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He was a «impulsive pragmatic,» sincere in all of his actions – both when he criticized Jews and when he defended them. The great reformer elevated no few Jews to the highest state positions in the Empire, and they put the interests of their new homeland first, attempting to reconcile them with their national feelings. They often used their blood ties to advance Russian interests, which they served selflessly It is enough to cite the case of the brilliant diplomat Petr Shafirov who saved Russia from slavery and humiliating conditions of defeat when Russian troops were completely surrounded by a far superior Ottoman army twice their size.
Incidentally, it was Safirov who first introduced the word «patriot» into the Russian literary language, which he defined as «son of the Fatherland.» These were not empty words for «Jews in livery.» Many of them served as zealous Russia patriots, combining concern for their people with sincere love for Russia and the Russians. The scholar, naturalist and academician Karl Gablits dedicated himself to Russian science and helped revive the newly acquired territories of Tauride (the Crimea), transforming it into a blossoming land. The first Russian-language Jewish writer, Lev Nevakhovich, author of A Daughter of Judea's Wail (1803), wrote works extolling Russia. The «learned Jew» of the Ministry of Enlightenment, Leon Mandel'shtam, who dedicated his life to the many-sided education of the Jews in Russia, was also a fierce advocate of Russian culture, and became the first Jewish poet to write in Russian. The remarkable Jewish social activist and patron Baron Evzel Ginzburg obliged his descendants to preserve both their Russian citizenship and Jewish faith, and his son Baron Horace Ginzburg earned recognition and love through his philanthropy and defense of the rights of his people, and despite witnessing pogroms and persecutions in his old age, still believed in the future of the Russian Jewish community. And the national Jewish poet, Semen Frug, who was the son of a farmer, earned the respect and admiration of the remarkable Russian writer Nikolai Leskov with his love for the land and his fervent Jewish patriotism. So-does this mean that the warning «Oh, Jews, don't you sew livery!» was groundless? Unfortunately, not. Berdnikov recounts the fates of many «Jews in livery» that were tragic. In the time of Ivan III the doctor Mistro Leon perished on the scaffold, victim of a cruel conspiracy. And another doctor, Daniil Gaden, falsely accused of black magic, was tortured to death in 1682 by rebellious strel'tsy. The brothers Abram and Fedor Veslovskii were forced to flee the country, and thus became Russia's first non-returning diplomats. Chief of Police Anton Divier was exiled to Siberia. The contractor Abram Peretz, who went bankrupt supplying the Russian army with provisions in 1812, died in poverty. And so on! Even those whose services to the country were truly enormous could be subject to persecutions; thus Petr Shafirov was ultimately stripped of his ranks and medals, as the Senate gleefully recalled that he was of the «zhid breed.» Several of the heroes of this book were not left in peace even after death. Xenophobic historians with nothing better to do keep silent about the contributions made by Jews to the Russian empire while trying to seek out traces of harmful intrigues hatched by «zhid-masons» and contributing to the most dismal events in Russian history. At times the role of «Jews in livery» is thus purposefully and outrageously exaggerated. By the logic of these learned writers, the dark period under Empress Anna Ioannovna should be called not «bironovshchina» (the time of Biron) but «lipmanovshchina,» after E. I. Biron's close associate, the Jewish banker Levy Lipman, who they say, allegedly ruled Russia. |
