and the Jews, few and far between at that time, who had graduated from a
Russian educational institution. Those exempted from military service in
kind were required to pay "recruiting money," one thousand rubles for
each recruit. The general law providing that a regular recruit could
offer as his substitute a "volunteer" was extended to the Jews, with the
proviso that the volunteer must also be a Jew.

The "Instructions" to the civil authorities, appended to the statute,
specify the formalities to be followed both at the recruiting stations
and in administering the oath of allegiance to the conscripts in the
synagogues. The latter ceremony was to be marked by gloomy solemnity.
The recruit was to be arrayed in his prayer-shawl (Tallith) and shroud
(Kittel). With his philacteries wound around his arm, he should be
placed before the Ark and, amidst burning candles and to the
accompaniment of shofar blasts, made to recite a lengthy awe-inspiring
oath. The "Instructions" to the military authorities accompanying the
statute prescribe that every batch of Jewish conscripts "shall be
entrusted to a special officer to be watched over, prior to their
departure for their places of destination, and shall be kept apart from
the other recruits." Both in the places of conscription and on the
journey the Jewish recruits were to be quartered exclusively in the
homes of Christian residents.

The promulgated "military constitution" surpassed the very worst
apprehension of the Jews. All were staggered by this sudden blow, which
descended crushingly upon the mode of life, the time-honored traditions,
and the religious ideals of the Jewish people. The Jewish family nests
became astir, trembling for their fledglings. Barely a month after the
publication of the military statute, the central Government in St.
Petersburg was startled by the report that the Volhynian town of