Frankly, I don't know.  I'm in a Reformed Synagogue which is much more liberal than an Orthodox Shul so I've no idea.  But maybe Meir could enlighten us. Meir...?

A lot of Jews supported Lenin because they were of the working class - remember they were dirt poor and treated like peons - and so they saw a hope of the end of the tyranny of the Tsars.  Remember that line in 'Fiddler on the Roof,' in which the Rabbi says, 'May G-d bless and keep the Tsar...far away from us!'  That was how they all felt about the Tsarist government and they hated and feared the Cossacks, those horse soldiers of the Tsars who would lead the pogroms.  So it was no wonder that young Jews turned so eagerly to the new Socialist promises of a better and freer life.

For a fascinating portrayal of life as a Jew in Old Russia, I recommend 'The Promised Land,' by Mary Antin, still in print and available at Amazon; it may be at your library.  It was published in 1918 and it was written by a Russian Jewish immigrant whose family immigrated from Polotsk (where my father's family was from) to Boston.

Kat

-------Original Message-------
From: "Cleveland, Kyle E." <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 07/31/03 09:13 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Did I delete something important? Genia

>
> Fascinating!  So how did an Orthodox man reconcile davening every day
(except Shabbat, of course) with the Torah work ethic (ref. Rambam)?  This
was probably just before the time of the Bolshevik uprising, right?  That
makes sense.  So, mag's grandfather apparently rebelled against his own
father's ultra-Orthodoxy and became a Socialist?

I love family stories.  They add so much life to historical study!