A poor boy, however, could win the daughter and dowry of a rich man if he distinguished himself as a scholar. Marriage for love was an exception.
Threats to the survival of Jewish traditions in Russia. A fiercely religious people, Russian Orthodox Christians barely tolerated Jews within their country. Wild rumors like the infamous blood libel (the totally unfounded contention that Jews used the blood of Christians to bake matzo, the unleavened Passover bread) spread fear and suspicion among the Russians, especially the peasantry. The czars decreed strict laws limiting the number of Jews who might enter Russia and confining them to specific areas in the empire's western provinces.
Russia's military conquests in the eighteenth century brought millions of Jews under its administration. To cope with these Jews living within the borders of their growing state, the Russians created what was called the Pale of Settlement. The Pale was a narrow strip running along the western border of the empire, from the Black Sea in the south to the Baltic Sea in the north. Unlike Jews in other parts of Europe, who enjoyed a certain degree of self-rule, the Jews in the Pale shared towns and villages with other groups (Poles, Ukrainians, Lithuanians), all of whom were subject to the same laws.
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