of the Bible, the Talmud, and most of the important rabbinic works were facilitated.  As a consequence, yeshibot, or colleges, for the study of Jewish literature, were founded in almost every community.  Their fame reached distant lands.  It became a popular saying that “from Kiev shall go forth the Law, and the word of God from Starodub.”  Horodno, the vulgar pronunciation of Grodno, was construed to mean Har Adonai, “the Mount of the Lord.”  A pious rabbi did not hesitate to write to a colleague, “Be it known to the high honor of your glory that it is preferable by far to dwell in the land of the Russ and promote the study of the Torah in Israel than in the land of Israel."[21] Especially the part of Poland ultimately swallowed up by Russia was the new Palestine of the Diaspora.  Thither flocked all desirous of becoming adepts in the dialectics of the rabbis, “of learning how to swim in the sea of the Talmud.”  It was there that the voluminous works of Hebrew literature were studied, literally “by day and by night,” and the subtleties of the Talmudists were developed to a degree unprecedented in Jewish history.  Thither was sent, from the distant Netherlands, the youngest son of Manasseh ben Israel, and he “became mighty in the Talmud and master of four languages.”  Thither came, from Prague, the afterwards famous Cabbalist, author, and rabbi, Isaiah Horowitz (ab. 1555-1630), and there he chose to remain the rest of his days.  Thither also went, from Frankfort, the above-mentioned Meir Ashkenazi, who, according to some, was the first author of note in White Russia.

From everywhere they came “to pour water on the hands and sit at the feet” of the great ones of the second Palestine.[22]

For Jewish solidarity was more than a word in those days.  “Sefardim” had not yet learned to boast of aristocratic lineage, nor “Ashkenazim” to look down contemptuously upon their Slavonic coreligionists.  It was before the removal of civil disabilities from one portion of the Jewish people had sowed the seed of arrogance toward the other less favored portion.  Honor was accorded to whom it was due, regardless of the locality in which he happened to have been born.  Glueckel von Hameln states in her Memoirs that preference was sometimes given to the decisions of the “great ones of Poland,” and mentions with pride that her brother Shmuel married the daughter of the great Reb Shulem of Lemberg.[23] With open arms, Amsterdam, Frankfort, Fuerth, Konigsberg, Metz, Prague, and other communities renowned for wealth and learning, welcomed the acute Talmudists of Brest, Grodno, Kovno, Lublin, Minsk, and Vilna, whenever they were willing or compelled to consider a call.  The practice of summoning Russo-Polish rabbis to German posts was carried so far that it aroused the displeasure of the Western scholars, and they complained of being slighted.[24]