The insulting refusal did not cool the ardor of the Jewish patriots.  Joseph Berkovich, the son of Berek Yoselovitch, who had laid down his life for the Polish cause, decided to repeat his father’s experiment [1] and issued a proclamation to the Jews, calling upon them to join the ranks of the fighters for Polish independence.  The “National Government” in Warsaw could not resist this patriotic pressure.  It addressed itself to the “Congregational Board” of Warsaw, inquiring about the attitude of the Jewish community towards the projected formation of a separate regiment of Jewish volunteers.  The Board replied that the community had already given proofs of its patriotism by contributing 40,000 Gulden towards the revolutionary funds, and by collecting further contributions towards the equipment of volunteers.  The formation of a special Jewish regiment the Board did not consider advisable, inasmuch as such action was not in keeping with the task of uniting all citizens in the defence of the fatherland.  Instead, the Board favored the distribution of the Jewish volunteers over the whole army.

[Footnote 1:  Compare Vol.  I, p. 293 et seq.]

From now on the Jews were admitted to military service, but more into the militia than into the regular army.  The commander of the National Guard in Warsaw, Anton Ostrovski, one of the few rebel leaders who were not swayed by the anti-Semitic prejudices of the Polish nobility, admitted into his militia many Jewish volunteers on condition that they shave off their beards.  Owing to the religious scruples of many Jewish soldiers, the latter condition had to be abandoned, and a special “bearded” detachment of the metropolitan guard was formed, comprising 850 Jews.

The Jewish militia acquitted itself nobly of its duty in the grave task of protecting the city of Warsaw against the onrush of the Russian troops.  The sons of wealthy families fought shoulder to shoulder with children of the proletariat.  The sight of these step-children of Poland fighting for their fatherland stirred the heart of Ostrovski, and he subsequently wrote:  “This spectacle could not fail to make your heart ache.  Our conscience bade us to attend to the betterment of this most down-trodden part of our population at the earliest possible moment.”

It is worthy of note that the wave of Polish-Jewish patriotism did not spread beyond Warsaw.  In the provincial towns the inhabitants of the ghetto were, as a rule, unwilling to serve in the army on the ground that the Jewish religion forbade the shedding of human blood.  This indifference aroused the ire of the Polish population, which threatened to wreak vengeance upon the Jews, suspecting them of pro-Russian sympathies.  Ostrovski’s remark with reference to this situation deserves to be quoted:  “True,” he said, “the Jews of the provinces may possibly be guilty of indifference towards the revolutionary cause, but can we expect any other attitude from those we oppress?” [1] It may be added that soon afterwards the question of military service as affecting the Jews was solved by the Diet.  By the law of May 30, 1831, the Jews were released from conscription on the payment of a tax which was four times as large as the one paid by them in former years.