gion of
love. They only whetted their insatiable appetite. The anarchy among the
Gentiles increased the misery of the Jews. The towns fell into the hands
of the Lithuanians, Poles, Russians, and Tatars successively, and it was
upon the Jews that the hounds of war were let loose at each defeat or
conquest. Determined to exterminate each other, they joined forces in
exterminating the Jews. When Bratzlav, for instance, was destroyed by
the Tatars, in 1479, more than four hundred of its six hundred Jewish
citizens were slain. When the city was attacked by the Cossacks in 1569,
the greater number of the plundered and murdered were Jews. The same
happened when Chmielnicki gained the upper hand in Bratzlav in 1648,
again when the Russians slaughtered all the inhabitants in 1664, and
when the Tatars plotted against their victorious enemy, Peter the
Great.[1] Swedish attacks without and popular uprisings within rendered
the Polish pan (dubbed among Jews poriz, rowdy or ruffian) as reckless
as he was irresponsible. The Jew became for him a sponge to be squeezed
for money, and a clown to contribute to his brutal amusements. The
subtle and baneful influence of the Jesuits succeeded, besides, in
introducing religion into politics and making the Jew the scapegoat for
the evils of both. The _Judaeus infidelis_ was the target of abuse and
persecution. It was only the fear that the Government's exchequer might
suffer that prevented his being turned into a veritable slave. His
condition, indeed, was worse than slavery; his life was worth less than
a beast's. It was frequently taken for the mere fun of it, and with
impunity. An overseer once ordered all Jewish mothers living on the
estate to climb to the tree-tops and leave their little ones below. He
then fired at the children, and when the women fell from the trees at
the horrible sight, he presented each with a piece of money, and thanked
them for the pleasure they had afforded him.[2]

In the cities, though the pan's excesses were bound to be somewhat
bridled there, the lot of the Jews was equally gloomy. They were treated
like outlaws, were forbidden to engage in all but a few branches of
trade or handicraft, or to live with Christians, or employ them as
servants. In 1720 they were prohibited to build new synagogues or even
repair the old ones. Sometimes the synagogues were locked "by order
of ..." until a stipulated amount of money bought permission to reopen
them. We of to-day can