Also: Divin, Drogichin, Khomsk, Malech, Telechany
This article is in HaCarmel, 11 September 1863, page 278, written by Rabbi Feinstein when he was 42 years old, 23 years before the publication of his Ir Tehila.
The article is datelined Brisk and it describes several difficulties facing its Jewish community, including the difficult project of building a new synagogue. Some problems stemmed from the presence of large numbers of Russian soldiers in the city, almost certainly for purposes connected with the extensive enhancement of the Brest Fortress in progress at about this time.
First, Rabbi Feinstein discusses some outrageous behavior of some non-Jews, which he ascribes to poor management by the Jewish community leaders.
Brisk. The horrible event that occurred in our city before last Passover has already been recorded in HaCarmel. Thirty old Torah books located in the attic of the Beit Midrash of the Hekdesh were pillaged by the Cossacks who are dwelled over there. They innocently thought the books were unused and unnecessary, and they tore them into pieces to use them for degrading purposes.
Although he uses the term Cossacks, we guess that he was referring to non-Jewish ordinary soldiers. Russian soldiers of the time were not known for their docility toward anyone. Rabbi Feinstein does not give details, so we cannot be certain, but apparently soldiers were quartered in camps near, and inside Jewish religious buildings. We guess that the soldiers discovered a genizah, a storage-trove of worn-out religous materials awaiting formal disposal. This would appear as a mixed-up heap of old books and documents.
It is not their fault, but the fault of the administrators of community affairs. Our Brisk, once the dwelling city of the Rabbis of the district, once led by gaons, does not at present have an effective administration to erect fences, to renovate, to attend to the matters of the public.
We find it interesting that he absolved the soldiers completely of misbehavior, heaping blame instead on the community leaders.
Rabbi Feinstein characterized his community as being factionalized to the extreme:
The number of the divided parties is the number of its inhabitants.
But he quickly moves on to a different subject: the large number of soldiers quartered inside Jewish prayer houses. Again he absolved the solders and blamed leaders of the Jewish community:
To this day soldiers fill all the prayer houses to capacity. Why? Because the Ba’aley Batim are reluctant to offer the military places in their houses and apartments? Was it ever like that in ancient times? Doesn’t the ruling authority honor our faith? Didn’t the honored authority legislate rightful laws to exclude the dwelling of the military in prayer houses? Every God-fearing person should be shocked.
We are uncertain: Was Rabbi Feinstein asking his community to shelter non-Jewish soldiers?
Rabbi Feinstein exhorts readers personally.
Listen, you readers!
Another painful evil is in our city that has also stemmed from inner divisions and quarrels: 20 years ago the authorities ordered the building of a fortified city in Brisk. Accordingly, they demolished the houses of the inhabitants completely to make a vast space for the building of the fortress. The ancient synagogue, several hundred years old, was demolished as well. The authorities compensated for this with only 8000 rubles they gave to the governing body of our community.
For many years the money stayed in the hands of the elite Ba’aley Batim as a trust, without interest. Some of the money was used by the [Jewish] governing body to ease the burden of the skhumim [tax to the Va’ad HaMedina Lita] to cover its expenses.
The building of a new synagogue according to a plan approved by the authorities commenced many years later, in 1850. In addition to the money left over from the 8000, many individuals volunteered to contribute to this holy mission.
How did the building project proceed?
They started building the tall house. However, before reaching the halfway of the work, the money had been all spent. They tried, but they did not find a way to get more.
Clearly additional financing was required. A method used for a very long time was to sell, in advance, seats at particular positions in the synagogue, of varying value of prestige and religious proximity. These can be termed most simply, seats.
The public was divided about how to raise more money: Some people said that the money should be raised by selling seats for the congregation inside the building. They were willing to pay for the seats according to their value. Others, many of the Ba’aley Batim, had seats in the demolished synagogue. They claimed ownership rights to the corresponding seats in the new synagogue...
The quarrel that ensued stopped all work on the building and the project was forgotten.
Eventually money was allocated from the meat tax.
Now, several months later, after a big sum of money has been collected from the leased tax on meat in our city, God-fearing people restarted work on the building of the synagogue. They did the most necessary preparations so that the house will be ready for the congregation to pray in at the Holy Holidays. Our city inhabitants rejoiced at the contribution of these people, expecting to be able to enter the new buildings with dignity, while almost all prayer houses are closed up.
Apparently the large military presence in the city significantly interfered with the use of Jewish religious buildings. Specifically how is not clear.
However, Satan aroused new quarrels. The people who claimed existing rights to seats opposed those who were ready to buy – at full price – those seats. Every man marked the seat in the new synagogue that he saw as corresponding to what he had in the old synagogue. Most of the men who were ready to pay as much as was as asked argued against the rightful owners, claiming that:
1. The synagogue is new, and it was built with money drawn from other sources –to which the rightful owners did not contribute– as only a scant sum was left of the original trust.
2. The rightful owners don’t have any bill-of-purchase or other documents so their claims to their old seats could not be verified.
3. The plan of the new building is completely different – the dimensions are different– from the old one and the corresponding locations cannot really be determined.
4. The price of a new seat is simply not comparable to an old one, which was purchased long ago under vastly different economic conditions.
5. The interior of this Holy Place must be furnished appropriately, and that will require much more money. Where will the money come from?
Rabbi Feinstein sums up:
As it is, there is much animosity and quarreling in our city. Those who were at one time willing to pay for their seats have folded their hands, the budget for the interior work is almost gone, and – to the heartbreak of all our citizens– work has ceased.
Writing in the publication HaCarmel, Rabbi Feinstein depicts himself as speaking atop its namesake, the beloved Mount Carmel in Israel.
That is why I have come today to raise my voice powerfully on the top of HaCarmel to speak publicly about this trouble in front of us.
He expresses his hopes:
Maybe when our city inhabitants hear my cry, they will be ashamed, stop quarrelling, and act for the good of the community as a whole. [Then] They will administer order in the building of the House, and the selling of seats rightfully and honestly, to finish the Holy Work.
I also hope that what I have said sincerely in public will not be disregarded, but will convince my fellow inhabitants to remove some of the soldiers from the prayer houses [at least] during the High Holidays, according to the laws of our state.
Then Brisk will not have to be ashamed in front of other communities, some smaller than Brisk, the near and far, in every place where our fellow Jews dwell. This is my peace greeting, speaking sincerely.
[Signed:] From me, ALF