octor Marcus Jastrow, then Rabbi in
Warsaw--were humorously known as "California" or the "Mexican
Gold Mines." Jews had to pay at every step. They had to pay a
Tagzettel [daily tax] for permission to stay in Warsaw, which
permission, however, did not include the luxury of breathing.
The latter had to be purchased with an additional ten kopecks
per capita. The income from these taxations amounted to over a
million and a half, but in spite of all this the Jews were
regarded as parasites, as leeches feasting upon the life-blood
of their Christian compatriots.[47]

Such is the background upon which the picture of Haskalah is to be
drawn--black enough to throw into relief the faintest ray of light. The
Russian Jews, during the reign of Nicholas I, found themselves in a
position possible only in Russia. They were not allowed to emigrate, nor
suffered to stay. In 1823 they were expelled from the farms, and had to
crowd into the cities; in 1838 they were expelled from the cities, and
forced to go back to the country. Then Siberia was opened to them, but
when it was found that even the land of the outcasts was hailed as a
place of refuge by the Jews, they were told to go to Kherson. At last
arrangements were perfected to allow them to colonize Lithuania--all at
once even this was interdicted. They had been conquered with the Poles,
yet were left unprotected against the Poles. Could they help suspecting
the tyrant of what he really intended to do--of seeking to diminish
their numbers by conversion? Is it surprising that when he determined to
open public schools and establish rabbinical seminaries, Jews looked
upon these, too, as the sugared poison with which he intended to
extirpate Judaism? Or can we blame them for being determined to the last
to baffle him? Nicholas did not understand the great lesson taught by
the history of the Jews and inculcated in the old song,

To destroy all these people
You should let them alone.

All that tyranny could inflict, the Russian Jews endured. Yet their
number was not diminished. No coercion could make them leave, in a body,
the old paths they were wont to tread. Nicholas's so-called reforms only
encouraged a reaction, and the more he afflicted the Jews, the more they
multiplied and grew. The behalot of 1754, 1764, and 1793 were repeated
in 1833 and 1843; the missionary propaganda only strengthened the
devotion of the faithful; and the denial of the