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In the second half of the 17^th century Poland was shattered by tragic events. the Cossack storm, the Swedish War and the Moscow War left hundreds of Jewish communities in ruins and swallowed up almost half of the Jewish population. The Apt community suffered especially during the Swedish War, in 1656-1657. The Swedes overwhelmed the Jews with hatred; they persecuted and murdered Jews at every step. We know that during the Swedish invasion a handful of Polish noblemen in Tsoyzmir [Sandomierz] put up a resistance, which was joined by several hundred young Jewish men. The Swedes quickly broke through that position and for the youths' rebellion the entire Jewish community paid with their lives. It is no wonder that the nearby communities also suffered, among them Apt. Fayvish the son of Nosn Faytel from Vienna, relates in his chronicle Tit ha'Yaven how the Apt community suffered: “200 very wealthy families who were shockingly murdered”. In the Pinkes of the Pintshev Jewish community we find a “memorial of souls” for the souls of the murdered and a special prayer for the ruined Jewish communities, among which the Apt community is reckoned.

The Peace of Oliwa finally ended the war that was so fatal for the Jews. Some Jews returned to their demolished settlements. They were presented with the tasks of building back the destroyed houses and institutions for public use, of help for widows and orphans abandoned to God's custody, of ransoming the prisoners of war from deportation and so on. In 1689 two Apt Jews were accused of dishonoring the Catholic religion. The Jewish community then felt a great fear from the Christian population, which had after the Swedish invasion sought a kind of Azazel to blame. The false accusations could lead to a great misfortune; in order to extricate itself from the difficult situation, the Jewish Council gifted the Apt a capitulation 1000 Polish zlotych. The misfortune did not happen, but the gift changed into a yearly obligation.

In 1704 a confederation was organized in Sandomierz, that expressed its loyalty to the King August II, and obligated Apt on the 29^th of January 1704 “to be prepared to sacrifice your possessions, to defend until the last drop of blood, the faith rights of the king and his honor”. The elected marshal Stanislaw Denof, the Lithuanian town resident, called in the other provincial members and even the Warsaw Confederation, who held with the Swedes, to attend the union. Not considering that Premier Radziejowski ordered the national Parliament together in order to elect deputies to the Parliament who would have to crown Leszcynski. During the deliberations of the Sandomierz constituency in Apt (in 1705) Smigelski, the Elder of Gniezn, captured some citizens and dispersed the gathering. Among those dragged in were also some Jews. And so we read in the Jewish Council Pinkes that “in the year 1705 the Germans attacked and robbed to town, arrested the eminent citizens. We declared a collective action in order to ransom them, throughout the town.”

After the death of August II, the Sandomierz group supporting the candidacy of Leszcynski, concluded in a confederation in Apt on the 3rd of December 1733, and swore their allegiance to him. During the civil war Sasow i Lasow the Jewish population had to pay large contributions in order to insure their lives and possessions. The meetings of the Sandomierz county council regularly took place in Apt. This was a real plague for the Jewish population. The Jewish Council had to continually give the head of the County Council, his assistants and even his servants, various gifts in cash and in kind in order to stave off attacks by the Councilor's staff on Jewish houses and possessions. But the gifts did nothing to help. And the Jewish Council had to continually protest in Sandomierz against the attacks. As we read in the Apt Pinkes: “We have covered the expenses of an official from Sandomierz in order to protest against the thieving attacks by the marshal's staff on Jewish houses”. The Jewish community suffered more though, from the frequent excesses of the school children, who had changed the flickering Jew-hatred of their parents into deeds. They continually attacked Jews, beating them mercilessly and robbing them. In order to stop that, every Jew who went past the school or a church had to pay the so-called Kuzubalec. This was a too-high,

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indefinite tax, and because of that it led to terrible and often bloody fights. The Jews therefore had to give ransom money to the rectors, prefects, higher and lower priests, and so on. From the Apt Jewish community they received a regular tax for every market-day – the lebakalar jarmarczny or fairground fee.

Besides that, the Apt Jews had to support pupils who traveled from various towns and give them gifts and even money. And in the Pinkes we read: “Two pupils from Krakow received the full maintenance, wine and cash, and the same for pupils from Sandomierz, Lublin, Lemberg and others”.

In such an atmosphere of complete economic ruin and insecurity from the outside, the Jews were trying to rebuild their town anew. The Jewish community wanted to rise from the destruction in a short time, when it met yet another problem. In the winter of 1714 a terrible fire wiped out the entire Jewish Street, the moveable and immoveable possessions. The Jews sought a place of refuge in the surrounding villages.

When the Jewish community recovered a little after this reversal, they issued a call to the Apt Jews in which they “Forbid the Jews to build houses on the Polish street, or on the Christian market, or even to base any large or small business there, because the fire destroyed our entire possessions and all the land, and now as we step once again to rebuild the Jewish Street, and we must fortify the situation of our community, each Jew must build his house on the Jewish Street”.

The community's tasks were very heavy. Taking pains to offer advice, the Elders of the Jewish community enlarged the direct duties a lot, introduced heavily-loaded fees and consumer taxes. At the same time the Elders instituted in 1717 a special tax, that the Apt Jews must pay the Jewish Council on all merchandise, silver, gold, clothing, plots of land. All under oath. Freed from the oath were only the rabbis, the cantor and the shul beadle. The town began to be repopulated in stages; many Jews returned from other provinces and settled there. With the growth of the population the crowding in the town grew worse. That forced the Elders of the Jewish community to contact the Vad Arbe Artsos about limiting the influx of “outside” Jews, to eventually exploit their settling there in order to achieve greater hospitality. In 1717 they finally received the wished-for privilege of the right to undisputable possession by giving the newly-arrived the right of community membership. For the text of that privilege – see the excerpt from the Apter Pinkes.

The repression and limitations related to the new-comers were then turned by the Apt Jews into the privilege of the Vad Arbe Artsos. We read in the Pinkes about a decision in the year 1714, which “forbade the exchange of money with newly-arrived merchants. An Apt citizen must not mediate between such a merchant and the Christian merchants. If a new-comer merchant does himself sell to a Christian, he will be severely punished by the Jewish Council”. Thanks to that privilege the competence of the Apt Jewish Elders was broadened. Whoever wanted to settle permanently had first of all to apply for permission from the president of the community council. The community managers also had to give attention to not letting any of the “outside” Jews remain in the town any longer than three days in a row. But the important thing was that the community leadership also had the right to reclaim either partly or wholly the right to settle permanently (right of preemption).

That sanction became, in the hands of the community leaders, a first-rate source of revenue, a tool in the struggle with their personal opponents who could at any time, in the case of an opposition, revoke a right of preemption.

That is how the history of the Apt Jews presented itself on the edge of the 18^th century. In that era of terrible wars, of frequent student unrest under the protection of the wealthy landowners who considered the Jews as a tool to enlarge their own capital, one of the largest Jewish communities in Poland was formed. These historical events, which took place in this town, had first of all a colossal impact on the economic development of the Jewish community.

Before I approach dealing with the economic development of the Apt Jewish community, I will outline in a table the number of the Jewish population, and thereby also name the various trades. Among the lists of Jewish head-taxes I have found another head-tax list of the Apt Jews along with the surrounding smaller Jewish communities, originating from the year 1755.

A total of 1675 Jewish souls:

Lessees	2
Brokers	6
Chicken dealers	1
Bakers	1

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Butchers	5
Tailors	8
Cap-makers	7
Furriers	2
Fur-tanners	4
Sock-makers	2
Old clothes dealers	2
Goldsmiths	3
Conserve makers	2
Dyers	1
Doctors	1
Apothecaries	1
Early ed. teachers	9
Musicians	3
Cantors	1
Singers	4
Beadles	2
Measurers	2
Guards	2
Chimneysweeps	1

The rest – merchants, inn keepers, middle-men. Besides those, there were three rabbis in Apt: One (the community Rov); the Wysla Rov; the Miedzyrecz Rov.

Total 359. Mostly lessees and innkeepers. Together with the town and those attached to the Apt community periphery, 2034 Jewish souls.

I provide the list in order to show the reception power of the Jewish Street in Apt; the number of handworkers and the percentage ratio among the various trades, because the number of handworkers is evidence about the level of living of the population and about the scope of its needs.

The last three decades of the 17^th century and the beginning of the 18^th find the Apt Jewish community in a pitiable, deplorable state. The economic situation became ever tighter under the pressure of the increasing taxes and payments demanded from every side, and depressed any opportunity of life and trade. In order to cover them, the Jewish Council had to take out huge loans from the princes and the clergy. The Apt Jews had their usual creditor – the Lord Cszerski, whom they borrowed from through the mediators Khayim Yosefovitsh and Yitskhak Davidovitsh (two brokers who were often mentioned in the town's documents) – in the year 1692-1693 – 600 zlotych, and in 1702 – 800 zl. from Herr Stanislaw Budzinski (a creditor of the community); in 1700 – 2100 zl.

The temporary help in the form of loans led the Jews into even more complicated conflicts. Wealthy landowners – who were not in a position to demand the debts from the whole community because of its poverty – made the community Elders responsible for private debts. When one sees the expenses, which were clearly shown in the community Pinkes, they create the impression that the entire town, the head tax, the priests, officials, students, the military garrison, all that had received gifts from the community in kind and in cash. I will present a few characteristic examples:

The “respected one”, the lessor of Apt, used to receive “money, meat, fish”. When he came to visit the town, the Jewish community maintained him. And so the community in the year 1702 paid out just in order to sustain the Lessor, 300 zl. – and that is a very serious sum for that time. Above that, his “household” of servants received various gifts.

Among the assignments of the Jewish community was figured a yearly payment for the official, which reached 840 zl. – 4 zl per head. The community paid out 1,000 zl. a year for the large capitulation and a second 1000 zl. for the smaller one. Besides that, the priests received meat, fish, candles, oil, honey, sugar, clothing and even hats (30 zl. for a hat for the deacon). When in 1708 the Bishop of Krakow came to Apt, the Jewish community maintained him and his entourage.

In 1686 a new head for the church came to Apt – the community sent him a gift. Also, each Christmas the community sent various gifts to the priests and even their servants, and what is interesting is that the community gave gunpowder for the traditional shots during the procession of Boze Cialo . Besides that came travel expenses for the plenipotentiary persons in order to undertake all possible defensive means against their plans to limit Jewish activities.

These examples illustrate vividly how large the expenses were for the Apt Jewish community. Already at the end of the 17^th century the usual taxes did not suffice to cover the deficit. The Jewish Council constantly sought new sources of revenue. And thus came an increase in the direct taxes, gradually up to an intolerable height, to the instituting of higher community fees for marriages, engagements, judgements, divorces and so on. But even that did not help, and the Council had to institute consumer taxes, such as the so-called “meat tax” on meat (Krupka wielka), milk, baked goods and so on.

Thanks to the taxes, the situation of the community Council improved a little, although their expenses were constantly growing. The financial dependence of the Council on the creditors and most of all on the Apt Prince finally led to the limiting of the Council's competence. In 1755 the Apt Prince issued an order to the Elders of the Council that limited the rights

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of the Jewish residents. We provide the content of the order:

1. “Whereas since Jews, residents of our town, marry members of other communities, and fall into deep debt to our Prince, our Prince must prohibit either rich or poor marriages, which may not take place without his permission.
2. In the case of a marriage of a son or a daughter of an Apt resident to a resident of another community, our Prince prohibits the Apt Jews from moving to another community without his special permission; our Prince makes the Jewish Elders responsible for observing this prohibition, threatening the severest punishment in case of negligence.
3. From today on it is forbidden for Jews – Apt residents – to sell any kind of immoveable goods, trade them, or sell “places” in the Apt shul without the prior permission of our Prince.
4. Whereas, in the case of selling whisky that is from the hands of another Prince, we warn the members of our community most sharply, that they may in no manner, under the threat of the most severe punishment, sell any whisky that comes from another place, even for their own use or for someone else. In the case that someone happens to travel through another community as a guest and has whisky with him that comes from an outside place and wants to leave that whisky in Apt, we prohibit that whisky from being sold or drunk.”

On the basis of these prohibitions one can come to the conclusion that the Apt Prince is mixing himself too much into the interior affairs of the Jewish Community; the heavy tax burden and the loans from the Prince to cover the debts have led the community to a complete dependence on the owner. He standardizes the economic life of the Jews, having first of all in mind his pocket and his cash treasury.

And so the Apt Jewish community rolled downhill, that community whose economy still blossomed in the second half of the 17^th century. Wars, attacks by the students, catastrophic fires, the huge cost of taxes, the demoralization because of the frequent gifts from the community to the various princes – those are the reasons for the economic ruin that beat against each member of the Apt Jewish community, that bore all the burdens on their shoulders. The most vivid witness is the town chronicle, which illustrates a chain of continually growing need and poverty, that is tied to the progressing economic ruin of the community. The protests and accusations that I encountered in the Apt town documents give the best testimony. Jews came forward with both accusations against the citizens who refused to pay the debts and against one Jew on one of his co-believers that he would be ruined by his dishonest competition.

The Christian population often bought various merchandise in the Jewish shops, mostly on the market days, when the village population drove in to gather in Apt. More than once groups of peasants attacked Jewish shops and robbed them.

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