В качестве одного из объяснений не только в пропагандистской и агиографической, но и в научной литературе нередко приводят письмо, якобы написанное р. Шнеуром-Залманом из Ляд (1-й Любавический ребе) р. Моше Мейзелю из Вильно (by the way, русскому агенту во французском тылу):
В первый день Рош а-Шана было мне видение, что если победит Бонапарте, умножится богатство Израиля и будет ему почет, но вместе с тем отделится сердце народа от Отца Небесного. Если же победит наш владыка Александр, умножится нищета Израиля и положение наше станет еще более униженным, но сердца Израиля станут крепче привязаны к Отцу Небесному. И вот тебе знамение: в ближайшее время отберут «отраду очей ваших», а еще через какое-то время начнут брать в армию братьев наших, сынов Израиля.
Однако, увы, Эткес довольно убедительно показал, что это письмо является поздней фальшивкой:
In the light of everything that we have considered in this chapter about Shneur Zalman’s views of Napoleon and Alexander and his actions during the war, and also about his expectations regarding the outcome of the war and its consequences for the fate of Russian Jewry, it is clear beyond all doubt that he did not write the letter...ser examination of the letter purportedly written to Rabbi Moshe Meisels leads to the conclusion that it reflects the situation of the Jews in Central and Western Europe, on the one hand, and that of the Jews of Russia, on the other, in the 1840s.
Почему же тогда евреи, включая р. Шнеура-Залмана, оказались такими российскими патриотами? Забавно, но ответ на этот вопрос еще двести лет назад дал мемуарист, впоследствие занявший одно из первых мест в российском государственном самоуправлении. (Желающие попробовать без Гугля угадать, о ком речь, традиционно приглашаются сыграть в мини-свояк):
Мы не могли достаточно нахвалиться усердием и привязанностью, которые выказывали нам евреи, заслуживавшие тем большей похвалы, что они должны были опасаться мщения Французов и населения. Но они еще более опасались возвращения польского правительства, при котором подвергались всевозможным несправедливостям и насилиям, и горячо желали успеха нашему оружию и помогали нам, рискуя своей жизнью и даже своим состоянием.
Этого мемуариста Эткес не цитирует (равно как Дениса Давыдова, писавшего о том же; спасибо
dkluger'у за напоминание), и вообще, похоже, не очень умеет работать с русскими источниками. Однако в своей монографии он доходчиво объяснил, почему русские евреи могли не хотеть "возвращения польского правительства":The Jews in the areas included in the Duchy of Warsaw greeted the armies of Napoleon with joy, because they expected him to grant them equal rights. The Jews also played an important role in supplying food to the French army. However, although the Napoleonic Code, which granted equal rights to all citizens, was indeed instituted in the Duchy of Warsaw, the government of the duchy continued to discriminate against the Jews and imposed a special
burden of taxation on them. Napoleon’s decree of March 1808, which restricted the rights of the Jews of France, offered the Duchy of Warsaw an excuse not to apply the principle of equality to the Jews. On October 17 the duke of Warsaw signed an order—approved orally by Napoleon—according to which implementation of the principle of equal rights for the Jews would be postponed for ten years, assuming that within that time they would rid themselves of the traits that divided them from the other citizens. Behind this measure lay a vigorous propaganda campaign waged by the antagonists of the Jews in Poland, who argued that the Jews were not beneficial to the economy of the country, because they did not engage in agriculture or manufacturing.
The decision to postpone the granting of equal rights to the Jews was merely the beginning of a series of measures taken against the Jews by the government of the duchy. Among other things, they were forbidden to purchase farms, and they were also forbidden to live in the old city of Warsaw. In other cities as well the Jews were required to live in special neighborhoods of their own. According to the laws of the duchy, the Jews were subject to
military service, but most of them found it difficult to serve, because of the difficulty in observing the dietary laws and because of the hostility toward them in military circles. On January 29, 1812, a government order was promulgated, exempting the Jews from military service, in return for a payment of 700,000 zlotys. The decrees against the Jews instituted by the government of the duchy peaked at the end of October 1812, with the publication of a ban on Jews’ selling alcoholic beverages. The repeated efforts by Jewish representatives to persuade the government to cancel the decrees and give the Jews their longed-for equal rights were fruitless.
We have presented a general picture of the fate of the Jews in the Duchy of Warsaw. As noted, it may be assumed that the Jews of Russia were aware of the plight of their brethren in the neighboring duchy, and that this affected their attitude toward Napoleon.
Historians also listed a series of factors that influenced the Jews to support Alexander: in
Russia, expulsion of the Jews from the villages, a government action that had threatened to harm the livelihood of many of them, had ceased about three years before the war; not only that, but the Jews also expected the government to revoke the expulsion, since a government commission had criticized it harshly in a report submitted to the czar in early 1812.
Вот весь и грех, и вся любовь, и вся гидравлика. (с). И никакой мистики, чистый прагматизм. Включая, кстати, и рабби Шнеура-Залмана:
Shneur Zalman stated that rule by Napoleon would bring economic and spiritual ruin down upon the Jews. On the other hand, he expected that, after Alexander’s victory, the civic status of the Jews of Russia would improve.