All of a sudden Polish society opened its arms to those whom it had but recently branded as foreigners, and out of the ranks of Warsaw Jewry came a hearty response, expressing itself not only in patriotic manifestations but also in sacrifices and achievements for the sake of the common fatherland.
At the head of the Warsaw community during this stormy period stood a man who combined Polish patriotism with rabbinic orthodoxy.

Formerly rabbi in Cracow, Berush [1] Meisels had as far back as 1848 been sent as deputy to the parliament at Kremsier, [2] and stood in the forefront of the Polish patriots of Galicia.

In 1856 he accepted the post of rabbi in Warsaw.

When the revolutionary movement had broken out, Meisels endeavored to instruct his flock in the spirit of Polish patriotism.
Revered by the Jewish masses for his piety, and by the intellectuals for his political trend of mind, this spiritual leader of Polish Jewry played in the revolutionary Polish movement a role equal in importance to that of the leading ecclesiastics of Poland.

The harmonious co-operation of the orthodox Chief Rabbi Meisels, the reform preacher Marcus Jastrow, [3] and the lay representatives of the community lent unity and organization to the part played by the Jews in preparing the rebellion.
[Footnote 1: A variant of the name _Baer_.] [Footnote 2: A town in Moravia, where, after the rising of 1848, the Austrian parliament met provisionally till March, 1849.] [Footnote 3: After the suppression of the Polish insurrection, Jastrow went to the United States, and became a leading rabbi in Philadelphia.
He died in 1903.] The Jews of Warsaw participated in all street manifestations and political processions which took place during the year 1860-1861.