A Secret Letter to London

The evening of 5 Heshvan, 5642 [October 28, 1881]

Tomorrow with the second post, a pamphlet will be sent to you with a responsum entitled Isaac’s Stream (Naḥal Yitsḥak), regarding a miserable agunah [lit., “anchored,” woman abandoned by her husband and forbidden to remarry], and at its head will appear the words, “Be with the mouths of your people’s emissaries.” And when you receive it, please be so good as to peruse it carefully and to intervene on behalf of the agunah as is proper, in order to produce for her a [marital] release, to free her of the chains of her anchoring, and may the Lord be with those who assist you with this, etc.

With the help of God, October 28, 1881

In my letter yesterday, I indicated with the flowery phrase, “Be with the mouths of your people’s emissaries, the House of Israel,” so that you would recognize that this letter—which comes to you without my signature, and in another’s handwriting—is mine, and that my spirit speaks in it, and my tears are recounted in it, and its letters are engraved with the blood of my heart. And with this sign we shall maintain our correspondence, God willing, about these matters, and therefore I sent the previous letter as a runner before this one, so that you would know me and look favorably upon me, and now I begin:

When a man falls ill, and his terrible pain weighs down upon his soul (may the Merciful One save him), if he but utter a sigh renewing his strength and making his trouble heard in public, it will remove a sixtieth of his illness and pains. But if his sickness strikes him in a stranger’s house who wishes him harm, then his disaster and wound will be incurable, for then he will be afraid to utter a sigh from his heart, lest he be expelled and thrown away like a menstruating woman (Isaiah 30:22). [ . . . ]

This is our situation: nearly four million Jewish souls live in our land. Our brethren in Romania, Persia, and Morocco have great sorrows, may the Merciful One save them, for they are mocked and pillaged, but, at the very least, they have the strength and the freedom to make their voice heard in public. And all of Europe is angry and devastated, crying about the cruelties enacted against them by the savages, and this at least is their consolation—to see Europe sympathizing with them. But we here, our ruin is as great as the sea, and who will cure us if we are even forbidden to open our mouths and are forced to accept suffering with love and to justify the decree of the cruel savages, whose evil, brutality, and abomination are a thousand times greater than those of the evildoers in Romania, Persia, and Morocco. All the deeds of those wild and wicked people committed in the southern regions of our country [the Ukrainian reaches of the Russian Empire], dreadful things like this are unprecedented the whole world over, not even in Asia and Africa. They can only be found in the books of medieval history, but our situation now is far worse and more bitter than before; for in the Middle Ages, it was only the mischief of the masses and the fanaticism of the obscurantists that caused the riots, but the governments themselves were a hideaway for the Jews, and when the mischief of the masses increased, the government rose up and executed harsh justice. That is not the case in our country now. The government itself has incited the mischief of the masses against us, and it will now incite and provoke the masses to swallow and destroy our people, may the Merciful One preserve us. And in such a horrible, dreadful, and cruel situation as this, they will put an end to our people, intending a total annihilation—may the Merciful One preserve us. [ . . . ]

Now we are drowning in a sea of troubles, and no one in our country can give us any assistance, great or small, and our assistance now depends, with God’s help, on our brethren abroad as I will propose here.

We have two means of interceding on behalf of our people: (1) The counsel of our patriarch Jacob was very fit for our people whenever Jacob was in peril.¹ (2) To awaken the press throughout Europe to come out in protest against the thoughts and evil actions of the government, to shout bloody murder against its abominations and evil deeds, to arouse the publishers of the great and famous newspapers in Europe like the Times, the Standard, and the like, as well as their eminent correspondents, to speak without respite and shout against the crimes of the wicked government, and reveal the deceit of the ministers and their plans, and the target at which they have aimed their arrows—the Jews—to give the wild masses something to occupy them, to increase robbery and plunder, satiating them with the blood of the Jews, to strike, stun, and destroy them so they will forget the government and let it be. [ . . . ] And they treat the Jews like a ball to play with, proving how foolish the ministers of the government are in this policy of deceit and lies. For ultimately when they accustom the masses to robbery and plunder, and when the masses get used to violating the laws of the government and the etiquette of the country, in the end their arrows will reach the heart of the government itself. For the masses are given the power to judge and adjudicate the acts of each people, whoever and whatever infringes on their rights or exacerbates their economic circumstances. In the end, they will learn how to judge those responsible for evil directly, those accountable for their terrible circumstances, and they will rise up afterward against the government. [ . . . ]

Therefore, I address your eminence with a request from all our brethren, the children of Israel, “let my life be granted me at my petition, and my people at my request” (Esther 7:3), to do the following: quickly arouse the heads of the Board of Deputies and the Anglo-Jewish Association. Let all the societies in Vienna, Berlin, and Rome, every influential person of our nation, everyone who loves our people, everyone who has a feeling heart and pursues justice and compassion, and everyone who has the power to benefit us and rescue us from troubles do the following thing: to convince the eminent publishers and correspondents, everyone renowned in the enlightened countries of the just and honorable Christians, to publish vigorous articles to champion the cause of our nation and to reveal the illusive intrigues of the ministers of the government: but not as emissaries on behalf of the Jews; for value of the articles would thereby be lost and it would of course be useless, unless they are careful not to write that they are acting and writing at the behest of the Jews and their arising. And if our brethren, the honorable public functionaries in England, France, etc., act upon the general press to openly and unceasingly attack Ignatyev’s² government for its contemptable and despicable behavior. [ . . . ]

And I repeat: arousal by the press is extremely good, necessary, and effective, and it would be most good to do so as soon as possible. And I request with all my heart and soul that your honor read and translate the words of this letter to the nobles of the Children of Israel, the lovers of our nation, and those who are pained by its calamity, and who have the ability to act for our well-being and salvation. Please, your honor, be very, very careful not to reveal from whom this letter was sent or the name of its writer, and not to publish it in newspapers, and not even to reveal it to individuals except to certain exceptional and excellent individuals as you deem necessary, those whom your honor knows will keep the matter a secret—only to them can you reveal [it]. [ . . . ]

If our proposal and plea is accepted by the exalted nobles of our people in England, etc. then may it please your excellence to inform me soon, so that I will be able to calm the spirit of our people, so that we can gather more necessary information and announce it to your honor whenever needed.

Behold, because of my great sorrow and pain, my words are swallowed for now, and I must put an end to my words this time, but we shall converse and speak again, God willing, at length and briefly.

Yours truly, your greatest friend who writes with a broken heart and spirit, hoping for the redemption of the Lord—Who will perform miracles by means of the cherished nobles of Jeshurun—raising hopes and prayer for all those who sympathize with us, hoping for the Lord’s mercy, and awaiting your honorable and pleasant reply with bated breath, written and signed in the name of: “Be with the mouths of your people’s emissaries, the House of Israel.”