[Columns 45-46]

Until today, we don't know of a book which offers the collected history of the Jews of Ludmir in general, or specifically its rabbis.

Over centuries Ludmir was renown for its rabbis and eminent Talmudic scholars. In the 16^th, 17^th and 18^th centuries rabbis were active in Ludmir. Many of them did not only play a role in spiritual life but also in the general Jewish life of in Eastern Europe and particularly Poland. Let us mention here the names of Ludmir's rabbis, Rabbi Yehoshua Falk (SM”A) and “Tosfos Yomtov”, as well as Dovid Halevi Segal (To”z) who was born and educated in Ludmir.

Reverberations about the lives and activity of the rabbis and traditions of the religious community can only be learned from their religious writings or signed recommendations printed in opening pages of religious works by other writers classifying them as Ludmir's rabbis, or if they are mentioned in various chronicles of the Jewish community for their activity in meetings of the Council of Four Lands as rabbis, elected members of the Jewish Council, or arbitrators in controversies: or if they are mentioned by chance in books of questions and answers which were written in those years.

In addition, it is possible that certain rabbis and scholars played an important role in those years but did not author any books or take part in meetings of the Council of Four Lands and did not give recommendations to treatises of other rabbis. It is possible, they will remain unknown in history as long as they are not discovered in the sources.

While searching for vestiges of Jewish life in Ludmir we used books and encyclopedias in Hebrew, Yiddish, Russian, Polish and other languages. With regard to the period of the Council of Four Lands, we drew from the attention given to it in the book by Prof. Y. Halpern: “The Chronicles of the Council of Four Lands”, where they are mentioned, by the way, concerning various issues. We learn about customs of Ludmir's rabbis and the sources from which this information is derived is also indicated.

With the desire to illustrate how the generations of scholars and rabbis evolved, we have provided in this work a few “Genealogy Trees” with regard to the generations of rabbinic descent in relation to rabbinic families in Ludmir.

We found, with regard to the period of The Council of Four Lands, information in various sources especially concerning spiritual creativity in Ludmir: against this, we are providing extensive statistical data and information about a variety of communal events in Jewish life in Ludmir beginning in the second half of the eighteenth century.

Books and sources we will quote from often will be referred to in short form:

Ana”sh – Anshei Shem, History of the Great Men of Lvov by Sh. Baber, Cracow.

Encyclopedia – Encyclopedia of the History of the Greats of Israel, edited by Dr. Mordecai Margolis, 4 parts, Jerusalem, 1945.

Pam”al – Record Book of the Land or Record Book of the Major Jewish Communities of Lithuania, published by Sh. Dubnov, Berlin, 1924.

Pinkas – The record book of the Council of Four Lands. Y. Halpern.

(In Russian) Jewish Library - Jew. Lib.

(In Russia) Jewish Encyclopedia, - Jew. Encyc. St. Petersburg.

[Columns 47-48]

Given that initials appear in many of the texts we quote from, and are not familiar to all, we are providing a short list of the initials and explanations.

Aba”d – Av Bet Din – Chief Justice

Hakhu' – Hakhuna

Zi”a – His Right will Protect Us. ; Z”l – Of blessed memory;

Zlala – May her memory be blessed for life in the world to come.

Khu”l – Outside this city.

Yatz”u – May he be protected, grow and thrive.

Maharsha”l – Our teacher and Rabbi Reb Shloyme Luria: Mu”ha – Our teacher and Rabbi;

Mohara'r – Our teacher and Rabbi the greatest Rabbi; Mo”tz – Teacher of Justice.

Kemohar”ar – Honour our teacher the Great Rabbi.

La” a – God is our Father (Loving Father).

Na” – Naum – Speech; Nab”i – Loyal to the House of Israel; Ner”i – a bright light.

Hak' – the small: the Holy.

FFD” A – Frankfurt and Dadar; FFD”M – Frankfurt am Maine.

The city of Ludmir had many names; They are for the most part similar. Their pronunciation depends on the language they stem from. Often, the name changed over the years.

In later years it was called in Russian Vlodimir – name: Volodimir.

Later it was called in Russian Vlodimir Volinsk.

In Polish it was called Vlodzhimiezh.

In Hebrew documents it appears under the names: Ladumir, Ladmr, Ludmir and Vladimira.

In Yiddish its accepted name is Ludmir.

Legends and Suppositions About the Origins of Ludmir

It is not known exactly when Ludmir was founded.

According to an old legend it already existed in the 8^th century and was then called: Ladamir.

From the time a human population existed in Ludmir in antiquity, objects have been found from the stone age, found during excavations in Ludmir.

In 1840, objects were found in Ludmir from the stone age, which brought them to the hypothesis that at that place, idol worshipers made sacrifices and the accumulated layer of coal dates back to those burnt sacrifices.

According to Hungarian chronicles, Ludmir already existed under Hungarian rule in the year 884 and was called Ladimira. (Ladomir).

The Russian Chronicle – writer (Chronicler of important historical events) Niestor, mention Ludmir for the first time in the year 988; that is when the great Kiev duke Vladimir Sviatoslavitch ruled that the city of Ludmir be reinforced and named it “Vladimir”; he handed it over to his son Vsievolod.

This is when the Volhynian Duchy was founded (Volinskoe Kniazhestvo).

The first mention of a Jewish name was at the end of the 12^{th century (in the year 1171), where the name of a Jewish merchant Binyomin Handis appears. (It is possible his name derives from the Polish word Handliazh – Hendler), merchant.}

One hundred years later, at the end of the 13^{th century, in the year 1288, there was already a Jewish community in Ludmir. We learn this from a sentence in the Ipatiev Chronicles, where they talk about the mourning in Volhynia after the death of the great prince from Ludmir, Vasyli Vasilchikov. It was written there that he was also mourned by the Jews: “…and the Jews cried as they did at the fall of Jerusalem, when they were sent into captivity to Babylonia…”}

Information about an organized Jewish community in Ludmir dates back to the beginning of the 16^th century.

Ask your father and your elders and they will tell you.

[Columns 49-50]

Between Russians, Poles and Lithuanians

Attacks by Tatars

Over a period of hundreds of years, Ludmir underwent periods of prosperity and decline.

A city situated on the border between Russia and Poland, not far from Tatar hordes, it experienced many wars, often being transferred from hand to hand. The city was also often attacked by armies experiencing frequent destructions.

At the beginning of the 11^th century, in 1017, the city was captured by the Polish king Boleslaw the Brave.

A few years later, in 1020, the city was taken over by the Russian Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovitch Mudry.

A few dozen years later, in 1054, the rule over Ludmir and all of Volhynia, was given to his son Igor Yaroslavitch.

Ludmir became the residence of the prince. The city was surrounded by three high ramparts and deep trenches.

At the beginning of the 13^th century Ludmir reached the culminative point of its prosperity.

In 1231 the Hungarian King Andre visited Ludmir. He was extremely enchanted by the grandeur and wealth of the city.

This beauty and grandeur did not last long.

In 1240 it was attacked by the Tatars: Ludmir was completely destroyed.

A few years later, Prince Danil began reconstruction.

Barely 21 years pass and Ludmir is again attacked by the Tatars (1261). Once again, the Tatars destroy the city. They actually plow it up.

In 1288 the great Ludmir prince, Vasily Vasilchikov died. (As mentioned above he was mourned by the Jews).

At the beginning of the 14^th century, in 1316, Ludmir was transferred to the rule of the Lithuanian Prince Gedimin.

24 years later, in 1340, the Polish King Casimir the Great was now ruling all of Galicia, the western part of Volhynia, which included Ludmir.

In 1366, in a peace agreement, Ludmir was recognized as a part of the Polish Kingdom. The year 1366 was a turning point in the history of Ludmir. It is no longer the residence of the prince and its position was taken over by Lutsk. Ludmir lost its former influence.

A renewed prosperity of Ludmir took place in 1431, when the Polish king gave the city the “Mageburg Rights”, which raise the status of the city.

In 1452 Volhynia is united with the Duchy of Lithuania, whose capitol was Vilna. Ludmir was reduced to a provincial city.

In 1491 Ludmir was once again attacked by the Tatars. The city was destroyed.

The medieval period of Ludmir ended with its destruction by the Tatars.

Attack by the Tatars

Ludmir barely began to rebuild when it was once again attacked in 1500 by the son of the Crimean Tatar Khan Mengeli Giray. His troops tore through Volhynia and once again Ludmir was destroyed.

After the Tatar attacks, rebuilding of Ludmir resumed. Its Jewish community was growing as well.

In 1552 Ludmir was completely rebuilt; it now contained 698 houses.

In that same year Jews occupied 31 of those houses. They were mainly involved in business and held a few concessions.

In 1569 the Union of Lublin was created between Poland and Lithuania. Ludmir was declared a county city.

In 1570 the Jews of Ludmir were mention in the “privileges” of the Polish King Zygmunt – August which were concerned with housing. The Jews were freed from all taxes except on salt and wax. It is estimated that at this time the Jewish population sharply increased in Ludmir.

In the years 1548 -1572 the Jews of Ludmir, as all Jews of Volhynia were handed over to the authority of the king of Poland and thereby became equal judicially with the Jews of Poland.

[Columns 51-52]

Council of Four Lands

In order to understand the history of the Jews of Ludmir as a part of Polish Jewry and in order to understand in what ways the rabbis of Ludmir exerted influence on Jewish spiritual life in Poland, we must dedicate a few words to the Council of Four Lands, the autonomous administrative body of Polish Jewry for 200 years.

It was not for the benefit of the Jews when the Polish kings allowed the Polish Jews to have an autonomous administration for all their internal issues and allow meetings of the representatives of the largest Jewish communities in Poland: The Polish kings allowed the body to exist in order to create and organize an instrument, which would be able to collect taxes the Jews were required to pay, scattered throughout the cities and towns of Poland.

The Jewish communities organized themselves in the Council of Four Lands (representatives from four Polish provinces) took upon themselves the responsibility to collect the royal taxes from all the Jews. The kings would, usually, not interfere in how the Jews collected the taxes.

In time, the Council of Four Lands increased its influence, both with the government as well as with Jews in matters concerning synagogues, rabbis and Jewish education. It became the recognized Jewish administrative body.

The Jewish communities in Poland took on this form of organization gladly, not because of external reasons (taxes), but mainly for internal reasons. The proof is: these meetings of the community councils were in fact taking place many years prior, before they were officially permitted by the Polish authorities.

The elected members of the Jewish community councils would meet from time to time at fairs, in order to work out jointly the solutions for all the communities, in order to arrange the relationships between the largest communities and the smaller ones and to create a higher Jewish court which would judge matters which emerged from sanctions from the smaller Jewish courts as well as send mediators to the king to request various “privileges” and protection from the city administrations and priests who persecuted the Jews.

The meeting place during the 16^th century was the city of Lublin which was situated on the border between Poland and Lithuania. This is where fairs would take place every year in February.

Merchants from Lithuania and Poland would come to the fairs. Rabbis and elected members of community councils would also gather at these fairs.

It is not certain when the Council of Four Lands began its activities.

It is known that at the beginning it was “The Council of Three Lands” (Greater Poland – Poznan; Little Poland – Cracow; Belarus – Lemberg). These meetings were already taking place during the reign of King Zigmund the First around 1514.

Later, when Lithuania joined the council was called The Council of Four Lands; This is when Volhynia joined (Ostra or Ludmir) and Lithuania, for various reasons withdrew.

There is mention in Polish documents of a meeting of rabbis from different countries in 1533.

In 1540 inter – country Jewish courts obtained legal status from the Polish authorities.

These meetings at the fairs began to take place more often and evolved into a stable institution.

In 1580 the “Council of Four Lands” already was the representative of Jewish autonomy in Poland.

Its name depended of the number of countries that participated: “Council of Three Lands”, “Council of Four Lands”, “Council of Five Lands”. After Lithuania withdrew in 1629 the name remained “Council of Four Lands”.

The members of the council were rabbis and representatives form the most important Jewish communities (the elected members of Jewish community councils, who would usually be elected once a year, during the interim days of Passover).

The councils would generally meet in Lublin between Purim and Passover, and in Yaroslav at the end of summer (when the fairs took place).

The councils from each province (land), before the general meeting, would meet in their land (just like the Polish members of the Sejm which would meet before the general Sejm assembly). In 1594 the Council of four Lands decided, all religious books published in Poland could only appear if they received recommendations from well – known rabbis; Rabbis from the whole country would actually come to the meetings of the Council of Four Lands to receive, on the spot, letters of recommendation from the leading rabbis.

(From these letters of recommendation, upon which the Rabbis agreed,

[Columns 53-54]

we see the name of the rabbi, his city and his rabbinate. Its from these documents we learn many of the names of the rabbis from Ludmir.

Rabbis and elected members of the Jewish community of Ludmir participated in many meetings of the Council of Four Lands. During the time when Rabbi Yom Tov Heller was the rabbi of Ludmir, he successfully chaired the meeting which took place at the Yaroslav fair in 1640 which saw the renewal of the statute which prohibited the purchase of the rabbinate through collaboration with the authorities.

In 1736 The Polish General Federation decide to overthrow the authority of the Council of Four Lands and took away its right to collect the royal taxes, which was transformed to a head tax for every Jew. However, even after this, the rabbis would gather at fairs and adopt general resolutions. Actually, the Council of Four Lands was annulled completely in 1764 after an existence of over 200 years.

The Talmudic genius Ha Gaon Maharsh”al

Rabii Reb Yitzkhak Bezalel's (1542-1576)

The first rabbi in Ludmir:

We learn from the middle of the 16^th century the name of a Ludmir rabbi, Rabbi Reb Yitzkhak Bezalel's (son of Reb Bezalel), one of the best-known Torah scholars of the mid-16^th century.

During his time there was a great Yeshiva in Ludmir and he stood at the head. He was considered the greatest authority by all the great rabbis of his time.

Reb Shloyme Luria (Maharsh”l) would send him replies and he, Reb Yitzkhak would confirm them with his signature. The rabbis in his time called him “Gaon”, genius. He became esteemed with the responses of Reb Moishe Iserlish (HaRam”a) and Reb Yosef Katz (author of Shaarit Yosef), head of the Yeshiva in Prague for over 50 years).

Reb Yitzkhak Bezalel's wrote revisions on Talmud, on (The Rosh) Rabbi Asher Ben Yekhiel, and on Mordkhai (“Klalit Yofi” part A).

Rabbi Yitzkhak Bezalel's was rabbi in Ludmir probably in the years 1547-1570 (and possibly in the years 1540-1570).

One of his daughters married the famous Reb Avrom Pulak, and the other daughter married the respected man from Ludmir Reb Shmuel Halevi. They gave him two grandchildren who occupied important places in Jewish life of the time:

1. Reb Dovid, the well-known jurist, author of “Turi Zahav”. He was a great personality and authority in religious Jewish life at that time as well as later generations. (1586-1667).
2. Reb Yitzkhak Halevi, who later became a striking personality in the Jewish community of Lemberg, author of “Siakh Yitzkhak” (about Hebrew grammar), “Brit Halevi”, “Bar Esek” “Yirat Rekhovot”, “Shu”t Mahar”ei Levi”, Khidushei Mahara”ei Levi”.

Ludmir Rabbis at the end of the 16^th Beginning of the 17^th Centuries

At the end of the 16^th century and beginning of the 17^th century we find 4 m=names of rabbis who were head of Yeshivas in Ludmir: 1) The Rabbi Reb Moishe (“Mata Moishe” – 1606); 2) Reb Efraim Naftali son of Rabbi Yosef Yona (1622); 3) Rabbi Reb Mendl Reb Avigdorsh (1559-1590); 4) The rabbi and Gaon Reb Yehoshua Malk Hacohen, known in the Jewish world as Sam”a.

The Rabbi Reb Moishe (Mata Moishe) “Moishe Mes” (The dead Moishe) (1590-1606)

The Ludmir rabbi, Rabbi Moishe was a student of Rash”l and was the son-in-law of the philanthropist Reb Shmuel Halevi (his wife is the granddaughter of the first rabbi in Ludmir Reb Yitzkhak Bezalel's). he was head of the Yeshiva in Ludmir.

He was one of 30 rabbis who in 1590 signed precept that a rabbi could not purchase his position in the rabbinate; the precept was later

[Columns 55-56]

renewed at the meeting in Yaroslav of the Council of Four Lands in 1640. Thanks to the initiative of Reb Yom Tov Lipman Heller, who was then rabbi in Ludmir. In this rabbinical decree from Yaroslav, where all 30 names of the signatories appear, his name is given as “Reb Moishe the Deceased”.

He took part in a meeting of the Council of Four Lands in 1603 where a precept was accepted to regulate the publishing of new sacred books.

The sacred book “Meta Moishe” is known among his writings where he discusses traditions in Jewish life in Poland in the second half of the 16^th century. (Published in 1591).

He was also the author of “Ho'il Moishe” (a book of interpretations of sacred texts; published in 1616).

After Ludmir he was the rabbi and chief Jewish judge in Premishl, Lubavil in Volhynia and rabbi in the Jewish community of Apt (region of Krakow).

The Rabbi Reb Mendl Rabbi Avigdorsh (1590-1595)

The rabbi Reb Mendl Rabbi Avigdorsh (Rabbi Yishayahu Menakhem Mendl Ben Yiztkhak) was the rabbi in Ludmir around 1590.

Before Ludmir he was in Shebreshin; after Ludmir he was a rabbi in Krakow (probably from 1595).

It is known that he took part in The Rabbi's Conference which took place during the Gramnitz Fair in Lublin (1587), where the prohibition was declared against buying the rabbinate for money.

Later he participated as the rabbi from Krakow in the meeting in Yaroslav (1597), where the prohibition was renewed.

He also participated in the meeting of the Council of Four Lands which took place in Yaroslav in (1591).

He is the author of the sacred books” “The Book of Pulpits of the Diaspora”, “The Book of Small Matzah”, “Beurim Kvodo Hashem”, “Tikun Shtarot”. He died in 1595.

Reb Efraim Naftali Bar Yosef Yonah – (1622)

At the time the head of the Ludmir Yeshiva was Reb Efraim Naftali son of Yosef Yonah. He died in Ludmir in 1622.

His son Rabbi Yakov was Av Bet Din, chief rabbi of the rabbinical court in Brisk, Lithuania and Lublin: his grandson was the genius Rabbi Yehoshua Heshl, rabbi in Lublin and Krakow.

Here is the genealogy tree of Rabbi Efraim Naftali son of Yosef Yonah:

Reb Yonah Judging Rabbi (“Isur Veheyter HaArokh”) Rabbi Klonymys Kalman Rabbi Yonah (1558) (Chief Rabbi of Ostara and Little Russia) Rabbi Klonymus Kalman Mystical leader (Krakow – 1578)

Rabbi Efraim Naftali from Ludmir Died in Ludmir in 1622 (Head of the Yeshiva in Ludmir) Rabbi Yakov Chief judge of the rabbinical court in Brisk, Lithuania, 1630; in Lublin 1644). The Genius Yehoshua Heshl from Krakow (Rabbi in Lublin and Krakow – 1663).

Rabbi Yehoshua Falk (son of Alexander) (1595-1614)

After Reb Yeshayahu Menachem Mendl (Reb Avigdrosh) left the Ludmir rabbinate (around 1595) to take over the Krakow rabbinate, the rabbi and genius Reb Yehoshua Falk became the rabbi in Ludmir. He was known as one of the greatest Talmudic geniuses and jurists of his generation.

He was well known due to his writings on the Code of Jewish Law which appeared in four parts: The first three parts are called “The House of Israel”, and the fourth part, which was particularly well known in the Jewish world was called “the Book of the Light of the Eyes” (Meorot Eynaim). The book was so popular in the Jewish world, the author was not referred to by his own name, Rabbi Yehoshua Falk, but by the initials of the title of his work “Ba'al Hasamah”.

We can estimate he was Rabbi in Ludmir in the years 1595-1607.

In 1587 he was one of the main signatories of the prohibition against purchasing the rabbinate for money. In 1603 he participated in the rabbinical conference concerning overseeing new sacred books.

Rabbi Zunvil from Ludmir (1595)

On the list of judges from the “Gramnitz Fair” there is a name of a Jew from Ludmir, Reb Zunvil.

The Rabbi Yehuda Lib son of Rabbi Hinukh Altshul (1603-1612)

In the year (1611-1612) there was a rabbi in Ludmir Rabbi Yehuda Lib (Rabbi Hinukh Altshul). He was a student of the Ludmir rabbi Reb Yitzkhak Betzalel.

He wrote questions and answers and treatises on the Talmud. He often gave recommendations on sacred books: Sefer Mitzvahs Hagadol”, Biurei Sama”g “Be'or Chochma”, “Tel Orot” “Siach Yitzchak”.

From a collection of questions and answers we learn at that time in Ludmir there were three judges:

Reb Shmuel Zaydl Ashkenazi, Reb Zvi Hirsh Baharash Margoliot and Reb Meir son of Natan.

[Columns 57-58]

An entire of chain of rabbis descended from him and for generations held chairs in the rabbinates in Jewish communities in Germany.

We are providing here the lineage tree of six generations beginning with his father, Reb Hinukh Altshul.

Rabbi Hinukh Altshul, Yerushalmi (from the rabbis of Prague)

Rabbi Yehuda Lib Henokh's Altshul, rabbi in Ludmir (1611-1612) Rabbi and chief judged of the rabbinical court in Pozna (1620) Reb Moshe Hinukh Yerudhalmi – (1611-1620) Reb Volf Altshuler – (1648) (Author of “Amud Ha Aish” (Pillar of Fire), Aish L'Hair”, Mishnat Hasidim”).

Reb Avrom Dovid form Puzna Reb Khanokh son of Avrom Aron (1600-1659) “Argument with Joseph and the Tribes”, “Nachlat Yitzchak”, “Lamentations on the edicts of 1648. A preacher in Poznan, rabbi and chief judge of the rabbinical court in Gniezna, rabbi in Aytingn (1659). Rabbi Yehuda Lib Rabbi in Popersha (Shnaytshach)

“Rashit Bichurim”, Chinuch Beit Yehuda”, published treatises of his grandfather, Rabbi Yehuda Lib son of Hinukh Altshul, (1708).

Rabbi Moshe Reb Mendl's (1619)

In 1619 the rabbi in Ludmir was Rabbi Moshe Mendl's, the son of the Ludmir rabbi Yeshayahu Menachem Mendl son of Yitzkhak (Reb Mendl son of Rabbi Avigdor). He was one of the best known of his generation.

He was not rabbi in Ludmir for long. In 1622 he was already the rabbi in Prague (replacing Rabbi Baal Hashalah who had emigrated to the Land of Israel. Later he was rabbi in Krakow (1635). Later, he was rabbi in Poznan where he passed away. In 1639 he participated in the conference of the rabbis at the Council of Four Lands, together with Tosfes Yom-Tov who was the rabbi in Ludmir.

Two Rabbis in the First Decades of the 17^th century

From various books and eulogies have information about two rabbis in Ludmir in the first decades of the 17^th century:

1. Rabbi Meir son of Yosef
   He was previously rabbi in Ostara and later rabbi in Lublin and Lemberg (1638). When he was rabbi in Ostara the head of the Yeshiva was Baal Hashala.
2. Rabbi Nakhum
   His daughter Bayleh married Rabbi Meir Wohl from Brisk, the son of Rabbi Shaul Wohl (who was a day king in Poland).

In the years 1634-1642 the rabbi and chief of the rabbinic court in Ludmir was Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller, one of the greatest rabbis of his generation. The years of his rabbinate were accompanied by dramatic conflict between him and some Gabbais (synagogue managers) in Ludmir. This conflict was eternalized in his autobiographical work “Megillat Ayvah”, “The Scroll of Hatred”, and remained in the memory of Polish Jewry in general and Ludmir Jews in particular.

In the years of “Tosfes Yom-Tov” Ludmir was one of the first Jewish communities in Volhynia: At the time there were three other large Jewish communities in Volhynia: Ostara, Krementz and Lutsk.

Born in Wallersthyn (Bayern) 1579. The life of Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller was stormy and filled with dramatic experiences.

At the age of 18 he was already a rabbinic judge in Prague. Later he served as rabbi in Nickelsburg, and then rabbi in Prague (1627). This was the time of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) and the Jews of Bohemia in general and particularly from Prague were forced to pay high taxes to the government (40,000 gulden a year). In order to cover the taxes, the Prague Jewish community created a special tax commission which had to evaluate the taxes which were placed on the Jewish residents of Prague. Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller chaired this commission.

A few people who were unhappy about the taxes impose on them, denounced the commission to the government and informed on them, saying that in his writings, Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller said bad things about the government and Christianity. He was arrested in 1629 and was brought in chains to Vienna. He stood trial before Catholic priests who sentenced him to death. They also placed a ban on his books. Only after great intervention by honorable members of the Prague Jewish community, his sentence was repealed, both the death sentence and the ban. However, he was prohibited to be a rabbi in Prague. In total, he sat in jail for 40 days. Then he left for Nemerov in Podolia where he served as rabbi.

In 1634 he was invited to serve as rabbi in Ludmir.

As rabbi of Ludmir he represented Volhynian Jews at the conferences of the Council of Four Lands which took place in 1636, 1639, 1640, 1641 and 1642.

He made a great impact and influenced the rabbis on the Council of Four Lands to strengthen and

[Columns 59-60]

consolidate the precepts and prohibitions decreed back in 1587 on purchasing a rabbinic post from the authorities. He felt this precept was very important for private Jewish life and for the spiritual authority of a rabbi, who was elected by the Jewish community and not nominated for money by the non-Jewish authorities.

In those days, it was a common occurrence for the local authorities to sell the rabbinate position to people who were not worthy or qualified. Who ever wanted to be the rabbi in a large Jewish community during those years had to be wealthy, in fact doors were closed to poor Talmudic scholars.

Reb Yom Tov Lipman Heller was influential in putting forth a ban on rabbis buying the position as well as communities who invited bought rabbis.

In 1635 a meeting took place in Vishnievetz of the four main Jewish communities in Volhynia (Ludmir, Lutzk, Ostara and Kremenitz). This is where he prevailed and there was a resolution passed forbidding the selling of the rabbinate for money. In 1640 he brought this resolution before the Council of Four Lands in the name of the Volhynian committee. The resolution was passed.

The renewed resolution was publicly announced in all the synagogues on Yaroslava. During the fair 1641 fair in Kremenitz the resolution was approved again.

Reb Yom - Tov Lipman Heller protected this resolution strongly and never acknowledged a rabbi who purchased his position for money.

This brought him many enemies in Ludmir who denounced him to the authorities.

In 1643 his opponents denounced him to the regional governor. He issued an expulsion but thanks to the intervention of the most honorable Jews of Warsaw, the expulsion was rescinded.

In 1644 he left Ludmir and took the position of chief rabbi of Krakow (after the death of Rab Yoel Sirkis), and in 1647 (after the death of Reb Yehoshua Heshl) he became head of the Yeshiva in Krakow.

He remained in Krakow for the rest of his life. He passed away in 1645.

Reb Tom-Tov Lipman Heller left behind, as is well known his autobiographic book “The Scroll of Hostility”, where he describes his persecutions and troubles, beginning with the denunciation in Prague and ending with his leaving Ludmir for Krakow.

(This book was first published in print 200 years later. It was published for the first time in 1836 with comments in the German translation. Later, the book was published many times in Vienna, Vilna and Warsaw).

In the years he was rabbi in Ludmir he gave a recommendation of the book “Voice of Judah” during the fair of 1639.

Rabbi Yom -Tov was rabbi in Krakow during the horrifying years of Chmielitsky's edicts, 1648-49. At that time of pogroms, many women lost their husbands and became Agunot. He did a lot to help these women.

He also wrote many prayers and lamentations in memory of the martyrs which were published in Krakow in 1650.

His works were written in a pure Hebrew in a beautiful style and they stand out for their logic and clarity. It is obvious from them that he was knowledgeable in mathematics, astronomy and natural science.

His best-known work is interpretation of the Mishna called “Tosfos Yom-Tov”. Besides this he wrote many articles which were published many times and many others which remained in manuscript form.

His books “Me'ednei Melech” and “Lechem Chamodot” were very popular. The title “Me'ednei Melech” was later changed to “Me'ednei Yom Tov” (due to the denunciation ofsinc “Me'ednie Melech, or King, insulted King Ferdinand II).

He published the book “Archot Chaim” (the last will and testament of Ra”sh) with a translation in Yiddish so women could read it as well.

For women, he published a book “Bris Melach” (the rules on how to salt meat) in Yiddish.

He wrote a separate book called “Darchei Hora'ah” with the goal to understand the laws which have many disputes between the lines. Here he wanted to make a statement against the many fine arguments made by the Polish rabbis. This book remained in manuscript form. (It is possible that once he came as rabbi to Poland from Prague he did not want to speak out against Polish rabbis).

Many of his recommendations of books have remained, among them, those he wrote in the years when he was rabbi in Ludmir.

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This was a stormy nature of a great scholar, endowed with dynamic strength of a communal activist.

The Rabbi Reb Yekhezkl son of Mosihe Yakov (1645)

He was rabbi in Ludmir right after Tosfos Yom Tov. We only know a few details about him: in 1645 he gave a recommendation for the publishing of Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Laws); among those who recommended were 18 well known rabbis, among them Tosfos Yom Tov (who by then was rabbi in Krakow).

(It is possible that Rabbi Aharon Yakov, chief Jewish judge in Ludmir in 1669 was his son).

Years of Persecutions and Persecution Decrees of 1648-49

The bloody years of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, 1648-49 had a terrible effect on the Jewish population of Ludmir.

Thousands of Ludmir Jews were murdered by Khmelnitsky's Cossacks; many left Ludmir.

The historian from that period, Nosn Noteh Hanover wrote: “Also in the region of Volhynia, in the Jewish communities of Ludmir, Lubemla, Lutzk, Kremenitz and the vicinity the was murder of thousands of people”.

The Jewish community of Ludmir became very small. It is known, that in 1649 only 39 Jewish families remained in Ludmir.

Reb Yakov Kopl Margolis, author of “Kol Yakov” –

From the years 1648-49 the name Reb Yakov Kopl Margolis of Ludmir reaches us. He was chased from Poland and reached Constantinople.

We came from the well-known Margolis family of rabbis and scholars who were spread out through Germany, Poland and Russia.

He is the author of the book “Kol Yakov”, where there is a lamentation for the Jewish scholars in Poland, martyrs murdered during the atrocities of 1648-49. Besides this, he also authored the books “Marot Yakov” and Mizbayach Yakov”.

Reb Avrom Ben Shmuel Ashkenazi –

The edicts of 1648-49 reverberated in the book “Tzaar Bas Rabonim” by another Ludmir scholar, the pharmacist Reb Avrom Ben Shmuel Ashkenazi. The manuscript was published in 1888.

He was chased out of Poland to Venice.

New Tragedies Befall the Jewish Community in Ludmir – (1653-1658)

The fears of the Khmelnitsky years, 1648-1649 had barely passed. The year 1653 arrived and Ludmir is destroyed by Lithuanian troops, and in 1558, Ludmir is destroyed by Lithuanian and Hungarian troops. Only two Jewish families remained in Ludmir.

Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Ben Efraim Naftali – (1655)

From the years between the two attacks on Ludmir we learn the name of Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Ben Efraim Naftali, who was rabbi and chief Jewish judge in Ludmir in 1655; we also know that in 1655 he sat on the council in Lublin.

Rabbi Nakhman Ben Shloyme Naftali – (1664)

Only a few after the destruction of Ludmir by the Hungarian troops, the community was revived.

We learn the name Rabbi Nakhman Ben Shloyme Naftali, who was rabbi and chief judge in Ludmir in 1664. (At that time he gave recommendation as rabbi of the book” Amudie Hashiva” by Rabbi Bezalel Ben Shloyme and signed second after Ta”Z). Later he was rabbi in Vilna.

Meir Ben Yosef Ashkenazi of Ludmir – (1665-1672).

Among the leaders of the Ludmir Jewish community in the years 1665-1672 we find the name of Meir Ben Yosef Ashkenazi (in the records of the town of Tiktin we see his signature as arbitrator on issues relating to the Jewish community of Tiktin which wanted to be represented in the Council of Four Lands).

Rabbi Aharon Yakov – (1669)

In the year 1669 Rabbi Aharon Yakov, son of Rabbi Yekhezkl, was rabbi and chief judge of Ludmir.

It is probable he was the son of Rabbi Yekhezkl son of Reb Moishe Yakov, who was rabbi in Ludmir after Reb Yom Tov Lipman Heller left the town.

Reb Avrom Abeleh Kharif, Head of the Yeshiva of Ludmir – (1670)

In those years the head of the Yeshiva in Ludmir was Rabbi Avrom Ableleh Kharif (Beharar Bibyomin Bunes). Later he was the rabbi in Khoruvieshov.

His family genealogy:

Rabbi Meir (Maha'ram) From the family Z”ak (Zerah Kodesh) Reb Avrom Abeleh Kharif – (1670) Reb Yakov Ha Ludmirai

Reb Yisroel Chief Judge Lukatch in Volhynia Author of the book “Halchot Adam Mi Yisrael” (In this book there are interpretations of venerated texts by his grandfather Reb Abeleh Kharif about Talmudic questions from “Tagrei Lod”.

Rabbi Yisroel Ben Shmuel from Tarnopol (1670–1678)

During the years 1670- 1678 the rabbi in Ludmir was Rabbi Yisroel Ben Shmuel from Tarnopol, one of the central figures of Polish Jewry of the time. Before Ludmir

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he was a rabbi in Pinsk, and after Ludmir in Lutzk (1680).

He was probably a very wealthy Jew; his name is mention together with donations which he gave to help publish sacred book as well as loans.

As rabbi of Ludmir he participated in the Lublin Fair of 1671 (where it was decided the meetings would take place 10 kilometers behind Yaroslav). In 1673 h3 his mentioned in the record books of Tiktin and in 1677 in the record book of Pitchuv.

In 1678 he occupied one of the most central offices of Polish Jewry: - head supervisor of the entire Jewish community in the Kingdom of Poland, and elected council member on the General Council of Lublin.

In the same year he was chosen as an arbitrator in a conflict between the Council of Four Lands and the Council of Lithuania.

One can find his written recommendations in many sacred books of the time.

You can find his recommendation in the first printing of the Bible in Yiddish (by Yosef Etiyash from Amsterdam).

He was a student of the T”Az, Rabbi Dovid Halevy Segal.

Reb Efraim Fishl Ben Arye from Ludmir (Reb Efraim the Mediator) (1684-1719)

During the years when Rabbi Yekutiel was rabbi and chief judge in Ludmir, the representative from Ludmir at the Council of Four Lands was Reb Efraim Fishl (Reb Efraim, the Mediator).

He participated often in the meetings of the Council of Four Lands and was one of the central figures of Polish Jewry in his time.

In a document published on April 18^th 1679, the Polish King Jan Sobieski placed Efraim Fishl under his protection. He was given the title “Head Writer”, a position elected by the Jews in the kingdom. He was permitted to reside in the King's court, as well as wherever he wanted to do business; he was also permitted to open a beer brewery in Ludmir; at the same time, he was released from all debts related to the Jewish community in Ludmir.

He is mentioned in 1683 in the record books of Tiktin. In 1684 he gave a recommendation on the sacred book “Katanot Or”. In 1687 he participated in the Yaroslav Fair. The same year he is mentioned in the record books of Apt. In 1688 he is mentioned in the record book of Tiktin. In 1699 the Polish King August the Second confirmed his protection letter from King Jan Sobieski. In 1703 he is mentioned as a trustee of the Council of Four Lands, in 1714 he determined the head tax for Polish Jewry. In 1719 he is once again mentioned as a trustee of the Council of Four Lands.

Reb Efraim Fishl (1671-1684)

His two sons, Reb Dovid Tevl and Reb Yakov were city rabbis in Ludmir. Reb Dovid Tevl was a rabbi and an elected member of the Jewish Council of Four Lands from Ludmir. He participated in the meetings of 1712 and gives his recommendation for the sacred book “Damesek Eliezer” (by Rabbi Eliezer Ben Yehuda chief Jewish judge of Pintchuv), hisother son, Rabbi Yakov was also a rabbi in Ludmir and in 1713 participated in the Council of Four Lands in Yaroslav and offered a recommendation on the sacred book “Brit Shalom” by Rabbi Pinkhas, chief Jewish judged from Vladov.

The grandchild of Reb Efraim Fishl, Rabbi Shaul was the chief Jewish judge of Ludmir after the death of his father Reb Yakov.

We will provide the genealogy of Reb Efraim Fishl here of seven generations; beginning with his father the great Gaon (genius) Rabbi Arye Leyb the Tall, chief Jewish judge of Krakow.

Reb Efraim Fishl son of Arye Leyb (Reb Efraim the Trustee 1671-1719) Reb Zekhariya Mendl (Rabbi of Belz, author of “Be'er Heytev” on “Yorea De'ah”, “Chushan Mishpat” and Even Dezar”) Rabbi Shmuel (Chief Jewish judge of Kremenietz, Volhyinia) Rabbi Dovid Tevl, (1721) (A resident of Ludmir, trustee of the Council of Four Lands) Rabbi Yakov (Chief Jewish judge of Ludmir, 1713) Reb Shloyme Zalman (Chief Jewish judge of Biali)

Reb Shaul Rabbi Yakov (Chief Jewish judge Ludmir 1742) Rabbi Zvi Hisrsh (Chief Jewish judge of Lukatch, Volhynia, author of “Chibat Zvi”) Rabbi Pinkhas (Among the respected in the Ludmir Jewish community) Reb Efraim Zalman (Chief Jewish judge Brestetchke, chief Jewish judge Dubne) Reb Arey Leyb Reb Arye Yehuda Leyb (Rabbi in Ostra) A rabbi in the Jewish community of Tulchin in Podolia.

Yosef Ben Reb Moishe from Ludmir (1665-1672)

In the year 1671 a meeting took place at the Council of Four Lands where it was decided that future

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meetings would not take place in Yaroslav proper but 10 kilometers beyond Yaroslav; among the signatories of this decision one can find the name Yosef Ben Reb Moishe from Ludmir. Also participating in this meeting was the great teacher and scholar Shmuel from Tarnopol, about whom we will speak later.

Yosef Ben Moishe was counted among the Jewish communal leaders of Ludmir from 1665-1672.

Shmuel Zanvil Ben Meir from Ludmir (1673- 1684)

In the years 1673-1684 the name Shmulke Zanvil Ben Meir Segal from Ludmir is brought to our attention.

His name is signed in 1673 on a judgment in the record book from the Jewish community of Tiktin and in 1684 on a judgement in the record book from Turisk.

The Rabbi Reb Asher son of Rabbi Yitzkhak (1677)

A few years later (1677) there is a new chief judge of the Jewish court in Ludmir – Reb Asher son of the holy nobleman Reb Yitzkhak.

In that year of 1677, he participated in the Council of Four Lands in Yaroslav. There, he gave his recommendation on the Yiddish translation of the bible and “Olat Ha Tamid”.

Before Ludmir he was the rabbi in Shebreshin; after Ludmir he was rabbi and chief Jewish judge in Belz and as rabbi of the Jewish community participated in a few rabbinic meetings of the Council of Four Lands.

He is considered as one of the best-known rabbis of his time.

The Trustee Reb Arye Yehuda Ben Moishe from Ludmir (1677-1693)

In the years 1677-1693 we often see the signature of the well-known trustee of the Lemberg Jewish community, who loved to say he was from Ludmir: Arye Yehuda Ben Moishe of Ludmir. He would often add: from outside Lvov; he wanted to stress he lived in a suburb of Lemberg. He took the position of head scribe of the Jewish communities of Poland.

He participated in the Yaroslav Council of Four Lands (1677) when the rabbis of the Council of Four Lands turned to the Jewish community in Amsterdam with the request to raise money for the release of Jews from Podolia who were taken prisoner by the Turks. In 1681 he participated in the meeting of the Council of Four Lands which took place in Leshne, with the former chief Jewish judge of Ludmir Reb Yisroel Ben Shmuel from Tarnopol. At that meeting they dealt with the controversy between the Council of Four Lands and the Council of the State of Lithuania concerning the cost of mediators in the mutual issues of the Jews from Poland and Lithuania.

In the year 1683 he participated as an arbitrator in a controversy between the Council of the State of Lithuania (which at the time consisted of the three largest cities: Grodno, Pinsk and Vilna) with the Jewish community of Brisk.

In the year 1684 he gave a recommendation on the sacred book “Nachlat Azriel”; in 1687 on the sacred book “Mayim Chaim”; in 1688 on the sacred book “Toldot Yitzchak”; in 1691 on the sacred book “Beyt Hillel”; in the same year he signed a decision during the fair at Yaroslav concerning the Jewish community of Tiktin; in 1692 he gave his recommendation on the sacred book “Midrash Rabot” in 1693 on the sacred book “Beyt Yakov”.

Moishe Reb Mordkhish form Ludmir (1677)

In 1677 the name of a Ludmir Jew, Moishe Reb Mordkhish Segal of Ludmir is mentioned. He signed a judgement about the Jewish community of Pintshano.

As it seems he is identical to Moishe Ben Mordkhai, who was called “Moishe the Mediator”, and was the general mediator for Polish Jewry.

Volf from Ludmir (1686)

The name Mohar Volf from Ludmir remained in a document as one of the four delegates from Volhynia that was appointed for a meeting of the Council of Four Lands (before 1687; probably 1686).

Rabbi Yekutiel son of Rabbi Yehoshua Aron (1678-1700)

From 1678-1700 he was rabbi and chief Jewish judge of the Jewish community of Ludmir.

As rabbi of Ludmir he participated in meetings of the Council of Four Lands (1678 – Lublin; 1687 – Yaroslav; 1688 – Yaroslav; 1696, 1700 – Yaroslav). He gave recommendations on various sacred books, (His well – known recommendations: 1678 – “Adrat Eliyau”, 1687 – “Mayin Chaim”, 1688 – “Toldot Yitzchak”; 1696- “Shmana L'Chamo”; 1700 – “Kavod Chachamim”; 1673 – “Divrei Shmuel”.

Rabbi Shmuel Ben Efraim Fishl (1707)

Rabbi Shmuel was the third son of Reb Efraim Fishl. He was chief Jewish judge in Kremenitz. We find his signature on a judgement concerning a rabbinic dispute in Premsla.

Reb Yakov Chief Jewish Judge of Ludmir son of Rabbi Efraim Fishl (1713)

He was one of Reb Efraim Fishl's three sons. It is known he was chief Jewish judge in Ludmir in 1713. We learn this from his judgement on the sacred book “Brit Shalom” where he signs his name.

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He was the son-in-law of the famous Reb Yisroel Katznelnbogen, chief Jewish judge of Pintshuv.

His son was Reb Shaul, who was chief Jewish judge in Ludmir from 1742-1752.

His grandchildren were: Reb Efraim Zaman (chief Jewish judge of Brestechko, and later in Dubne) and Rabbi Pinkhas (one of the very respected in the Ludmir Jewish community); Rabbi Pinkhas had two sons: one was a rabbi in Ostara, the second, rabbi in Tulchin.

Reb Dovid Tevl son of Reb Efraim Fishl (1717-1721)

Son of Reb Efraim Fishl. Rabbi in Ludmir and an elected member to the Council of Four Lands. In 1717 he signed a decision concerning separating Lizensk from Premsla and the tax issues of the Council of Four Lands. He is also mentioned a participant in a meeting of the Council of Four Lands in Yaroslav, 1717; in 1721 he gave his recommendation on the sacred book “Damesek Eliezer” by Reb Eliezer Ben Yehuda, chief Jewish judge of PIntshuv. In 1721 he was mentioned as chief Jewish judge of Lokotch, Volhynia.

Reb Leyb from Ludmir (1726)

In connection with the controversy between the Jewish community of Pinsk and the Jewish community of Ostrog which wanted to separated from Pinsk, the Council of Four Lands decided in 1726 to hold a rabbinical court to deal with this issue. One of the members of the rabbinical court was the Jew from Ludmir, “Reb Leyb from Ludmir which is in Volhynia”.

Reb Shaul son of Rabbi Yakov (1761-1765)

He was the son of the Ludmir rabbi, Rabbi Yakov and grandson of Reb Efraim Fishl.

After the death of his father Reb Yakov, he took over the Ludmir rabbinate. In 1741 he participated in a meeting of the Council of Four Lands in Tishovitz. He represented the State of Volhynia in the Council of Four Lands.

In 1751 he gave a recommendation for the publication of the Babylonian Talmud, the tractate Brachot.

In 1752 he gave his recommendation for the sacred book “Beyt Avraham” by Avraham son of Rabbi Yitzchak Ha Cohen, chief Jewish judge of Tarla in the region of Lublin.

He is also mentioned in the record book of Ostara in 1765.

Rabbi Reb Eliyahu Ben Yakov of Ludmir (1740)

In the middle of the 18^th century, we find the name of a Jew from Ludmir, Reb Eliyahu son of Rabbi Yakov who wandered to Germany and settled in Piarde (Bayern).

In 1740 he published a sacred book “Menachem Cohen” by Reb Shabtai Ha Cohen from Semyatich. From his introduction to the book, we learn in his time, there was a large fire in Ludmir.

Rabbi Yehoshua Heshl

One of the last names of Ludmir rabbis to come to our attention on the eve of the partition of Poland was Rabbi Yehoshua Heshl, chief Jewish judge of Ludmir, the son of Avraham Ha Cohen (chief Jewish judge of Zamosc, author of “Beyt Avraham”). During his life he was also rabbi in Krasny, Brody, Shebreshin and Tarnopol.

Second Half of the 18^th century

We are entering a period from which we have a sequence of numbers of the Jewish population of Ludmir. The numbers are derived from various counts.

(We must approach the amount of Jews with some reserve as the purpose of counting was the head tax on Jews; one can surmise it was in the interest of the Jews not to give exact numbers and the actual numbers are more than the “official” count).

Hasidism

In the second half of the 18^th century Hasidism evolved in Poland. The years 1735-1745 were the active years of Israel Baal Shem Tov after his mystical revelation.

From 1730- 1760 the Hasidic movement spread through Volhynia, Podolia and Galicia.

1764 – In Ludmir there are 1,401 Jews (1,327 adults and 74 children).

1765 – During the counting there were 1,327 Jews in Ludmir; they complained that due to Jew hatred, they had to bury their dead at night.

The number of Jews begins to fall in Ludmir.

1772 – The first partition of Poland.

1782 – information about Ludmir Jews; they are involved in the horse trade, buying for the military and with the money buying products for the military.

1784- the are 340 Jews in Ludmir.

1790- 630 Jews in Ludmir.

Reb Shloyme Karliner (1781-1792)

Around 1781 the Hasidic Rebbe, Reb Shloyme Karliner settles in Ludmir; he is a student of Reb Aron Jarliner. Due to persecution of Hasidim, he was forced to leave his home in Karlin, a suburb of Pinsk. Reb Shloyme Karliner had many students.

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Details of his life are unknown.

During the Russian – Polish battles of 1792 he was murdered by Cossacks and had the honour to receive the title “Holy Man” as well as “Messiah son of Yosef”.

A Letter from the Ludmir Rabbi to Tadeusz Kostyushke (1792)

In 1792 the leader of the Polish army Tadeusz Kostyushke won a victory over the Russian general Kokhovsky, in a battle which took place near Ludmir. Shortly after, on July 18^th he had his greatest victory in a battle against Kokhovsky behind Dubyenko. This is when he spent more time with his soldiers in Ludmir. Witness to the fact that Tadeusz Kosytshke was popular among the Jews of Ludmir was a letter written to him by the rabbi of Ludmir (in the name of the Jewish population of the city of Ludmir).

The letter was written in a pompous Polish, which was characteristic of the time. We are providing here a literal Yiddish translation of the letter as well as the original Polish text:

To the high ranking benevolent General!

We, of the Jewish nation, who have settled in the city Vladzimiezh, witnessed the heroism, of those whose honour was eternally achieved in Dubyenko. The people are indebted you. We feel the land where we have been living for generations, is our second promised land, and sharing it with the noble nation, under whose protection we have been living for so long, with all of its achievements.

We feel obligated to show our gratitude to those who fought so heroically and appreciate the defense.

When our God, would return our old holiness, we can compare you to the famous Maccabees, we would not spare you the magnificent Menorah form our ancient Holy Temple in Jerusalem. Only because we are poor, we cannot offer you such a gift we feel we owe you, but we can offer you our hearts, together with the small canon, to tell of the achieved glory behind Dubyenko, and to drink to the success. Take this in good spirit with the expression of our deep regard which we have eternally for you, high ranking benefactor.

Your lowly servant and humblest,

The Rabbi in the name of the entire Jewish community.

On the letter there was a drawing of the small canon which was gifted by Kostyushke surrounded by the following inscription: “Long live Kostyushko, the one who renewed our former glory” and “Long live the folk – honour which was renewed by Dubyenko”.

1793- Second partition of Poland.

1794 – Tadeusz Kostyushko is named in Krakow the highest commander of the Polish Army.

1795 – The third partition of Poland, Ludmir joins Russia.

This is when Ludmir stops playing a visible role in Jewish life.

At the beginning of the 19^th century – Jews in the District of Ludmir number three times as much as non -Jews.

The following table provides numbers of Jews and Christians in the District of Ludmir, as well as Jewish merchants in the District of Ludmir.

Year	1799	1800	1801	1805
Christians	1,076	681	672	673
Jews	1,834	1,919	1,909	1,943
Jewish Merchants	15	22	37	34

We can see, at the beginning of the 19^th century 1800-1805 there were three times more Jews than Christians in the District of Ludmir.

1815 – a daughter was born to Monish Verbermakher from Ludmir. Her name was Khane-Rokhl. She later became known In the Jewish world as “The maiden of Lublin”.

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From a census taken in 1847 we learn there were 14 Jewish communities in the District of Ludmir totalling 14,876 Jews; Among them, 3,930 Jews in the city of Ludmir.

In 1859 a large fire breaks out in Ludmir.

In 1861 the begin to rebuild the town which now ahs 8,636 inhabitants.

The Edicts from Governor Igmiatiev May 3, 1881

The fact that Ludmir was close to the border (25 versts from the Austro-Hungarian border) caused many problems for the Jews of Ludmir including edicts and limitations.

According to the order from the governor of Kiev Igniatev, Jews from places nearby were forbidden to reside in an area 50 versts from the border.

The police would carry out searches and grab the “illegal” Jews. This would happen intentionally on the Sabbath and holidays when Jews would naturally be in the district of their families. At night, the police would surround the houses where they suspected illegal Jews lived, and when they found them, they would arrest them and send them away on foot, and usually on the Sabbath, to the city of Kovel which was beyond the forbidden boundary.

The walk to Kovel usually too three days and was accompanied by great suffering for those arrested, who were forced at night to sleep on the cold ground.

These edicts greatly disrupted the Jews in business with Jews in other regions. As a result, many Jews lost their work and income.

During this period Jews tried to be clever and outsmart the law. They would arrange fictitious marriages among those who had residential permits in Ludmir and those who did not. This was often accompanied by a conditional divorce.

However, after long interventions by people of influence, the higher Russian authorities removed the law from those expelled and pushed back until “A new announcement”.

Rabbi Yakov Shur (1886)

In 1886 the city rabbi of Ludmir was Rabbi Yakov Ben yitzkhak Shor, born in Galicia.

He came to Ludmir with the agreement of all the Hasidic classes as well as the agreement of the old Hasidic rabbi from Brisk.

He began to introduce changes in the lives of the Jews of Ludmir; he brought the custom that animals had to be controlled by veterinarians.

He organized a social self-help in Ludmir, he created a cooperative for workers according to work branches. The workers began to produce various manufactured goods in Ludmir proper and blocking them from bringing in form outside.

Among the Jewish merchants in Ludmir who would bring in merchandise from surrounding large cities, there was opposition to the worker's unions and their organizer Rabbi Shur.

The Trisk and Sadigur Hasidim began to oppose him and spread rumours that he was a heretic.

A letter of denunciation was sent about him saying he was not from Ludmir and did not have the right to reside in Ludmir, and he is a stranger, born in Galicia, (Austria).

In 1887 the Trisk, Belz and Sadigur Hasidim sent a letter to the governor-general in Kiev asking him to send the rabbi to jail as he was a criminal. In April 1887 the rabbi was sent to jail accompanied by armed police.

A trial took place and a few hundred jaws from Ludmir attended. They were accused of falsely swearing that Rabbi Shur was born in Ludmir. The defense lawyer was Kupernik from Kiev.

During the trial Rabbi Shur admitted he actually came from Galicia; but he was born in Ludmir and his real name was Yakov Ben Reb Yoel Rappaport. For 7 years he lived with his relative Shur, who raised him and named him Yakov Shur.

The trial took place in front of 12 judges and ended with the verdict to expel the rabbi.

With that, the story with Tosfos Yom Tov was repeated in Ludmir.

The End of the 19^th century

In the last years of the 19^th century the number of Christians surpasses the number of Jews both in the District of Ludmir and in Ludmir proper.

According to the census of 1892 the general population of Ludmir numbered 8,185 people; 4,593 men and 3,592 women.

The religious breakdown was the following: Jews – 6,389; Russian Orthodox – 1,063;

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Catholics- 613. Therefore, Jews comprised almost three quarters of the total population.

There were 1,034 houses in Ludmir; Fairs would take place 12 times a year.

Within a few years the number of Christian surpasses the number of Jews in the District of Ludmir and Ludmir proper.

In 1897 in the District of Ludmir there are: 277,600 Christians and 28,836 Jews.

In Ludmir proper there were close to 6,000 Jews (5869) and 9,883 Christians. I total, at that time in Ludmir there were 16,000 people.

The city administration was comprised of a city-president and two members of the administration: a Jew and a non-Jew. The city-president and the non-Jewish member were elected by a majority vote; the Jewish member was nominated by the governor of Zhitomir according to recommendations from the police.

There was also a city council which was headed by a Christian and his deputy was a Jew. The task of the council was to distribute identity cards, collect education taxes and supervise education in the city.

The elections of the council president and his deputy tool place in a primitive way. They would make a list on a sheet of paper and walk through the streets and Houses of Study and collect signatures.

The Big Fire of 1900

On Amy 5^th 1900 a big fire broke out in Ludmir where 150 house burned and 6 prayer houses. (Among them the Great Synagogue). 68 Torah scrolls burned. Approximately 600 families suffered from the fire, close to 2,000 men women and children.

A committee was founded to help those affected by the fire. An appeal to raise funds to repair the synagogue appeared in “Ha Tzfira” (vol. 185, 1900).

There was great poverty in Ludmir after the fire in all segments of the Jewish population.

The Building of Communal Institutions

The great suffering forced the Jewish population of Ludmir to find ways to overcome these difficult times. The impoverished teachers decided to open a modernized religious school. (1900). They also founded an interest free loan society to give out loans to impoverished artisans. (1901).

In 1903 a Talmud Torah (tuition free community school) was founded (thanks to the efforts of Mr. Boym). There were now 2,500 Jewish families in Ludmir. The majority of Jews were lumber merchants, wheat and cattle merchants, shop keeper and artisans.

There was already y a society to care for the sick, a pharmacy for the poor and a free school for poor children, a free loan society and then they founded clothing distribution for the poor who could not purchase clothes.

1905

When registration began for all men in the region to register for the army (the time of the Russian -Japanese war), and peasants begin to arrive in town, a panic and great fear breaks out within the Jewish community that a pogrom may ensue. They gave the chief of police a nice gift and the registration did not take place in Ludmir proper, by on the outskirts of town. Thus, a pogrom was averted.

Elections took place for the nation Duma. Two Jewish candidates were elected: Binyomin Vaserman and Eliezner Poyzner.

Ludmir Before the First World War

In 1906 a railroad was built connecting Ludmir and Kovel. This had a great economic significance for life in the city, as they were now connected to all the important centres of Russia and Poland.

In 1909 a state public school opened for Jews.

Actors now passed through Ludmir giving performances and individual recitals. The cantor Pinchuk visited Ludmir. He was so well received; a concert was organized in the Russian Officer's Club.

Jews lived off retail, supplying products to the military garrisons in Ludmir. The biggest support of their livelihood came from fairs which took place in Ludmir on the 20th of each month.

A social class emerged in Ludmir comprised of artisans, carpenters, wheel makers, shoemakers, tailors, furriers, tinsmiths and used clothes dealers, who would prepare ready made clothing for the fairs.

Under the influence of the Russian Liberation Movement, worker's organizations emerged in Ludmir, the “Bund” and others.

Before the World War there were two Yeshivas, one for locals and one for new arrivals.

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There was an attempt to open a Yiddish school and a library. There already existed a Jewish hospital headed by Dr. Zaber and Dr. Babbes.

The Free Loan Society played a large role in the life of the Ludmir Jewish population.

The First World War

The First World War broke out on Tisha B'Av (the ninth day of Av) 1914. (At the time as we already know, Ludmir belonged to Russia).

A few days after the outbreak of the war a battle ensued between an Austrian intelligence group and Russian soldiers in Ludmir. As a result, a few Austrians fell including a Jew. The Jewish residents of Ludmir mad him a big funeral in which the whole town attended. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery.

The Retreat of the Russian Army

At first the Russian army had great victories and occupied a lot of Austrian and German territory. However, later it suffered a great military defeat led by the German military leader General Ludndorf. The Russian soldiers ran away. Rumours spread among them that the Jews were responsible for their defeat.

The Russian soldiers beat and robbed Jews in all towns and cities they passed through while retreating.

Refugee Movement in 1915

There was a great movement of refugees from Austria to Ludmir. The Jews of Ludmir offered help. The refugees were housed in the House of Study and various small synagogues.

Many Jewish refuges also arrived from various towns in the vicinity. They ran away in fear of the retreating Russian military.

Sh. Anski

The well-known Yiddish writer Sh. Anski, author of The Dybbuk, was mobilized in the Russian army as a medic. He wandered with his division from town to town.

He used his wandering to help Jewish communities in the endangered territories, which, by the way, was forbidden for him to do. In Kiev he founded a committee of businessmen who gave him money to distribute among needy Jews.

Sh. Anski also visited Ludmir. He met with the wealthier men and businessmen (Moishe Babiade, of blessed memory and Moishe Shaynboym, of blessed memory). He gave one thousand rubles to Rabbi Moishe Shapiro to distribute to the needy in Ludmir.

He also showed interest in the antiquity of Ludmir.

A Russian Pogrom in Ludmir in 1915

The retreating Russian army headed toward Ludmir. The escaping Russian soldiers set fire to a few streets and businesses. Peasants from surrounding towns, led by Cossacks, fired upon Jewish businesses and robbed them.

In those days there were often acts of Jewish resistance pushing against their attackers. They chased away the peasants, who gathered from the area in Ludmir in order to rob Jewish businesses.

A Jewish soldier (from the retreating Russian dragoon) called upon the Jews of Ludmir to hit back at the peasants that were attacking them.

Ludmir was occupied by the Germans and a few days later, by their allies, the Austrians.

Austrian Occupation of Ludmir, 1915

During the Austrian occupation the administration of the city was in the hands of Commandant Mazer.

He ran the town strictly, introduced forced labour. Mainly men were taken to work, the providers of families. He introduced forced disinfection of bedding.

Hunger, Destitution, Public Kitchen

There was great destitution among the population. There was a lack of flour so the ate cornmeal.

Smuggling of produce began in the province.

In those days of hunger and destitution a public kitchen was opened, in order to quieten the hunger of the impoverished population. The chairman of the kitchen was the dentist, Marian Novek. In order to raised money for the kitchen, the clubs around it organized amateur performances. In time, these performances became the core of cultural work in Ludmir.

Due to the situation in Ludmir, Jews began to settle in the countryside and earned a living working the land.

The Protests and Demonstrations Against Capturing People for Forced Labour

One Sabbath in the House of study a protest occurred against capturing people for force labour,

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because many did not return and it was not known where the were working.

As a result of the protest a delegation went to Mazer, the commandant in Ludmir. He did not receive the delegation.

The writer, Sh. Anski, mentions in his memoirs this protest gathering which had a great reverberation and reached the Austrian parliament. A Jewish deputy got involved and suggested capturing people for forced labour was against the law. Those sent away. soon returned to their homes.

The Delegation to Chief Lieutenant Mazer

In order to regulate issues of the Jewish population on Ludmir a delegation went to Lieutenant Mazer. (Members of the delegation were: Rabbi Shapiro, Leyb Laks, Dovid Ratnshteyn, Hersho Lev and Moishe Shaynboym).

A list was put together of the wealthy who paid taxes on behalf of the poor.

A Yiddish cultural community was founded under the leadership of H. Sipord.

Three Murderers of Jews were Hung

During the time of Lieutenant Mazer, three Christians attacked Jews riding a wagon on the road to Ludmir, and killed them.

Mazer, who strictly held up the law, although he was not a great lover of the Jews, commanded they catch the murderers; they were later publicly hanged in Ludmir. The entire town was called to watch the execution.

Hebrew Libraries

During the Austrian occupation two Hebrew libraries were founded: one was founded by the Zionists and was situated in the Jewish public kitchen, and the second by a youth group “Chadur HaTzair” and was located in the building of the public school.

(It is important to mention that during the Austrian occupation electricity was brought to Ludmir and a wooden movie house was built in the centre of town with 300 seats).

200 Jews in the Ludmir Militia

They began to prepared for the retreat of the Austrian army.

A militia was formed. Its main purpose was to protect the order of the municipal warehouses during the transition from one authority to the next.

The militia was comprised of 200 Jews, 100 Ukrainians, 100 Poles. The Jew Nosn Shtern was nominated to be the assistant to the leader. The Jews Avrom Yosef and Menashe Shaynkestl were nominated as division commanders. Due to the conflicts between the Poles and Ukrainians, the Jews were the main power of the militia.

Hershl Lev – Vice Chairman of Ludmir City Council

At the end of the Austrian occupation the city commander created a city council in Ludmir comprised of 5 Jews, 3 Ukrainians and 3 Poles.

The Jews elected the following as their delegates: Hershl Lev, Yisroel Isar Tzaylngold, Nokhem Gitmil, Yakov Yelin and Moishe Shaynboym.

Nominated as chairman of the city council was a Ukrainian, vice-chairman was the Jew, Hershl Lev. (Later, he was sent by the Soviets to Siberia and died there with his wife and child).

Jews Among the Ukrainians and Poles Who Want to Take Over Ludmir

The epoch, when the Austrians left Ludmir was a dramatic chapter in the life of Ludmir in general and particularly for the Ludmir Jews. Political disorder ruled. The Poles organized Legionnaire – Forces which wanted to capture as much territory as possible for the new emerging Poland. The Ukrainians hoped to create an independent Ukrainian state. Bothe the Ukrainians and the Poles made efforts to occupy Ludmir which was important to them due to its strategic position as a city on the railroad line.

A mentioned above, the militia was comprised of Jews, Ukrainians and Poles. The Ukrainian militiamen sabotaged the Poles and the Poles sabotaged the Ukrainians. In these transitional years the Jewish militiamen were the fundamental members of the Ludmir militia. In these times of conflict between Polish and Ukrainian forces that were approaching Ludmir, the Jews in fact, for a while, ran the town.

Rumours began to spread those Ukrainian forces were marching to Ludmir in order to occupy the city. This is when the Ukrainian peasants in the region

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surrounded the city. At the same time, they took on a position of hatred toward the Jewish population.

However, the Jewish militia did not allow the Ukrainian forces into town, particularly because they knew about their Jew hatred. Shooting broke out between the Jewish militia and the attacking Ukrainians. As a result, some Ukrainians were wounded and shot. The Ukrainians retreated.

A short time later, the Polish Legionnaires marched into Ludmir. They also displayed hatred toward the Jewish population. They immediate liquidated the Jewish militia.

The Jews learn the Polish Legionnaires are planning to hang the Jewish businessmen Moishe Shaynboym and Nosn Shtern. The head of the city council, Litzkendorf, the Polish priest went to the leader of the Polish Legion Raptchevsky and asked him to call off the order.

A short time later, a group of Polish soldiers, who call themselves “Yavarchikes” after the name of their leader Yavarsky. They distinguish themselves with their savage anti-Semitism. They romp, beat up Jews and cut off their beards. Jews become unprotected and abandoned.

During those days a Jewish baker was murdered in the police station. Jews were afraid to remove his corpse and give him a Jewish burial, because everyone knew they would be mercilessly beaten in the police station.

The young Mendl Tenenboym risked his life. He went to the station, took the dead body, placed him in a large sack and carried him for two kilometres to the Jewish cemetery. Mendl Tenenboym later left for Israel and was one of the founders of Kfar Vitkin.

Communal Work

It is interesting to note the fact which was characteristic in many Jewish cities in Poland and Lithuania. Precisely during the war years, widespread communal and political activity developed. Political organizations and cultural institutions emerged.

In Ludmir, during the war and the Austrian occupation, the Zionist organization was founded. Its founder was a Jew named Lander who arrived with a wave of refugees. Moishe Shaynboym and Levin helped him. Later, Dr. Shloyme Israelit became chairman.

In those years, two Hebrew schools were founded. The schools activated many teachers. The head of the first school was the teacher Mendl Lipsker who organized children's performances in Hebrew: Hannah and Her Seven Sons, and David and Goliath. He also organized a Hebrew choir. Other well-known teachers were Yehoshua Klayner and Filimovsky.

Those who ran the second school were the teachers Idamoshek and Duner.

The official rabbi of Ludmir at that time was Rabbi Gotlieb, who came from Galicia.

Wandering operatic troupes under the direction of the Lublin theatre director Yakov Vaksman visited Ludmir often, performing a repertoire of Goldfadn's operettas.

Ludmir Under Polish Rule

The minute Ludmir belonged again to Poland, Ludmir Jewry connected again to Polish Jewry and began a blossoming epoch: cultural and political organizations were founded, as ell as self-help institutions, similar to all Jewish communities in the towns and cities in Poland.

As is known, the centre of all Jewish life in Poland, in all domains, was Warsaw. Ludmir Jewry connected itself to Warsaw and began to create its political, cultural and economic institutions.

Already in 1918, right after the end of the war, a division of the “Joint” was founded with the goal to help the Jews of Ludmir get economically back on their feet. The chairman of the “Joint” was Dr. Novke, and the members of the board were Moishe Shaynboym, Meir Lintov, the Apeltzeyg brothers and Moishe Boyko.

Dramatic ensembles from Poland visited Ludmir often. Esther Rokhl Kaminska came with her dramatic troupe as well as Hershkovitch's operatic troupe. There was also a local drama club active in Ludmir run by the photographer Izak Shtern.

From 1919-1921 the Dybbuk was performed and many wandering troupes came.

In 1924 a Jewish Socialist Worker's party, Poalei Zion was founded as well as the youth organization Hashomer Hatzair.

In 1925 a committee was chosen for “Tarbut”. Its chairman was Mikhal Bergner, vice- chairman Yakov Yelin and board members: Moishe Shaynboym, Yekhiel Koyfman,

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Khaim Kleynmintz, Avrom Ingberg, Pinkhas Shaynkastl, Yehoshua Kleyner, Khaim Perl, Zev Apleman. A “Tarbut” school was also opened with 83 children in 3 grades.

The Poalei Zion sent a delegate, Leyb Lerer to a conference on the League of Workers in the Land of Israel, which took place in Warsaw with participation of Vandervelde.

In the following years to municipal elections took place: in 1929, when the Jews put forth 12 of 24 mandates and in 1932 when they put forth only 8 mandates. In 1929 the following were the Jewish mandates: General Zionists, three: Dr. Starer, Yakov Yelin, Zvi Leyb; artisans three; small business three; Borukh Ayzn. Poalei Zion two; Lacemakers and Bund one: Herlikh.

The elections were accompanied by a vigorous election campaign and with various election appeals and posters.

A Jewish press emerged in Ludmir. A weekly “Ludmir Life” was published (an apolitical democratic weekly), edited by Z. Vasser. In 1930 the Zionist organization decided to publish a weekly called “Our Newspaper”. Moishe Shaynboym was elected as its first editor and members of the editorial board were Dr. Starer, Bokser and Avrom Ingber. This paper lasted two months.

In 1927 a branch of “Betar” was founded. In 1930 a group left “Betar” and founded “Masada”.

In 1933 an artisan and small business bank was founded by the retail union. The Hebrew “Tarbut” school which was founded with 83 children grew quickly and in 1934 had close to 500 pupils.

The “Tarbut” activists wanted to create an original school institution in Ludmir which would allow children a chance to prepared for an agricultural life in the Land of Israel. An actually, on June 15^th 1936 the two-year agricultural course began in Ludmir. The director was the engineer Sienitsky. In general, the courses included about 100 men until the outbreak of the war. The school only managed to graduate on class. From the school, only one teacher and 10 students survived.

The same year there was a great rush toward emigration to the Land of Israel. Given that there were very few certificates available, an illegal immigration movement began. In that year, 50 young people from Ludmir immigrated illegally to the Land of Israel.

The People's Bank played a significant role in the economic life in Ludmir. This was a period of strong anti-Semitism in Poland and a special organization called “Razvoy” tried to prevent Jews from earning a living. The tax burden was great and the merchants as well as retailers were destined for ruin. The People's Bank gave out loans the merchants and retailers helping to prevent difficult times. The bank had 800 members. The chairman of the board was Mikhal Bergner, the two members of the board were Pinkhas Shaynkestl and Zvi Sheyner. The chairman of the council: Dovid Bokser.

It is also important to mention the activity of “AZE” which looked after health issues of the poor youth and “ORT” which taught trades to the youth.

Activity in the orphanage developed and blossomed in Ludmir, aided by the philanthropists in town.

Zionist life in town was active and dynamic. There were large gatherings to raise money for the Jewish Agency and the Jewish National Fund. There were Zionist events in Ludmir, often with the participation of prominent leaders of Polish Jewry.

A great event in Ludmir was the visit of the Sejm deputy Yitzkhak Grinboym, who was received with great fanfare.

The events in the Land of Israel in 1936 resonated with the Jewish population of Ludmir. Mass memorial gatherings took place attended by thousands of people. Ludmir sat fourth on the list of money raised in all the Jewish communities in Poland.

The total number of residents in Ludmir on the eve of the World War was approximately 25,000. The census of 1931 showed 24,591 residents and the census of 2934 showed 24,614 residents.

And, in the midst of the blossoming and growth of the town in general and the Jewish community in particular, the cruel Second World War broke out.

The Outbreak of the Second World War

On the 1^st of September, 1939 Germany declared war on Poland. Within a few days, refugees begin to arrive in Ludmir from the surrounding regions.

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On September 10^th Ludmir was bombed by Nazi airplanes. The were 31Jews and 64 Christians killed, among them, 52 soldiers. Sixteen Jews and 24 Christians were wounded. Many homes were destroyed.

The German army was approaching Ludmir. The Polish authorities left. In the commotion of awaiting the Nazi arrival, 4 Jews were killed.

There was an order to shoot 150 Jews and 150 Ukrainians in the barracks,

For two days, Ludmir remained without authorities. They suddenly learned the Soviets were 20 kilometres from the city. They are notified about 300 arrests by the Soviets.

The Soviets captured Ludmir. According to the suppositions, at the time there were 36,000 residents in Ludmir. It was estimated there were 22,000 refugees in Ludmir.

The Jews of Ludmir began to arrange for aid for the masses of refugees.

The beginning of the school year is approaching. Those active in the “Tarbut” school decided to open the school.

A delegation went to the temporary education commissar and requested permission to allow the Hebrew schools to exist. He replied he had nothing against Hebrew as a pedagogical language. He demanded the “Tarbut” committee remove religion from the educational program.

Thanks to this, approximately 600 children in Ludmir learned Hebrew until November 15, 1939, when the cultural commissar ordered, the school must switch to Yiddish.

The children made an effort to speak Hebrew to each other, arranging secret meeting places, appearing from time to time and mainly on Chanukah to display the Zionist character.

The Soviets sent the Zionist leader Lev and his wife to Siberia. (He most probably died there with his wife).

1939

September – The Ludmir Jewish populations numbered close to 28,000.

September 1^st – Nazi Germany attacks Poland.

September 3^rd – Refugees from Poland arrive in Ludmir.

September 10^th – The Germans bomb Ludmir.

September 14^th – (Rosh Hashana) – The Germans arrive in Ludmir.

September 16^th – Rumours the Soviets will occupy Ludmir; the Polish population prepares to carry out Pogroms against the Jews.

September 17^th – the Soviets enter Ludmir.

1941

June 22^nd – Outbreak of the German -Soviet War. Ustila near Ludmir (a border town between Germany and Poland) shot up by the Germans.

June 23^rd – The Germans bomb Ludmir, mainly the Jewish quarter. There are many Jewish victims. Among the bombed-out ruins lay the rabbi from Ustila Shayntup Yehoshua. Two cellars were burned where 550 Jews were hiding.

A few days later, there was an order to hand over all radios and books; the books were burned; a Ukrainian police force was set up.

July 5^th – 150 Jews were captured by the Nazis and Ukrainian police. Those Jews never returned.

Around July 7^th – The regional Commissar called upon the most important Jews and ordered them to create a Judenrat (Jewish Council) led by Rabbi Morgnshtern; members of the Judenrat: Simkha Bergman, Dr. Katz, Dr. Bubes and Birman.

Simkha Bergman mediates between the Judenrat and the Germans. (A few months later Rabbi Morgnshtern died; he was replaced the lawyer Vayler).

July 31^st – 200 Jewish men were captured by the Ukrainian police; they never returned home.

August – Bread cards are introduced: a Jew received one kilo of bread a week.

Jews, older than 10 had to wear yellow stars, one on the chest and another on the back. The Judenrat collected the Jews' gold, watches and other valuables and gave them as gifts to the Germans. The Judenrat sent Jews to work in various German work places.

August 29^th -30^th – (Friday – Saturday) – 300 Jews were captured (among them a few women who resisted the capturing of their husbands). Those captured were sent to the Ludmir prison and never returned.

(Among those shot: the lawyer Vayler; a few days later the dentist Bardakh replaced him as head of the Judenrat).

Bloody Monday, two days before Yom Kippur – German together with Ukrainian police beat the Jews: 1,000 were captured; 250 of them were killed in the prison. The capturing was organized by the regional commissar.

[Columns 85-86]

(Later on, the regional commissar was killed by Jews travelling not far from Ludmir).

Bloody Wednesday – The Gestapo with the Ukrainian police take500-600 Jews form their workplace beat them and later killed them.

The Ukrainians took 120 men from Ludmir who were sent to work; Dovid Bokser was killed.

October – (A Friday) – “An operation of the Jewish intelligence”.

The Ukrainians take 120 men from the Jewish intelligence out of Ludmir. The Germans spread rumours they were taken to work.

A short time later the Jews establish that graves have been dug in the prison and those taken were murdered in the prison courtyard and buried in those graves.

1942

February – Ten men are told to dig a pit near the train and when the dug, the diggers were shot and thrown into the pits.

February 7^th – The Germans determine the area of the Ludmir Ghetto.

February 27^th – 250 Jews from Ludmir are sent to work in Kiev.

Beginning of March – The Judenrat received permission to bury the 10 they shot at the train in the Jewish cemetery.

March 2^nd – The 250 Jews sent to Kiev returned to Ludmir. Rumours were the partisans tore up the railway.

Aril 1^st – Ludmir is under Nazi rule.

April 13^th (Passover) – The Jews of Ludmir are led into the Ghetto. Two ghettoes are created in Ludmir:

1. “The live ghetto” – the ghetto for workers.
2. “The dead ghetto” – the ghetto for non-workers.

Summer 1942 – 30 men organize themselves to make contact with the partisans who were in the forests. The Judenrat does not want to cooperate.

August 1^st – The Jews working outside the ghetto are discharged from their work. Many Ludmir Jews worked at digging a canal where a secret telephone cable would be placed.

August 22^nd-25^th – one hundred Jews dig three large pits in Petedin under the direction of the engineer Shvartzbord. The Germans say an airfield will be built there and the pits will serve as underground warehouses.

August 20^th – Over 1,000 Jews are taken to dig pits in Petedin. More Jews, working in agriculture in surrounding villages were brought to Ludmir. Jews were feverishly building hiding places due to rumours these pits will be sued for Jewish extermination.

September 1^st – (Tuesday) the 19^th of Elul, the first “pogrom” began, where they took the Jews of Ludmir to be shot in the pits of Petedin.

The “First Pogrom” – the pogrom officially lasted 15 days; the searched for those hiding for close to a month. The shooting operation was run by the regional commissar Vesterahyde and his secretary Anna Altputer. The murderer Hiller received 20 marks for every Jew he shot.

The operation began in the “Dead Ghetto” and later moved on to the “Live Ghetto”.

In all: approximately 18,00 people were killed; One can estimate:

4,000 in the pits of the Ludmir prison.
14,000 in the pits of Petedin:
9,000 in the first pit
2,000 in the third pit
3,000 in the second pit.

The majority of those captured were from the “Live Ghetto”. During the evacuation there were attempted escapes. The majority of those who escaped were caught and prison and from there to Petedin.

The walls of the prison were filled with inscriptions: “Revenge for spilled Jewish blood!”

September 12^th – Rosh Hashana

September 15^th – An official end to the pogrom. They announced that those who remained would stay alive and they were permitted to gather in the former “Dead Ghetto” (the small ghetto). Close to 4,000 people gathered.

After September 15^th – Kudish once again took over the direction of the ghetto. His helpers

were: Pinkhas Sheynkastl and Regal. A new police force was created.

In the new ghetto they did not have to wear patches. The Jews worked at sorting the belongings of those who were killed.

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The better furniture of the deceased was given to the Germans, the worse stuff was given to the peasants in the vicinity. The magistrate of Ludmir began to sell Jewish houses for cheap prices to Poles.

September 22^nd – Yom Kippur.

November 13^th – “The Second Pogrom” of the Ludmir ghetto carried out by the Germans and the Ukrainian police. They liquidated all the unemployed.

Friday (“The Second Pogrom”) -Two young people want to break through the wire with revolvers. They get shot together with everyone else who wanted to break through the barbed wire.

This time they did not take all the Jews who had work identity cards to be shot. (Blue certificates). Fifteen boys and girls with a few guns hid in a bunker near the “Brickyard”. The Gestapo surrounded them and threw in grenades, thirteen were killed and two fortuitously were saved: Yosef Piltz and Pretia Gitman. (The next day Yosef Piltz was found dead near the prison.

This pogrom lasted a few weeks killing around 4,000 people.

After the second pogrom the belongings of the dead were brought to the “Red School”; the finer things were given to the Germans and the rest to the surrounding Christian population.

Officially 1,500 Jews remained in the “Work Ghetto”. About 500 Jews were hidden by Christians in the fields.

The Ghetto consisted of 17 buildings. In them: shoemakers, tailors, hatmakers, carpenters, bricklayers, photographers; a bakery, a whisky factory, a laundry, a small brush factory, a watchcase maker, a sign maker and a small factory for shoe brushes.

Winter 1942- There are Polish and Ukrainian partisan groups in the forests who are fighting mutually; the Poles captured the region of Kovel, their centre was Bielun; the Ukrainians captured the Ustila region and Zaritze; a few young people from the Ludmir ghetto tied to join the Polish partisans but did not succeed; People in the ghetto said the Ukrainian partisan in the forest cut off tongues of Jews they captured.

December 4^th, Firday – Germans, under the leadership of Krauze, carried out a search of the “illegals” in the ghetto. They brought about 40 “illegal “people from the ghetto to the prison.

December 5^th – Chanukah, all forty were shot.

December 15^th – Another search for illegals; Krauze shoots 50 Jews.

December 25^th – A Polish young man who entered the ghetto is shot. A revolver was found in his pocket. The found a revolver with Leybl Kutzyubes. He was shot.

The Germans found 100 illegals who were brought to the prison and shot.

December -a group of 15 men in the ghetto prepare to set up a partisan group and begin to arm themselves.

1943

January 1^st. – There are close to 500 people in the ghetto.

There are a few dozen “illegals” who are permitted to reside in the ghetto. (This was the official end to the pogrom which began on November 13^th 1942).

Purim – 100 men were sent to the graves in Petidin in order to cover the open graves. They recited the Kaddish (memorial prayer) and El Malei Rachamim (a prayer for the soul). Many recognized t heir parent's passports.

April – News of great German defeats.

Ukrainians leave the police and run to the forests to join partisans who are fighting the Germans and the Soviet partisans. The Germans recruit a Polish police force.

There is fierce anti-Semitism among the Ukrainians and Poles.

April 20^th – Passover.

April – A group of young men go into the Polesia forest searching for partisans. The are shot. Only one survived, Vagman, who returned to the ghetto.

May 7^th - The Polish police surround the ghetto. A panic ensues. Krauze announces: they are capturing Poles and sending them to forced labour in Germany. Prevent them from sneaking into the ghetto. In the ghetto they thought this was an attempt by the Germans to convince the Jews not to possess weapons and if they do not open fire, they were surrounded.

19 0f Elul, September 19^th – The first anniversary of the death of the martyrs. Prayers. Memorials.

June 13^th – A few dozen Jews volunteer to care for the Petidin graves, where the earth has sunk and bodies of those murdered are sticking out.

Simchat Torah - Kudish celebrates hi golden wedding anniversary.

October – the Germans dig trenches in Ludmir.

Winter months 1943 – The regional commissar Vesterhayde begins to capture Poles to work in Germany.

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He forced Jews to help the S.S capture Poles. With this he succeeded in increasing the already great Polish hatred toward the Jews.

As revenge, the Poles begin to remove Jews from the bunkers.

December 8^th – The German military headquarters ordered all ghetto inhabitants to register at military headquarters. New documents will be given to the ghetto inhabitants.

December 12^th – It announced that tomorrow is the last day to register for life certificates.

December 13^th – There is a liquidation pogrom of Ludmir Jewry. Germans and Russian participate in the liquidation.

Among those sent out of the ghetto was the ghetto director Kudish. The Jews were not brought to Petidin but to the road from Ludmir to Khvalienietz where they were burned. A few dozen Jews managed to escape and began to wander in the surrounding region. The German police shot everyone they caught.

March – Jewish partisans from Ludmir find themselves among a division of Polish partisans.

One of the Polish female partisans gave an order for tall the Jews to leave the area around Ludmir before March 24^th. The Jews concentrated in Vortchin. Whoever remained after then would be shot.

March 24^th – The Poles send 120 saved Jews to the Vortchin ghetto.

That night., the Poles shot the Jews in Vortchin.

April 15^th - Russians in Kovel.

April 16^th – German enforcements arrive in Ludmir. The Russians return to their positions. The Polish partisans from Bielin want to join them. The Russians won't take them.

At the Pripyat River annihilate the female partisan from Bielin.

July 22^nd – Ludmir is liberated by the Russians.

A few dozen Jews survived.

The Holy Ark in the Large Synagogue

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The first legendary information about the city is found in a Hungarian account that was written in the 13^th century by the notary and chronicler of King Bela [III]. According to legend, Ludmir already existed in the year 884 under Hungarian rule as a rich city with a large population under the name of Lodomeria. From then, more than likely, comes the Jewish name, Ludmir.

The Russian chronicler Nestor contradicts the legend and says that the city in general was not under Hungarian rule, but was conquered along with other Slavic cities by the Russian Prince Oleg in 883. The first historical information about the city is related to the year 988. In that year, the Kiev Grand Prince Vladimir Sviatosiavich attacked to strengthen the city of Ludmir that lay in the center of the Volyn [Volhynia] area under construction and he gave it the name “Vladimir.” The new city was to serve as the land for a fortress to protect against the neighboring enemies. He [Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich] gave the city to Vsevolod, his fifth son, who received [the right to] to rule over the city. From then on Ludmir went through various metamorphoses: there were times when the city reached the highest level of its development, but also times when it was completely annihilated as if it had been erased from the earth.

The city was occupied in 1017 by the Polish King Bolesław Chrobry. Thirteen years later it was returned to the hands of the Russian Prince Yaroslav Volodimirovicu (Modryi) [the wise]. After Yaroslav's death in 1054, rule of the city and all of Volyn went over to his fifth son Igor Yaroslavich. And Ludmir became the main feudal city in Volyn from that time on. Ludmir became a separate political and spiritual center of southwestern Ukraine – and became the residence of the prince and of the bishop.

The area of the city spread wide. The village of Zimneye that is now located six kilometers from the city and the village of Kahilne that is 12 kilometers from the city were suburbs during the 11^th century. To make the approach of an aggressor against the city more difficult it was strongly fortified so that the residents would find protection during a dangerous [time] and they could be confident of their lives and possessions. The fortification consisted of three rows of high earthen ramparts with high wooden walls surrounded by deep ditches. There were several towers in the walls that were located on the eastern side of the city. Far above, beyond the ramparts, the suburbs extend: Napatnice, Zawale, Pravala, Zalucze, Zaricze and so on. (Traces still remain of one internal rampart. The external ones were completely destroyed. In the 16^th century the ditches were filled in and the area was covered with construction.)

The fortifications were vast and strong and in the year 1264, when the Russian Prince Vasilko Romanovich, at the request of the Tartar leader Burandoi, had to tear them down, it was impossible and they had to be burned.

The city also consisted of natural barriers. From the south it was protected by the Lug River and its surrounding mud and wet meadows. From the east – by the tidal influx of the Lug: Rilavica and Smotsh and the surrounding mud and swamps. The artistic fortifications were given the name castle.

The development of the city increased from year to year beginning in the 11^th century.

Ludmir reached the culmination point of its development and flourished at the beginning of the 13^th century. When the Hungarian King Andrei visited Ludmir in the year 1231, he was truly astonished by the richness and size of the city and by its architecture. He is said to have declared that he had not seen such a city even on German territory. However, this golden era did not last long.

[Columns 93-94]

The feudal system of rule that was introduced by the Russian princes did not wait long for its fatal consequences. The country deteriorated. The princes were corroded by imperiousness and mutual envy. It reached a civil war, which weakened the abilities of the state to resist. The Mongol hordes made use of this opportunity and they attacked the weakened country that was exhausted by internal friction and disputes. The Mongols devastated and destroyed on their victory march.

When the Tartars attacked Volyn in 1240 under the leadership of Batu [Khan], Ludmir also was completely destroyed; when the then Ludmir Prince Danil [Danylo Romanovych] returned to Ludmir, he found only rotting human and animal dead. The smell was so bad that in no way could he settle here. Danil then decided to free himself from the Mongol yoke at any price and again began to fortify the devastated cities, among them also Ludmir.

The fortification tempted the Mongols even more. They attacked Volyn again in 1261 under the leadership of the cruel Burandai and Ludmir was completely erased from the earth when the Tartars plowed up the city from one end to the other.

In 1316 Ludmir was transferred to the rule of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gidemin [Gediminas]. In 1340 the Polish King Casimir the Great [Kazimierz Welkie] controlled all of Galicia as well as the western part of Volyn including Ludmir.

On the basis of the agreement in 1366, Ludmir was acknowledged as a part of the Kingdom of Poland. In 1370, after the death of King Casimir the Great, Ludmir again fell under Russian rule. Beginning in 1386, Ludmir ceased to be the residence of the princes and its place was taken by Lutsk. Ludmir lost its earlier appearance and influence. The frequent attacks fatally affected the development of the city that again had to rebuild itself.

In 1431 in order to improve the condition of the city, Casimir the Jageloner gave the city the so-called Magdeburg rights [privileges granted to cities and villages], which brought a certain revival to Ludmir.

In 1452 Volyn was united with the Duchy of Lithuania, with its capital in Vilna [Vilnius]. Ludmir no longer was the center and was reduced to the level of a provincial city. In 1491 Ludmir again was attacked by the Tartars. The city was destroyed and many people were murdered. In 1500 the sons of Crimean Khan Meńli Giray invaded Volyn and Podolia with 15,000 horsemen. Ludmir, like other cities, disappeared in the smoke. In 1552 Ludmir was completely rebuilt and possessed 698 houses. The burned out castle was rebuilt again with five towers and a bridge.

After the rise of the Union of Lublin in 1569, Ludmir was declared the county seat and became the most advanced city in the west and played an important role in Polonization. The city was not yet rebuilt after the wild attacks, when in 1657 the Cossacks and the Hungarians again burned and plundered a part of it. From then on Ludmir's development was very weak and it lived through a considerable decline. As a poor, small and sparsely settled city, it again was occupied by the Russians in 1795 after the third partition of Poland.

A large fire broke out in Ludmir in 1859. In spite of the difficult consequences resulting from the fire, the population still succeeded in building from the ruins and two years later, in 1861, Ludmir grew from 8,636 residents to 9,885.

The year 1906 must be thought of as a year of crisis in the development of the city. In that year the first train line went through, which united Ludmir with Kovel. This fact had a decisive impact on the economic life of the city that until then had relied on poor means of communication.

The outbreak of the World War in 1914 led to a significant decrease in the population, which left for distant Russian areas. The development of the city ceased.

The Russian troops were forced to leave the city in the summer of 1915. The remainder of the Cossack divisions set fire to Jewish buildings in the center of the city, destroying the most beautiful buildings.

The occupation time of 1915-1918 brought the city under the rule of a military regime. All areas of social, cultural and scientific life died out.

The occupiers carried out the electrification of the city, which dispersed the deep darkness in which Ludmir always had been sunk. No less important for the city was the completion of the train line that connected Ludmir with Hrubieszów.

The city lived under the terror of frequently changing military regimes after the outbreak of the Austrian revolution in October 1918. With the rebirth of the Polish state, Ludmir entered a phase of progressive ascent. The growing population led to the development of the city in various directions. Even that part of the city that lay in the swampy area and

[Columns 95-96]

was the source of the spreading of malaria turned into finely constructed streets over several years after the rise of Poland, and the growth of the population went forward quickly in connection with this.

In 1931, according to the general census, Ludmir possessed 24,591 residents and during the following year, in 1934, it numbered 27,117 residents. The number of houses then reached 2,887.

Information published in number 2212 of Landkentnish [Touring] from the Jewish Society for Folklore, the Jewish “Togtsetl” [Daily Note] in Warsaw, edited by Dr. E. Ringelblum, Warsaw, December 1936, periodical for questions about nature study, tourism, folklore, ethnography and the history of Jewish settlements.

Ludmir was one of the oldest cities in Poland. We already find traces of a Jewish settlement at the time when organized Jewish communities hardly existed in Poland.

Alas, we do not possess any documents or historical material that could give us the possibility of establishing when the Jewish settlement in Ludmir was established.

The little bit of material that we have is strewn in various archives and waits for the historian who will collect it and write the history of Ludmir.

We know that a Jewish settlement already existed in Ludmir at the time when the largest number of Jews was concentrated in Western Europe and only individuals came to Poland because of their trade connections with the emperors and magnates.

The fact that Ludmir was found on the border of Poland and Lithuania gave the city enormous importance and it was transformed into a center of trade where Jews found favorable terrain for themselves.

Ludmir was the first kehile [organized Jewish community] in Wolyn and had a representative in the Arba Aratzot [Council of the Four Lands – central Jewish authority in Poland in the 16^th and 17^th centuries]. The Jews developed a widespread, multifaceted trade in Ludmir, not only with such trade centers as Pozen, Krakow and Lemberg. Jewish merchants from Ludmir diversified their enterprises and also created connections between Poland and other nations beyond the borders of Poland and Lithuania.

The Ludmir cemetery already was very old. Headstones were located there that were already 500, 600 years old. A number of headstones buried in the ground would have been able to tell us important things about the history of Ludmir.

The writer Anski visited Ludmir in 1912 in the name of the Jewish Ethnographic Society in Petersburg. He photographed all of the headstones, collected legends and other historical material.

Because of the First World War the material was not published.

A headstone at the Ludmir cemetery was uncovered accidently on which a family crest and the Polish eagle was visible. The headstone was for a famous Jewish personality who occupied an important place in Poland. In recognition for his great service, the deceased was considered a member of the Polish nobility, although he remained a Jew.

Prof. Gretz relates that the Lithuanian Prince Witold [Vytautas], who exhibited a particular sympathy toward Jews and brought the Karaites to Lutsk, gave the rich Jews of Ludmir a village in the area of the city as recognition of their great service on behalf of the Duchy of Lithuania.

We find in Seder HaDoroth [Book of Generations] by Reb Yehiel Halpern that at the time of the famous Gaon [sage], Reb Shlomo Luria (Rashal [acronym for Rabbi Shlomo Luria]) (5270-5333 [1510-1574]), the Gaon, Reb Yitzhak bar [son of] Betsalel was at the head of the then existing settlement in Ludmir. At the time of Reb Yoel Sirkis (5321-5400 [1561-1640]) known under the name “Bach” (Bayit Khadash [New House] – the name of his well known book on the Turim [Halachic code of Jacob ben Asher]) the Gaon, Our Guide, Leib was in Ludmir, whom the “Bach” mentions in his Teshuvot [Responsa] and praises greatly.

Reb Heschl [of Krakow], the author of Khanukas haTorah [mystical commentaries on the Torah], relates that Reb Dovid HaLevi baal TAZ, the author of the famous book, Turei Zahav [Rows of Gold – commentary on the Shulkan Arukh – Code of Jewish Law], the Rabbi of Krakow and other large cities in Poland was born in Ludmir.

In 1590 a Jewish apothecary, Reb Avraham Ashkenazi, who wrote the book on morality Sam Hayyim [Elixir of Life], was in Ludmir.

It is enough to relate that the Ludmir kehile had as its ambition to be compared to Prague, Vienna, Krakow and invited as its rabbi such a famed personality as Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller, the Tosafot Yom-Tov [as is the custom, he is known by the name of his book of commentaries on the Oral Torah].

[Columns 97-98]

Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller was the rabbi in Prague, Vienna and Nikolsburg.

A group of Prague Jews submitted a denunciation to Emperor Ferdinand in Vienna that there were insults against the Christian faith in the books of Tosafot Yom-Tov. He was brought to Vienna shackled in chains and Reb Yom-Tov Lipman Heller was pardoned after he already had been condemned to death only thanks to the intervention of the French ambassador, whose children were saved from death by Reb Shmuel, the son of Tosafot Yom-Tov.

The Tosafot Yom-Tov came to Poland from Prague. The chosen kehile had invited him as rabbi earlier and from there he came to Ludmir.

In his Megilat Eivah [Scroll of Hostility], the Tosafot Yom-Tov relates that representatives of the Ludmir kehile, the first of four kehilus in Volyn, came to him in Trisk [Turiisk, Ukraine] in 5704 (1634) and offered him the rabbinical seat in Ludmir.

Some then influential people had carried out a quarrel with him and he indeed once had to escape to Trisk because of a denunciation. This is apparently the source of the legend that the Tosofat Yom-Tov went to Ludmir one Friday evening and cursed the city [Ludmir] saying that it should not have a rabbi.

We know only a little about Tosofat Yom-Tov in Ludmir from what appears in Megilat Eivah.

The Ludmir synagogue was one of the oldest synagogues in Poland. There once were two holes in the roof of the Ludmir synagogue in which cannons were placed and it served as an observation point.

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