Day 50
From East to West – The New Immigrants
Dedicated in memory of my grandparents Chaim & Beila Hershkowitz who were murdered in the Holocaust – date unknown.
The odds are that if you asked around for the most significant dates in the last 2,000 years of Jewish history, the list would include: 358, 638, 1096, 1492, 1516, 1939, and 1948. 1881 is an unlikely contender. Yet it was the year that not only radically changed the course of Jewish history in general, but the personal history of most of the readers of this article.
By 1795, two million Jews had been swallowed up into the Russian Empire, although the government was committed to keeping them away from society, to prevent ‘holy Mother Russia’ from becoming contaminated. Alexander I confined them therefore, to a large-scale ghetto – an area comprising less than five percent of the Empire – known as the Pale of Settlement. It was to remain in place for over 100 years.
Added to this political restriction, were severe economic regulations, which produced endemic and inescapable poverty. Even with everyone in the family working, often all they could manage was bread and potatoes, and it was not unusual for families to occasionally be without any food. Yet, as difficult as it was, things were destined to become far worse.
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Rabbi Aubrey Hersh
Rabbi Aubrey Hersh is the editor of the 70 Days for 70 years book
and an international lecturer, based at the J L E in London, where he
has taught since 1996. He also runs educational and history tours
to most European cities.
