Russian Jews :: essays research papers

Russian Jews     To Russian Jews, the synagogue was the center of religion and religionwas the most important thing in their lives. The rabbi was their leader, theycame to him with every(prenominal) problem they had. Jews were poor, only when they all gavetzedakah. It was said that even the poorest Jews could find someone poorer tohelp and give money to. According to the Jewish religion, tzedakah is one ofthe most important mitzvahs you can do. The corresponding could be said about the Jewishholidays. They were observed very strictly, but Shabbat was the most welcomed.In order to teach the importance of Jewish law, they started their stimulate schools,their own courts of law, and their own burial societies. even though there werepogroms, religious persecution coerce the Jews to create stronger communitiesand made them more united.     In the beginning of the 1800s, Alexander I control Russia. He promisedthe Jews that they could become fa rmers, could live in two districts, and couldbuy unoccupied land. Although Alexander was kind and helped the Jews, the taxthey were forced to pay, stayed. before he died in 1825, the Jewish situationbecame hard for them to bare. They lived in poverty in small and crowded placesand were oppressed. For hundreds of years, Jews lived these ways in twocommunities - the ghetto and the shtetl. To keep out thieves and rioters fromcoming in, they built walls roughly their section of town. When they did this,the government and churches got an idea, they would use the walls that the Jewsbuilt, to lock them in.     These walls were located near a foundry that made cannons, so they namedit ghetto which means "foundry". They would close the gates every night andthe Jews would be locked in until daybreak. The word of the ghettos quicklyspread, soon there were ghettos all over Europe. The Jews were all treated thesame in every ghetto that was in Europe, according the go vernment and churches,the Jews had no rights. They were no allowed to own land, join crafts guilds,or do any kind of work that Christians got to do. In some ghettos, they wereeven forced to wear badges so anyone who saw them would know they were Jewish.The badge was usually a Star of David. For many years, the government tookcopies of the Talmud, and burnt them. Also the government forced the Jews to learn to long Christian sermons. Even though all these terrible things tookplace and the government was not good to the Jews, the ghettos seemed to be a