EMANCIPATIONANDTEMPTATIONTOCONVERTTOCHRISTIANITYIN MOLDOVADURINGTHEFIRSTHALFOFTHE19THCENTURY

EMANCIPATIONANDTEMPTATIONTOCONVERTTOCHRISTIANITYIN MOLDOVADURINGTHEFIRSTHALFOFTHE19THCENTURY

byMihaiRazvanUngureanu

Source: StudiaHebraica(StudiaHebraica),issue:2/2002,pages:6185,onwww.ceeol.com.

EMANCIPATION AND TEMPTATION TO RELIGIOUS CONVERSION IN MOLDOVA DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Mihai-Rzvan Ungureanu The Haskalah movement catalyzed attempts to evangelize the Jews either directly, while reducing the symbolic role of religious education and creating alternatives for social integration without appealing to traditional community structures, or indirectly, by circumscribing the feeble themes of the elementary religious education that seemed to raise the interest of educators of Christian denomination. All of Eastern Europe met, during the first half of the 19th century, with the effects of Christian Protestant and catholic missionary activities. Russia saw the emergence of secret societies of Christianized Jews (similar to the one known to have had its headquarters in Tiraspol)1. In Kowno, on former Polish territory, the Franciscan school attracted Jewish children towards baptism, with the benediction of the local University2. In Russia the number of converted Jews increased spectacularly towards mid 19th century, particularly as an effect of the educational policy of Count Serghei Uvarov, Minister of Public Education during the 4th and 5th decades. Learning from the experience of conversion missions in 1830s Prussia, Uvarov realized catechization through school was a faster and more effective method of keeping Jews away from Talmudic education, as the latter was perceived at the time as the essential obstacle in the way of
Leon Poliakov, Histoire de lantisemitisme. De Voltaire a Wagner, III, Paris 1968, p. 269 2 Daniel Beauvois, Polish-Jewish Relations in the Territories Annexed by the Russian Empire in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, in Chimen Abramsky, Maciej Jachimczik, Antony Polonsky (eds.), The Jews in Poland, OxfordLondon, 1986, p. 84
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their social integration. In a Memorandum written in 1840, Uvarov described to Czar Nicholas I the efficiency of camouflaged education, channeled towards choosing a spiritual, i.e. religious alternative. A new system of Jewish schools, in which children would have been taught Russian, Hebrew, general culture and Christian religion, with melamdyim as teachers, stood a good chance in the attempt to modernize the new generations of Jews3. This model was inspired by the successful endeavours of the rich London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, which had helped build not only a similar society in Berlin but a number of free Jewish schools in and around Poznan, too4. Their educational principles may be found in the curricula of the similar school set up in Iai that proved an ephemeral attempt to introduce a simple and practical formative structure at the administrative level, in the context of the precarious missionary activity of the Orthodox Church. The organization and promotion of elementary education within the Jewish community were usually avoided by Reformist Jews due to its
Howard M. Sachar, The Course of Modern Jewish History, London, 1958, p.91. One of the advocates of conversion via general education was Christian Wilhelm Dohm, author of a small opus called ber die brgerliche Verbesserung der Juden, published in 1781 and 1783. Like his contemporary fellow writer Johann Georg Krnitz (first editor of Oekonomische Encyclopdie, oder allgemeines System der Staats-, Stadt, Haus- und Landwirthschaft, Berlin, 1773-1858), Dohm pleaded for an educational program that had to be wide and generous enough with the cultural information regarding the host-society, so as to persuade any reluctant individuals. In their opinion, attachment to religion would have proportionally decreased with the increase of civic consciousness and loyalty towards the mother-country. Despite its Enlightenment origin, the principle of re-education became fundamental for the Prussian school policy and addressed Jews with social integration abilities. (See Stefi Jersch-Wenzel, The Jews as a Classic Minority in Eighteenth- and NineteenthCentury Prussia in Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, XXVII, 1982, p. 45-48; an integrated analysis on the vectors of social integration of the Jews in 19th century Prussia is provided by Reinhard Rrup, Judenemanzipazion und brgerliche Gesellschaft in Deutschland n Emanzipazion und Antisemitismus. Studien zur Judenfrage der brgerlichen Gesellschaft, Gttingen, 1975, pp. 11-36, and Herbert Strauss, Pre-Emancipation Prussian Policies towards the Jews, 1815-1847 in Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, XI, 1966, pp. 107-136). 4 See Christopher Clark, Missionary Politics. Protestant Missions to the Jews in Nineteenth-Century Prussia in Leo Baeck Institute Year Book, XXXVIII, 1993, p. 33. Apparently, it was no durable success; in that very matter, reports of Christian teachers employed there are reliable proofs. They would often complain that pupils would not give up the habits and traditions learned at home, and that pedagogical efforts could not account for their conversion to Protestantism (p. 40).
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religious character. They were not credible to the maskilyim, who, in the absence of a reliable local offer, would have rather sent their children to study abroad, in Vienna or even farther away. But the Jewish interlocutors of Christian missionaries were aware of how serious the situation really was and seemed ready to accept the Protestant or Catholic alternative, and consequently the risk of separation from the community, while assuming the scorn of their fellow believers. The need for education was exceeding the confessional boundaries. The English missions established in the Romanian Principalities, some of them only temporary, took advantage of this circumstance. Direct interaction with the subjects of conversion was, in the missionary routine, an insufficient means for attracting proselytes. Additional activities were needed to meet the expectations of the Jews, as the latter were sensitive to the meanings of the Haskalah. From their involvement in the construction of a new educational formula to their social initiatives, Protestant and Catholic missionaries benefited from the advantage of working in an environment unaccustomed to projects of the kind. In the meantime, missionary activities led by the Orthodox Church were discrete and implicitly inefficient; moreover they did not overstep the confessional community boundaries. In 1839, two Scots from Edinburgh embarked upon a trip to the Romanian Principalities, in search of the souls who, though strayed from the way of faith, might have been brought closer to the Christian belief. Their main targets were Iai, Pesta and Constantinople5. From the historiographical viewpoint, the first (and only) local mention of the journey to the East of Andrew A. Bonar and Robert MCheyne, pastors of the Church of Scotland (set up in 1818), belonged to Alex. Lapedatu who presented, in two successive plenary meetings of the Academy (on June 15 and 22, 1934), a brief version of the memoirs of the two travelers, that were published in Edinburgh in 1834 under the title Narrative of a Mission of Inquiry to the Jews from the Church of Scotland in 1839.6 A
J. F. A. de la Roi, Die evangelische Christenheit und die Juden, unter dem Gesichtspunkte der Mission geschichtlich betrachtet, III, Berlin, 1892, pp. 305-306. 6 Alex. Lapedatu, Doi misionari scoieni n rile romne acum o sut de ani, [Two Scottish missionaries in the Romanian Principalities a hundred years ago] in ARMSI, s. III, t. XV, 1934, pp.175-195 and Evreii n rile noastre acum o sut de ani dup relaia a doi misionari scoieni, [The Jews in our Principalities a hundred years ago according to the reports of two Scottish missionaries] in ARMSI, s. III, t. XV, 1934, pp. 197-218.
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lucky circumstance brought the Romanian academic in the position to lecture upon one of the most expressive, relevant and anecdotic memoirs of a journey through the Principalities during the period of the Organic Law (Regulamentul Organic the first Romanian Constitution, dating back in 1833). The text is rich in various details regarding the social, political and economical context of the time, as well as the confessionalethnical panorama of the Romanian society, both in Moldova and in Wallachia. The two Scottish pastors were the founders of the first Protestant centers devoted to Christianizing the Jews of Moldova and Wallachia. Their intellectual standing leaves no doubt as to the accuracy of their notes. Beyond the enthusiastic style, inherent to such writing and due to the fact that they were two evangelists straying in a country which seemed just ripe for integral conversion, their report still allows for the discovery of the social elements that justified the establishment of a permanent mission in the Lower Danube region. The journey took place within one year, from April to November 1839. They wandered across Moldova and Wallachia in September, after having hit the roads of the Near East, over Turkey, Cyprus, Jerusalem and Constantinople. From Moldova they passed into Galicia, crossing Brody, Lemberg, and Krakow, and returning to England through Germany. Once in Galai, the first stop on their way from Constantinople, they already noted that most Jews were speaking German, or a corrupt dialect (naturally, Yiddish), and knew to some extent the local language. Few, however, were familiar with Hebrew7. Such remarks of a linguistic nature are quite frequent in the pages of their traveling diary8. Their stop in Bucharest was a significant moment, as they had the opportunity to meet the British Consul General, Colquhoun, himself Scottish and a fervent Protestant9. As it turned out later, he always stood behind the missionaries, providing them with financial and political support whenever necessary10.
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Idem, pp. 202-203 (meeting with banker S. Hillel in Bucharest), pp. 208, 210, 213 (Iai), p. 214 (Suceava), p. 215 (Cernui) 9 Charles Cunningham, the British Consul in Galai, and Lloyd, the Deputy Consul in Brila, must have also been present. 10 Robert Gilmour Colquhoun (b. 1805 d. Egypt, 10.11.1870). Studied at Oxford. He was appointed Consul of the United Kingdom to the Principalities on

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Alex. Lapedatu, Evreii n rile noastre..., [The Jews in our Principalities] p.

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The diplomat advised them not to try to convert the local Orthodox people, for such a gesture would have endangered them, jeopardizing the missionary activity. The light, he said, will overflow indirectly11. All over the place the pastors would inquire into the cultural background of the Jews. In Galai they were themselves surprised at seeing the puzzled looks of the Jews who, when hearing Biblical verses quoted in Hebrew, would not believe that the two Scots were Christian and would not value their impossible friendship. The Rabbi would only see them after hearing that they were not Christian Orthodox and only then, he showed them the synagogue. As they lacked any elementary education be it in Hebrew or in the local language and culture the Jews did not keep a trustworthy relation with the ecclesiastic or secular authorities. The missionaries mentioned the sanctioning of twelve Jews who had made fun of the Orthodox priests in a play, and the curious practice of burning a Jew in effigy, i.e. a tradition allowed until recently12. In Brila, in a split community with no rabbi, they came across missionary propaganda leaflets brought by a Jew from Jerusalem. Their guide was a converted Jew called Calman (!), who was not shy to open discussions on missionary topics in the synagogue, thus urging the listeners to convert to Christianity. The absence of a school was acknowledged by all Jews, who would have preferred any local pedagogical alternative rather than sending their children abroad. The interlocutors complained about the persecutions to which they were subjected by Romanians of lower social status13. In Bucharest, where they took part in the Te Deum organized in celebration of Prince Alexandru Ghicas birthday14, they met with the Sephardic community and its problems: the intra-community relations. A rigorist rabbi had been driven away three years before the Scots arrival.
17.11.1834, then Consul General (15.12.1837) and diplomatic agent. He eventually became British Consul General (18.11.1851). Cf. Paul Cernovodeanu, Relaiile comerciale romno-engleze n contextul politicii orientale a Marii Britanii (18031878), [Romanian-British Commercial Relations in the Context of Great Britains Policy towards the Orient] Cluj, 1986, pp. 65-66, n. 169. 11 Alex. Lapedatu, Evreii n rile noastre..., [The Jews in our Principalities], p. 202 (p. 216 the Scots expected to be persecuted by the Orthodox priests). See Idem, Doi misionari..., [Two Missionaries], pp. 182-183. 12 Idem, Evreii n rile noastre, [The Jews in our Principalities] p. 199 13 Idem, p. 200 14 Idem, pp. 183-184

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They visited, during the Rosh Hashanah, the Ashkenazi and Sephardic synagogues, recording the ceremonies and their attendance. Calman and Colquhoun described them the Jewish life in the capital; they also warned the two Scots against any attempt to involve Christian Orthodox people in the process of conversion, which would have been fatal to any mission, and drew their attention to the resistance the majoritary Orthodox clergy would have developed to such a provocation15. The most interesting episode was their meeting with banker Samuel Hillel, in whose house they made the acquaintance of Rabbi Bibas of Corfu, one of the most fervent supporters of re-colonizing Palestine among the Sephardic Jews. Their talks inevitably touched on Biblical or Talmudic themes and did not avoid references to the superiority of one or another of the two religions. They all agreed, however, upon the fact that the lack of education prevented Jews from communicating in an optimal manner with the hostsocieties and from understanding the meaning of their return to the Holy Land; in fighting against this situation, the weapons of Christian missionaries would be acceptable16. The journey across Moldova took place close to Yom Kippur, so that the missionaries had the chance not only to see the believers in the synagogues, but to debate with them topics drawn from the Scriptures or the Talmud, constantly fathoming the depth of their theological knowledge, as well. Instead they found ignorance, the lack of any religious convictions, and intellectual self-sufficiency. The influence of the Haskalah the Jewish Enlightenment whose aims and ideological substance were much degraded in Eastern Europe as compared to what Moses Mendelssohn and Heinrich Heine had imagined and intended at the end of the 18th century was visible in the youth: it kept them aloof from the Bible, drew them closer to heresies or made them the favorite subjects of Christianization, not necessarily out of conviction. Half of the people of Israel vacillate on the verge of faithlessness! exclaimed Bonar and MCheyne17. The terrible reality seemed to dissimulate the tendency of certain Jews to abandon Judaism. This prompted the two Scots to add, at the end of their travel diary, that they had been called to work in a place

15 16

Idem, p. 201 Idem, pp. 202-204 17 Idem, p. 210

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where the fields were vast and ripe for harvesting18. In Focani, the community had several teachers paid by the parents, and in Brlad the missionaries were able to talk freely about the Talmud with young well-to-do Jews they met at the synagogue. There they discovered how wide the authority of the Hasidim was in Moldova, as it was spread in large communities, engaging irreducible disputes between these communities and the regular Jewish groups19. On their way to Iai, they met with pilgrims who were heading for the capital to commemorate Yom Kippur; some of them seemed to pay attention to the missionary discourse of by the Scots20. In Iai the streets were full of Jews heading for the synagogue. There they met with Gardner, the British Consul, who managed to book two rooms at the famous St. Petersburg Hotel, which was kept by a baptized Jew (Orthodox). The diplomat described them the confessional milieu and the relations between the secular and religious administrations, adding that Prince Mihai Sturdza had allowed for the dissemination of Protestant Bibles. Resistance came from the Metropolite of Moldova, Veniamin Costachi. Gardner provided a summarized account of Benjamin Barkers attempts to introduce a new version of the Scriptures in Moldova, back in 1834. The Prince was willing to grant the Scots an audience, but illness prevented him from actually seeing them. Anyway, in Gardners opinion, the missionary activity could have only benefited from the support of the highest secular authority21. The missionaries seemed to have been well informed on the confessional context; they knew, for instance, that in Iai there were at the time 200 synagogues, of which they only visited the most important and imposing. They did not know the number of Jews, which was placed around 20,000 by the British diplomat residing in the capital of Moldova22. As they arrived in full celebration, they saw that there was at least one compact urban area inhabited by
Idem, p. 216. Rich parents preferred to send their children to schools abroad, or hire foreign teachers for fear that their sons might have fallen under the influence of religious Jews and Orthodox (Talmudic) education. It was also in Iai that the Scots found out that a rabbi, the most outstanding, preaching against the Talmud, had been driven away from the community. 19 Idem, pp. 204-206 20 Idem, p. 187 21 Idem, p. 188 22 Idem, p. 207
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Jews. The spot was surrounded by a rope (eruv) recalling the wall of Jerusalem. They must have been informed that each Jew benefited from the member-status of a legally-settled social and religious community; relations with the authorities were mediated by their leaders. Though comfortably involved in public life, they were almost regularly subjected to persecutions coming from Romanians of lower social status23. Most of them spoke Yiddish and practiced the traditional trades of Oriental Jews (crafts). But among them there were about 20 converts to Orthodoxy. Three of them well-to-do, but very ignorant. If some of the leaders converted to Christianity, many would follow them. There are some who believe in the coming of the Messiah and others still believe that the Russians will rule the world24 According to the missionaries perspective, ignorance went as far as to provide a pragmatic motivation for confessional affiliation: many are keen on Judaism for material benefits. The Jews lack of knowledge of their own religion was based on their ignorance about the sacred language, i.e. Hebrew, in the absence of which the sacred texts remained inevitably encoded. Only interlocutors with a minimal intellectual practice were sensitive to interpreting the Scriptures and showed interest in the New Testament25. In Iai, too, there were schools, but the well-to-do families would not send their children thereto, for fear they would become overreligious. Parents were likely to hire private teachers or send their children to schools abroad rather than subject them to a strict religious education26. Both the method and the teacher are loathsome, the Scottish missionaries wrote home. Most students were taught the sacred texts in a rather mechanical fashion, providing no explanation; they would avoid understandable presentations, corresponding to students level of knowledge. Consequently, it should not be surprising that the Scots were amazed by their encounter with an old and influential Jew, one of the few people who knew Hebrew, and who persuaded them that he and his son belonged to a secret society in Tiraspol. The society was supposedly
Idem, p. 209. The text describes a case of ritual killing, involving both Gypsies and Jews. In the aftermath of the spontaneous uprising stirred by the case, a Jew died and twelve others were sentenced to death. Banker Michel Daniel, among others, saved them by paying a ransom for their life. 24 Idem, p. 208 25 Idem, p. 213 26 Idem, p. 208
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administered by the great rabbi, in cooperation with the Jesuits, whose aims he was propagating under the cover of observing Judaic traditions. The new acquaintance had two sons. The elder - who closely seconded him in his relation to the secret society was teaching to several rich Jewish families in Iai, where he would lecture his students to keep the distance of the Haskalah from ultra-religious education while observing the Christian Sundays, for instance. The younger was raised in Vienna, under the eyes of a Christian (baptized) brother-in-law. Many Jews in Vienna have baptized their children, even though they themselves would rather die under their own law noted the missionaries In Galicia, too, many parents raise their children in the Christian religion, and they say there are more baptisms there than births. In a hundred years the old man told them there will most probably be no Jew left in Galicia. If I converted to Christianity he finished, after finding out that the missionaries were Calvin pastors I would rather be a Calvin27. Such meetings made the two missionaries believe that the circumstances were favorable for a successful accomplishment of their project to convert the Jews to Anglican Protestantism: the Christian Churchs duty seems evident: to seek to attract them without delay and tell them: Oh, Israel, return to your Lord God! This was also the topic of a discussion with one of the important rabbis of Iasi, who confirmed their conclusion: the education of the young Jews was deficient from the viewpoint of their training for social survival in a relatively hostile environment. The only hope, however, could have come from the rich members of the community, as they were called to financially contribute to the improvement of the educational system28. They met with similar situations in Suceava and Cernui. The children of the two hundred Jewish families in the former capital city of Moldova were learning Latin and German, and were taught to believe in the success of the projects designed to restore the Jewish state in Palestine. Like in other places, nobody believed they were Christian Protestants, considering the convincing manner in which they exposed Talmudic or Biblical topics, but rabbis in disguise; sometimes they would even be put on trial. In Cernui they were met with questions on Jerusalem, either by the Orthodox or by the Hasidim. But even in this
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Idem, p. 210 Idem, p. 211

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towns significantly large community there were no speakers of Hebrew. The sacred texts were learned by heart, although the young were educated in schools where, in proof of pedagogical rigor, teaching was conducted in Latin or German. Agnostic indifference was so high that some people would not even observe the yearly holidays. The sight of Israel in this region, concluded the report, can but sadden the hearts of those who love them29. The conclusions of the trip, while carefully formulated, provided the arguments for establishing a permanent mission in the Principalities, which was meant to work on the basis of a clear and coherent project, with visible results in the short run. The demographical data, as inaccurate as they were, were encouraging if successful, the mission would not have built on exceptions but would have generated a community-wide interest in conversion: the field is quite vast for a missionarys activity. The cultural and ethnic combination, the mixture of all nations and languages as it was acknowledged by all foreign travelers of the first half of the 19th century, and richly confirmed by documents supplied an unexpectedly fruitful missionary opportunity, in which both the rhetoric and the practical exercise would have found audience30. The lack of religious instruction and systematic education left room for the Protestant pedagogical approach; the often quoted ignorance turned into an implicit advantage: [the Jews] are in this critical situation: they are either ripe for the preachers of faithlessness or for those of the Gospels. Of course, then, that it is the Christian Churchs duty to show them the
Idem, p. 214-215. In his travel diary (Itinerar n Cracovia, Galiia, Bucovina, Moldova i Muntenia, 1844-1845), Dr. Iuliu Barasch confirms the unfavorable remark regarding the education level of the students in Cernui: the cultural level of the people in Cernui is by no means high; thorough Talmudists [] are very rare here. Apart from business skills, the knowledge of a man from Cernui [] does not exceed the limits of daily prayers, of Hebrew writing, and at the most of a German signature []. This ignorance is explained by the fact that the people of Cernui, unlike those of Galicia, are used to initiate their children very early in the trading skills []. This early maturity in business of the children [] triggers an incredibly high ignorance. (IMER III/2, doc. 344, p. 352) 30 In the words of W. Derblich, gibt es gar viele Kirchen, verschiedenartige Religionen, mannigfache Glaubens und mitunter auch Unglaubens Bekentnisse In such a situation, characterized by a particular confessional variety, wer die griechische Religion annimmt, mu nochmals getauft werden (Land und Leute der Moldau und Walachei, Prag, 1859, p. 134).
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truth, as it is in Christ, instead of their ancient superstitions, of which so many are tired31. It was likely that the missionarys efforts would not have tumbled across a particular resistance; the diplomats would have been the first to provide a helpful hand, if necessary. The Jews themselves did not seem to mind, at the individual level, the missionary insistence, not few of them showing friendly dispositions towards such Christians, [] some even insisting on being shown what faith in Christ means. The local administration would not have minded a missionary activity aiming exclusively the Jews. But one had to take into consideration the attitude of the clergy, predictably sensitive to any missionary success, and implicitly able to persecute the mission. From the viewpoint of the social effects of conversion, it was a good thing that Jews wishing to settle in Moldova had to formally certify that they could make a living from practicing a trade. A converted Jew the Scots thought would thus have easily earned his living, even if he had been boycotted by his former fellow believers. Moreover, workers are hired regardless of their religion and many Jews who have been baptized in the Orthodox Church find no difference in their means of living. If the mission had justified its existence, then its cultural consequences would have undoubtedly exceeded the borders of the Principality; the Gospel would have thus penetrated in Galicia, too, among the Hasidic communities in the North, in the country of bigotry and of the shadow of

Not even in the Sephardic communities well-known for the advanced level of individual education and the remarkable degree of integration into the hostsociety did the missionaries find any lights of the spirit. Only one decade later, their observation was confirmed by Dr. Iuliu Barasch in a true diagnosis of the cultural and linguistic incompatibility, which concealed, however, a bitter disappointment: the Bible itself is being taught with the Spanish in a doleful manner, even though it is the only thing that is being taught at all. The clearest words of God serve an unnatural exegesis, truly spoiled and sinful, and are interpreted in a completely absurd way. With the Spanish there is no trace of laic education, which [] no man who wants to join the company of his fellow men can do without these days, and which he needs every day, yet every hour, in daily conversation as well as in business. Moreover, they ignore the knowledge of language itself [] which is truly indispensable in this country, as well as in the entire Orient, where one finds a mixture of many nations and peoples []. The Spanish appear, therefore, as dumb people; some of them, richer and sillier, would think they can do without them because they rely on their eloquent bagfuls of money (IMER III/2, quoted doc., p. 376).

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death32. Due to a note in the original text, it was known in 1934, when Alex. Lapedatu was lecturing the Romanian Academy that the London Jewish Society had already sent a missionary to Bucharest, and the Presbyterian (Scottish) Church had installed Reverend Daniel Edward and Pastor Hermann Philipp in Iai33. It would be interesting to know, the Romanian historian noted at the end of his work, what the fate of these early missions settled here after 1840 was, irrespective to that fact that, from the perspective of the years to come, their efforts proved worthless and their initial optimism unmotivated. In 1843, the Scottish Church divided into The Church of Scotland and The Free Church of Scotland34. Robert Murray MCheyne and Rev. Dr. Th. A. N. Somerville otherwise good friends were among the fathers of the wing that broke away from the former Church of Scotland. Daniel Edward and Hermann Philipp arrived in Iai in 1841, when the schism had not been declared yet. The establishment of a mission in Iai was in fact the result of the audience enjoyed in Scotland
Alex. Lapedatu, quoted work, pp. 215-217 Idem, p. 218 34 J. F. A. de le Roi, quoted work, pp.313-314; Rev. A. Innes (ed.), Short History of the United Free Church of Scotland, 2000, pp. 2, 3; accessible online at http://www.ufcos.org.uk/hista.htm [10.03.2002]; Norman Walker, Chapters from the History of the Free Church of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1895, passim. This was the third schism undergone by the Presbyterian Protestant Church of Scotland, after 1690 and 1733. The so-called Disruption the name usually given to the secession of the Free Church involved, to a remarkable extent, Rev. Thomas Chalmers, a good friend and advisor of MCheyne and the Bonar brothers, head of the Evangelic party within the Church of Scotland. Following the death of MCheyne, who had preached for the noninvolvement of the pastors in domestic administrative disputes leading to secession, most of his friends moved under the authority of the Free Church. The Free Church of Scotland edited a monthly magazine with the same name, dedicated to the missionary practice: The Free Church of Scotland Monthly. The articles published in the 50s showed that most of the costs were covered from donations. The Free Church maintained missions in Budapest, Constantinople, Breslau (where the Edwards would retire after the IAI episode, in 1849), Tiberias, Safed mentioned in the vignette of the title page of Catherine Edwards memoirs (Missionary Life Among the Jews in Moldova, Galicia & Silesia, London, 1867). See also F. Heman, Missions to the Jews in Samuel Macauley Jackson et al. (ed.), New SchaffHerzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, VI, New York, 1908-1914, p. 179; online at http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc06/htm [12.03.2002].
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by the Bonar MCheyne report. Rev. Dr. John Duncan was appointed head of mission; he was teaching Hebrew at the New College in Edinburgh35. But before he had been released from his position back home, he was replaced with Daniel Edward, who had just finished his studies, and who thus became the first manager of the mission in Iai36. Philipps report described the confessional situation in the Principalitys capital, mentioning the faint concern and weak results of the first mission37. In 1848 Edward left Iai heading for Lemberg. He left behind 29 proselytes38. Hermann Philipp was born in Braunschweig in 1813 the son of a rabbi and of the daughter of a London Jewish merchant, the youngest of twenty brothers and sisters. One of his brothers died at Waterloo, as soldier in the troops of Duke of Braunschweig. He studied Medicine in Gttingen and Jena, then joined the artillery and fought in the Pomeranian campaigns of Prince August, in 1831. After committing a minor offence and serving in prison (1832), having lost any hope of rehabilitation and implicitly of continuing his military career, he left for Rotterdam, hoping to join the Dutch troops in Batavia. Fate, however, threw him in England, where he grew poor and, in sheer despair, sought his maternal
Presbyterian pastor, born in Aberdeen in 1796; died in Edinburgh, in 1870. Graduate of his hometown university; he then specialized in Theology in Edinburgh. He started preaching in 1825, and in 1836 he was given a parish in Glasgow. In 1841 he was appointed prime-missionary of the Church of Scotlands Committee for the Conversion of Jews. After spending two years in Budapest (1843), he returned to Scotland and took over the Chair of Hebrew and Oriental Languages at the New College, Edinburgh. Two biographers, A. M. Stuart (Recollections of the late John Duncan, Edinburgh, 1872) and D. Brown (Life of the late John Duncan, Edinburgh, 1872), present him as an author of critical editions rather than of preaches. Still, his role as a forerunner of the Scottish missions in Eastern Europe was important, and Daniel Edward benefited from his acquaintance with John Duncan. See also ***, Duncan, John in New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia, IV, p. 23; accessible online at http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/encyc/encyc04/htm [12.03.2002]. 36 As he himself related in one of his letters, added to Catherine Edwards memoirs (Missionary Life Among the Jews in Moldova, Galicia & Silesia, London, 1867, p. 52). 37 J. F. A. de le Roi, quoted work, p. 316: Die Juden waren usserst erregt, und in der Verfolgung, welche sich gegen die Mission erhob, hielten viele der Katechumenen nicht stand, andere fielen geradeswegs ab. 38 Idem, p. 317: due to the obstructions of the local Catholic clergy, Edward moved to Breslau (17 December 1851), where he died.
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grandfather, who lived in London. With his assistance he obtained a teaching position in Plymouth. He was gradually attracted by the study of the Old Testament due to the preaching of the Presbyterian Church. Having befriended a family of missionaries of the Church of Scotland (Woodrow, of Glasgow), and enjoying the friendship of Dr. John Duncan, he agreed to be baptized in 1839. The ceremony was officiated by one of the best known missionaries of the Church of Scotland, Dr. Moody Stuart39. He joined, in his turn, the missionary service in 1841, and immediately left for Iai together with Rev. Edward. Realizing how important his medical studies were to the attempts to convert the nonChristians in the poor countries, he returned to Edinburgh to continue his academic education in the field. His missions took him all over the world: Alger (1850), Alexandria, Malta, Leipzig (1852), Jaffa (administrator and doctor of the city during the plague year, 1868), Palestine (1868), Rome (1870 where he organized the sanitary service of the ghetto after the arrival of the Italian troops). His children (two girls) were in their turn involved in missionary activities. He died in 1883 as a missionary of British Society40. The civil authorities tolerated the existence of a Protestant Embassy which could have taken on itself to solve, even partially, the integration of foreigners, for which they had neither competent institutions nor specific social structures. Under these circumstances, the proposal to tolerate an alternative education could not have gone without audience among the officials. Prince Mihail Sturdza confirmed their premiere and tacitly allowed the initiatives to unfold41. Based on these data, the missionaries resorted to a secure and profitable support for their actions: they began setting up interconfessional schools. The costs involved were long discussed with

Alexander Moody Stuart (1809-1898), pastor in Edinburgh and unconditional admirer of MCheyne. He officiated together with Andrew Bonar in 1839. Kenneth Moody Stuart wrote about him: Alexander Moody Stuart: A Memoir (ed. II, Edinburgh, 1900). He authored a biography of John Duncan (see supra), published in 1872. David Smithers, Alexander Moody Stuart, Prayer Makes History, http://www.watchword.org/smithers/ww17a.html [14.03.2002]. 40 J. F. A. de le Roi, quoted work, pp. 283-285. He had joined the British Society as early as 1860, when he got his Ph.D. in theology. 41 Alex. Lapedatu, quoted work, p. 188

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Colquhoun himself42. They deemed appropriate to lay emphasis on the teaching of Hebrew and did not forget to take into account the lingua franca of the Ashkenazim: German or the communitary idiomatic Yiddish. Romanian was also necessary in order to facilitate the converts access to a minimal social comfort: income, labor, family. After all, learning Romanian was the major problem, for the right to work was not necessarily and universally conditioned by confessional belonging. Speaking Romanian meant solving the problem of a pestering communication handicap. I mentioned that the Scots had found out about the existence of a secret society of Tiraspol, founded on the principles of the Haskalah, which promoted among the Jews, through the teachers of foreign languages, ideas that were compatible with the missionary aims: criticism of the Talmud, acceptance and understanding of the New Testament, Protestant interpretation of the Christian theological discourse, etc43. Of all the references to school and language, Bonar and MCheyne were able to make out the tactical definition of the evangelic approach: the principle of a Christian education mediated by a school which would place multi-language education in a superior position to the ordinary subjects. Learning is the key to understanding the Logos, Philipp would write in a letter home, to Scotland. On April 6, 1843, Hermann Philipp, signing as a missionary of the Church of Scotland, sent the Public Education Administration the following petition: Charged with widening the Christian faith, the Missionary Society of the Church of Scotland, wishing to open, in Iasi, a school for the education of the Jewish youth, through the undersigned, humble subject of the said mission, hereby submits the plan of such school, based on the following grounds, to be duly approved: This school will be a free school for boys and girls, but the classes of these two schools will be different. All young Jews will be allowed to send their sons to this school, on condition that they attend it and they dress in clean clothes. Teaching will be conducted in German. Besides German the following languages will be taught: Romanian and Hebrew, as well as the subjects mentioned in the curriculum hereto
42 43

Idem, p. 202 Idem, p. 210

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annexed. Should the school grow, so that it may be divided into several classes, then French will also be taught. Apart from the mentioned subjects, General History will be added as soon as possible. Religion will be taught in keeping with the dogmas of the Christian 44 faith . It is quite visible that the school curriculum followed closely the logical conclusions of Bonars and MCheynes report. The institution was meant to serve the offspring of young families, from which the adepts of the Haskalah themselves were most often recruited. The children, freed from dogmas and kept away from the constrictions imposed by a severe religious environment such as the traditional one, provided an even easier target for the evangelization process. The new school observed the principle of separation by sex, so as to avoid any suspicion of nonconformism. The preacher wanted the carriage of the establishment to probe modernity and dignity, indispensable components of any elite institution: the pupils had to attend the classes regularly and be dressed properly. As far as the languages were concerned, emphasis was laid on German, which some spoke at home had they recently immigrated to Moldova or had their relatives studied in the Habsburg Empire. Anyway, educated in a Prussian spirit or raised in Yiddish, the youth spoke German. Besides German, Romanian and Hebrew served either to a better communication with the Latin, Christian Orthodox hosts, or to the profound study of the Biblical texts, and implicitly to a deep and full conversion. The rest of the subjects were of general culture. French had an accessory status: in case of emigration, the destination would have preferably been a German speaking country, and not the too far away France. Putting French on a secondary level, as compared to the attention it was given in the local schools, had, therefore, a pragmatic reason. The educational target was clearly stated in the last sentence of the petition: to Christianize the disciples. The curricula followed accurately Hermann Philipps description: classes were conducted all week, from Monday to Saturday inclusively, from 9 to 12 and from 2 to 4. Classes in Reading and learning the Bible were frequent. German reading and German
NAI (National Archives of Iasi), State Secretariat, 1118/1843-1859, f. 3 (translated copy).
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grammar were studied all six days, while Romanian and Hebrew were studied alternatively: Romanian three days and Hebrew two (see the Annex). The reason for which such an initiative had not been fruitful before early 1843, even though the interest was thorough and genuine as proven by Catherine Edwards memoirs is clear: the absence of specific rules, that would have built the relations between private confessional schools and public educational systems, on one hand, and the nature of the relations between the private confessional schools and the secular administrative authorities, on the other hand. The systematization effort actively involved Gh. Asachi, in his capacity as official expert of the Public Education Administration in Moldova, as of 184045. That was when the confessional and laic regular and private boarding schools were inventoried, the curricula and class titles recorded, teachers and pupils nominated, etc. and also when the Administration assumed responsibility for the organization of the didactic process in these institutions. The organizational model was purposely following that the Michaelian Academy, as it was based on the educational principles that were compulsory to public schools: for the youth to receive an education grounded on the dogmas of our Holy Faith, on awareness of the social duties as well as on a solid instruction46. Despite the endeavor of the Academic Committee, the rules and regulations for private schools were not finalized in 1841, i.e. one year after the first report referring to the lack of judicial basis for a proper functioning of the public educational system had come out47. If Gh. Asachi was interested in fighting private enterprises competing with public education, the Moldavian Metropolite Veniamin Costachi fights private school from the viewpoint of religion. The Bishop complained about the lack of interest of private schools in religious education, while respecting the religious denomination of the Moldavian majority. In conclusion, he proposed that all such institutions
For details see Gh. Asachi, Exposiia strii nvturilor publice n Moldova, de la a lor restatornicire 1828 pn la anul 1843 i un proiect pentru a lor reform, [Exposition of the state of public education in Moldova, from its establishment in 1828 until 1843, and a project for its reformation], Iai, 1845. 46 V. A. Urechia, Istoria coalelor de la 1800 1864, [History of the schools from 1800 to 1864], II, Bucharest, 1892, pp. 170171 47 Idem, p. 201
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pay for a teacher of religion, appointed by central or local ecclesiastic instances, who would teach the Catechism and the Christian morals in boarding schools and would hear the children in confession twice a year48 The precedent was provided by the Armenian community, which authored, in March 1840, a set of statutes for the establishment of a confessional school, teaching in Armenian, Romanian, French and German. Following the approval by the Armenian Patriarchy in Constantinople (September 1840), the schools administration, led by Garabet Cristea, asked for the protection and assistance of the Administrative Council (i.e. the cabinet of the Principality of Moldova), but in the meantime the idea met with opponents inside the community itself. The Academic Committee approved the schools rules and regulations, and the Metropolite Veniamin submitted it to the princely approval (October 1840). By princely decree (November 8, 1840) the Armenian school passed under the management of the Public Education Administration, for the teaching to be compliant with the state schools teaching. The same organization and curriculum as the public schools of the Principality, with Romanian as the teaching language, except for religion (French was an extraordinary subject matter) had to be observed49. The Ruling Council approved, in 1842, a supplementary set of instructions regarding the administration of the institution, suggesting that new Armenian schools be set up in the counties where communities would be able to support them. The same year, the Administration approved the design of a specific uniform for the Armenian children, as a distinctive mark of the type of school affiliation exercised through the Armenian Church. On October 22, 1842 the city of Iai hosted a pompous celebration marking the sealing of the princely decree that had offered official status to confessional education of Armenian rite and language50. During this period, precisely because public education suffered, particularly in rural areas, from a precarious organization and an eternal
Idem, quoted loc. Idem, quoted loc. 50 Idem, p. 223. See also the brochure ***, Colecia documentelor atingtoare de comunitatea armean n Prinipatul Moldovei de la 18411852, [Collection of documents touching on the Armenian community in the Principality of Moldova], Iai, 1853.
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lack of funds, private laic or confessional schools flourished51. Their supervision by the Public Schools Administration was intermittent and relied on incoherent evaluation criteria. In Iai only there were, in 1839, 26 such schools, in Botoani 10, in Roman 4, etc52. The successful social-administrative integration of the Armenian community at the level of cooperation between confessional education institutions and public administration, at least seen from the viewpoint of the states interest in keeping a direct control of its social presence, prompted Gh. Asachi to try and extend this experiment to the Jewish communities. Asachi counted on the recognition of the civil authority, first of all over the intra-communitary educational system, which was focused exclusively on religious education and proved refractory to modernization and unprepared to offer its students individual options for social integration. The high official did not necessarily allude at converting the Jews or at undermining, through underground maneuvers, the communitary cohesion. That is why on December 4, 1842 he submitted the Administration a note reminding that although from the financial point of view, these people are subject to the local administration, they are morally without guidance, for the Jews who enjoy here significant wealth keep acting as foreigners to the Moldovans, as they do not assume the principles which bring together all the inhabitants of a state, regardless of their religion, in one political body of elements useful to society. Since the state cared for the enlightenment of other confessions, it was only natural for the Jewish nation not to be omitted, and to grant the instruction and education of the Jews, without insulting their religious principles. The pedagogical approach was manifestly similar to that used in Russia and Austria, where the Jewish were also under the watchful care of the central administration53. In the meantime, the Academic Committee approved, on June 2, 1842, the Instructions for boarding schools, in 26 articles. The boarding schools masters the reference included all private schools, whether
J. F. Neigebaur would note: Die Grundlage alles ffentlichen Unterrichtes, die Elementarschulen fehlen eigentlich ganz (Beschreibung der Moldau und Walachei, Breslau, 1848, p. 223). 52 See Gh. Ghibnescu, Tr. Ichim, O pagin din istoria nvmntului particular din Moldova, 183918421846, [A page from the history of private education in Moldova, 1839-1842-1846], Iai, 1927. 53 V. A. Urechia, quoted work, p. 223
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secular or religious regardless of their nationality or protection, were subject to the direct supervision of the central education authority (the Public Education Administration). No private school could have operated in the absence of an authorization from this instance, which was usually granted after the Academic Committee had checked the adequate certifications. The rule of professional verification applied to the staff as well. As compared to the missionary school project, it is interesting to note that the teaching language was no longer compulsorily Romanian, nevertheless religion and specific subject matters still had to be taught in Romanian. Those of non-Christian denomination had the freedom to organize schools, but only for their own fellow believers, which drastically reduced the area of cultural influence of the maskylim, i.e. of the Jews which were sensitive to the social effect of the Haskalah. In other words, Jewish communities could only organize the so-called orthodox (Talmudic) education, as they were deemed sufficient for the confessional education needs of the Jewish youth. In a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of July 1842, the Administration mentioned, among the addressees of the instructions, the consulates to which some of the school masters are subject54. Under no.194/16 April 1843, the petition was sent by the Administration to the Administrative Council, accompanied by the experts favorable assessment. They did not forget to mention that education was free of charge, which made it accessible to the poor, as well as the teaching of the local language. The Administration considered it useful for the culture of the Jewish nation and for the general interests of society. The Council submitted it to the princely approval on May 12, 184355. But the princely resolution on the Councils report was discouraging: the Prince did not grant the approval and offered no explanations for his decision56. The Administration got news about the Palaces decree on May 24, 184357.
Idem, p. 224 NAI, State Secretariat, 1118/1843-1859, f. 1. 56 Idem, f. 5 57 Idem, f. 6-6 v. Interpreting the same documents, V. A. Urechia found that in spite of being protected by the high influence of the Prussian consul Neugebauer, and despite the pledge of Missionary Herman Filip that only Israelites would be allowed to learn in this school, the Administration had the Countrys Administrative Council refuse to authorize the opening of such a school of
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Nevertheless, the school was authorized to operate during that year. Its first active season was, however, interrupted by a scandal started by those who had understood its missionary aims. On June 9, 1843, the Prussian Consul, Johann Ferdinand Neigebaur the second protector of the initiative submitted a complaint to the Department of Church Estates regarding the obstructions faced by the venerable men: Edward and Philipp, philanthropist priests from Scotland, from a local rabbi. The Lutheran Pastor Holzschucher, himself a devout catechizer, had witnessed the issuing of an anathema (herem)58 in the synagogue that was cast upon
propaganda (sic! a.n.). Several lines below, the historian, himself at a loss in regard to the pretexts of the restraint manifested by the principalitys supreme administrative instance, would invoke other reasons! The archive research has brought no clear result. The only obvious thing is that Neigebaur intervened by the Administration on June 8, 1843 that is, one day before elaborating the memoir regarding the obstruction he met from Rabbi Moses Taubes in relation to the school in favor of the petition submitted by the Free Church of Scotland. He wrote that the youth of Evangelic confession, children of the Prussian or other German states subjects, who lacked the possibility to be educated in their maternal language in a Lutheran school, preferred the missionary school set by the missionaries Edward and Philipp, knowing that neither politics, nor religion have anything in common with learning to read and write, being convinced that the Government would rather have its people educated, regardless of their nationality; see V. A. Urechia, quoted work, pp.246247. The school of the Evangelic community in Iai, established by Pastor Christian Holzschucher in 1839, had almost failed because of the acute lack of funds. Under these circumstances, the chance to educate the young Germanophones in an institution which currently used the maternal idiom and, more importantly, which was subjected neither to the local legislative constraints nor to the intervention of the internal political factor, could not have been missed; see also V. Docea, Relaii romno-germane timpurii. mpliniri i eecuri n prima jumtate a secolului XIX, [Early Romanian-German Relations. Achievements and Failures during the First Half of the 19th Century], Cluj, 2000, p. 96. 58 Herem is defined as the status of someone separated from what is common, either due to his being banned as a blasphemer, or to his being consecrated to God. In the post-Talmudic period, the uttering of a herem led to the sentencing of the individual Jew to civil death: he would be treated as a non-Jew and excluded from the community. In modern times, it has become customary to utter it indiscriminately, thus loosing its significance and symbolic power. Most rabbinic reactions to forms of ritual or faith regarded as deviations from, or infringements of, the prescriptions in force were resumed to the application of a herem or niddui. The minor forms of the herem were uttered by the Rabbinic Court. The severe ones were uttered in the synagogue, before the open altar or keeping a Torah in one hand, in the sound of the shofar. The assistants would put out candles immediately upon the ceremonys ending. Following

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the school and upon those who would send their children to study there. Thus, the happy circumstance as the consul called it which brought about the best results, whereby the lost souls of Moses descendants would have been evangelized, seemed to have reached its end because, for fear of the curse, nobody attended the school any longer. The parents avoided infringing on the rabbinic interdiction. The diplomat requested that the rabbi be punished by the Department, for he was paid from communitary funds that were taken care of by the local administration. Therefore, instead of submission to the decision of the authorities, the rabbis gesture spoke of revolt59. On June 15, 1844, section I of the Department of Church Estates submitted to the Administrative Council a comprehensive report on the obstacle met in the management of the school. After describing the good results of the educational activities, the affluence of young Jews, the executive managements organizational measures (like paying for a teacher of Hebrew), the report spoke of excommunication. Rabbi Moses Taubes had considered the baptism of a Jewish child in the Scottish school as a sign of aggression against the Jewish community: he cast curses on the Jewish community, to be read in all synagogues, so as nobody would have the courage to send their children to this school which provided unworthy teachings60. The document reiterated the consuls request that the rabbi be held accountable for his gesture, the more so since, in the opinion of the signer, Alexandru Bal, even the preacher of a different faith that is allowed here cannot be forgiven for casting anathemas of his own accord, without an authorization issued by the administration, as otherwise uncounted and numberless indecencies might result of it61. That is how the rabbis attitude came to be interpreted as being directed against the state order. The Councils resolution, which provided for the
the excommunication, the rabbi would read or recite several Biblical curses and a warning to the audience to keep away from the incriminated person. Cf. Julius H. Greenstone, Excommunication in The Jewish Encyclopedia, V, New York and London, 1903, p. 285-287; Moshe Greenberg, Haim Hermann Cohn, Herem in Encyclopaedia Judaica, VIII, Jerusalem, 1972, p. 344-355. 59 See also V. Docea, quoted work, pp. 96 97, n. 321; NAI, State Secretariat, 1196/1844-1845, f. 2-2 v 60 Idem, f. 1 61 Idem, f. 1v

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duty of the Department for Foreign Affairs to take care of the whole problem, emphasized the significance of the excommunication: the rabbis act bears a character of insubordination. However, before publicly condemning the gesture the information had to be verified by an investigation62. The response of the Department for Foreign Affairs did not come for several months. Finally, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs intervened, in its turn, to clarify the situation63. In the meantime, the Prussian consul insisted on solving the matter64. But it was not until September 15, 1844 that another report of the above mentioned department reiterated the contents of the petition of the Department for Foreign Affairs, which had established, via the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the guilt. The Department for Foreign Affairs the document showed had requested the Ministry of Internal Affairs to persuade the rabbi to give up his frond. If not, the Jewish nation would have to know that he was acting on his own, without the agreement of the collective administration, and he was not to be followed in his disarray. The same report mentioned that the Prussian diplomat had requested that the rabbi raise the curse in the same circumstances in which he had cast it: in the synagogue, before all his fellow believers65. The trial was only over in 1845, after the rabbis resistance had been clarified at the request of the authorities. On April 14, 1845 the rabbi addressed a petition to the Austrian diplomatic agency in Iai, to denounce the injustice he had been subjected to, since he was an Austrian citizen who had not interfered with the states domestic affairs. He had, he explained, not cast a curse in the synagogue, but, as a rabbi appointed with the approval of the nation he had ordered his opinion of the missionary school to be made public: those who wanted confessional continuity for their children should not have sent them to Protestant schools, where their religion would have been changed, and where they would have been familiarized with their (the Christians) Gospel66. As it was addressed to the diplomatic agency, the document
Idem, f. 1 The Department of Church Estates to the Department of Foreign Matters, 1341/20.06.1844 (Idem, f. 3-3v.); Department of Foreign Affairs to the Department of Foreign Matters, 1989/24.08.1844 (Idem, f.5) 64 Report of the Department of Church Estates, 826/18.08.1844 65 Idem, f. 6 66 Idem, f. 10
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also reached the Department for Foreign Affairs together with the mediation note of the Austrian Consulate. Since the curse had no support from the Rabbinic Court, it could have had no follow-up and was formally retracted67. This controversial episode, which involved, due to the protective role assumed by several foreign countries diplomatic offices the British, Prussian and Austrian consulates seems to have put an end to the attempt to catechize the Jews through school. But the Protestant mission had not exhausted its entire arsenal, even though its most effective means had been banned. Another captatio attempt was sprung forth in 1846, i.e. the year marking the beginning of the reform in public education and the reduction of missionary activities. On May 27, 1846, the British consulate in Galai announced the Department for Foreign Matters that the missionary doctor John Mason, member of the Church of Scotland, had arrived from England with three boxes of medicines to be distributed free of charge for the benefit of poor Jews68. The drugs were worth over 60 ducats. The consulate pleaded for the Christian implication of the donation and requested that the authorities facilitate the crossing of the border (the packages were blocked under quarantine). The resolution of Minister of War Alexandru Mavrocordat approved the request of the diplomatic office, on the exclusive grounds of the beneficial effect of the drugs69. The Health Committee found out about Masons initiative from the State Secretariat (May 20, 1846)70. In its answer to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Committee mentioned the documents it had received (reports of the Mayoralty of Galai, Masons petition, the list of medicines, etc.) and the invitation extended to the Health Committee to verify the curative properties of the drugs. The motive invoked was that in the countries where there were pharmacies, medical doctors were not free to keep and sell drugs to others than the
The Department for Internal Affairs to the Department of Foreign Affairs, 7068/14.04.1845 (Idem, f. 9). The Department of Church Estates found out from the Department of Foreign Affairs, 1070/05.05.1845 (Idem, f. 11). 68 Registered in the civil records of the Evangelic community in IASI (1847) as William Mason, of Edinburgh; see Fritz Valjavec, Geschichte der deutschen Kulturbeziehungen zu Sdosteuropa. III. Aufklrung und Absolutismus, Mnchen, 1958, p. 216, n. 28. 69 NAI, State Secretariat, 1576/1846-1847, f. 1-1 v. 70 Letter no.1164 (Idem, f. 2-2v.)
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pharmacists, in keeping with the doctors prescriptions, for reasons having to do with the verification of the medical acts accuracy71. The Consulate found out about the obstructions of the authorities and returned with a petition to the Prince (June 14/26, 1846) in support of the Christian missionaries and their charitable gestures72. Finally, Alexandru Mavrocordat, in the name of Prince Mihail Sturdza, conceded that John Mason be verified by the medical Commission, taking into account that his knowledge could have been used to the benefit of the Jewish class (June 19, 1846)73. Consequently, Mason intervened by the consulate for assistance in obtaining the diploma of medical doctor from the Faculty of Medicine and the license to practice medicine, hoping the Ministry of Internal Affairs would allow him to stay in Romania until his professional status would have been clarified74. However, upon examination, the only thing that Mason could produce was a diploma of surgeon and pharmacist, issued by the University of Edinburgh and not of medical doctor. Furthermore, he did not agree to submit to a proper examination either, claiming to be questioned only about the internal diseases and the release of drugs. He also requested a new examination designed to certify him as a medical doctor. But even then, following the written and oral tests, the commission assessed his knowledge as superficial, barely adequate for the profession of surgeon and pharmacist. Consequently, the committee denied his petition, at the proposal of the examination board75. The failure discouraged John Mason, who left Moldova in May 1847 heading for Constantinople76. English version by Felicia Waldman

Letter 658/27.05.1846 (Idem, f. 5-5 v.). Idem, f. 9-10 73 Idem, f. 9 74 Idem, f. 15-15v. 75 Masons diploma had been issued by the University of Edinburgh on 29.04.1831. The authors of the Health Committees report addressed to the State Secretariat (no. 1060/26.08.1846) were Iordache Ghica, D. Sturdza, Dr. D. Samurca M.D. and the Committees secretary I. Albine (Idem, f.19-19 v.). 76 The British Consulate to the Department for Foreign Affairs (10.05.1847). Cf. Idem, f. 23.
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