Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/720

 G86 Holland. Belgium. Switzer land. Denmark, Sweden. Russia. Moldavia and Rou- mania. the Jews from Portugal. In 1821 the cortes abolished the Inquisi tion, and resolved that all rights and privileges which had been accorded to the Jews by former sovereigns should be renewed, and that all Jews who dwelt in any part of the world might settle in Portugal. About 1000 Jews reside in this country. In Holland, which was long the refuge of the Jews, and was the cradle of a flourishing Jewish literature, the Israelite immigrants were not entirely without restrictions, although Mendelssohn pointed to Amsterdam as a commercial paradise where all men were allowed free interchange of commodities. The 50,000 Jews of Holland, 20,000 of whom resided in Amsterdam, were first admitted to political equality in 1796, and the closer union with France which followed completed the work of liberation. At first this gift was not will ingly received by the leaders of the Jewish community. They en joyed great power over individuals, could levy large fines upon those members of the congregation who incurred their displeasure, and feared that the new duty of serving as soldiers and the new right of filling all the employments of the state would alienate their flocks. The Portuguese (or Sephardic) Jews, who were regarded as the aristocracy of their race, were especially conservative, and ulti mately the discussions about emancipation led to the secession of the neoterizing party under the name of Adat Jeshurun. The num ber of Jews in Holland is now 68,000, to whom 665 may be added for Luxembourg. In Belgium there are about 2000 Jews, who enjoy freedom and state subvention for their worship as in France. In Switzerland the Jews were long treated with great severity, and the French domination brought them only temporary relief. It was only in 1874 that full religious equality was conceded to the Swiss Jews. Their number is now 6996. In Denmark the number of Jews does not exceed 4500. Since 1814 they have been eligible as magistrates. The archives of the Sephardic synagogue in London contain a curious printed invitation from the king of Sweden, sent in the year 1746, in which wealthy Jews are invited to Sweden, while the poor are warned that their residence will be unwelcome. The London Jews declined this calculating hospitality. There are now 1836 Jews in Sweden, and an insignificant number in Norway. In Russia the Jews are more numerous and more harshly treated than in any other country in the world. From Russia proper the Jews were long and still are excluded, but the conquests of the Muscovites brought them face to face with large numbers of Israel ites who, driven out of Germany by persecution, had taken refuge in Poland under the sway of Casimir the Great. The half Hebrew half German patois (Jiidisch-Deutsch) which Jews still speak in Russia and Roumania preserves this part of their history. A literature exists in this language : journals are printed in it with Hebrew characters ; theatrical representations are given in it, and two com panies in London lately played dramas in it, in which the main point of the action was the misery of the religious Jew, who is dragged away from the study of his favourite Talmudical books to serve in the army, where he can hope, as a Jew, for no promotion. The flourishing factories, agriculture, and commerce of the Polish and Lithuanian Jews were wrecked by the intolerance of the succes sors of Casimir, and Russian oppression completed the ruin. The Jews are still confined to a few over-populated provinces, and loaded with special taxes and restrictions. Under Alexander II. the condition of the Jews was in some respects improved, and the permission accorded for three Jews to settle at each railway station lias enabled a few to escape from the old overcrowded settlements and find a new sphere for their commercial activity. They are still, however, largely at the mercy of the official class, and popular risings against them have been repeatedly permitted or encouraged. They are excluded from many vocations, or practise them only by the connivance of bribed officials. For some purposes they are still subject to the jurisdiction of the rabbis. Harkavy. Pinsker, Mandelstamm, Reiffman, and Levinsohn are among their most learned writers ; Baron Giinzburg is at the head of a society for spreading culture among the masses. In spite of their disabilities, there are among the Russian Jews enterprising contractors, skilful doctors, and successful lawyers. The number of Jews in European Russia was returned for 1876 as 2,612,179. In Russia in Asia they are estimated to number 25,000. For the KARAITES in Russia see that article. At the beginning of the present century the Jews were found in Moldavia everywhere keeping the village inns and forming the centres for the commerce of their districts. Engaged in this occu pation, or travelling through the country to buy or advance money upon the crops, and to sell foreign merchandise, were Jews, some of whom had come from Poland or Russia, while the families of others, resident chiefly at Bucharest, had been in the country from time immemorial. They also exercised many handicrafts. They were glaziers, locksmiths, tinmen, tailors, &c. The metal roofs and pinnacles of churches were all the work of Jews. In the great towns of Moldavia, and also in the Wallachian city of Bucharest, there were established wealthy communities belonging to both divisions of the modern Jews, Ashkenazim and Sephardim. Of the Sephardim or Spanish Jews it is known beyond a doubt that they settled in the country many centuries ago. They belonged to the families driven from Spain by the Inquisition. The principal bankers of Roumania are Jews. Their children have been in the habit of attending the same schools as the wealthy native families, and the parents held a good position in society. In Jassy, the prin cipal city of Moldavia, 30,000 or 40,000 out of the 90,000 inhabi tants are Jews. In 1804 the practice of the neighbouring states began to creep into Roumania. In that year an ordinance of Prince Mourousi of Moldavia deprived the Jews of the right to hold farms except when attached to village inns. Since that time there have been a series of laws and edicts limiting the freedom of the Jews to hold land and engage in various professions and trades ; the Jews have also had much to suffer from popular outbreaks, and even the treaty of Berlin, which abolished all ineapacitation on grounds of religion, has been interpreted by the Roumanian Government as not applying to the Jews, who are regarded as foreigners, and only naturalized in small numbers and by special acts of the legis lature. There are 200,000 Jews in Roumania, and perhaps two or three thousand may have been admitted to naturalization. In Servia there are 2000 Jews. They have suffered from occa- Si sioual orders of expulsion from the country districts, but on the whole their condition is comparatively favoured, and they are believed to be on the eve of being admitted, if not already admitted, to political rights. The Jews in European Turkey before the war which ended with T the treaty of 1878 were estimated to number 72,000 (in Adrianople 15,000, Shumla 1500, Widdin 1200, A r arna 300, Tatar Bazardjik 1050, Dardanelles 2000, Philippopoli 2100, Rustslmk 2500, &c.). There are some thousands in eastern Roumelia, and others in Bul garia, who have been very fairly treated by the authorities of the new principality, having grants for their schools, &c. The exertions of Dr Allatini of Salonica have provided the community of that town (25,000 to 30,000 persons) with excelient means of education. Here is published the Epoca, a Spanish newspaper in Hebrew characters, which recalls the fact that this, like so many of the Jewish com munities on the shores of the Mediterranean, sprang from exiles from Spain. The Jewish population of Constantinople consists of about 30,000 souls. Most of the Jews are Sephardim. Two thousand follow the German rite, and are principally to be found in Galata. The Jews in Constantinople arc chiefly engaged in traffic. They are governed by a caim-macam appointed by themselves, and salaried by the Government. There are forty-two synagogues in the suburbs. Besides the schools of the Alliance, there are 2287 pupils in the wretched Talmud Torah schools. There are also three infant schools. The number of Jews in Asiatic Turkey is stated to be from 106,000 to 130,000. The Smyrna Jews number 25,000. In Baghdad, where there are 30,000 Jews, and where the wealthy family of Sassoon first became known, there are twenty-one synagogues. Pilgrimages are made to the tombs of Ezra, Ezekiel, Joshua the priest, and Sheikh Isaac. There are 500 families in Aidin, 400 in Magnesia. 250 in Casaba, 130 in Pergamos, 516 in Canea in Crete, 200 in Candia, 1200 in Beyrout, 2000 in Damascus, 10,200 in Aleppo. Outbreaks of religious hatred between the Greeks and the Jews, and even between the Mahometans and the Je&quot;ws, have occasionally occurred at Smyrna, Rhodes, &c. The Jews on each occasion have been accused of using Christian blood at the passover. The falsity of this charge was publicly established in 1840, owing to the efforts of Sir Moses Montefiore, who journeyed to the East, accompanied by Cremieux and Munk, to vindicate the innocence of those of his coreligionists who had been put to death, and to liberate those who were imprisoned. The sultan then issued, at the request of Sir Moses Montefiore, a firman declaring the innocence of the Jews, and their title to his equal protection. They now suffer under no disabilities, and are admissible to office. There are 15,000 Jews in Jerusalem (forming half the population), P&amp;lt; whose chief occupation is to study the Talmud. To maintain them ti: in this hallowed indolence their brethren throughout the world send annual contributions (hahika) amounting to about 50,000 a year, or five-sevenths of the total revenue of Palestine. The rabbis who administer these large funds, and also wield the dreaded weapon of excommunication (herein), have set their faces against secular education, regarding Jerusalem as the one great rabbinical college of the world, where the contributors of the haluka fulfil the sacred duty of studying the law by proxy. Both Ashkenazim and Sephardim (whose leaders, more liberal than the Ashkenazim, permit Arabic to be taught), both Chasidim and Karaites, are represented here ; the Sephardim dress as Orientals ; the Russians and Poles wear their long silk or cloth gowns and fur caps, the Germans the quaintly cut coat and flattened wideawake of the early part of this century. All cultivate the long love-locks brought down in front of the ears in obedience to Lev. xix. 27. Boys often marry at fifteen, girls at thirteen. There are two weekly Hebrew newspapers. The syna gogues are very numerous ; around them cluster the Talmud schools. There are three hospitals for Jews, one of which is main^ tained by a Christian mission, numerous almshouses, of which the Juda Touro house is the principal, and several endowed schools.