Poem in Honor of Moses Montefiore for His Meeting with Tsar Alexander II – Poster Decorated with Montefiore's ...

Poem in Honor of Moses Montefiore for His Meeting with Tsar Alexander II – Poster Decorated with Montefiore's Portrait – St. Petersburg, 1872
"A song of greeting composed by Shlomo Mandelkern in honor of the prince most honest among men, righteous in all his ways and gracious in all his works, Sir Moses Montefiore, on his arrival to Petersburg […] to face the lord of all the country of Russia, the emperor Alexander II". St. Petersburg: "A. Zederbaum and Dr. A.Y. Goldenblum" press, 1872.
A poster printed for the visit of Moses Montefiore in St. Petersburg, where he came to meet with Tsar Alexander II. The poster features a poem of twenty-six stanzas by Shlomo Mandelkern (1846-1902), philologist, writer and scholar, known mainly as the author of an exhaustive bible concordance. The number of stanzas of the poem is equal to the number of years that had passed since Montefiore's previous visit to Russia and his audience with Tsar Nicholas I. With silver endless knot border and Montefiore's portrait.
In the poem, Mandelkern describes the improved conditions of the Jews of Russia, who experienced prosperity under the rule of Tsar Alexander II, and the favorable change since the days of Tsar Nicholas I. Unlike his father, Nicholas I, remembered in the history of Russian Jewry as a notorious tyrant, Alexander II wanted to encourage the Russification of his Jewish subjects peacefully. He rescinded the Cantonist decree, permitted Jews to settle, under certain conditions, outside the Pale of Settlement and enabled them to study in institutions of higher education.
In his poem, Mandelkern calls the Tsar "a wise merciful king" and states that thanks to him "new days have come upon the Jews of Russia". Appealing to Montefiore, Mandelkern requests that when he sees the Emperor and appeals for the persecuted Jews of Romania, he should not forget to thank him for all the favors he bestowed on his Jewish subjects.
In his memoir, Montefiore recalls that when he first visited St. Petersburg and met with Tsar Nicholas I, Jews were not even permitted to spend the night in the city. Twenty-six years later, Montefiore found a thriving Jewish community with 12,000 members and was impressed by the economic success and intellectual prosperity of the community, which were achieved in the few years it had to take roots in the city.
49.5X64 cm. Good-fair condition. Long tears along the fold lines, some of them reinforced with tape on verso. Minute open tears to margins. Stains. A strip of paper glued to the right margin of the poster.
Literature: Moses Montefiore, by Paul Goodman. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1925.
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