e rarely, oppression often, and contempt nearly always" under
the most Christian governments, and suggests a plan for reforming their
condition. But the main appeal for freedom came, as might have been
expected, from the Jews themselves. Contemporaneous with, if not before,
Michel Beer's _Appel a la justice des nations et des rois_, a Lithuanian
Jew, during his imprisonment in Nieszvicz on a false charge, wrote a
work in Polish on the Jewish problem,[2] while in 1803 Loeb, or Leon,
Nebakhovich, an intimate friend of Count Shakovskoy, published _The Cry
of the Daughter of Judah_ (_Fopli Docheri Yudeyskoy_), the first defence
of the Russian Jew in the Russian language. The followers of the
religion of love are implored to love a Jew because he is a Jew, and
they are assured that the Jew who preserves his religion undefiled can
be neither a bad man nor a bad citizen.

But the Jews did not wait for their dreams to be realized. They threw
themselves into the swirl of their country's ambition, as if they had
never received anything other than the tenderness of a devoted mother at
her hands. They were "kindled in a common blaze" of patriotism with the
rest of the population. That in spite of all accusations to the contrary
they remained loyal to Poland, is amply proved by the history of that
unfortunate country. The characteristic kapota of the Polish Jew, his
whole garb, including the yarmulka (under cap), is simply the old Polish
costume, which the Jews retained after the Poles had adopted the German
form of dress.[3] "When, in the year 1794," says Czacki, "despair armed
the [Polish] capital, the Jews were not afraid of death, but, mingling
with the troops and the populace, they proved that danger did not
terrify them, and that the cause of the fatherland was dear to them."
With the permission of Kosciusko, Colonel Joselovich Berek, later killed
at the battle of Kotzk (1809), formed a regiment of light cavalry
consisting entirely of Jews, which distinguished itself especially at
the siege of Warsaw. Most of the members perished in defence of the
suburb of Praga. In the agony of death, Rabbi Hayyim longed for good
tidings, that he might die in peace. And when the fight was over,
Zbitkover expended two barrels of money, one filled with gold ducats and
one with silver rubles, for the live and dead soldiers who were brought
to him.[4] Indeed, Prince Czartorisky was so convinced of their
patriotism, that he always advocated the sa