Russian life for Jews in the late 1800's
Tsar Alexander III was an extreme anti-semite and the Jews who lived in Russia were in constant fear and danger. Many Jews suffered from anti-semitsm in the early 1880's. There were many outbreaks of Pogroms in 165 towns and thousands of Jewish families were killed. Those were were not killed, were destroyed and reduced to extreme cases of poverty. The policy of discrimination had banned all Jews from rural areas, which assured the slow death of many shetetls. There were also restrictions placed on education for the Jewish people, which resulted in the increase of emigration rates. They were not allowed to settle in the towns or the cities, but rather settle on the outskirts. They were not allowed to attend university and the only education that the children had was from a Rabbi. Very few women received education. In 1886, an Edict of Expulsion was enforced on the Jews in Kiev. Most Jews were expelled from Moscow in 1891 and many synagogues were shut down by the Tsar.
Lazar's story
My great grandfather, Lazar Rice, was born in Russia in 1891. His sister, Clara, was 4 when he was born. They lived with their parents in a small shtetl in the heart land of Russia. When Lazar was 4 years old, both his parents were killed in a pogrom, leaving him and Clara as orphans. Friends of his parents found letters from friends who had immigrated to South Africa. They wrote to these family members, who sent money to bring the two children out of Russia and to South Africa. The Jews were not allowed to travel freely, so they had to be smuggled out of Russia. A non Jewish woman, who traveled across the border from Russia into Poland everyday, was paid to smuggle the Lazar and Clara.
