[5]
The Russian Jews--says Zunser--sobered down from the orgies of
assimilation, and its worshippers abandoned their idol. Those
who had almost forgotten that they were of the camp of Israel
began to return to its tents. The Jewish physicians, jurists,
technologists, and the entire so-called Jewish "intelligentia,"
who heretofore had never cared to speak a word of Yiddish to a
Jew, resumed their native tongue; they began to send their
children to the Jewish hadarim, and adopted once more Jewish
ways and customs. Several hundred Jewish university students,
proverbially irreligious, sent to Vilna for tefillin
[phylacteries]!
In many cities fasts were observed and prayers for forgiveness offered,
and the prodigal sons of Israel repaired to the synagogue, participated
in the services, and wept with their more steadfast though equally
unfortunate coreligionists. Many converts, too, began to feel qualms of
conscience, and endeavored to make up for their youthful indiscretions.
Some of them fled to places of safety, and returned to Judaism. The
gifted young poet Simon Yakovlevich Nadsohn died of a broken heart.
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