The Denver Jewish news. [volume] (Denver, Colo.) 1915-1925, 1920-10-06

hand to readmit them into the ranks
IL the Jewish community without sub
jsctfne them to some ceremonial would
be belittling the faith. WE finally de-
cided to impose these conditions upOr
them; they would have to come to
synagog for successive Sabbaths and
appear before the Torah. They woHld
have to circumsiZc all their future
sons. take instructors ami teach their
children the true ways Of judaism.
institute kosher kitchens and subscribe
to all Jewish public institutions As
soon AS these conditions were made
known. the Rabbinate was beseiged
with "Meshumodim" The greater ma
jority were of the highly intelligent
class belonging to the professions
lawyers, engineers. chemists. and no
forth. They all came with their heads
bowed in shame and every one seemed
70 find 1t necessary to offer some sort
Of an explanation MS to the reason
why he had betrayed his people On
being told in detail, of the conditions
upon which they should be readmitted
into the community they all appeared
to be relieved as II they had expected
Y punishment far more severe Quite
II number OF them stated that in the
event their non-Jewish wives should
refuse to adopt Judaism they would
mot hesitate to part from them.
will recOllect the instance of one
noted jew in Petr0grad, a man who
was the head Of a large syHagog We
were all astounded to find him among
those seeking readmissiOn into the
community and when we asked him
what kind of prank he was trying
to play on us. he told us that from
back to the Jewish faith was based on
bitter fact 1t appeared that twenty
years earlier he was forced to re-
nUInce the Jewish faith in order TO
what was then st. Petersburg. After
spending fortune on various officials
lie succeeded in keeping the fact from
tire Rabbinate and by constant bribery
succeeded in carrying on all these
years as if nothing had happened.
remember another instance. \
dew of advanced age probably of about
seventy with nm unusually large face
and an imposing figure appeared he
fore the Rabbi and stated that he wis
anxious to officially adopt Judaism.
When it was explained to. him inst
what he would have to do he laughed
very heartily and in perfect Russian
Declared thatshe had peycryct ,sisscd
even a solitary "Mincha" (aftcrnoon
service) nor had he overlooked the
daily portion of tie ''Thilim'
;Psalms). His kitchen he said he
supervised personally and assured Us
that it was kosher enough to suit the
Rabbi himself. When however the
natter of the children was broachoa
for they had already attained n state
which was beyond redemption. With
tears in his eyes he told us in brief
the tragic history Of his life. Caught
he broken into "NichOlacvsky" sol
dicr. he was baptized at the age of
ron and n little later compelled to
marry Christian young woman. Grad
ually he completely forgot all about
Jews and Judaism. About thirty years
ago, however his wife died and he sud
denly became conscious of an intense
longing to go back to Judaism. Not
being able to marry q Jewess nad not
desiring to marrying a Gentle he de-
cided not to reniarry. \ little later
when he had settled all his children he
secretly hired Rabbi who taught
him all the important laws ana Gus
toms of Judaism including the Install
alton of n kosher kitchen. His grenr
wish. iie continued. was still to marry
II Jewess and live to bring into the
.Kadish" after him. The Rabbi gave
him his blessing AMI hoped that he
would live to see his new Offspring
grow into maturity ms a good lew.
l remember another occasion when
1 was at the Rabbinate and sad
faced woman came with a letter &c
the Chief Rabbi. The letter proved
to be from her husband, u noted Petru-
grad advocate and he wrote to ask
that he be readmittcd into the Jew
ish community. mcidently he related
that turnout the many years daring
which he had been forced to renouncc
Judaism he had been extremely I'M
happy and that his sole wish was to
know that he was back as recog'iiz-