were hankering after German models and were anxious to renounce the national separatism of the Jews which was a standing rebuke in the mouths of their enemies.  To these “Old Testament believers” the abolition of the Kahal and the limitation of communal self-government to the narrow range of synagogue interests appeared the surest remedy against anti-Semitism.  Behind the abrogation of communal autonomy they saw the smiling vision of a Jewish school-reform, leading to the Polonization of Jewish education, while in the far-off distance they could discern the promised land of equal citizenship.

[Footnote 1:  See above, p. 96, n. 1.]

The efforts of the Jewish reformers of Warsaw were now systematically directed towards this goal.  In 1820 there appeared an anonymous pamphlet under the title “The Petition, or Self-defence, of the Members of the Old Testament Persuasion in the Kingdom of Poland.”  The main purpose of this publication is to show that the root of the evil lies in the Kahal organization, in the elders, rabbis, and burial societies, who expend enormous sums of taxation money without any control—­i.e., without the control of the Polish municipality—­who oppress the people by their herems (excommunications), and altogether abuse their power.  It is, therefore, necessary to abolish this power of the Kahals and transfer it to the Polish municipalities, or even, police authorities; only then will order be established in the Jewish communities, and the Jews will be transformed into “useful citizens.”

The Government spheres of Poland were greatly pleased by these utterances of the “Old Testament believers” of Warsaw.  They had long contemplated the curtailment of the autonomy of the Kahals, and now “the very Jews” clamored for it.  In consequence, there appeared in 1821 a series of edicts by the viceroy and various rescripts by the Commission of Public Instruction and Religious Denominations, resulting in the demolition of the ancient communal scheme, in which certain forms of self-government, but by no means its underlying fundamental principles, had become obsolete.

These measures were sanctioned by an imperial ukase dated December 20, 1821, [1] decreeing the abolition of the Kahals and their substitution by “Congregational Boards,” whose scope of activity was strictly limited to religious matters, while all civil and fiscal affairs were placed under the jurisdiction of the local Polish administration.  The Congregational Boards were to consist of the rabbi, his assistant or substitute, and three trustees or supervisors.

[Footnote 1:  Corresponding to January 1, 1822, of the West-European calendar.]