The efficiency of the censors in Tsarist Russia - a copy of Toldot Amude Hachabad

19th century Tsarist Russia was not necessarily known for its government’s efficiency, but one of its departments often surprises me with how well of a job they did, and how little got passed them. I am referring to the department that was tasked with censoring all books printed in Jewish Languages. In the 1870s, this position was held by Jewish converts to Christianity, such as Iakov Brafman, Peter Margolin, and Yisra’el Landau. During the 19th century, the focus of the censors was slowly shifting away from texts that offended Christianity, to texts that were deemed offensive to the government or viewed as anti-authoritarian. A great example of the latter type of censorship, I found this week in 2 copies of Toldot Amude Hachabad that I acquired.

Toldot Amude Hachabad was published in Königsberg in 1874, a city that found itself alternating between Prussian and Russian rule for much of the last centuries. The author was Michael Levi Rodkinson (1845–1904), most known for being the first to translate the Babylonian Talmud to English. Rodkinson was a grandson of R. Aaron ha-Levi ben Moses of Staroselye, a prominent rabbi of the Chabad movement, and this book he authored, includes a history and biographies of the early Chabad Movement.

One of the two copies I acquired has some crude censoring on 2 pages, applied by rolling hot tar onto the page and thus permanently obstructing the offending text. Comparing the pages, with the second copy which avoided the censors, we are able to see what the offending text was.

One of the censored paragraphs describes the government of Moscow as the enemy, הממשלה של השונא במאסקאווע. The second effected text describes politicians as those that “sin in the matter of politics” החוטאים בדבר הפוליטיק. 

hat tip: Sam Glauber