When Tsar Nicholas issued the decree of the “Cantonists,” under which Jewish children were required to be drafted into the Russian army for twenty-five years, the Jews saw it as a harsh and terrible decree. It was clear that drafting tender young children for so long a period would sever them from Judaism.
But there were some among the “maskilim” (the enlightened) who viewed the decree favorably, especially because it did not distinguish between Jews and non-Jews. They saw this as a sign of equal rights...
The matter reached the ears of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk.
The tzaddik sighed and said: “It is written in the Torah, ‘Your descendants shall be strangers in a land not theirs’ (Genesis 15:13). While Jews find themselves in exile, in a land that is not theirs, it is better that they be ‘strangers’ and not equal citizens...”