Blank Family - Moshe (Dmitry) Blank

Moshe (Dmitry) Blank

Moshe Itzkovich Blank (Russian: Моше Ицкович Бланк) baptized as Dmitry Blank (c.a. 1758- after 1844) was a Jewish vodka-franchised tavern keeper from Shtetl Starokonstantynów, Volhynian Voivodeship (now Ukraine). His tavern in Starokonastantinovo brought him around 10 silver roubles. He also rented a plot of land in Novohrad-Volynskyi uyezd, Volhynian Governorate where he grew chicory. He sent his sons into a secular Russian school instead of a traditional religious Jewish cheder which was unusual in those times.

Most of his life story is known through the documents related to his complicated feud with the local kahal. In 1803, the kahal accused Moshe of stealing hay; in 1805, they accused him of selling cheaper ordinary vodka as a more expensive "fruit vodka" brand. The official courts cleared Moshe on both counts. In 1806, Moshe, in turn, accused the kahal of shielding local Jews from taxes and their children from conscription into the Russian Army. In 1808, 22 local Jews accused Moshe Blank of arson that destroyed or damaged many houses in Starokonastantinovo, including the Blanks' own house. Some researchers believe that the arson charges were true and that Blank indeed was a pyromaniac, while other consider the charges as a false report done as a revenge for his reports. In 1809, Novohrad-Volynian magistrate cleared Blank from the arson charges, but the family had to move to Zhitomir.

In August 1816, Blank wrote a letter to the Emperor Nicholas complaining that he is persecuted by the kahal because of his fight for the true Judaism free from what he saw as superstitions and nationalistic excesses. The letter was intercepted by the local administration and was not delivered to the addressee. In November 1816, Moshe Blank sued his son, Abel Blank, alleging that his son had beaten and verbally abused him over a monetary dispute - Moshe promised to pay some dowry after Abel's marriage but changed his mind afterwards. Abel was arrested and threatened with an exile to Siberia, but eventually after Blanks neighbors gave the best possible character assessment to the son and the worst possible to the father, Abel was cleared from the charges and Moshe fined for the false report.

On 10 July 1820, in Saint Petersburg, two sons of Moshe: Abel and Srul were baptized in the Orthodox Christianity. At the time in Russia, conversion of Jews was a rare and a high profile event. The godfathers of the sons were senator Dmitry Baranov and the Actual Privy Counsellor Alexander Apraksin. Both of the sons were named after their godfathers and received patronymics after Dmitry Baranov. Thus Abel Moshevich became Dmitry Dmitrievich and Srul Moshevich became Alexander Dmitrievich. The same year, the brothers were admitted to the Saint Petersburg Academy of Medical Surgeons (Петербургская Медико-Хирургическая Академия). According to the customs of the time, conversions to Christianity meant breaking of the family connections.

In 1825, Moshe Blank finally won his litigation with the Starokonstantinovo Jews; he received more than 15 thousand roubles distributed among the 22 plaintiffs as a compensation for his losses, while 11 of the plaintiffs were imprisoned for libel. The lucky turn of the litigation was probably influenced by the powerful godfathers of Moshe's sons

On 1 January 1845, at the age of 86, Moshe Blank also converted to Christianity. He was baptized Dmitry, probable matching the patronymics of his sons. He wrote letters to the Emperor Nicholas I (there are known letters of 7 June 1845 and 18 September 1846 acknowledging that he had broken with the Jews for 40 years but could only convert after the death of his "very religious wife". In his letters, he advocated to significantly tighten the limitation for the religious Jews: to forbid prayers for the coming of Moshiach, but instead require every Saturday to pray for the Tsar and his family; to forbid Hasidic Judaism and visits of Jewish houses by rabbis; to forbid non-Jews employed by the Jews to work on Saturdays and so on. According to Blank, the new requirements would greatly increase conversion of the Jews and would make Government payments of 30 roubles to each convert unnecessary.

There is no information on the last years of Moshe Blank.