easants--immediate
emancipation was, in their opinion, bound to prove harmful, since it
would confer upon the Jews freedom of action to the detriment of the
country. It was, therefore, necessary to demand, as a prerequisite for
Jewish emancipation, the improvement of the Jewish masses which was
to be effected by removal from the injurious liquor trade and inducement
to engage in agriculture, by abolishing the Kahals, i.e., their communal
autonomy, and by changing the Jewish school system to meet the civic
requirements. In order to gain the confidence of the Jews for the
proposed reforms, the Committee suggested that the Government should
invite the "enlightened" representatives of the Jewish people to
participate in the discussion of the projected measures of reform.

Turning their eyes towards the West, where Jewish assimilation had
already begun its course, the Polish Committee decided to approach the
Jewish reformer David Frielaender, of Berlin, who was, so to speak, the
official philosopher of Jewish emancipation, and to solicit his opinion
concerning the ways and means of bringing about a reorganization of
Jewish life in Poland. The bishop of Kuyavia,[1] Malchevski, addressed
himself in the name of the Polish Government to Friedlaender, calling
upon him, as a pupil of Mendelssohn, the educator of Jewry, to state his
views on the proposed Jewish reforms in Poland. Flattered by this
invitation, Friedlaender hastened to compose an elaborate "Opinion on the
Improvement of the Jews in the Kingdom of Poland." [2]

[Footnote 1: A former Polish province, compare Vol. I, p. 75, n. 2.]

[Footnote 2: It was written in February, 1816, and published later in
1819.]

According to Friedlaender, the Polish Jews had in point of culture
remained far behind their Western coreligionists, because their progress
had been hampered by their talmudic training, the pernicious doctrine of
Hasidism, and the self-government of their Kahals. All these influences
ought, therefore, to be combated. The Jewish school should be brought
into closer contact with the Polish school, the Hebrew language should
be replaced by the language of the country, and altogether assimilation
and religious reform should be encouraged. While promoting religious and
cultural reforms, the Government, in the opinion of Friedlaender, ought
to confirm the Jews in the belief that they would "receive in time civil
rights if they were to endeavor to perfect themselves in