Jews, especially the rich, aped the Polish pans. Their wives dressed
in Parisian gowns of the latest fashion, and their homes were conducted
in a manner so luxurious as to arouse the envy of the noblemen. Israel
waxed fat and kicked. Their greatest care was to become wealthy; they
pampered their bodies at the expense of the impoverishment of their
souls, and some feared that "with the passing away of the elder
generation there would not remain a man capable of filling the position
of rabbi."[22]
The privilege of attending public schools and colleges further
stimulated the Russification of the Jews. As soon as these institutions
of learning were thrown open to them, numerous Jewish youths made
headway in all branches taught, especially in medicine. That Alexander's
benign decree of November 10, 1811, issued through the Secretary of
State Speransky, was not always executed by his officials goes without
saying. Simeon Levy Wolf, one of the first Russo-Jewish graduates, was
denied his degree of doctor of jurisprudence in Dorpat unless he
embraced Christianity.[23] When, in 1819, some of the Vilna graduates
applied for the privilege of not paying the double tax, they were told
that they must first renounce their faith, an exception being made only
in favor of Arthur Parlovich.
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