Jewish
Metropolis
A history, 1859-1914
Natan m. meir
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
Bloomington and Indianapolis
Preparation and publication of this book were generously supported by a Cahnman Publication Subvention Grant, awarded by the Association for Jewish Studies, and by the Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies, Columbia University.
Portions of chapter 4 were originally published as "From Pork to Kapores: Transformations in Religious Practice among the Jews of Late Imperial Kiev," in Jewish Quarterly Review 97.4 (Autumn 2007), and are reprinted by permission of the University of Pennsylvia Press. Portions of chapter 5 were originally published as "Jews, Ukrainians, and Russians in Kiev: Intergroup Relations in Late Imperial Associational Life," in Slavic Review 65, no. 3 (Autumn 2006), and are reprinted by permission of the publisher of Slavic Review, the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies.
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press 601 North Morton Street Bloomington, Indiana 47404-3797 USA
Telephone orders 800-842-6796 Fax orders 812-855-7931 Orders by e-mail Iuporder@indiana. edu
© 2010 by Natan M. Meir All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. The Association of American University Presses' Resolution on Permissions constitutes the only exception to this prohibition.
> The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Meir, Natan M.
Kiev, Jewish metropolis : a history, 1859-1914 / Natan M. Meir. p. cm. — (The modern Jewish experience)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-253-35502-7 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-253-22207-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Jews—Ukraine—Kiev—History—19th century. 2. Jews—Ukraine—Kiev—History—20th century. 3. Jews—Ukraine—Kiev—Social conditions—19th century. 4. Jews—Ukraine— Kiev—Social conditions—20th century. 5. Kiev (Ukraine)—Ethnic relations. I. Title. DS135.U42K5453 2010 305.892'404777—dc22
2009049723
1 2 3 4 5 15 14 13 12 11 10
Dedicated to
The memory of my beloved grandparents:
Saba and Savta
Rabbi Judah Nadich, Ephraim Yehudah ben Yitzhak ve-Leah ve-Nessa z"l Martha Hadassah Ribalow Nadich,
Marta Hadassah bat Menachem ve-Shoshana z"l and
Bubby and Zayde
Jeanette Meyers, Sheindl bat Sarah z"l and Abe Meyers, Avraham ben Natan ve-Sarah z"l and to Ema and aba Leah Nadich and Aryeh Meir she-yibadlu le-hayim tovim va-arukim
Acknowledgments
Ix
1
Introduction
Part 1. THE early YEARS
1 Settlement and Growth, 1859-1881 23
2 The Foundations of Communal Life 59
PART 2. JEWISH METROPOLIS
3 The Consolidation of Jewish Kiev, 1881-1914 101
4 Modern Jewish Cultures and Practices 150
5 Jew as Neighbor, Jew as Other:
Interethnic Relations and Antisemitism 190
6 Varieties of Jewish Philanthropy 211
7 Revolutions in Communal Life 261
311
319
321
371
391
Conclusion
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
During the researching and writing of this book, which has been ten years in the making, I lived on three different continents, so I have the pleasure of thanking a great many people who assisted me in one way or another (and sometimes in many ways). First I would like to thank Michael Stanis-lawski, who guided this project and gave me the support and encouragement that were so crucial in my formative years. among many other things, I have learned from him the value of committed skepticism and scholarly detachment combined with a deep love for Jewish history. It is also a delight to thank others who guided my training in Jewish history and Russian history: Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, Mark von Hagen, Richard Wortman, and aryeh Goren. Jane Burbank and Benjamin Nathans gave me invaluable feedback, which helped me shape the development of the book.
I have had the good fortune to work with a number of senior colleagues who have encouraged my scholarly work, supported my research, and served as true role models for what an academician should be. among these are Marsha Rozenblit at the University of Maryland; Shulamit Magnus at Ober-lin College; Tony Kushner, anne Curry, and Mark Cornwall at the University of Southampton; and Michael Weingrad here at my new home of Portland State University. at Southampton, I enjoyed the support and advice of many colleagues, including Nils Roemer, Dan Levine, George Bernard, Jane McDermid, Julie Gammon, and Joan Tumblety. Special thanks to Lorna young, Frances Clarke, and Marie-Pierre Gibert for their loving assistance at many junctures along the way. The late John Klier supported this project at every step, and I am deeply saddened that I will not be able to show him the final results.
I spent several years of research for this book in Washington, D. C., where Tom Pitt and Steve Rodes were always ready with a warm meal, a cold drink, and a loving cat. The support I received from Edna Friedberg and Stig Trom-mer was truly invaluable. Nancy Roth and Richard, Jacob, and Miriam Mazer became true friends who never fail to take a genuine interest in the results of my research. Others whose support made all the difference are Jordan Potash, adam Tenner, Jeremy Rosenblatt, Dan Furmansky, and alex Goldberg. Joel alter's moral, spiritual, and material support sustained me for many years, and for this I am truly grateful.
I was lucky to have had assistance in my research from many individuals and institutions. In this country, I am indebted to Edward Kasinec, formerly chief librarian of the New York Public Library's Slavic and Baltic Division (now Curator Emeritus, NYPL Slavic and East European Collections) and the staffs of the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, the libraries of Columbia University, and several departments at the Library of Congress, including the african and Middle Eastern Reading Room (with special thanks to Peggy Perlstein) and the European Reading Room. In Ukraine, I was assisted by the staffs of the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine, Kyiv; the Scientific Research Library of the Central State Archives of Ukraine; the State Archive of Kyiv Oblast; and the State Archive of the City of Kyiv. The superb archivists and librarians at these institutions went out of their way to make sure I had access to the documents I needed. I am especially grateful for the support provided by Irina Sergeeva, director of the Judaica Division of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, and her able staff. I also thank the staffs of the library's Newspaper and Dissertation reading rooms and especially viktoriia Matusevich.
The staff of the Institute of Judaica in Kiev, and especially its director, Leonid Finberg, provided me with an academic home during my stay in their city. Their support and assistance were incalculable. Special thanks to Misha Kal’nitskii for sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of Kiev's history and to Arsenii Finberg for his computer assistance. I am also appreciative of the sponsorship of the Jewish University of St. Petersburg and its rector, Dmitrii Elyashevich, and of the European University in St. Petersburg and its Center for Archival Training. victor Kelner of the Russian National Library helped to unlock some of the treasures of that institution's Judaica holdings. My research at the Russian State Library's Newspaper Division and the State Public Historical Library in Moscow was greatly facilitated by the helpful librarians at those institutions.
In Israel, I was privileged to do research at the Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (CAHJP), the Central Zionist Archives, and the National and University Library. I am particularly grateful to Hadassah As-souline and Binyamin Lukin of the CAHJP for their assistance, and to Vera Solomon and Eliezer Niborski for their help with the Index to Yiddish Periodicals. too to the staffs of the Hartley Library's Special Collections Division at the University of Southampton, the Main Library and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies Library at University College London, and the Newspaper Reading Room of the British Library.
Those family members and friends in distant places who opened their homes to me made my time abroad incomparably easier, not to mention more fun: Shoshana Ribalow, volodia Ribitskii and babushka Zinaida Grigorievna, Jeff Rosenberg and Glenn Tasky, and ayelet Cohen.
My years as a graduate student were made more enjoyable by the companionship and support of my peers in Columbia's doctoral program in Jewish history, including Olga Litvak, Michael Miller, annie Polland, Marina Rustow, Magda Teter, and Kalman Weiser. victoria Khiterer generously shared her knowledge of Kiev's archives with me at a crucial stage of this project. among other colleagues and friends to whom I extend my heartfelt appreciation for their comments and assistance are David assaf, Eugene avru-tin, Paula Eisenstein Baker, Israel Bartal, Michael Berkowitz, Richard Cohen, Bernard Cooperman, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, Lisa Epstein, Chae-Ran Freeze, abigail Green, Robin Judd, Gwynn Kessler, Rebecca Kobrin, Olga Litvak, Sam Norich, avraham Nowersztern, Steven Rappaport, David Rechter, Shaul Stampfer, and Scott Ury. Special thanks to Phyllis Deutsch for her imaginative title suggestion.
The research for this book was enabled by support from a number of institutions, including Columbia University's Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies and Harriman Institute, the Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research abroad program of the U. S. Department of Education, the National Foundation for Jewish Culture, the YIvO Institute for Jewish Research, the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, and the British academy. Preparation and production of this work were generously supported by a Cahnman Publication Subvention Grant, awarded by the association for Jewish Studies, and by Columbia's Institute for Israel and Jewish Studies. I thank Jeremy Dauber for his kind facilitation in making the latter subvention possible.
I would like to thank my editor at Indiana University Press, Janet Rabino-witch, for her insight and assistance, as well as Katie Baber, and Jeffrey veid-linger for his helpful comments. My thanks also to Paula Hyman and Deborah Dash Moore for including this book in their superb series. I am grateful to David Banis and especially Margaret Seiler for their hard work on the beautiful maps.
Throughout the researching and writing of this book I had the loving support of my family: my brother adin and sister vered, my aunts and uncles and cousins, and my parents-in-law Hans and Hennie van Herpen. My husband Elchanan van Herpen spent many Sundays on his own so that I could have the time I needed to "finish the book," and I am grateful to him for his patience and encouragement. Dank je, Chananchik. I was lucky enough to have all my grandparents until very recently, and I miss their presence greatly; they remain a constant source of inspiration to me in all that I do. Finally, I thank my parents, be-ahavah rabah rabah, for always being there for me, and always believing in me.
Kiev, Jewish Metropolis
The Pale of Settlement, c. 1900. Cartography by Margaret Seiler, based on map in The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.
The southwest region of the Russian Empire, c. 1900. Cartography by Margaret Seiler, based on map in The YIvO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe.
SYNAGOGUES
O Tailors' Synagogue (Rozenberg Synagogue)
O Merchants' Synagogue 0 Brodsky Choral Synagogue 0 prayer houses
PRIVATE RESIDENCES
® Dr. Max Mandel'shtam ®Lazar Brodsky ® Lev Brodsky ® Sholem Aleichem
World History
