They were convinced of the noble intentions of the Liberator
Czar; they were confident that the emperor who emancipated the muzhiks,
and expunged many a _kromye Yevreyev_ ("except the Jews") which his
father was wont to add to the few privileges he granted his Christian
subjects, would ultimately remove the civil disabilities of the Jews
altogether. In a very popular song, written by Eliakum Zunser (Vilna,
1836-New York, 1913), then a rising and beloved Badhan (bard) writing in
Yiddish and Hebrew, Alexander II was likened to an angel of God who
finds the flower of Judah soiled by dirt and trampled in the dust. He
rescues it, and revives it with living water, and plants it in his
garden, where it flourishes once more.[6] The poets hailed him as the
savior and redeemer of Israel. All that the Jews needed was to make
themselves deserving of his kindness, and worthy of the citizenship they
saw in store for them. In Russian, in Hebrew, and in Yiddish, in prose
and in poetry, the one theme uppermost in the mind of all was
enlightenment, or rather Russification. From all quarters the reveille
was sounded. Abraham Baer Gottlober (1811-1899) exclaimed:
Awake, Israel, and, Judah, arise!
Shake off the dust, open wide thine eyes!
Justice sprouteth, righteousness is here,
Thy sin is forgot, thou hast naught to fear.
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