How much more must this consideration have weight in Russia?
Nicholas, instead of encouraging the Jews to study, ordered, on
the contrary, that all such of them as held offices and insignia
of distinction under Alexander should either resign or become
apostates. I know myself several collegiate councillors and men
attached to the court, who went to the synagogue on the Day of
Atonement with the insignia of the order of St. Anna around
their neck, and prayed there with devotion and fervor, who still
were forced into apostasy. Such instances are not calculated to
encourage Jewish parents to let their children study; and it is
but too true that many whose inclination led them to study were
carried thereby into the bosom of the Christian Church.[12]
After almost half a decade of indefatigable labor, Lilienthal finally
came to understand the Russian State policy, "to assign a plausible
reason for every act done by the Government, in order to stand justified
in the estimation of Europe, whilst they, by throwing dust in the eyes
of the public, conceal their true purpose.
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