LEVI AND SARAH.*
THIS is a series of letters from feigned personages, designed to throw light upon the condition and morals of the Jews in Poland.
• Levi and Sarah, er the Jewish Lovers. A Polish Tale. By Julius Unifies Nienicewiez. 'Translated from the German edition, with a Preface and Notes, by :the Editor. London, 1830: The author is a writer distinguished among the Poles- for his pa- triotic exertions in favour of his misgoverned country. He was the friend of KoscitisKo ; and was taken prisoner with him, while acting as liis Adjutant-General, in the defeat at Macziewize, in October 1795, and was carried in his company to St. Petersburg. He is now the perpetual Secretary of the Senate at Warsaw. His writings are numerous, and are all in the Polish language. In this effort to throw light upon the state of the Polish Jews, we do not think he has been very successful ; neither will he excite much sympathy for their mean and distressed condition. We are in- formed that the Jews overrun the country—that wherever a dirty job is to be done, there is a Jew ready to do it—if you enter a Polish town, sou are beset at the gates by a crowd of them, who offer their services in every capacity—it is they who are the smug- glers, the dealers in every thing. prohibited, the adulterators, the commissioners, the ruffianos—in short, there is nothing to be done without the intervention of a Jew. If a person wishes to buy fur- niture, he must employ his Jew—if linen, he must consult his Jew —an estate, a Jew—every lady has her Jew—in a word, they are neither more nor less than the factotums of Poland ; where barter or sale is, there is the Jew.
The following letter will enable the reader to judge of the de- scription of entertainment to be derived from this volume, as well as of the arts by which the Polish Jew gains his precarious subsist- ence. It must be observed that the specimen is favourable.
HIRSCH TO MOSES. Berditschew, 5th Jir.
" May the blessing of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob be with you. i
" Your letter has come to hand in due course, and has given occasion to many thoughts and projects.
" Your proposals are certainly profitable, but I am not accustomed to enter into any undertakings until I have considered if something more profitable might not be done. As to the horses, that is certainly a good business, if the guards on the frontier will take all risks of carrying them over the boundary. When you state the profit at eight roubles on each horse, why did you not propose to divide the profit in two equal parts? It is only on those terms that I can agree to it, and, relying on your yielding to them, I have already begun to buy the horses. I have taken some land for them to feed on, and fitted up some sheds. Although that is not noticed in your letter, you will make no difficulty, I suppose, in allowing for it. The horses shall be ready at the time ; when I hope you will be at the frontier, for it will not be safe to trust too much to the guards or revenue officers. Some of the horses are aged, but I have filed their teeth ; for as the Rabbin Samuel has well said, It is allowable to cheat those who are not of the Jewish faith' Rabbin Sene Rene also says expressly, that in the sight of God the Jews only are the wheat ; all, other people are merely the straw :'—and that straw we will thresh as long as it will yield any grain. " We come now to another important matter ;—I mean the hare-skin‘ .The thought of sewing up tea in them, and thus by paying thehahtett does trifling tax on the covering to escape the duty on the tea, is a thought credit to your shrewdness and sharpness. Thus it should be ; as the Gojina ' fay oh taxes we must be watchful in exercising our wits, that we may bo able to circumvent and cheat them.
" Those fine times in Volhynia, when N— was the Governor, are now gone by I Then we knew what we had to trust to. But since the present accursed ruler has refused the large sums offered to him, and has expdsed the past practices to open view, our plans must be changed. Formerly, all went smoothly ; but now, as there is more difficulty, we must make ourselves amends by exporting worse goods. As to the hare.. skins, I have one remark to make. As the newly-drawn skins may give a disagreeable smell to the tea, I have mixed dried lavender and other sweet-scented leaves with it. And now the Gojim may buy it and drink it if they please. I have also to say, that in this smuggling business I do not take any part of the risk on myself, and am only to receive my commission, which I flatter myself you will think right to allow at six per cent., instead of three per cent , as you mention.
"As you give me commission business, I will return the favour. I have by me a pretty large quantity of spices, especially nutmegs and cin- namon. Under the seal of secrecy, and as to my friend, I may state that the spirit has been extracted and liqueurs prepared with it, which are mixed with honey instead of sugar. The spices have of course lost all their strength, but still may be disposed of to some greedy Goj, who will be induced to purchase them by the low price. The inclosed note will show the quantities and prices.
" Having thus despatched the most important matters, we will now at- tend to the young people. Your offer of giving the band of your beauti- ful daughter to my son Jankiel, is as flattering as it is profitable. As to her erring and separating from our pure faith and from the practices of our law, I may say, that you could not have sought out a better man to reclaim her than this very Jankiel. He will easily drive all her Christian folly out of her, and from an unbeliever, convert her into one of the most zealous of the Jewesses. What fame has spread of Jankiel is far short of his real merits. Only think ! it is now more than a year since he spoke last; he does nothing but read, and is so learned as to be quite a wonder. All our elders, and even the rabbins, take off not merely their hats, but their caps, before him ; and he is lately become rabbin chaplain to the Chassidim. He has already written an eleventh commentary on the Talmud. When I received your letter, I hastened to impart to him what regarded himself. At first, he could not comprehend what I was saying ; but as I represented to him the beauty of Sarah, and spoke in ad- dition of the 10,000 roubles, he began to attend, to open his eyes, and to lift his hand to his mouth, as if he was about to eat something delicious. At last, chuckling in his throat, he rose from the seat, and began to play about with his feet, as if he were beginning to dance with joy ; although he is crooked and deformed, and has blear eyes, that has nothing to do with his wisdom, nor does it lessen his respect from all the people. When I asked him if he consented to the nuptials with Sarah, he laughed and winked three times with his eyes, which signified his approval. I have said nothing of Sarah's heresy hitherto. I have given him a complete suit of new clothes, including a riding-coat, have had his shoes new soled, and the holes in his stockings all neatly darned. You will see how elegantly he will make his appearance before your Sarah. As well as I can make it out from his odd sounds, he wishes to write to her. At the time you have fixed, you may expect to see us both. You musts however, give me the wedding portion at the time of the betrothment, because I have some business at Odessa in which I shall want to make use of the money. God himself must have enlightened your under- standing in this affair, and dictates to me now in a similar way in another. matter. - "Can we not, instead of one, make two marriages at the same time, and at the same expense I Your little son, David, has completed his .eleventh year ; my daughter, Leah, is in her ninth year. Suppose we marry them. Leah shall have a portion of two thousand roubles. After the union, I will take my daughter home, and your son may continue his studies for a year longer, when they may he united. I have in my eye a public-house, which I can procure for them at a low rent. The farmers in the neighbourhood of it are very prosperous, and drink very hard. Only give David the proper instruction betimes, and he will become cle- ver enough to use the double chalk skilfully.
" These double marriages, and our connexion together in business, 'give us bright prospects for the future. Only remember, that Jankiel is not merely a rabbin, but chaplain of the Chassidim, the head of all the cabalists of this country. David may begin early a trade in cattle. We will smuggle between Odessa, Brody, and Warsaw, in all kinds of fancy goods. We shall have universal credit, respect, and, above all,
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