180 ZYDZI
Political and cultural disintegration proceeded apace. In a world where tradi-
tional structures were visibly crumbling, the attitudes of the Jewish community
polarized on all the issues of the day. Conservative elements, unable to rule by
authority, sought at all costs to preserve the purity of the Orthodox Jewish reli-
gion. The Chassidic challenge, first mounted in the eighteenth century, gained
further strength in the nineteenth. Radical elements, reacting strongly against the
authoritarian habits of the kabal, were pushed in the directions of Assimilation,
of Socialism and Marxism, and eventually of Zionism. Modern Jewish leaders
worked to reconcile the numberless antagonisms which arose not only within the
bounds of the Jewish community itself, but equally between the Jews and each
of the nationalist movements of the region. By 1918, when the collapse of the
partitioning powers heralded a new era, the spectrum of Jewish politics revealed
every conceivable permutation of social, religious, and ideological interests.
None the less, the traditional practices of Judaism maintained their hold on
the Jewish masses throughout the nineteenth century. Whilst the schism
between the Mitnaggedim and the Chassidim continued, the influence of
Reformed Judaism, emanating from the rabbinical Conferences in Germany in
the 1840s, made only a marginal impact in the Polish lands. Polish Jewry was
noted both for its piety, and for its devotion to religious scholarship. Among the
Orthodox, the ancient art of Pilpul (literally, Pepper) or 'theological hair-
splitting', continued to find its practitioners. The older religious academies in
Cracow and Vilna were joined by new foundations, such as the famous Yeshivot
at Valozhin (Woiozyn) in Lithuania, which flourished from 1803 to 1893 or at
Mir near Grodno which was active from 1815 to 1939. The principles of reli-
gious education were thoroughly revised, and from the so-called Musar move-
ment received a strong injection of ethics. Among the new generation of
educators, a distinct trend towards asceticism was apparent, notably at
Nowogrodek. Among the Chassidim, the impact of the Habad was strong both
in Central Poland and in Lithuania, marking off the western and northern com-
munities from the more popular, mystical trend in the east. From the example
of Elimelech of Lizensk (Lezajsk, 1717-87), who first expounded the role of the
zaddik, veritable dynasties of learned Chassidic leaders were founded at
Przysucha, Koch, Belz, Mifdzyboz, and above all, at Gur (Gora Kalwaria), near
Warsaw. The Alter family of Gur were widely regarded as hereditary sages
of the Sect, and their court became the object of popular Jewish pilgrimages as
fervent and as uplifting as those which brought the Catholic peasants to the
nearby Bernardine church and Calvary Way. In the course of time, the
Orthodox rabbis abandoned their hopes of suppressing the Chassidim. Having
lost all jurisdictional powers, they had no means of enforcing religious conform-
ity. Although never reconciled to Chassidic practices, they were increasingly
concerned to form a common religious front for the defence of Judaism against
the numerous reform movements of the age.^3
The first of these reform movements was that of the Haskalah or 'Jewish
Enlightenment'. Founded in Berlin in the late eighteenth century in the circle of