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Israel Levin (Jerusalem)
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When I begin to tell the story of my city, she stands before me as if she were alive; I see her with the eyes of my youth. I left her [many] years ago, and I was ten years old at the time.
Standing on her ruins, on the graves of the thousands of Jews, I want to carry on a conversation with myself, before I will begin to tell her history.
She was beautiful, my city of Zamość; her streets and houses were fine and clean, they looked modest. A special grace flowed down upon her from the high tower, that stood in the middle of the city – just as if it wanted to delineate to her residents their very special elevated importance. There was no elaboration of beauty, only a simplicity that captivated all onlookers. It was a Jewish center, an integrated source of grace, woven into Polish Jewry. Her Jews were simple folk people. One could find there every walk of life representative of Polish Jewry. There were rich Jews there, merchants, people of substance, and poor people, salaried laborers, workers, balebatim, cultured sorts, those of a sentimental spirit – but also porters, wagon drivers, muscularly built, there were religiously observant rabbinical circles, hearty Hasidic groups, and a large variety of organizations, also the Haskala thrived here in its time. Also, the Bund was not absent from the Jewish Street – and the Halutz movement from the working classes in the Land of Israel made the lives of the city [dwellers] more worthwhile.
All of this flowed together into a general portrait of life, which created a fully-colored dynamic way of life.
Now everything has been destroyed. Jewish Zamość no longer exists. From her nearly fifteen thousand Jewish residents, no one has remained. A child can count the number of those who were saved. They come from the upheaval in their city to weep over the graves of their parents, or to liquidate their possessions. The sword that cut down European Jewry reached here as well. After a short, somber life in a ghetto, the Jews were taken out into the forests and murdered out there.
Yes, there were broad and deep forests all around, that surrounded Zamość. I remember, while still a child, enjoying myself by running around there, in those forests, during the summers. The joy and gladness of the parents of Jewish children was great indeed, when their children would vanish among the high orchard-like trees during the summer months.
It is in these very forests that the Jews were butchered. They were cut down by means of automatic machine-gun fire, and buried in mass graves. A portion of them were dragged off on death marches, far away in the death factories and extermination camps. Only one large grave remained in Zamość, where thousands of bodies remain hidden………
In the year 1939 – according to the general census taken that year – there were 3,250,000 Jews in Poland, which came to 9.4% of the general population.
In that year, between 13 and 15 thousand Jews lived in Zamość. The exact amount is unknown. The last count I found is from the year 1931 – at that time, Zamość had more than ten thousand Jewish residents (exactly 10,265). The percentage that the Jewish population of Zamość entailed, as a fraction of the entire Jewish population of Poland, did not come to a full one-half of a percentage point. What kind of importance could such a small point have? What is the basis of the praise accorded to Zamość by such personalities as N. Sokolov, I. L. Peretz[2], and others?
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But Zamość was like that already, she was a sort of mirror of Polish Jewry; from her history, from community affairs; from the construction of its cultural institutions; one could learn about the general life of the Jews in Poland in a condensed form.
Also, a different picture is seen from a statistical point of view than what may be a first impression. It is understood that a quantitative scientific analysis can only be based on the real, exact figures, which are brought into juxtaposition with other calculations. Here, we will present a number of examples:
Zamość was a Jewish city. In accordance with established assessments, the general level of the population of Zamość in 1939 was not higher than 25 thousand residents. That means, by a careful [sic: conservative] count, the number of Jews was more than 50 percent, and in any case, no less than this. Let us, indeed, see what did this [percentage] look like in other larger and more important communities in Poland? (Not mentioning already the really small towns).
In Warsaw – the Polish capital, the large [sic: Jewish] community there numbered 365,000 souls, but it was only 29.4% of the general population.
Lodz – the second largest city in Poland, the city of commerce and industry, had 220 thousand Jews (at the time of the outbreak of the War) – this was 34.9% of the total of the general population.
Lublin – that large and important city, whose significance to the autonomous Jewish way of life in Poland cannot be merely dismissed in a couple of lines, had 38,971 Jews in the year 1931, which means 34.7% of the general population.
It is possible, that the absolute number of Jews in Zamość will show us in a completely different light. Who can with steadfast certainty aver, that in the year 1939, that there were many mid-sized cities where Jews comprised 50% of their populace? There were large Jewish communities in the tens and hundreds all over the world. Communities where the number of Jews found there was more than one hundred thousand. There were 18 such communities in the year 1939, and they were concentrated: 5,935,000 Jews, which implies approximately 35% of the general total of the population in those cities. New York, with her 2,600,000 Jews did not comprise more than 29.3% of all its residents.
It is true, that in periods [of history] a long time ago, the number of communities in which the Jews were more than fifty percent of the city was large. It is recognized, that in Poland, the Jews were the foundation of the community development of the city. In the year 1900, the Lublin Jews still comprised 51.3% of the general residential population; from an historical perspective, that community, which numbered 24,280 souls in 1900, was stronger, from a Jewish nationalist standpoint, from that same community later in 1931, which numbered 38,937 souls.
Even if the absolute numbers of the Jewish communities in Poland, mostly kept growing until the Great Catastrophe, there was always a constant decrease in the percentage of Jews versus the general population. It is close to the truth, that the same process was at work in Zamość in the course of the past one hundred years. But up until the end of the existence of the community, it was able to maintain its numerical superiority.
And it is here that the secret to the of the persona of this Polish city lies. When whoever came here, his feet trod on Jewish streets, on a Jewish cultural matrix. Her Jewish residents were not spread out, they all lived securely, concentrated in the center of the city, even if they also found themselves in the various newer neighborhoods. The beautiful Synagogue rounded out the social-national framework of the community, more so than the Catholic Cathedral, that had been constructed by the founder of the city, whose castle was found on the ‘Academy Street,’ as the general symbol of sovereignty.
[Here is] a separate interesting chapter in the growth of Jewish Zamość. As an example, we will present some specific figures:
In the year 1856/7 there were no more than 2,490 Jews in Zamość,
In the span of about 40 years, until the end of the 19th century approximately, the number grew to 7,034.
From that point forward, the absolute number of Jews continually rose. After the First World War, in the year 1921, the number of the Jews in Zamość was 9,383. Ten years later – 10,265. As previously mentioned, the number of Jews, on the eve of the Second World War, was between 13-15 thousand.
The growth of the Jewish population in Zamość exceeded the general growth in other Polish communities. The history of the Jewish community in Zamość, in connection to the general development of the history is highly correlated. The strong advance in the second half of the 19th century is particularly characteristic. During this period, the Zamość community tripled in population; Warsaw grew from 41,062 to 219,141 and continued to grow; Jewish Lublin grew from 8,588 to 24,280; Lodz starting from a small community, which in the years 1856-7 numbered no more than 2,775 Jews, was transformed into the second largest [Jewish] community in Poland and in the years [from] 1887-1900 rose
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to the high number of 98,677 [Jews]. During this time, it happens that the greatest growth in world Jewish population in general, and in Europe in particular [takes place here]. But not all communities safeguarded this very same progressive development; in a minority of communities there were even signs of decline (for example: Bialystok which in 1921 has 39,602 Jews, had, in the general census of 1931 39,165); A number of communities came to a steady state point, among them, also Lublin.
Zamość, however, is counted among those communities in Poland whose population growth did not decline, and whose development was not stifled. It was the opposite; the number of Jews in the years from 1931-1939 bears witness to the growth and was not diminished because of the general restraint of the residents, something that cannot be said even of Lodz, and also not about other communities, with Warsaw at their head.
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On the right used to be the spice business of Abraham Rantz; Left; [Belongs to] Baylah Itkeh's |
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The printing shop of Hernhaut was here, and the businesses of Ben-Zion Lubliner, Hessia Goldstein (Peretz's sister), Itcheh Meir Kohn (former Rosh Yeshiva in Zamość) |
The history of the Jews in Zamość is interwoven with the general history of the Jews in Poland. There are, however, many points in the ‘political’ history – if it is possible to express one's self that way – where it is worth taking special note, which has a special relationship to Zamość.
Zamość was built by Jan Zamoyski in the year 1550. He surrounded the city with a great and strong defence system, and transformed it into a mighty fortress-city. This very fortress endured for 300 years. I. L. Peretz, in his memoirs, recalls the destruction of that fortress. As a generalization, Jews would appear in every newly founded city in Poland. As we will subsequently see, they sided with the forces of historical law-making which gave a sound basis to the social commercial position of the city, which, incidentally, was an organic part of the general social-commercial system of Poland. Zamość, however, was off limits to Jews. It appears that the founder forbade Jews to settle there during his entire life. It is certain that the classic causes of Jewish persecution in Poland also had their influence here, which already had a long tradition of anti-Semitic manifestations. It appears that the religious-economic hostility of the Catholic Church, was not compatible, at the time of the establishment of the city, with the need for Jewish participation in the economic development of the city, and it caused the gates of the city to be closed to the Jews, [with the Church] having the nobleman Jan Zamoyski as a tool in their hands.
It was the time of the offensive of the Jesuits, who saw in Zamość a bastion of Catholicism, and with the direction of the Vatican, they wanted to use this base to attack all the royal [sic: secular] forces which had gained in power, together with the Protestant Reformation in the West. To this, were added other factors which aligned with their view of the Jews, because of commercial animosity, which they covered up with ‘religious’ motives. This reactionary offensive, which developed during the reign of the last Jagiellonian [king] – Zygmunt August – was brought to fruition by that very king, and through the powerful Hungarian monarch, Stefan Batory (1576 - 1586). This wave destroyed every dam during the rule of Zygmunt III [Vasa]. The characteristic manifestation was the wave of blood libels which increased with frequency, beginning at the end of the 16th century – both in the form of blood libels about ‘desecration of the Host,⁏ that Jews defile the bread of the sacrament, and in libels that Jews carry out ritual murders. These libels were very well thought out and set up. In the year 1598, a judgement, based on cruelty, was handed down in Lublin, regarding a blood libel, which was a signal [to initiate] a long litany of bloody and barbaric depredations against the Jews.
Zamość was built up during this era of hatred. It is no wonder, then, that its gates were closed to Jews during the initial period of its establishment. It is necessary to underscore the fact that Zamość was no exception at this time, nor was it the first city in Poland which did not admit Jews within its perimeter. Warsaw was among such cities for a long time; from the year 1527, when the Duchy of Mazovia gave way to the Polish crown. Among the other conditions that were set for this submission to the crown, was to forbid Jews to settle there.[3]
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But the laws of history and economics are iron laws, that do not let themselves be bent even by the dark instincts of religious hatred. We have already noted previously, that the Polish cities were unable to increase their development and growth, did not have the means to achieve an economic growth spurt without a Jewish presence and its attendant financial resources. Both the king and the nobles knew this economic importance only too well, and they exerted themselves from time-to-time to assist the Jews; that they should contribute from their livelihood to the development of the municipal institutions, its economy and its commerce. Indeed, they would often do this, not only contrary to the will and direction of the priests and Jesuits, but also against the efforts of the non-Jewish municipal elements and merchants, or against the Germans who had penetrated into Poland from the Rhenish mountains. For this reason, Catholic Zamość could not long remain closed to the Jews, who assumed a rightful place in the development of the city, and its commercial relationships – a fact of life that stood out prominently during the course of later centuries.
The genesis of the Jewish community in Zamość is shrouded in darkness, and it is not possible to accurately establish the exact year of its establishment. What is known to us with certainty, is that in the year 1588, Sephardic Jews settled in the city, who obtained a special privilege from the ruler of the city. It appears, however, that the first large synagogue was constructed by Ashkenazic Jews about in the year 1596.[4] The question continues to remain open as to from what date one can speak of the Zamość community as being organized, and established on a stable base. It is clear, however, that the community had organized itself by the beginning of the 17th century. Many stories from the Chmielnicki period, about the Jews of Zamość, have come down to us (one of them is recalled by Peretz in his memoirs). That Scourge, who inundated Poland, and brought its Jewish communities to ruin, also besieged the Zamość fortress, together with his Cossacks. The new and strong fortress stood against him, and he left there in disgrace. It is told, that the Jews of the city then saved themselves by hiding in the Great Synagogue, which was the darling of the Jewish city, until the Nazi Holocaust.
It appears that the community grew rapidly, because, as previously mentioned, until the first half of the 19th century, it was very small. Size notwithstanding, it was counted as an important community. It is first mentioned in the documents of the Four Lands[5] [6] in the year 1677, in a form that bears witness that it was already a secure community from an economic standpoint.
From that date on, the number of documents from the Va'ad Arba Aratzot in which Zamość is mentioned, grows continuously. This source of material is very valuable in learning about the history of the community and its life. From there, we learn of the important place that Zamość occupied, from an organizational standpoint, in the autonomous sphere of Polish Jewry; about her financial condition which was based on the contributions given by Jews of Zamość to the budget of the autonomous institutions; about the merchants and the financial people who were there, what their influence wrought, even at quite a distance; and finally – about its great Rabbis and their great influence on education in the spiritual innovations of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, and in its Bet Din. We note this here just as a bullet point to identify the millstones of the history of Jewish Zamość. In later chapters, we will have the opportunity to cover this material in greater detail.
The radiant autonomy of the Polish Jews dissipated with the decline of Poland. Along with the larger part of the kingdom, Zamość fell under Austrian rule, at the time of the third partition of Poland; Zamość found itself under the hell of Russian rule from 1816 to the end of the First World War (in between, there was a small break during the Napoleonic years, and the existence of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw). Along with other Polish Jews, the Jews of Zamość took part in the uncertain intrigues against Czarist rule. Documents about the active part of Zamość convey to us the essence of the period of the second Polish rebellion of 1863.
In 1912, Zamość, along with the entire Chelm Region was taken away from the then-Russian-occupied part of Poland, and – especially with the influence of the Russian-Orthodox Church – was annexed to Russia itself.
It didn't take long, and the storm of the First World War broke out all over. The Jewish community of Zamość was also sucked into this maelstrom. And an unusual thing occurred in contrast to the surrounding communities, only very few Jews from the city fled deep into Russia because of the conflagration of the war. Thus, the numbers and the framework
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of the entire community was spared. Zamość was occupied by Austrian military divisions, but not for long. By the end of the war, the Jews of Zamość returned to the Polish nation, this time not to the Polish Crown, but to a Republic, which in fact was a dictatorship under Pilsudski in concert with the large landed estate owners. It is also worth mentioning that the storms that caused such an upheaval in Eastern Europe as a result of the First World War, did not have an impact on Zamość: the Red Army offensive, which had spread – through the outbreak of the Russian Revolution – and reached up to Polish soil, also reached the outskirts of Zamość, the cannon shells fell on the city. The retreat from Warsaw also caused the retreat from Zamość.
The religious and cultural movements of the 18th and 19th centuries, which defined the historical backdrop to the history of the Jews in that time, did not pass the Jewish streets of Zamość by. Its Rabbis and religious leaders took quite an active part in the discussions surrounding the Sabbatai Zvi[7] movement, and in the initiatives against the Jacob Frank[8] Sect from Podolia; a portion also did not avoid the mystical influence, which like lightning in the electrified air, lit Jewish hopes for a solution [to its plight] and was given a permissible place for making its mark by the Baal Shem, and which laid out the path for Hasidism.
Even if Jewish Zamość was not drawn into the strong Hasidic current, this message captured the hearts of a part of the Jews of Zamość and was taken up by them – not heeding the open antagonism of the side of the ‘Mtnagdim,’ which was strong, with the Rabbi of the city at their head.
With the rise of the Haskala in Zamość, as attested to by Peretz, here were the most prominent – after Warsaw – and here all the beautiful fruits of this movement blossomed, with their own special local color, which came forth because of its own special history. We will yet return to these two periods, and separately tell about the essence of the important personalities – each one in his own area – that Zamość gave birth to. And since we are talking about this already, we must delineate the very important part that the nationalist movement played in the life of this Jewish city, the Hebrew education, the youth movements and training camps of the labor groups in the Land of Israel. Also the ‘Bund’ movement – the movement of Jewish workers.
For approximately 20 years, the Jews of Zamość, along with the rest of Polish Jewry, lived in the stifling atmosphere of the ‘Free Polish Republic.’ In 1939, at the beginning of the Teutonic assault in Europe, and in the world, the city fell. A short time after the outbreak of the war, a tank company, and infantry from an Austrian division of the Nazi military, entered the city. Their first act, was to raise the swastika flag in a ceremonial manner high above the municipal tower. On this very spot, which was the liveliest artery of the community and commercial life of Jewish Zamość, the final decree was implemented. For a week's time, until the settlement of the borderlines, Zamość found itself under Russian rule.
After the first German military occupation forces, came the Emissaries of Destruction from the SS and the Gestapo. A few Jews made the attempt, and it was possible for them to cross over into the Russian zone of occupied Poland. A portion of them wandered off into far-distant Russia; part of them returned to the Nazi zone, because of short-sightedness, and came back to their city. In general, the Jewish community of Zamość stayed in place. This era of terror contains within it the painful secret of all the Jews of Poland. The city was located in that area, that the Nazis used to arrange the concentration of the Jews; not far from Lublin itself, whose terrors were a matter of prominent conversation, also in the chain of Nazi bestialities. It appears that the Jews of Zamość were the first to be killed. Not all of them had the ‘privilege’ of benefitting from the ‘scientific’ technology of exterminating human beings; in the
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forests around the city, in the cradle of nature of Poland, they were shot to death by the murderers.
This was the manner in which a vital Jewish community was transformed into a mass grave, into a ruined heap in the midst of the destruction of Polish Jewry, of all European Jewry. Together with this fate that was forced upon them, what history decreed to be the fate of Polish Jewry, the end of the community of Zamość was also brought about – an end from which there is no continuation, but only an inscription on a stone memorial.
But the slaughter in the forests did not choke off the voice of the Jews of Zamość. Polish Jewry fought, stood up and resisted, and showed the world at large, all of humanity, the military model of a sacred battle, the most marvelous in the history of the human race. These were the ghettoes of Warsaw, Vilna, Bialystok, and many others, which raised the wonder of resistance from the graves – at the threshold of death, when the sword of annihilation already hung over them, and there was no place to flee. And it is understandable and natural, that among the ranks of those very heroic fighters, there was no lack of the children of Jewish Zamość, who fell by the walls of the Warsaw Ghetto.
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In the middle of the area “Tesha Kehillot,” the Nine Communities, that belonged to Zamość. |
The origins of the Zamość community coincides with the rise of Jewish autonomy in Poland. In accordance with a royal administrative division of responsibility, the hegemony of the ‘Va'ad Arba Aratzot’ was founded on the areas of administration of justice and education, and levied its taxes – both for its own needs, and for the royal treasury. The division of the land into sections, in areas, serves several purposes, apart from the organization of tax collection. The management in the councils followed these divisions, as did the membership of the various courts.[9]
When Zamość was still a small and weak community, the framework of the autonomous organization was already solid and crystallized. Zamość could not be independent, and it was attached to the Chelm-Belz Region, which took its name from those two important communities in that area. The Zamość community was one of the previously mentioned 30 central communities.
But Zamość did not find itself as a second-tier community for very long in the organizational framework of the Va'ad. We have previously seen that she quickly achieved economic and financial importance. This fact manifested itself in the proclamation of the independence of the Zamość community, from a financial standpoint, within the organizational framework of the autonomy. She broke off from the Chelm-Belz region, and became a region of its own, around which many daughter communities concentrated themselves; it was in this fashion that Zamość entered upon the royal road of becoming a great Jewish center.
It is hard to specify when this initial event took place; however, it is almost certain that it took place in the first years of the 18th century. The financial organization of the communities in a region were very rigorous, and it was not easy, at the time of allocating funds in the area, to solve all problems. Conflicts arise between the Chelm-Belz region and the Zamość region that go on for decades. These disputes, from time-to-time, reached to the highest courts of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot.
The first problem concerned the payment of debts. It was not only once that a body of the communities was forced to make cash loans to meet the needs of the organization and its institutions. The money was borrowed from a variety of sources, among them also the Polish nobility. Just as everyone enjoyed the benefits of the loan, so did every part of the organization find it necessary to carry the burden of the debt, and paying it. The Chelm-Belz Region (at the time that Zamość still belonged to it), borrowed a sum of 4,000 Polish Gulden from the Nobleman Olenski. When Zamość broke off from this region, a dispute broke out over the part of the debt that had been allocated to Zamość. This controversy was not stilled until it was brought before the Bet Din of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot. At a session of the court in Yaroslav, in the year 1711, the decision was handed down: Zamość is required to pay a third of the amount, and the other side
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two thirds.[10] The evidence indicates, however, that this judgement was not carried out, and that the dispute continued, because first of all, 12 years later, in 1723, the Va'ad, in its session in Riczevol, confirmed its prior judgement once again.[11]
A more serious and protracted dispute broke out over another matter, and this gives us a clearer picture of the relationships between the remaining communities of the former Chelm-Belz region on one side, and the continuously growing Zamość community on the second side.
We have previously indicated that the division, into areas and regions, was primarily determined for the financial income from [collecting] taxes. Following a central budget, apart from the royal taxes collected, sums were also collected for the internal needs of the apparatus of the autonomous organization, which were derived from various sums of money levied on the separate areas and regions. If the size of the amount was undoubtedly dependent on the number of the Jews in the given area, it was not entirely determined by this count. Many factors were taken into consideration, and exceptions were considered.( The head tax was excluded, which was identical for each Jewish individual). The central community (or communities) would collect the money not only from its own Jews, but also from the Jews of its daughter communities of the area, or region, according to the internal protocol, which had been established for the area.
The Chelm-Belz Region would gather this sum from many smaller communities. When the central council discovered that, for the common good, Zamość needs to be broken off from this area, and this community needs to be made independent in the management of their finances, this community also demanded ‘daughter communities’ for itself, from which it could derive a part of the required taxes. The controversy that arose between Zamość, and the region from which it broke off, was a battle caused by the heavy burden born by each side. The size of the financial levy would depend on the outcome of this contest.
It is important to appreciate that this controversy had already broke out from the first year that Zamość had been declared as an independent financial entity. For this reason, it then appears to be natural. This controversy went on for thirty years, and was finally resolved by compromise, which came from a judgement from the highest court. This indeed became a very important document, which makes it possible for us to pause [and observe] a whole set of interesting details concerning the internal organization, the relationship of opposing sides to one another, and the management of the central council. From this document, we present the following details:[12]
November 10, 1731, at a session of the Va'ad in Yaroslav, the following judgement was announced as a result of the compromise; The Zamość region will include the communities of: Laszczow, Bilgoraj, Frampol[13], Krasnobrod, Ulanow-Rozwadow, Zolkiewka-Wysokie, Modliborzyce. The impairment to the Chelm-Belz region, and the increased burden of expenses was not small, because the region had a whole network of communities that was taken away, which had previously belonged to it. Zamość therefore assumed the obligation to pay the Chelm-Belz Region and annual subsidy of 2,900 Florins, which amounted to 5,800 Polish Gulden.
Generally speaking, the organizational network of the Zamość Region stayed the same as when it was established and remained so until the dissolution of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot. Only a short time before the liquidation, small differences arose, attributable to the financial crisis during the census of 1764, when Modliborzyce and Bilgoraj were transferred to the organizational network of the Lublin Region.[14]
A special council was empaneled in 1765 to deal with the question of disbanding the Jewish administrative councils in Poland, based on the explicit decision of the Sejm.[15] A list of outstanding taxes comes down to us from that time, by community, a list of very great importance.[16] Among the referenced communities and the listing, Chelm-Belz and
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Zamość, along with its ‘daughter’ communities – Ordinazia Zamoyska – are treated as two separate bodies. There were 10,196 Jews in that Ordinazia Zamoyska, the lowest number among the other communities reported in that document. The grand total of all the Jews in all regions was 385,579 taxpayers. The Jews of Ordinazia Zamoyska were responsible for a levy of 50,708 Polish Gulden out of the general assessment of 2,314,350 Gulden. The percentage of debt is therefore a great deal bigger than the percent of the Jews. In general, the debt of the Ordinazia Zamoyska was indeed larger than the debt of the other regions, except for Chelm-Belz. That Region carried a levy of 126,918 Gulden against its 21,499 Jews. In that document, there is also recorded a debt that Zamość owed to the central Va'ad Arba Aratzot – a sum of 4,531 Gulden (the Chelm-Belz Region at that time owed the central council – 9,555 Gulden).[17]
We have to note here however, that from the details from other sources, especially in the aspect of representation in the institutions of the autonomous organization, Zamość and Chelm-Belz were treated as one entity. We must recognize that a series of points are unclear here. We will only pause to address matters in which we are certain. It is known that in the ranks of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, there existed a body referred to as the “Nine Communities[18],” to which the following belonged: a) Ljuboml (Libevna), b) Chelm, c) Belz, d) Olszyc, e) Sieniawa, f) Warsaw, g) Sokol, h) Tyszowce, i) Zamość.
What sort of role did Zamość play in this body of “nine communities?” We only know, that at a specific point in time, Zamość stood at the head of the nine communities. We learn this from documents dated in 1753.[19] It was the time of the great debate in the general Jewish community, when in the Rabbinical camp an extensive discussion opened up about the accusation against Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz, that he was a follower of Sabbatai Zvi.[20]
At that time, Rav Yitzhak was in Zamość, who was descended from a noted family, being the son of Rabbi MosheChaim, the Senior Rabbi of the Bet Din of the Lemberg Jewish community, and a son-in-law of Rabbi Abraham Lubliner, a leader of the Arba Aratzot. In 1753, the Rabbis issued a decree, which placed anyone who supported Rabbi
Yonatan Eibeschutz, under excommunication. At the head of the signatories one finds the name of the previously mentioned Rabbi Abraham from Lublin, and right after his – which tells us about his important place – ‘the junior, Rabbi Yitzhak, residing in the sanctified community of Zamość, head of the nine communities.’
A meeting of the Central Council took place in Yaroslav that year. There, as well, there was as a delegate of the nine communities: ‘the junior, Shlomo, residing in the sacred community of Chelm,’ and we are caused to wonder by this, that the matter did not elicit a separate Zamość participation, and indeed, we find there also, ‘the junior, Abraham HaKohen from Zamość,’ from the Ordinazia, and a faithful member of the House of Israel, in the Arba Aratzot, author of the book, Sefer Bet Avraham.[21] It might be that this fact has to inform us of the important place that the Zamość community occupied at that time.
In the end, Zamość rose quite high. After a certain time, the entire region (from its representative character, and not for financial reasons) was called by the names of Chelm and Zamość together. Instead of the constant term, Chelm-Belz, which is endlessly repeated, we begin to find the identifier, Chelm-Zamość;. In the year 1762, ten delegates were sent to a session of the Va'ad, which consisted of: 4 elders from the regions of Greater Poland; 4 from Lesser Poland; 1
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from the community of Resza, and one from the “Chelm-Zamość Region.”[22] Two years later, only 7 delegates were sent to the session, and there were: 3 from the country, from the Russian Region; 3 from the Volhynia Region, and 1 from the Chelm-Zamość Region.[23]
But this was at the threshold of disintegration. The sun of the effective Jewish autonomous governance in Poland was beginning to set. The councils were disbanded a short time afterwards, and at the door appeared the specter of the era of the disintegration of Poland itself. The blows with fell on her [sic: Poland] struck with equal force against the Jewish populace and under the hell of the occupation of the neighboring monarchy, the small bit of light that had illuminated the small Jewish world was also locked out.
A short time after the founding of the community in the Zamość, it was already possible to find substantial Jewish merchants and financiers there, who not infrequently provided help to all of Polish Jewry.
The foundations of the economic build-up of Polish Jewry were laid down from the very beginning of imbedding themselves into the economy of the country. Many facts bear witness to the fact that already, by the end of the 12th century, Jews had a great influence in financial matters. Very few became landholders, while others became administrators of the estates of the Polish ruling classes, but their prime objective was, and remained, the economic development of finance and commerce.
It was in their hands that the export of the local agricultural produce lay, and the import of finished industrial products – especially textile merchandise – from the west; there were also merchants who had connections in the Orient, from which they brought in dyes, silks, and cotton. They had relationships with Danzig, Constantinople, Breslau[24], Kafa[25] (in the Crimea by the Black Sea), Genoa and Venice[26]. They were also the ones who collected the taxes, border fees and salt mines. The primary function – the monopoly over the sale of strong beverages in the area. By the end of the 15th century it was possible to see: on the one hand, the rise of small business in the hands of the Jews (to begin with, the typical tailor), a variety of craftsmen, butchers, who began to take over the characteristic position in community life. On the other hand, we observe the rise of a whole cadre of Jewish finance magnates, who would lend money at interest to the kings and dukes ( the history regarding this detail has been partially forgotten, that the Jewish moneylenders belonged to a broader class of non-Jews of this type, and that this line of work was under no circumstances a specifically Jewish occupation).Many of them became popular, such as: Moshe and Yaakov of Krakow, Yoskeh and Shakhneh of Lemberg, Dov from Przemysl, and others.
We can find information about great merchants and financiers in Zamość starting from the second half of the 17th century, and we continue to encounter them in a variety of instances up to the dissolution of the autonomous Jewish organization of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot.
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In 1677, the names of the ‘merchant brothers Daniel and Anders Devessen from Zamość;’ and it appears that they had important commercial ties with distant places outside the country. Among others, they had connections with the merchant, Louis Seriri from Amsterdam.[27] In the cited year, an opportunity presented itself to make use of that connection for the general welfare. In 1672, the Turks invaded The Ukraine and Podolia, taking Jews as prisoners. The Va'ad at Krakow decided to send emissaries out of the country to collect money to redeem captives; the principal trip was to the community in Amsterdam. It appears that, on the first trip, a sufficient response was not forthcoming, because in the year 1677, the Krakow Va'ad was compelled, yet again, to make its way with a second letter, this time, again, especially to Amsterdam. After clarifying the sorrowful situation, regarding the poverty that held sway in Poland after the invasions and wars, the letter continues with a passionate call for people to be generously forthcoming. In order to carry out the transfer of the money in a practical manner, the Safra DeMata Lublin writes in the name of the Rabbis of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, and presents: that the monies should be given to the merchant, Louis Seriri of Amsterdam, who will give a check for this amount. The check was to be sent to Poland, and it will be honored by ‘The brothers Daniel and Anders Devessen of Zamość.’[28]
A very interesting document was guarded in the city archive of Breslau, which testifies to the fact that towards the end of the 17th century, a Jew from Zamość lived there, a financier. A number of ‘Jewish Leaders’ were sentenced to jail there as a result of a financial accusation by Christophe Bresler. On September 29, 1691 they were set free on the basis of a promise to pay Bresler all of his demands one week after they were set free. They presented themselves for purposes of obtaining the money, to the Va'ad Arba Aratzot – indicating that if they did not pay these sums on time, not only will they will be arrested, but also every Jew in Poland who would deign to enter Breslau. It appears that they were unable to meet their commitment, in the course of one week, they proved unable to come up with the needed sum. An understanding was reached: the time of payment was postponed until March 16, 1692. On December 10, 1691, this obligation was signed (in order to guarantee that everything would be done according to the commitment), by 7 people, who were designated ‘as Jews from the Kingdom of Poland,’ from various communities. Among the first 5 signatories, described as ‘Leaders,’ can also be found the name, ‘Aharon Yaakov of Zamość.’[29]
It appears that the central council made use of these monies of the people from Zamość more than once, in order to cover its budget. In the annual budget of 1731 there is an expense item in the amount of 267,021 Polish Gulden , from which there is a debt to ‘Heirs of Hirsch from Zamość 900.’[30]
An important financier was Itchkeh ben Leib of Zamość. He lent money for a period of a half century, during which time it grew vigorously because of the interest that he would charge. At the beginning of the 18th century, (1700-1710) the ‘government of Zamość’ owed him 1,000 Polish Gulden. In the controller's documents in the year 1756, the central Va'ad Arba Aratzot among its burdensome and never-ending debts, can be found a sum of 3,832 Florins (7,664 Gulden), which it owed to ‘Itchkeh the son of Leib from Zamość,’ on the eve of the dissolution of the autonomous [Jewish] regime, and in the year 1765, the municipality of Przemysla owed him 256 Gulden in principal and 94 Gulden
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in interest, which had accrued during the years.[31] Can the sort of people, like Itchkeh the son of Leib, be indicative of the wealth of Zamość? – arriving at such a conclusion would be hasty, because we must first elucidate the financial circumstances of the general Jewish population in Zamość, and other places that might show this to be the case; we must take a glance at the general financial economy for the community. In this regard, there is nothing we can state with absolute certainty, because we do not have sources. [In fact] we find only the opposite indicators, from the impression that we obtain from the previously mentioned merchants and financiers. The real fact, that the Zamość community was compelled, as we have seen, to take a loan from her own magnate, at the beginning of the 18th century, is stark evidence against this. We can also not forget the large debts that Zamość owed at the time of the dissolution of the Jewish Councils in Poland.[32] Decades prior to this, it was difficult fo the Zamość community to put together the necessary sum, that had been levied against the community by the central council. In the accounting of the income and tax [revenues] of the year 1726, of all the Jews in Poland, we find that the Jews of Ordinazia Zamość received a relief – in the amount of 500 Gulden.
Nevertheless, the evidence shows, that among the Jews of Zamość, there were great figures in commerce and finance. They would frequently help out the Jewish community of Poland at large, but on the other hand, they would make it hard for them, taking even higher rates of interest for these loans. This, however, is not evidence to suggest that this community was well off. Individuals gave their money to the community at interest, as they did to other creditors. That well-to-do individuals were found in Zamość, merely indicates that this was a place for economic activity where one could raise one's self up, and which, among other places, also made use of Jews.
The foundations of the social-economic character of Polish Jewry, which had existed up to the 16th century, were not only not wiped out, it was the opposite, they became even stronger. The Jew assumed the role of the middleman in almost every sector of the land of Poland. He was the middleman between the Duke or King, and the peasant, who held the taxes; he was the middleman between the producers and the marketplace, such as a merchant. His central role from a social perspective manifested itself in financial matters that had previously not been connected to these other activities. A little at a time, his role became interwoven into the fabric of the Polish economy, until he became an organic part of it, a part that without it, the rest could not function. He had to support the trade flows of the local merchants, in every location where that merchant sought to set up business, or in the market-cities, where he attempted to set up merchants; he had the open enmity of the German merchants against him, who had come from Rhenish locales, whose enmity and casual regard for the security of the Jews was with them already ‘traditional.’ The Jew was tossed into the maelstrom of the wheels of history comprised of the historical-social conflict between the monarchy, the nobility and the church – and not infrequently, these forces would strike him – the Jew.
Apart from merchants and financiers, there were also merchandise jobbers. The function of these jobbers also came forward later, during the Russian regime, having a role, among others, in a network of villages as early as the 19th century, until they were removed from there. For a long time, they functioned as major financial institutions, who needed to be the basis for support of the communities, and they are remembered in this way:
“And they were vastly wealthy…
– Possessors, they held large estates.
– Driven out of all Poland.
– Pursued legally. Attack in a probe, the court says, whatever the Nobleman commands, and one litigates against such a Jew, who does not, for instance, go away for a term, for example – – … “All-Poland” … one at a time, driven into the city.
– Who is left? One Y. M…[33]
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– But he is still Y.M.!
But the possessors were “seeded” with nobles, behaved like the nobility, came and brought with them the customs of the nobility.”[34]
After this short overview of the economic and social condition, we will take a brief look at the cultural and spiritual condition.
The Rabbi of a community occupied a very important place in the autonomous framework of Polish Jewry. In fact, the entire power of the Jewish autonomous governance was in the hands of the Rabbinate of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot. They were the representatives of the entire Jewish populace to the outside world; they were the responsible agents for obtaining and paying the royal taxes; to all intents and purposes – in the Jewish body politic itself, they were the ones who determined the cultural and spiritual visage of the Jews; no corner of the lives of the people did not feel their influence, nor was free from their directed involvement, and their legal power.
Many documents from the period of the Jewish autonomous regime take note about the Rabbis of Zamość, among others. The material we find there is of great importance not only for the history of the city and its Rabbis, in its own right, but – and this is no less important – it helps us to correctly establish the relative importance of Zamość and its Rabbis in the entire interplay of this force. And after a fundamental examination we come to the conclusion, that Zamość occupied a primary and distinguished position in the autonomous Jewish regime. Together with the leading Torah scholars from other very important communities, the Rabbis of Zamość would involve themselves in the spiritual and social lives of Polish Jewry; they had the oversight in setting out various roles in the communities; about publishing books; they would be both the supporters and protagonists; one had to take both their letters of praise and their critiques into account; also, in periods of great spiritual upheavals, when the Jewish camp was shaken up from the stormy new doctrines – the Rabbis of Zamość were among the first to join the ranks of the requisite protagonists.
Nearly a century after the founding of the Jewish community in Zamość, we learn, from the documents of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, about the first Rabbi. It seems certain that there were Rabbis from the time that the community was first established, but it is first, in the year 1687, that we see the first documentation about a Rabbi from Zamość in papers, and in this instance, his name is signed to an order that emanated from the central council. A very difficult matter was brought before the council in that year from the community of Opatów (Apta). The ghetto of this community, which encompassed the area of one street, had become too crowded to absorb the Jews of the community itself. However, a massive stream of refugees began to stream in from all corners of Poland into Opatów (Apta), and flooded this community. There was a fear, that the Christian populace, which guarded its position jealously, that the borders of the ghetto not be enlarged, would unleash its anger regarding the Jewish influx upon the local Jewish residents; it was under this circumstance, that the Opatów (Apta) community came to the session of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot in the year 1687. The council then released a proclamation which favored the permanent settlement of the Jews who were passing through, within the boundaries of the ghetto in Opatów (Apta). Under this proclamation, are the signatures of the ‘Officers of Ruzhany, Leaders…of the Primary Communities of the Four Lands…’ and to the side of the chairmen of the important communities from Krakow, Lvov, Przemysla, Tiktin, Lublin, we find the signature of: ‘Rabbi Hirsch son to my honored Sir, and Father, Our Teacher and Rabbi, Rabbi Shimshon Katz from Zamość.’43
It is necessary to understand that Rabbi Shimshon Katz was also renown in his generation. But was he a Rabbi in
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Zamość? – we know nothing of this sort. One thing is clear, that this particular Rabbi of Zamość, Rabbi Zvi-Hirsch ben Shimshon, came from Rabbinical lineage, the scion of an especially well-regarded family. In the same year in which he signed the previously mentioned proclamation, we also find his name on another document, which places him in the first rank to mobilize the most senior autonomous power of the central council of the four lands. It appears that it was not only once that the council confirmed his role as the highest authority, but it underwent a longer development in the judiciary. In the year 1687 (at the session in Yaroslav), the Rabbis signed an admonition to the Rabbis of the communities, that they should not take the behests of the Bet-Din of the council lightly, and not to mix into these issues. At the side of the fully authorized leaders of the large and important communities, we also find the name of ‘Zvi Hirsch HaKohen from Zamość.[35] ’[36]
It appears, that immediately after him, the Rabbinate of Zamość was assumed by the important Rabbi, Aryeh-Leib,[37] known as the author of the book of questions and answers, “Sha'agat Aryeh, V'Kol Shakhal.”[38] He came from the great community of Lublin. During his long life, he occupied the Rabbinical Chair in a row of very distinguished communities, such as Tiktin, Krakow, and even Brisk D'Lita.[39] We find him [mentioned in Zamość in two time periods, approximately 40 years apart. In the year 1689 he is, among others, a signatory to a letter of endorsement and encouragement to publish a Rabbinical volume, and he signs himself “Aryeh-Leib,
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residing in the sacred community of Zamość.”[40]In the year 1723/4 he takes part in the council session in Jaroslaw[41]. And on the approval of a Rabbinical volume that was published there, he is signed as: ‘The junior, Ary'-Leib, residing in Zamość’[42] [43]
This Rabbi is mentioned a third time in documents from the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, from which we can see a specific side of the activities and top level oversight of the central council. Rabbi Yehuda of Lvov was taken on as the Secretary of the community. It appears that there were those who opposed this appointment, and wanted him removed forcibly. In the year 1730, the Va'ad Arba Aratzot issued a letter of protection, which formalized the nomination of Rabbi Yehuda as the Secretary of the community in Lvov. Among those who formalized this, can also be found “Aryeh of Lublin, residing in the sacred community of Zamość.”[44]
At this opportunity, we need to note the fact of the very broad role played by Zamość in Rabbinic literature. We will, truthfully, return to this matter in later points, but here we will only underscore that we have in our possession a letter of permission to publish the book of Reb Pinchas, through his son, Reb Yekhezkiel, a letter that was published at the session of the council in Yaroslav in the year 1711.[45] From the foreword to the book, we learn that this Reb Yekhezkiel lived in Zamość . It appears, that in his day, he was a wealthy merchant. By his own admission, he says that he was a ‘big businessman.’ In the end, his business went bad, and he lost his fortune. And when a Jew becomes a pauper, he turns to book publishing.
Rabbi Shlomo was a prominent and important personality, who lived in Zamość for decades and wielded influence there. He was born in Zamość at the beginning of the 18th century. During his long life, he occupied the Rabbinical Chair in a whole array of communities: he was the Bet-Din Senior[46] in Chelm, and its environs; Also, he was the Bet-Din Senior of Zamość and its region. In the end, he was the Bet-Din Senior and the Headmaster of the Yeshiva in Lvov and its environs. His name appears in the documents of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot in the year 1742. The Yaroslav council session of 1739, decided that the communities should appoint Gabbaim, who would collect the imposed levies for the support of the community of Safed [in The Holy Land]. Apparently this initiative fell apart, and meanwhile, alarming communications began to arrive from the community in Safed. In 1742, at its session in Tyszowce, the council decided to apply itself energetically and to demand that the communities pay their obligations and in the future to be more prompt and in fact, set the amount for the future, that will have to be collected by the Gabbaim appointed at that [council] session. Among the signatories to this concordance was also ‘Shlomo of Zamość , delegate of the Poznan Region.’[47]
Rabbi Shlomo is recognized as the author of the book, “Mirkevet [Ha]Mishnah” concerning Maimonides.[48] He was strongly respected by everyone who knew him, but it appears that he found no peace in unfamiliar places. His signature on the previously mentioned proclamation to help the Safed community was a symbolic longing for the Holy Land, that had already existed in the depth of his soul. The echo of the great Ashkenazic aliyah to the Land of Israel, led by Rabbi Yehuda the Hasid at the beginning of the 18th century, still reverberated through the air about European Jewry. Yearning for the Final Redemption grew stronger, and became entrenched even with those who had been shaken by the false messianic message of Sabbatai Zvi. Rabbi Shlomo did not rest, and could find no rest, until he personally was able to fulfil this vital commandment. In the decade of the 70's in the 18th century, ten years after he demanded help for the Jews of Safed, being at that time already of advanced age, he took the decision to make aliyah to the Land of Israel. However, he did not reach the goal to which he had aspired. Dying in Salonika without seeing the Holy Land. He was the first Jew from for the Holy Land who made the attempt to go to the Land of Israel, the first practical Zionist from Zamość. (Concerning his death in Salonika, see the work of B. Mandelbaum, Position, “Mirkevet HaMishnah”).
This journey of an individual must not be seen as something of an isolated incident, it is a fact that illustrates the discomfiting of European Jewry in general, and of Polish [Jewry] in particular. We stand in a era where a storm swept through the religious life of Polish Jewry. More than the personality of the previously mentioned Rabbi, the personality of Abraham Cohen wove itself into this movement, who was active in the second half of the 18th century. In his story,
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and life's path, and what he went through, one can see the playing out of the an entire historical epoch. But this will not be comprehensible to us, if we first do not take a glimpse – at least a short one – at the epoch itself. In the middle of the 18th century, Zamość finds itself in the middle of the cauldron of conflict over the persona of Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz, and a short while later, in the middle of a severe battle against the Frankist sect. The role of the sages of Zamość will remain incomprehensible to us if we do not take cognizance of the platform on which these conflicts took place. By this I mean that in the role of the Zamość community towards the messianic mystique, can be found the key to the root of the sharp opposition to the Hasidic movement that manifested itself at a later time.
The history of the Jews in Poland is one long chain of conflict with various forces which wanted to tear apart the Jewish settlement, tearing it out by the roots – from the inception of this settlement up to the Great Destruction.
The Polish merchant hated the Jew because of his capacity, because of his skills in the area of commerce; the aristocrat, the nobleman, hated the Jews because he was compelled to make use of his money; the peasant, because he saw in him, the Jew, a middleman to collect taxes, those [who stood behind him] who oppressed him, who made his life harder; the urban bourgeoisie generally saw in the Jew a ‘foreign element,’ a competitor, and the Catholic church fired all of its missiles against the Jews, arousing the darkest instincts of the masses, because it saw, in the very existence of the Jews, a contradiction in terms for the very basis of its faith. Periodically, economic circles, who could not confront the Jews because of competitive reasons, would don a religious mask, for the simple purpose of their [competitive] complaint against the Jew. The internal battles between interests and groups; the conflicts between the ruling monarchy bodies and the [lesser] nobility; the various machinations of the fanatical church – all of these struck the Jew. The Jew lived in a poisoned atmosphere of hate, and quite often it would come to blood-libel accusations, to open killing, to torture, to bloody excesses on the part of an aroused rabble.
A terrifying desolation coursed through Polish Jewry in the year 1648 (The decrees of Ta”kh VeTa”t), when Bohdan Chmielnicki's Cossack Hordes flooded the land. The clash of the rich nobility and the Cossack juggernaut was indeed a strong one, but didn't last very long. It was first, after the negotiated peace, that Polish Jewry was drenched in blood. Tens of thousands of Jews were murdered by various methods of execution, many communities were destroyed, and part of them were entirely wiped off the map of Jewry. Most significantly – the spiritual outlook was shaken, and it created a fertile ground for a variety of mystical and messianic fantasies. All year long, the beaten and exhausted souls occupied themselves with the mystical teachings of the Zohar and of the Kabbala of the Ar”i (the great Kabbalist, Rabbi Isaac ben Shlomo Luria, Ashkenazi, born in Jerusalem in the year 5294 - 1535, and died in Safed in the year 5332 - 1572). Mysticism became integrated with the religious sentiment and Jews there deepened their yearning their eternal yearning for a solution and a redemption from their state of impurity. The victory of the Zohar and the Kabbala of the Ari over the souls of the masses was deep and complete. Using them as intermediaries, the Jew harnessed the cosmos and created metaphysical paths in which he found the correct reason for his hapless condition in the earthly world. And in this electric atmosphere, it was sufficient to just throw in the spark of a messianic promise, in order to ignite the raging storm of the great vision of the Final Redemption, and an [unswerving] belief in it.
And the Sign did not permit much time for its arrival, it came from the East, from the wagon of the secretive mystery; the gestalt of the messiah appeared as Sabbatai Zvi. His path was facilitated by the lore of the believer, the fanatic Natan Ha'Azati (Nathan of Gaza). For his practical teaching, he utilized the line of reasoning from the Ari concerning ‘concentration’ and the ‘synthesis;’ about the forces of light and darkness, which struggle against each other; about the buds, the sparks of light and the impure matrix that is woven between them; about sin on one side, and the need to liberate these ‘buds’ from their imprisonment by the ‘matrix’. Nathan of Gaza made a place in that entire Kabbalistic system to organically insert the Soul of a Messiah. To him, the Messiah ceased to be an anonymous persona, but rather assumed the actual form of Sabbatai Zvi, the man, who had revealed himself in a vision. An seeing as the Kabala was a part of the psychic world of the Jews of that time, this teaching fell on fertile ground, and put down roots and became accepted
This evolving movement spread with lightning speed over all the lands of Central Europe, Turkey, Greece, the Land of Israel and Egypt. In the year 1665, this messianic message reached Poland. The following year was, indeed, the high
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point of the messianic movement, which was already headed for its inevitable fall.
The eradication came. True, Sabbatean forces were still well-entrenched across the breadth of all far-flung locales, and in Poland in general, they penetrated the visionary darkness and attempted to provide an explanation of the conversion of the ‘Messiah’ by mystical means and in artificially created ways, that no person could comprehend. But the Rabbinically world refreshed itself, and intensified its war, without remorse, against the ranks of this particular movement. The result of the denouement of this rudderless movement caused it to become generally weakened, by placing itself in opposition to the will for further Jewish survival; It demanded power to place itself on the watch to strengthen Jewish life. There was, however, a deeper reason for the battle with the Sabbatean forces: Professor Shalom, the great researcher into Jewish mystic movements, who researched all the depths of the Sabbatai Zvi movement, and showed us the fact, that already in the first place – in the subtly formulated doctrine of Nathan of Gaza – there were many bases, which , from a religious standpoint stood in contradiction to traditional Judaism, that there were already highly evident Christian elements. And when the Frankists came afterwards, and on their standard, carved a categorical opposition to the Talmud, and also gave an audience to a belief in a sneaked- in ‘Trinity’, they wee no more than sprouts from the seeds that were in the first of these teachings; The eventual conversion of the members of this sect to Christianity, was only a logical conclusion of their mysterious teachings.
But before we take a quick look at the activities of the Frankist sect – whose impact was rather minimal in Zamość – we will stop at the great controversy surrounding Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz. Also, this controversy left reverberations behind in our community, and became quite an event in the lives of the Jews, which split the Jewish camp into two warring and hostile sides.
Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz, the Rabbi of Prague, was one of the giants of that generation. About the year 1750, he was invited to take the Rabbinical Seat of Altona, and other sister-communities. This was the location of the fanatical Rabbinical leader, Rabbi Yaakov ben Zvi Emden, some of whose characteristic approaches are reminiscent of the Gaon of Vilna, The Gr”A (Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu). Rabbi Yaakov, called Yaav”tz, inherited a strong animosity for the ranks of the Sabbateans from his father, Rabbi Zvi Ashkenazi, and fought them without any weakness, or so much as a tremor. A short while after Rabbi Yonatan appeared in Altona, the ire of the Yaav”tz fell on him, because of amulets that Rabbi Yonatan was distributing among the residents, amulets which were supposed to protect them from death that stalked them. The zealot, Rabbi Yaakov Emden openly accused the great Torah scholar, that he was guilty of being a secret believer in Sabbatai Zvi. After a whole set of personal clashes, this matter led to a split in the European Jewish camp. Each side excommunicated the other, each side inflicted double portions on the other. A third party mixed into that stormy whirlpool, that had no direct stake in the issue – the national authorities of Denmark and Germany. The Va'ad Arba Aratzot took a position regarding Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz, and publicly issued a proclamation that excommunicated anyone who would besmirch the great Rabbi of Altona. Despite the fact that one can see the official position of Polish Jewry stood in favor of Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz, does not mean that Rabbi Yaakov Emden did not have any followers. We shall soon see.
Rabbi Yonatan remained in his rabbinical post in the community of Altona until his passing – in the year 1764. However, with his passing, no rest came to the relentless warrior, Rabbi Yaakov Emden. Rumors came from Podolia about a new movement, whose founder was called Frank. His teaching was a variant of the mystical system of Sabbatai Zvi, which continued to harbor a mix of foreign concepts from Christianity. Externally, towards the non-Jewish street, he began an attack against the Talmud, and internally, withing the confines of Jewish life, within the circles of his adherents (in a large number of communities), he began to practice secret rituals, where he sanctified sexual promiscuity, and degraded conventional morality and chastity. When their dissolute ways became visible, they had arrayed against them both the anger of the governmental authorities and the ire of the Jewish Rabbinical authority. In the year 1756, at its session in Brody, the Va'ad Arba Aratzot put them in excommunication, and locked them out of the Jewish body politic. It was then that the Frankist sect seized at the ineffectual direction of drawing close to an external enemy, in order to strike at their brethren from within. A peculiar undertaking began, with the help of the hostile Catholic Church, which ended by the leaders of the sect and most of their followers assuming the Christian faith. The ‘sponsor’ of the conversion of Frank, head of the sect, when he received the holy baptism in Warsaw, was the Polish King himself. This, however, did not save him from the heavy thoughts of the Church, and under an order from
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the Vatican, Frank was incarcerated in the fortress of Czestochowa. He was imprisoned for 13 years, the years 1760-1772. Leaving his jail, he continued to disseminate far-fetched absurd teachings about a mysterious incomprehensible doctrine. In the meanwhile, Poland was carved up by its neighbors. In the year 1768, Frank and his followers attempted to approach the new rulers, the Russians, saying that they wanted to adopt the Russian Orthodox faith. They attempted to convince the leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church, that their leader, Frank, languishes in prison because of hatred of the Catholics, who perceived that he, Frank, is sympathetic to Russian Orthodoxy…. Baruch of Greece, however, destroyed their argument, who because of his business dealings had found himself in the Russian capitol, and clarified to most of the appropriate circles, that the Frankist sect is nothing more than an evanescent band that touts its beliefs only as a front, in order to mask itself.
The waves from this storm did not pass the Zamość community by, either.
Rabbi Abraham Cohen, it appears, was born in Zamość, as a son of Rabbi Yitzhak, who was the Rabbi of the community. He had previously occupied the pulpit of the community of Tarlow, and it becomes evident that he wrote his book, ‘Beit-Avraham’ there, which received special praise. From that time on, he was known as ‘The Beit-Avraham’ (after the title of his book) and his title as the Bet-Din Senior of the sacred community of Tarlow stayed with him later, even though he had already filled many other posts. In 1753, his father, Rabbi Yitzhak, was still Rabbi of Zamość. A year later, we find already, that Rabi Abraham is asked by the Zamość community to assume the Rabbinate of that place, apparently to inherit the seat of the Rabbinate from his father – and he was at that time already renown as a Torah scholar and a writer.[49] In that year, he took part in the session of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot held in
From that time on, Rabbi Abraham assumes an active part in the life of Polish Jews, as one of the central figures among its Rabbis.[51] He rises in his popularity and activity. From his personal life, we know that he married the daughter of the Bet-Din Senior of Lublin, in the year 1758.[52]
This was the period of the great controversy over Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz. We have already previously mentioned that the official position, which the central council of the Four Lands took up, came out on the side of Rabbi Yonatan. Among the signatories to this letter, which excommunicates those who slander Rabbi Yonatan – of the year 1753 – one finds the signature of ‘The Junior, Yitzhak Residing in sacred community of Zamość, head of the Nine Communities.’ (Yitzhak of Zamość, the most senior of the nine communities).[53] But Rabbi Abraham did not follow in the indicated way, according to the leaders of his land, and also not in the path of his distinguished father. He shows himself to be a hard-bitten protagonist against all manifestations of the messianic mystique, and Sabbateanism, whose origination shook the destiny of Judaism. For this reason, he arrived at a negative position regarding Rabbi Yonatan Eibeschutz; from the second side, we see him as a fiery disciple of Rabbi Yaakov Emden. He remains in letter
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correspondence with him, exchanging advice, often coming to the use of close and friendly terms of relationship. As a consequence of the messianic fantasy, Poland became inundated with a flood of amulets and secret writings, which were inseparably bound to the persona of Sabbatai Zvi from the time of the messianic arousal about him, even if their source and origin harkened back to an earlier time before him. In one of the letters sent out by the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, in order to combat this epidemic of amulets – and in the instance of opposing the spread of what had come from Germany – among others, is also the signature of ‘The Junior, Abraham Cohen of Zamość, Arbiter from the Ordinazia Region, a loyal member of the House of Israel and the Four Lands. Author of the book, Beit Avraham.’[54]
In the month of Kislev of 5514, Rabbi Abraham put out a special directive and a letter to the Jews of Poland. He makes clear that this letter is directed against the Sabbateans, and recalls the Rabbis of Germany with warmth.[55]
It appears that this letter was directed at Rabbi Baruch Martz Yavan (from Greece), as he points out two years later in one of his letters to the Yaav”tz. When he wants to praise the stand of the ‘Gaonim among the Rabbis of Poland’ who stood in the battle against the plague of amulets, he tells of the ‘embargo’ letter, that ‘Rabbi Abraham Cohen of Zamość’ made famous.[56]
Avery characteristic fact has come down to us from another letter from Rabbi Baruch of Greece, which is presented word for word, in ‘Edut Yaakov’ Page 59, side 2, from the 36th day of the Sefira in the Year 5515; he writes to Rabbi Yaakov Emden:
It is certain that the reference here is to the books of Yaav”tz against Rabbi Yehonatan, and the Sabbateans in general. Rabbi Abraham's position reveals itself also in his relationship to other ‘protagonists.’ As is known, Rabbi Yehonatan wrote a book called ‘Lukhot HaEdut,[57]’ in order to vindicate himself from the accusations of Rabbi Yaakov Emden. In the year 1757, David Oz came out against him with a sharply written pamphlet and he refers to the book as ‘Lukhot HaOn[58].’ Rabbi Abraham wrote a letter that sang the praises of this pamphlet, which was called ‘The Book of Smashing the Tablets of Sorrow.’[59]
In the meantime, ‘The Terrible Incident of Podolia’ occurred – as Rabbi Yaakov Emden referred to a missile launched against the Frankists. In the year 1757, he gave permission to the leaders of the struggle in the Four Lands to utilize all means against the growth of the Sabbatean wildness, also through ‘dedication to the authority to the point where they should be burned.’ From this answer, we understand that it arrived as an answer to a question from ‘Rabbi Abraham Cohen of Zamość.’[60]
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It appears that in that year, Rabbi Baruch of Greece took concrete decisions from this position. In a special letter to Yaav”tz, he admits to his approach to the Catholic Church, to the ministers and the king on August 3. As a result of this approach, he achieved a judgement of ‘Koret’ (a cutting off) against the Frankists, who had attempted to save themselves by converting to Christianity. In this manner, he conveys that he had forwarded this judgement to the ‘Rabbinical Leaders’ of Lublin, Lvov; ‘To the Faithful Rabbi Gaon, Our Teacher, Abraham Cohen-Tzedek, moved to Zamość from the sacred community of Tarlow…’ and also to two Rabbis in Podolia.[61] We can also apprehend that Rabbi Abraham himself intervened with the Church and the King, against the Frankists.[62]
Kabbala-mysticism was not alien to Zamość, even before it manifested itself as part of the messianic movement. It was the opposite: personalities arose from the people who were beloved of the broad masses of the populace, who surrounded them with legends for folk-tales about miraculous events. A very interesting document about this can be found in the book ‘Toledot Adam[63]’ by Rabbi Eliyahu Baal-Shem:
The Rabbi referred to here is none other than the Rabbi Zvi Hirsch of Zamość, who signed one of the documents of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot in the year 1687.[65] He appears as a fiery believer in the miracle-tales of the great, well-received Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem (who it appears was a resident of Zamość) and became a member of his family by giving the hand of his daughter to him as a wife. Because after the great tragedy of 1648, and the result of the blows that were rained down on them, the hearts [of the people] were open to the mystical vision, which had an influence, and they sought solace in the bosom of fantasy. Jewish Zamość could not emerge untouched and whole from contact with the mysterious stream, also the ‘Adherent of the Four Lands’ did not emerge untouched as well. But the result of the great spiritual pain along with the eradication after the substantial messianic movement, when mysticism became united with Sabbateanism, Rabbinical Zamość joined the battle camp with mysticism, which manifested itself as a danger to the Jewry of that time.
The era of the decline of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot begins.
A condition of equanimity is yet far off. The incited rabble; the Church; the economic competition; the foreign armies that inundated the land, struck the Jewish body politic, wounded it, and tormented it unrelentingly. But the era of the Va'ad was a great era in the life of Jews in Poland: great in its economic development; in community growth; in the spiritual and cultural condition. It was an era of creativity, of activity and growth in all sectors.
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And in that stormy chapter of life, Zamość served as literally a source of renewal on the life of Yiddishkeit in the Va'ad Arba Aratzot. To this overview. We will provide one notable example.[66]
In the year 1753, on the 10th of August, a special royal document was signed in Yaroslav, from which we learn about the following details: On July 20, Kasimiersz Gronowski arrived from Granow, the ruler of the region of Radom, the commandant of the royal artillery, etc. He was an observer from the Royal Treasury, as a commissar to the session of the Va'ad in Yaroslav. However, he found nobody there, save the community leaders of Przemysla, and the old-faithful (the Jew) Abraham, the son of Joseph of Lissa, the most senior of the leaders. That commissar writes as follows:
He angrily postpones the session until September 10 of the current year, in order that the Jews not complain that he is only giving them short notice to present the figures.
What interests us in this instance, is the position that Zamość occupied here: It is a center. In the period of crisis and conflict with the authorities, it appears that there were also financial difficulties in covering the taxes that were levied, and so the Rabbis of the central council gather for a consultation in Zamość.
The sunset of this era came during difficult and oppressive years. It appears that economic conditions also became unsettled, and on the field of spiritual culture, the sounds of the war of words against Sabbateanism and Frankism thundered. It is almost the time when the Va'ad Arba Aratzot ceases to function, Poland is partitioned among foreign powers, and together with the entire Jewish settlement in the land, Zamość enters a new period in its history.
The wave of persecutions, the slaughtering and the economic squeeze on one side and the disheartening resignation because of the failure of the messianic hopes on the second side, fell like a blow on the masses of the Jewish people, drove them into a desolation, into a hopelessness. A very small number, proportionally, once again attempted to find refuge in the fortress of the Talmud and attempted with more effort, to strengthen Jewish life, in order to facilitate a new mystical spiritual renewal, in which there would be no form.
At the end of the 18th century, a new, mighty movement spread out like a beacon among Eastern European Jewry – Hasidism. This movement came armed with effective psychological factors and took control of the souls of the masses. First and most direct, it gave the simple Jew a God, an anchor from whom he could draw comfort in those dark days. There was indeed a great deal of religious mystical ecstasy in the new system, but from a psychological standpoint it also drew on many elements that acted on the individual with love, with full-hearted feeling. Through the understanding from the mystical emotional-philosophy, where the ‘Tzaddik’ assumes a very visible role, every believer was indirectly connected with his Creator, and was able to pour out his overburdened heart. The thick barriers and the fear of the weighty volumes of the religious literature fell away. God was no longer in the Halakha, in the dry legal formulations – only in song, in prayer, in belief.
This great wave cascaded over all Jewish settlements and reached Zamość as ell. Even such a traditionally Rabbinic community such as Zamość could not oppose the new movement. New winds began to blow. The foundation of Hasidism in Zamość was then folded into the city – this part of the settlement was a separate colorful strand in the generally colorful picture of the community.
However, the triumph of Hasidism didn't last very long. From the north, from Lithuania, a proclaimed war came from Vilna, from the mouth of the Gaon, Rabbi Eliyahu.
Zamość was a very observant city. Her Rabbis, the deep Talmud scholars, were zealous on their watch posts to guard
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the framework of faith. Before, we have already seen their uncompromising battle with Sabbateanism, and other manifestations that grew out of that movement. It is true that it is necessary to view the war against Hasidism in Zamość, as an undivided part of this entire conflict, which came out of Vilna, and carried over into all Jewish settlements.
But there is no doubt that a related reason was the existing traditional opposition to mysticism, and first of all, Sabbateanism. There is no doubt in that specific elements of mystical ecstasy were transferred from the large messianic movement to the new, upcoming movement – Hasidism, elements that are rooted in the distant past, even before there was a Sabbatean movement proper. The fact weighs heavily, however, that in Hasidic doctrine, there was no mention, no indication of the concept of a Messiah, and especially in the identification of a single individual as a Messiah. However, the zealous watchdogs didn't make any distinction and didn't delve into details, they were frightened by the essential possibility that there could possibly be a connection, some relationship, in another form, to the messianic movement. Jewry foundered once already because of an aversion to sounding the alarm about the danger. And in their will to avoid a repetition [of the past], they came out with their entire might against the new movement. Rabbinic Zamość presented its struggle against Hasidism in this manner, its opposition to Hasidism was a natural continuation of its opposition to Sabbateanism, and its various manifestations.
First, the beginning of the movement in Zamość was choked off. You have to imagine that the sharpest means were employed as directed by the Lithuanian center. When the first blow fell, Zamość was on guard to make sure that this Hasidic movement should not be awakened. The members of this ‘cell’ were hounded and a permanent atmosphere was created around them. The visit of ‘Tzadikkim’ into the city was prohibited . From time to time, recourse was had to the assistance of the [secular] authorities. The community was protected in a ‘Rabbinical’ manner.
This stance, subsequently was modified. It is possible that the reduction of Rabbinical zealotry undermined the uncompromising opposition; it can also be, that the specific character of the Zamość community was the primary reason. That which the mother community wanted to achieve, wasn't completely suitable for the neighboring communities. The smaller communities, that ringed Zamość, were filled with the new movement, which a little at a time, clandestinely, and without fanfare, also penetrated Zamość itself. A while later, it occurred to everyone that they are here – the Hasidim. Various sects of Hasidim set up their own houses of worship, and ‘Tzadikkim’ would start coming to visit the Hasidic community and Hasidim, often, not in secret, would travel to their Tzadikkim. Nobody any longer sounded the alarm, or cried out. The essence was that two large groups crystallized out [of the movement] – the Belzer Hasidim and the Gerrer Hasidim. The latter were the ones who were more characteristic of Zamość. There Hasidism was more balebatish (i.e. in some sense, ‘refined.’). They also upheld the position of the scholars. By the middle of the 19th century, Hasidism had taken a recognized place in the Zamość community, no one was any longer concerned. And it happened thus, that while in other placed there reigned an open hostility between Hasidim and Mitnagdim, in Zamość, that often led to quite loathsome fighting, peace and tranquillity reigned in Zamość. ‘In the middle of all this, our city excelled – says one of her residents – all its children love peace and unity: the Hasidim are not onerous to the Mitnagdim, and the Mitnagdim do not put pressure on the Hasidim.’[67]
Very characteristic was also the fact that the Zamość community did not experience any infighting and arguments between its various parties. There was never any initiative – religious, spiritual, cultural, that could not be adopted, and tolerated. Zamość, however, never lived through a major spiritual crisis. Her way of life was easy-going, and her Rabbis, who were prominent in the scholarly world, always were able to leap over the boundaries of scholastic pedantry.
A typical persona of the prominent Rabbinical Jews in Zamość can be found in Rabbi Yaakov Krantz, who is known as the Dubner Maggid.[68] He was born in Zhetl, in the Vilna region in the year 1740. At the age of 18, he left his
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birthplace, and travelled to Mezrich[69]. He would hold lectures there in a circle of his friends and acquaintances. His popularity grew, and he was engaged as a ‘Maggid’ by that community. After having spent a certain amount of time in Zolociv, he moved to Dubno (he was there for 18 years), where he acquired the name of ‘Dubner Maggid,’ which became very prominent in all Jewish areas. After that, he served in Wlodawa, in Kalisz, in Chelm, which at the time was a very prominent pulpit. Finally, in 1789, he came to Zamość. There, he entertained the community with his wonderful sermons, for a full 15 years until his death, on December 18, 1804. ‘He had a marvelous faculty for devising parables and stories, in order to make his sermons understandable. His parables drew on day-to-day life, based on the condition of the Jews of that time… until he was crowned with the title of the leader of all orators, the Father of Parables among the Jews.[70]’ His innovative thoughts were printed posthumously. There is no doubt that many of his parables and sermons, which were published at the initiative of his son, Rabbi Yitzhak Krantz, and his disciple Rabbi Berish Flamm[71] were created and delivered [first] in Zamość.
I. L. Peretz has left us an artful portrait of a Rabbi of Zamość in his memoirs about the personality of Rabbi Moshe Wohl.[72] (Peretz gave form to his personality in his story ‘Four Generations – Four Deaths’). He was a prominent Torah scholar, and greatly revered. The gentry feared him, and he would impose the burden of his obedience, the demand of the Torah, on the ‘well-to-do,’ the well-endowed members of the community. But this fear was mixed in with respect and love. In the same measure with which he would not compromise on the respect he demanded – respect for the Torah – he was also able to draw close to the members of his community, and care for them. He understood, and took into account, the new winds that were blowing in from Western Europe. And when he heard that a small-minded Hasid had excommunicated the enlightened scholar Yaakov Reifman, he nullified the excommunication. The story goes on to tell further, that a great misfortune fell upon that Hasid. This was a great personality, one who related well to the masses, with a big heart and a formidable intellect at the same time.
We have, however, skipped over a very important period, and we must turn back to a personality who was one of the most important links in the chain of the era, that connects the ‘olden times’ with the ‘modern’ – the Haskala [The enlightenment]. We refer here to the outstanding personality of Rabbi Israel Zamość.[73]
Rabbi Israel Zamość was a ‘great Rabbinical Torah scholar, and an outstanding thinker in all fields of learning,’
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writes the Jewish chronicler.[74] He was born in Bóbrka [Boiberik in Yiddish], approximately in 1700. He moved to Zamość while still quite young, and it was here that he grew up and became educated. In this culturally rich environment, his talents developed along many dimensions, and in the course of time, he becomes involved in the study of the Torah. The Bet-Din Senior of Zamość leaves us an important bit of information in his letter of consent to his book, ‘Netzakh Yisrael’ – he write there, that Rabbi Israel had occupied himself with giving direction during the entire time he was in Zamość – he was a teacher in the Yeshiva of the community. Slowly, Rabbi Israel grew in popularity, as a man with great knowledge and great skill. While still young, he had a reputation for being very well-versed in secular studies, in magnitude equal to his expertise in Talmud and the religious literature. He was 37 years old at the time that Rabbi Israel Baal-Shem of Zamość gave his consent to his book, Netzakh Yisrael, and he portrayed him as a man in whom Torah and wisdom were woven together. He writes about him: ‘It went heavenward, and water came down reaching the sea, the waters of the Talmud to the sea of exalted and praiseworthy wisdom, also containing many expositions and innovative insights, in this basic book from which the Jew can obtain wisdom…etc., etc….’
In the year 1740, Rabbi Israel left his city, and went to Frankfurt. Here, he printed his book, ‘Netzakh Yisrael.’ From there he went to Berlin, and became a renown teacher in wide circles. Moses Mendelssohn of Dessau, the founder of the Enlightenment movement of the Jews, was among his students. But even Berlin was not his last posting; he went to Brody, and he died there on 17 Nissan 5532 (April 20, 1772).
While he still was in Zamość, he wrote a book, which he did not have the pleasure of publishing until the end of his life – this is ‘The Book of the Windows of Heaven.’ According to the definition in the introduction in ‘Netzakh Yisrael,’ this was a work of ‘geometry, astronomy, about all things, with clear examples from beginning to end…’
Many outstanding Rabbinical personalities, in may locations were educated in secular studies, and from that standpoint, Rabbi Israel was certainly a specific case of a larger general population. But there is no doubt , that a very special impression was made upon him by the colorful culture of the city and community where he worked, and where he was active. And it is certain that he gave his support to the creation of the special character of Jewish Zamość, the place of his birth and where he grew up. It is well known how great his influence was upon the Father of the German Enlightenment, and in this manner, Zamość made a direct contribution to the creation of this great movement. In leaving Zamość, Rabbi Israel lived in many communities, where he was active. But he always remained a ‘citizen’ of his [home] town, and it was in this way his name was commemorated in the history of his people: Israel Zamość.
And it came to pass, that 100 years after Rabbi Israel, the teacher of M. Mendelssohn in Berlin, had left Zamość, the Enlightenment came to Zamość as a spiritual movement.
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Jews stopped in the first quarter of the 19th century, when the community started to recover. Zamość retained its role as a central community, and served as a focus for many other smaller communities in that vicinity. From time-to-time, it would come to the assistance of its smaller, daughter-communities. As an example, on Thursday, 25 Elul 1878, a large fire broke out among the Jewish houses in Krasnystaw. In the [newspaper] HaMelitz of that year, (No. 21) David Shifman tells that the Jews of Zamość gathered foodstuffs together, clothes, and other effects, from the first outbreak – two fully loaded wagons – and beside this, also donated funds. He finished his description with: ‘Would that other cities in the area would also behave in this manner, and first of all, the large community of Lublin. May the Lord repay the children of Zamość for their efforts, and purify them with a favorable inscription and sealing in the Book of Good Life.’
In “The Story of Zamość,” (HaMelitz, 1878, from page 414 on) David Shifman bemoans the declining morale of the social institutions of the community. He attributed this decline to the depredations that were endured during the persecutions. He draws an analogy between the condition of the institutions in his time (mid-19th century) and that of prior generations. And these are the institutions that he enumerates:
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And yet, this very institution did not survive. For more than a century, the Zamość community carried out one of the most important missions by supporting the hospital. However, budget difficulties caused it to cease functioning. It ceased to exist, and the beautiful buildings that were constructed for its use, went over to a new institution that was also important.
All these activities were carried out by the elected officials that stood at the head of the Jewish community of Zamość. This direction, whose beginnings are rooted in the first days of the foundation of the community, back in the days of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot, continued to exist, even under different conditions and altered forms, up to the Nazi occupation.
When an independent Poland was formed, after the First World War, and when the statute of Jewish self-determination was implemented, the status of the community and the election system there were 25 people who headed the Zamość Jewish community: ten in the administration of the community, and fifteen in the Advisory Council. The latter was an advisory and decision-making position, the first being the executive role. These 25 people were elected in a general election. All Jews aged 25 and above had an ‘active’ right to vote; ‘passive’ rights from age 30 and up. Balloting was done on tickets, and the community administration selected the Rabbi. The administration levied taxes in accordance with a special assessment, and also set a tax for ritual slaughter.
The venerable and highly expert city school was under the direct control of the administration, the place for large community gatherings, and also the Bet HaMedrash.
All of these activities demanded no small amount of costs. According to what is reported by David Shifman, the Zamość community laid out ten thousand rubles a year – which for those times was a comparatively large amount of money, especially when you take into consideration that this sum does not include the various donations and generous contributions of the entire Jewish population.
Just as in other walks of life, there was continuous progress in the community institutions; we have already seen, for example, that in Hevra Linat HaTzedek, there was an institution that served the entire populace, and that such institutions acted at the side of the community institutions, and loyally served the general population in many areas. Among them, it is especially important to cite the following:
Hevra Gemilut Hessed – It was supported through membership dues. This group would provide ‘grants of charity’ in small amounts to the needy, who would pay the amounts back in small amounts, without any interest. Among the administrative institutions, the following two were of special importance:
In translating this work for our Pinkas, we passed over a number of parts, which are covered in an array of works by other writers, which cannot be extracted from there.
For this reason, we were unable to include the last chapters from the work: 9,10,11 & 12.
Translator's footnotes:
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‘Not only single members, but also large communities, such as the sages in the sacred community of Zamość, a city replete with wise men and writers, requested from me that I provide them something of his glory, and send him some of his books.’
‘…and I heard from the renown Rabbi, Our Teacher, Aharon Zvi Hirsch Katz, the loyal adherent of the Va'ad Arba Aratzot in Poland, about the respected Rabbi Joel Baal Shem. In the year 5408 (1648) during the storms, when many fled by ships, and the hooligans pursued them in small boats, and they had just about caught up to them, this renown individual had a table with him with a variety of signs (prepared in advance) and he took the tablet and hung it on the ship, and she proceeded to go away with a supernatural speed, and vanished from the sight of the hooligans. And this was told to me by the Rabbi, the Hasid, with complete certainty. Also, his son-in-law, the famous…Uri of Zamość, the son of the previously mentioned Rabbi Joel, told me, in his father's name, that this thing happened in this way.’[64]
‘Immediately after I had sent two letters to Zamość, where are found, according to the words of the Leader, all the Jewish leaders, nobody came…’
(The owner of the house in Czarist times was the Treasurer of the municipality). The first chairman of the Jewish Educational Organization lived in this house (a branch of Tz. Sh. O), of the I. L. Peretz School, Gedalia Jonasgartel[76] (Gedalia Becker).
The bakery was also here. Shmuel Deutschgewand also lived in this building, in whose house, followed political people would hide out (communists, professional agitators, etc.)
Even if we accept the iconoclastic critique of the Zamość institutions of his time, published by the correspondent to HaMelitz, the Maskil from Zamość, we must not jump to a hasty conclusion – it is possible that he idealized the
circumstances of past times, and perhaps exaggerated the shortcomings of his own time, which generally was the nature of the Maskilim. What was entirely characteristic, was the fact that he spoke out so sharply against the absence of …a mikva within the city boundaries, and that this led to very undesirable situations, when Jewish daughters were frightened about going out of the city boundaries to the mikva…
Aleksander Zederbaum, himself born in Zamość, who was the editor of HaMelitz, accepted David Shifman's ‘The Story of Zamość,’ and printed it in HaMelitz, with the following editorial comment: he hoped that the his home town would awaken from its dreamlike state, and return to the state that it enjoyed in former times.
There is no doubt, that once the various upheavals subsided, that the community began to restore itself, and dedicated itself to the work in the community institutions. It is necessary to show respect for the great place occupied by, and the completeness of the social institutions that were in Zamość. Firstly, the majority of the evidence shows that there were organizational faculties, and concern for the general good. When one becomes familiar with the various institutions, it is possible to see there was a rich social fabric of activity, a voluntary realization and development from a broad sector [of the populace]. The 4 institutions previously mentioned by Shifman, were a handful among a [much] larger number. These four, more-or-less, were related to religious life. But David Shifman himself enumerates yet a whole other array of groups, whose objectives were primarily social. Despite the fact that he says very little about them, the mentions them in passing, but also only to level criticism, that they are neglectful, it is important for us to become familiar with them. Indeed, let us enumerate them:
We need to complete the list of institutions that David Shifman presents:
It is also necessary to recollect TOZ[77], the organization that safeguarded the public health; the missions of this institutions spread to especially cover the health of children from the poorer classes. (About TOZ, we will have more to say, more than once).
This work, by Israel Levin first appeared in the book, ‘Zamość in its Glory and Destruction’ which the ‘Committee of Zamość Émigrés in Israel’ published in the year 5713 (1953) in Israel.
Though he was soon excommunicated, he was still able to live in regal splendor, since the Rabbinate was too weak to crush him. Frank then converted to Christianity while still professing to be the Messiah. His daughter, Eve, carried on the family tradition of proclaiming her father the Messiah until her death in 1811. Return
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