The "supervisors" elected on the Congregational Boards often refused to serve, and the authorities were compelled to appoint them.

But in the course of time the communities became reconciled to the new scheme of congregations, or _Gminas,_[1] whose range of activity was gradually widened.

In 1830 the suffrage of the Polish Jews within the Jewish communities was restricted by a new law to persons possessed of a certain amount of property.

The result was particularly noticeable in Warsaw where the new state of things helped to strengthen the influence of the group of the "Old Testament believers" and enabled them to gain control of the affairs of the metropolitan community.

The leaders of Warsaw Jewry managed soon to establish intimate relations with the Polish Government, and co-operated with it in bringing about the "cultural reforms" of the Jews of Poland.
[Footnote 1: _Gmina_ is the Polish word for community, derived from the German _Gemeinde_.] In 1825 the Polish Government appointed a special body to deal with Jewish affairs.