Jewish Souls, Bureaucratic Minds

A focus on Jewish officials of the Russian state who assumed a central role in the bureaucratic procedures of Jewish policymaking and were a driving force behind the transformation of Russian Jewry. Jewish Souls, Bureaucratic Minds examines the phenomenon of Jewish bureaucracy in the Russian empire—its institutions, personnel, and policies—from 1850 to 1917. In particular, it focuses on the institution of expert Jews, mid-level Jewish bureaucrats who served the Russian state both in the Pale of