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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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,

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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].

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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

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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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