Save Us From Him!

a yid from Kishinev

According to what we're being told the Maskilim tried to save Judentum from people like him, the Jew from Kishinev pictured above. Well, maybe not this Jew, but ones like him. For all we know this yiddel was a pauper who worked hard for a living, so there was no need to save the others from him, only to save himself from the others.... This yiddel and all the others like him in the Pale, Poland and Lithuania and elsewhere didn't realize that they were being held hostage by the rich and the Rabbonim. They didn't realize that there was opportunity and firewood on the other side, and that they were being kept in the dark/cold by the evil ones. This is an ongoing them in the book I'm reading, although not as direct as that. There we see that the establishment in town - the Rav and the Kehillah - were indifferent to the plight of the starving and dying, and only worried about Jews stepping outta line. What's more upsetting is that the Rav in question is a Chossid, a mechaber seforim, very popular seforim at that.

You might say: Tzig, we're talking about a novel, a made-up story, why are you basing your opinion of people on a book written by a non-frum writer who had it out for the frum? The answer is simple, (and I apologize if the flow of my words is lost, and if you'r still in the dark about the book I'm talking about. I'll get to that Motz"S and Sunday, iy"h.) The answer is simple: Much of what was written about those times either was never reprinted or has been banned. From what we do know we know that the blood of certain people was muttar, and I mean that literally. They were allowed to be murdered if the people there thought it necessary. I speak of the Breslover Chassidim, who were attacked and scorned all over the Ukraine by the others. We also know that the poverty was great, and the chesed not so "ay-yay-ay." People today aren't allowed to starve like that. People take notice and help. Then it was like "this is the way it is." Maybe I'm rambling, and maybe I'm too easily impressed by books. Maybe. I look back at what I wrote here and I realize that s'hut nisht kein hent un kein fis, and I apologize if the message here is unclear.