Jacques Calmanson

Jacques Calmanson (Hebrew: זַ׳אק קָלְמָנְסוֹן‎; 1722, Hrubieszów – 1811, Warsaw), born Solomon Jacob ben Kalman (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה יַעֲקֹב בֵּן קָלְמָן‎), was a Polish Jewish maskilic writer, translator, and personal physician of King Stanislaw II.

Jacques Calmanson
Solomon Jacob ben Kalman
Born1722 (1722)
Hrubieszów, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
Died1811 (aged 88–89)
Warsaw, Duchy of Warsaw, French Empire
OccupationPhysician
Writing career
Notable worksEssai sur l'état actuel des Juifs de Pologne et leur perfectibilité (1796)

Biography

Jacques Calmanson was born in Hrubieszów, where his father served as rabbi. He studied medicine in Germany and France and was fluent in Yiddish, Hebrew, French, German, and Polish. Calmanson's travels also took him to Turkey and Russia. He eventually settled in Warsaw, serving as physician to King Stanislaw II. In 1784, Calmanson wrote a pamphlet to the king regarding taxes that the Jews were allegedly hiding from the royal court and in 1791 translated a Hebrew text into Polish, which invited representatives of the Jewish communities to come to Warsaw to meet with the king and help pay off the royal debt.[1]

During the proceedings of the Four-Year Sejm, Calmanson was the royal translator of the Hebrew and Yiddish magazines, and mediated between royal secretary Scipione Piattoli and the envoys of Jewish communities.[2][3] For his services, he received a salary from the king and the Masonic lodge, which was maintained even after the king's death in 1798.[4]

Later life

After Warsaw fell under Prussian rule in 1796, Calmanson published Essai sur l'état actuel des Juifs de Pologne et leur perfectibilité, which he dedicated to Karl Georg von Hoym, the Prussian commissioner for the annexed Polish areas.[5] The pamphlet, which called for a reform of Jewish life, was translated into Polish the following year as Uwagi nad niniejszym stanem Żydów polskich i ich wydoskonaleniem and dedicated to Tsar Alexander I who, in gratitude, send Calmanson a gift of cigarettes through the mediation of Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.[1] Calmanson's proposals to the authorities included, among others, limiting the autonomy of Jews and the judicial power of rabbinic courts, replacing cheders with state-run public schools, state supervision of Jewish marriage, and compulsory adoption of "European" dress and customs.[6][7] Parts of his proposal were adopted by the Prussian authorities in 1797.[2]

Particularly notable is Calmanson's critique of the growing Hasidic movement, which he depicted as antithetical to the Enlightenment and an obstacle to the reform of Jewish society and its integration into the state.[3][8] Cleansing Judaism of the fanaticism represented by the Hasidim and Frankists, argued Calmanson, would revive the customs and morality of the Jews and return to its previous form—which, according to him, resembled the Enlightenment ideal of natural religion.[9] He called the government to undertake firm measures against the movement and its adherents.[10][11]

See also

References
  1. Sinkoff, Nancy (2004). Out of the Shtetl: Making Jews Modern in the Polish Borderlands. Providence: Brown Judaic Studies. pp. 75–76. ISBN 978-1-930675-16-2. OCLC 53919898.
  2. Żebrowski, Rafał. "Kalmanso(h)n (Calmanson) Jakub (Jacques)". Jewish Historical Institute (in Polish). Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  3. Guesnet, François (2008). "Calmanson, Jacques". In Hundert, Gershon (ed.). YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Translated by Cohen, Deborah. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  4. "Kalmanson Jakub". Virtual Shtetl (in Polish). Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  5. "Calmanson, Yaakov Jacques". The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. Retrieved 3 April 2019.
  6. Landau, Moshe (2007). "Calmanson, Jacob". In Berenbaum, Michael; Skolnik, Fred (eds.). Encyclopaedia Judaica. 4 (2nd ed.). Detroit: Macmillan Reference. p. 374.
  7. Shatzky, Jacob (1943). יידישע בילדונגס-פאליטיק און פולין פון 1806 ביז 1866 [Jewish Educational Policies in Poland from 1806 to 1866] (in Yiddish). New York: Yiddish Scientific Institute. OCLC 19308403.
  8. Feiner, Shmuel (6 June 2011). The Origins of Jewish Secularization in Eighteenth-Century Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 209. ISBN 978-0-8122-0189-5.
  9. Nathans, Benjamin; Safran, Gabriella (2008). Culture Front: Representing Jews in Eastern Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-8122-9103-2. OCLC 893421403.
  10. Wodziński, Marcin (2004). "How many Hasidim were there in Congress Poland? On the Demographics of the Hasidic Movement in Poland during the First Half of the Nineteenth Century". Gal-Ed. 19: 18–20.
  11. Wodziński, Marcin (2005). Haskalah and Hasidism in the Kingdom of Poland: A History of Conflict. Oxford: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization. ISBN 978-1-904113-08-9. OCLC 607872994.
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