CHAPTER XX.
THE INNER LIFE OF RUSSIAN JEWRY DURING THE REIGN OF ALEXANDER II.
1.

THE RUSSIFICATION OF THE JEWISH INTELLIGENZIA In the inner, cultural life of Russian Jewry a radical break took place during this period.

True, the change did not affect the rank and file of Russian Jewry, being rather confined to its upper layers, to Jewish "society," or the so-called _intelligenzia._ But as far as the latter circles are concerned, the rapidity and intensity of their spiritual transformation may well be compared with the stormy eve of Jewish emancipation in Germany.

This wild rush for spiritual regeneration was out of all proportion to the snail-like tardiness and piecemeal character of civil emancipation in Russia.

However, the modern history of Western Europe has shown more than once that such pre-emancipation periods, including those that evidently prove abortive, offer the most favorable conditions for all kinds of mental and cultural revolutions.
Liberty as a hope invariably arouses greater enthusiasm for self-rejuvenation, than liberty as a fact, when the romanticism of the unknown has vanished.
Hurled into the abyss of despair by the last events of Nicholas' regime, the Russian Jews suddenly received what may be called an earnest of civil emancipation.