The History of Jews in the Romanian Principalities in the
\n19th century was marked by the fight for national and civil rights. The
\nnew Romanian state that appeared in 1859 after the unification of Moldova and
\nWallachia provided Romanian citizenship only to Christians, and that came with
\nany deriving rights and liberties. The 1866 Constitution enshrined this right
\nin the clearest way possible under Article 7: The Romanian citizenship is
\nearned and preserved and is lost according to the regulations stipulated by
\ncivilian legislation. Only foreigners of Christian rite can obtain Romanian
\ncitizenship. The law, however, stipulated a number of exceptions: those who
\npledged allegiance to Romania could be rewarded with the Romanian citizenship.
\nSuch was the case of many Jews who in the Romanian Independence War of 1877 -
\n1878.<\/p>\n
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The forefathers of the Jewish community in Romania came up
\nwith strong arguments in favor of awarding Romanian citizenship to local
\nJews, such as those who were born in Romania. One of the most illustrious of
\nthem was doctor and scholar Iuliu Barasch. Born in 1815 in Brod\u00ee, in present-day western Ukraine, a province in the
\nAustrian Empire at the time, and passed away in Bucharest in 1863 aged 48,
\nBarsach was born Yehuda ben Mordechai. He arrived in Romania in 1843, when he
\nwas 28, more specifically in C\u0103l\u0103ra\u0219i, Wallachia, a city on
\nthe Danube River 120 kilometers southwest of Bucharest. In 1851 he moved to the
\ncapital of Wallachia where we worked as a doctor. He set up public health
\ninstitutions such as quarantines, hospitals and clinics. He took his medical
\nPh.D. in 1841, and taught medicine in high-schools and special military,
\npharmaceutical and agricultural school. He took an active involvement in every
\naspect of the life of the Jewish community, like all intellectuals of his time.
\nHe was a great patron of science, evidence of which can be found in his works.
\nBarasch was also an important advocate of the modernization of Jewish culture.
\nApart from science articles, his works also include volumes devoted to
\nmedicine, history, philosophy and hygiene.<\/p>\n
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Barasch though it normal to take an active stance in the
\nlocal Jewish media, as well as in the specialized scholarly literature. For
\nsomeone as vocal and militant of Jewish rights as himself, the appearance of
\nthe first Jewish publication in the Romanian language was not out of the
\nordinary. Iuliu Barasch and the Jewish-born French journalist Armand L\u00e9vy,
\njointly with Aaron Ascher and Isaac Leib Weinberg, helped bring out The
\nRomanian Israeli, which consisted only of a few issues due to underfunding.
\nHistorian Lya Benjamin, who specializes in the history of Jews, is the author
\nof a study about the Romanian Israeli where she highlighted some of the ideas
\nof the time.<\/p>\n
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It’s interesting because it addresses both Jews and
\nRomanians. At the same time it was a platform for advocating the rights of
\nJews. Jews in Romania did not have the Romanian citizenship, and the first who
\nmilitated for that was Iuliu Barasch. He also made use of this newspaper to
\nincrease his reach. He submitted the first official memorandums to the ruler of
\nthe Wallachia, Barbu \u0218tirbey,
\nin 1856, when a foreign delegation of the Great Powers arrived in the Romanian
\nPrincipalities to prepare the 1858 Conference in Paris. The union of the
\nRomanian Principalities was expected to be raised. Barasch wanted to use the
\npresence of foreign delegates to militate for Jewish rights and submit his
\nmemorandum to the ruler. These formal requests were first published in the
\nRomanian Israeli. <\/p>\n
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What is remarkable about both Barasch as well as all the
\nother Jews who militated for the political and civil emancipation of Jews was
\nthe fact they were attuned to the mentalities surrounding them. The strongest
\nidea revolved around the union of the Romanian Principalities, the first
\nRomantic project of the Romanian national state. Local Jews fully supported the
\nunification, and Barasch spearheaded their efforts. Underlying the nationwide
\nmobilization was the appeal to history, and the Jews had their own
\ncontribution, historian Lya Benjamin explains.<\/p>\n
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There was a variety of topics. For instance, the
\npublication included articles about history, the history of Romania, about the
\nshared history of Romanians and Jews, which showed how far back the Jews are
\ndocumented in Romania. At the same time, it showed aspects of Romania’s history
\nso that Jews should get acquainted with the milestones of Romanian history.
\nSuch is the case of a series about the rule of Michael the Brave. Apart from
\nthat, there are, of course, articles about what the Jews stood for, about their
\ntradition and the specificity of Judaism, so that Romanian readers can get to
\nknow the history and culture of Jews. At the same time, there were articles
\nthat expressed the endorsement of Jews for the union of the Principalities and
\ntheir respect for Romanians. Additionally, Jews also commanded respect from
\nRomanians and expressed their devotion towards Romanians and Romania.<\/p>\n
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The first series of the Romanian Israeli appeared over
\nMarch-September, 1857. Although short-lived, the publication was not forgotten.
\n11 years later the second series hit the press. In 1868, after a time of deep
\ninstitutional and societal transformations in Romania, the Romanian Israeli
\nwas republished in a changed world. (VP) <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A ground-breaking publication militating for the rights of the Jewish community in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":123226,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[45718,45719,45717],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-170088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-iuliu-barasch","tag-lya-benjamin","tag-romanian-israeli"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n