale of
Settlement. He was directed to tour principally through the
South-western and New-Russian governments and exert his influence upon
the Jewish masses in accordance with the instructions received from the
ministry. Before setting out on his journey, Lilienthal published a
Hebrew pamphlet under the title _Maggid Yeshu'ah_ ("Herald of
Salvation") which called upon the Jewish communities to comply readily
with the wishes of the Government. In his private letters, addressed to
prominent Jews, Lilienthal expressed the assurance that the school ukase
was merely the forerunner of a series of measures for the betterment of
the civic status of the Jews.

This time Lilienthal met with a greater measure of success than on his
first journey. In several large centers, such as Berdychev, Odessa,
Kishinev, he was accorded, a friendly welcome and assured of the
co-operation of the communities in making the new school system a
success. Filled with fresh hopes, Lilienthal returned in 1843 to St.
Petersburg to participate in the work of the "Rabbinical Commission"
which had been convoked by the Government and was now holding its
sessions in the capital from May till August.

The make-up of the Rabbinical Commission did not fully justify its
appellation. Only two "ecclesiastics" were on it, the president of the
Talmudic Academy of Volozhin, [1] Rabbi Itzhok (Isaac) Itzhaki, and the
leader of the White Russian Hasidim, Rabbi Mendel Shneorsohn, [2] while
the South-western region and New Russia had sent two laymen: the banker
Halperin of Berdychev, and the director of the Jewish school in Odessa,
Bezalel Stern. The two representatives of the "clergy" put