Di Festzetzung Vegen Yehudim [regulations governing all aspects of Jewish life in Russia]

(RUSSIA).

Vilna - Grodno

1835

Text in Yiddish. With four fold-out charts pertaining to registration of births, marriages, divorces and deaths.

Vinograd, Vilna 326.

Endorsed by Czar Nicholas I and issued in St. Petersburg, these government regulations set out under what terms Jews are permitted to reside in various provinces (“Gubernias”) of Russia. Rules pertaining from inheritance and marital laws to the limitations on Christians working for Jews. Internal communal stipulations determine the permissibility of erecting a synagogue, the duties of the rabbi, terms upon which Jews from overseas may visit, etc. Nicholas I regarded the Jews as a harmful alien group whose unity should be destroyed so that they become assimilated within the Russian people. As a tool toward this end, his government supported the Maskilim in their struggle against Orthodoxy.