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THE THREE BARONS
In the nineteenth century in Jewish Europe there were three Jews whose wealth and social connections earned for them the title of nobility - of being a baron. Each of the three devoted efforts, wealth and time to help solve or at least alleviate the "Jewish problem" in Europe. But their tactics, aims and solutions were markedly different one from another. Baron Edmond de Rothschild of France was a scion of the famous and fabulously wealthy Rothschild banking family. He was a traditional Jew and in a most unlikely discussion with Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever, the rabbi of Biyalistok and one of the leaders of the Chovevei Tzion (Lovers of Zion) organization, he became interested in creating "colonies" for Jews in the Land of Israel. The "colonies" would eventually be self-sufficient, but the Baron was willing to foot the bills until that happened. Eventually there were thirty-nine such "colonies" many of which (such as Rishon Leziyon and Zichron Yaakov) have grown into major cities in Israel.
Baron Rothschild was not a supporter of Theodore Herzl or of the early Zionist movement. He refused to advance to Herzl the fifteen million dollars that Herzl requested and that he wished to use in "buying" the Land of Israel from the sick and corrupt Ottoman Empire. Yet, he invested much more money than that in building the Land of Israel. His company, Carmel Wine Corporation, was founded in 1882 and continues to be the leading wine producer in Israel until this day. He later gave the company to the farmers and vintners of the company who ran it as a cooperative venture. The Rothschild family contributed funds for the building of the Knesset building in Jerusalem and there is a beautiful room in that building dedicated to the memory of the Baron. He was the nadiv hayadua - the great philanthropist of the return of the Jews to their ancient homeland.
Baron Moritz de Hirsch made his fortune in building railroads, especially in Russia for the Czar's tyrannical government. Hirsch's solution to the "Jewish problem" was to establish "colonies" for Jewish agriculture throughout the world except in the Land of Israel. He purchased land in South America, North America, Africa and attempted to recruit thousands of Russian Jews to move and populate those far flung locations. In the United States he established agricultural communities in the Dakotas, Tennessee, and New Jersey among other places. Most of his projects failed because they did not prove to be economically viable. One of his "colonies" was in Vineland, New Jersey, where a small Jewish community has survived until today. Vineland became famous as a center for raising chickens and distributing eggs. It also had vast asparagus farms.
Perhaps Baron Hirsch's most lasting memorial in the world to his efforts to solve the "Jewish problem" in Europe is the magnificent large synagogue and community of the Baron Hirsch Congregation in Memphis, Tennessee. It is one of the largest Orthodox synagogues and communities in the United States. I have visited there many times and the Baron's picture may be found in the lobby. Nevertheless, in spite of all of his efforts and expenditures of vast sums of money, his dream of Jewish farmers the world over did not materialize. Needless to say, the Baron was not a supporter of Herzl or of the Zionist movement, deeming its program to be too fanciful, unrealistic and impractical.
The third Baron was Baron Horace Ginzburg. He was a resident of St. Petersburg in Russia and a person of significant influence in Jewish Russia in the latter part of the nineteenth century. His bent was towards assimilating the Jewish population into the general Russian population. He believed that with secular education, the modification of Jewish dress, the acceptance of Russian language and culture by the Jews of Russia, the "Jewish problem" would be solved. He was one of the prime movers in the building of the great synagogue building in St. Petersburg, a synagogue that the more observant Jews there shunned. I visited that synagogue a dozen years ago when I was in St. Petersburg for a few days immediately after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Baron Ginzburg's seat in the synagogue, row one, seat one, still has his name attached to it by a plaque on the back of the seat. I sat down in his seat. It was most uncomfortable. I wondered what the Baron would think of the "Jewish problem," the Jewish world, the State of Israel and his beloved Russia and St. Petersburg, as they exist today. Many are the thoughts and plans of humans, but the Lord's plans are those that come to pass. This is true even when the human beings involved are barons.
Berel Wein
