[Page 35]

The cornice from a house on the Stolny Rynek, Zamenhofe Gasse Number 1

The innermost door of the Kassierer's Haus

In 1571, Jan Zamoyski takes control of the larger part of the immense fortune bequeathed to him by his father. Zamoyski spent his years as a student outside of the country. He studied in Strasbourg (for a short while) and for five years (1561-1565) in Italy. There, he became acquainted with the most prominent humanists and scholars who had concentrated themselves around the old university at Padua. Zamoyski paid attention to the spiritual life of that city, to the humanistic spirit that reigned in the university, which took in even Jews as students – a rare occurrence in the 16^th century. When he compared the spirit in Padua to the anti-humanistic spirit in the old Jagiellonian University in Krakow, he fell upon the idea of building a sort of ‘Polish Padua’ in one of his lands, a city with an ‘Italian Flavor,’ as he expressed it, not only by similarity in architecture, but also by similarity in culture and education. In the beginning, he even brought Italian scholars, to spread the spirit of what then held sway over a part of Europe. Zamoyski ideal was [to create] a university that would give the youth of the ruling classes a humanistic education, and a fundamental preparation for the political life of the country, and not just simply a theological and scholastic exposure which Krakow provided, and which the new generation of the nobility had at that time strongly criticized.

In 1578, Jan Zamoyski signed a contract with the Italian architect Bernardo Morandí.^[2] At the outset, it was actually a project to construct a castle fortress in the village of Skokówka. A year later, a city began to spring up around this castle. Zamość was officially proclaimed as a new city on April 3, 1580, and in the territories of the Zamoyski family. The new city immediately obtained the blessings of the Pope and the King. According to the plans of the founder, Zamość needed to be equipped with a new commercial and cultural center, first-of-all for the extensive holdings that he alone possessed. The system of defenses that he built there around the city, was designed to serve as a magnet for those he had in mind to attract to come and settle there: first of all, people with capital, such as merchants and craftsmen. Zamoyski gave all new residents a tax holiday for the first 25 years of residents. The colonists, who were prepared to take up residence and work parcels of land, he exempted from personal service, and also from giving a part of their produce to the landlord.

[Page 36]

On June 12, 1580, the King, Stefan Batory awarded a privilege to the city which permitted Zamość to hold three market fairs a year, the right to have warehouses for the goods that will be brought there from other parts of the country prawo skladu.^[3] For the period of the fairs, a special market court was designated to deal with al conflicts and complaints arising from the fair, that are a normal outgrowth of commercial transactions. Merchants who wanted to merely pass through Zamość, and not pay a transit tax, had to assume the obligation of displaying their wares for three days in Zamość proper, in order to enable the local residents to buy those things that they wanted. Among those merchants, there were those to whom Zamość appealed so much, that they decided to settle there. During the first period of Zamość as a city, such a decision was relatively easy to carry out. For this reason, various social groups began to crop up around Zamość, according to specific national and religious indicators. They were protected by very generous privileges granted to them by Jan Zamoyski. This was necessary, in order to decide to take the risky step – creating a new home for one's self in a new city, which required the liquidation of businesses and homes that were owned by the new citizenry in far off places, even outside Poland.

The first new citizens of Zamość were Armenians. They came from far off Turkey. They settled on one street in Zamość, apparently first allocated to them by the municipal government itself. On April 30, 1585, Zamoyski grants them a privilege that exempts them from paying any taxes for twenty years. Two years later, one finds stories about affluent Armenians in Zamość. In 1589 they constituted themselves into their own religious parish, with a magistrate and their own judicial court. The Armenians brought with them the art of working ‘safian,’ a sort of colored leather^[4], that had always been imported into Poland, indeed from Turkey. Apart from this, they, in accord with the privilege granted by the Magnate, obtained the right to deal in wine, mead, hard liquor and beer.

Greeks settled in Zamość in 1589. They, also, obtained a document that guaranteed them, first-of-all, freedom of religion. As Greek-Catholics, they immediately built their own church, thanks to the financial help from Zamoyski. They also faced no obstacles in commerce. There most internal maters they dealt with in an autonomous fashion, and had their own judges and even security guards, which patrolled the street that they inhabited.

In 1594, Czechs settle in Zamość, also on the basis of a guaranteed privilege.

It was in this manner that a number of national groups, a little at a time, came to settle in Zamość, governing themselves according to their own customs, and being active in a variety of fields of economic life, in agreement with the right and guarantees worked out by each group with the owner of the city. Each ethnic group guarded its privileges like the apple of an eye, and always rose to defend it, in the event that anyone from another group wanted to push the envelope of their market fair-guaranteed industrial activity. The large number of travelers who came to visit Zamość in its heyday, did not stint on their words of praise of this well-endowed city, with her various nations, languages, religions, with the autonomous right that each group had, and with the street-delineated territories in which each resided. A Zamość market fair had the appearance of a colorful tapestry, with people of different tongues and nations. Each group carried out its commercial business and work in an unimpeded fashion. In a short time, Zamość attracted new immigrant groups from Germany, England, Muscovy, Turkey, Persia, Greece, Italy and Hungary.

By contrast to other cities in Poland, where craftsmen protected the Christian-Catholic character of their guild, and did not admit anyone of a different belief – tolerance ruled in Zamość from the outset. In 1590, the hat makers obtained their own ‘order’ Porzadek cechowy, that guaranteed them a monopoly for their production and sales in the city, except at market fair time, when foreign hat makers also were permitted to bring and sell their handiwork. It was, however,

[Page 37]

forbidden to do ‘scab labor,’ meaning work by a non-member of the guild. In paragraph XXXV of the ‘order’ it is stated that ‘people of other nationalities may also engage in hat making.’

The city grew quite rapidly both in length and in breadth. In 1591, Zamość is comprised of 301 buildings, 1596 – a full 400, all, by the way, built in an Italian style.

This Polish miniature of Padua, planted in a Sarmatian land, as a result of the caprice of a Magnate, inspired all contemporary travelers. The city is written about and celebrated in song.

An Italian who visited the city in 1953^[5] write like this:

This city is beautiful, and its appointments are an authentic Italian taste. It has good houses, mostly made of stone.

That same Italian was greatly excited by the rich library that Zamoyski donated to the local academy, which he founded in the same year (1593).

Contemporary people were amazed at the pace with which Zamość was built. The poet, Klonowicz^[6] even penned a Latin song about how Zamość grows before his very eyes.

The citizens of Zamość felt much more free there than in other cities of Poland. Zamoyski gave them the same rights that the nobility had. Firstly, they were exempt from paying taxes for importing merchandise. He even made it possible for them to send their children to the academy of Zamość, which was opened with great fanfare in 1593. At this grand opening, Jan Zamoyski gave a speech and said the following:

I deplore those teachers, who stuff the minds of the youth with unnecessary speculative studies, which in place of real clarification drives them into an abyss, not broadening, but the opposite – choking off education and truth.

Zamoyski's ideal was a democratization of education in the sense that the nobility as well, and not only the magnates, would take advantage of education, that first and foremost, must have a practical value. To this end, Zamoyski, for the first time in Polish history, brought special teachers imported from Italy, into the fabric of education.

The juxtaposition of this cadre of teachers in the Zamość academy was very colorful. People from various lands, and even [different] faiths (except, as is understood, Jews), taught there, despite the fact that they could not remain in Zamość for too long a time, because there was no cultural life here similar to that found in the university cities from which they came. Even the Poles, who had studies in Italy and then became professors in Zamość, generally could not remain for long there. There were many drunkards among them, as one contemporary describes, and even underworld types.

There was a printing house active in the sphere of the academy, which by coincidence, later played a role in printing anti-Semitic works. There was student-housing, and many Christian women made a living from running boarding houses for students that came from out-of-town.

In the course of time, those who did not engage in business, and didn't have a trade, made a living from performing a variety of services, messengers, working around the academy. But this was a very small minority.

[Page 38]

Zamość became a city of commerce because of the trade in oxen, which were brought from Volhynia and Podolia, and transported to Silesia and Germany. Jews played an important role in this commerce, even though at that time, they were not yet permitted to live in Zamość.

The last ones to receive a privilege to live in Zamość were Jews. This happened in 1588. This right was obtained by Jews who were not Polish, but Sephardic. This, in itself makes the History of Jews in Zamość exceptional and interesting. In order to understand this, it is worthwhile to briefly tell about Sephardic Jews in Poland, and about Jan Zamoyski's interest in them.

[Page 38]

History does not support the widely held notion, that after the Expulsion [of the Jews] from Spain (1492), that Poland gradually became a place of refuge for Spanish Diaspora [Jews].Spanish Jews appeared in Poland, from time-to-time, mostly as diplomatic emissaries or as highly prominent physicians. These were short sojourns, made on special request. True, it did happen that guests who came this way, remained behind, and several even found their place of refuge in Poland. The small number of gravestones that have survived are so few that there really cannot be any talk about a larger influx of Sephardic Jews to Poland.

These few privileged people from Spain, where generally from a higher social class; several were even aggrandized, becoming close to royalty and were privileged to become interwoven into a romantic legend, that the fantasy of the masses fed upon. However, to date, no historical documents have come to light, that would substantiate larger Sephardic Jewish groups in Poland.

The oldest record is of a Spanish Jew, a physician, R' Yitzhak, who in 1470, about 20 years before the expulsion, was a member of a Persian diplomatic mission to Venice. In 1473, this physician-diplomat was in Kafa (in Crimea, today called Feodosija), which was a colony of Genoa. Yitzhak the Spaniard also made diplomatic trips to the Moldavian Voievode Stefan, and from there, to the Polish King Casimir IV, who, as it happens, was located in Lithuania. Jan Dlugasz, the Polish chronicler, writes about him, actually taking him for a Greek, at the same time that he is referred to as “The Physician Yitzhak” of Spanish nationality, in a letter from the Shah of Persia, by faith a Jew, and a great diplomat.

A second Sephardi, R' Yaakov Anselmi, this time from Venice, shortly before the loss of the colony at Kafa, settled in Poland with his family and relatives.

In their distant and highly risky mercantile travels, Polish Jews often encountered Jews from Spain. It is not known if they derived any support from Spain. Jews are also described in the travel memoirs of Poles who visited Spain, but not any who were Polish.

In the 15^th century, the Jews of Constantinople were the only merchants who imported any merchandise into Poland from oriental countries. Lemberg became the central point for this trade, and was so well known for this, that this city is to be found on Spanish maps of the 14^th and 15^th century as an important commercial center.

In the years 1467-1481 Sephardic Jews import colonial goods into Poland, such as spices, eastern wines, etc. In the years 1515-1600 the names of 12 Turkish Jews are listed who ran large import businesses between Turkey and Poland, and even owned special warehouses, where they employed Polish Jews.

Even though these were mostly Spaniards, they are not Spanish Jews. Jews did not travel directly from Spain itself to Poland after the expulsion. Those that came later, and a part of which actually did settle [in Poland] were not more that small groups, not sufficient to even form their own community. They were exiles from Spain in an indirect fashion. These were children or grandchildren of exiles from Spain, mostly born in countries outside of Spain. They were substantial merchants, bankers, but mostly physicians, who by virtue of their profession, and perhaps their origin, found favor and quickly achieved prominence in Jewish and even non-Jewish life in Poland.

[Page 39]

The Polish students at Italian universities did not come in contact with Jewish students only one time, especially in the city of Padua, where Polish Jews studied, and more than one of them came back with an idealized stereotype of a Sephardic Jew, which to them represented the embodiment of Renaissance culture. Jewish physicians in Italy, and among them many exiles from Spain, had patients among the higher Polish nobility. This perhaps led to the fact that not one Polish magnate wanted to bring back a Jewish doctor to Poland from Italy.

It is Jan Kochanowski (1530-1584) who best articulates the reputation of the Spanish Jew in Polish literature during the 16^th century, when he praises the renown author of the ‘Dialogues Regarding Life,’ (published in 1535), Don Isaac Abarbanel, Leone Hebreo, by whom he was influenced.. It is therefore not surprising that the Italian Princess Bona [Sforza], when she came to Poland to become the wife of the Polish King [Sigismund], brings with her the Sephardi Shmuel bar Meshullam, a senior physician (who was in Poland during the years 1532-1547), and the Italian Ashkenazi R' Shlomo of Odina (who practiced in Poland 1548-1564). Years after the expulsion, it was written in Spain, that it was not a surprise that Jewish-Spanish physicians were in special demand at royal palaces and noble estates. One of the Spanish physicians, in 1575, characterized the Jew as a type of person that ‘by character and temperament seemed to literally be divinely ordained’ to be a doctor.

It is therefore also no surprise, that the couple of Jewish physicians, of Spanish origin, largely invited to come into Poland, quickly took themselves to, and created dynasties of Jewish physicians that played an important role in Jewish community life in the country.

R' Yitzhak ben Abraham was such a physician, probably born in Spain, obtained a privilege from the King, Jan Albert [sic: also sometimes rendered as John Albrecht], in 1501, that relieves him of any obligations to pay taxes. King Alexander does the same in 1502. In 1504, he is living in Krakow. He is the senior physician to three Polish rulers. He is freed from having to stand trial in any court except the king's. He is given a standing sinecure for his consultations, and was even trusted with diplomatic missions. He travels to Constantinople in 1507. He died approximately in 1508.

His son-in-law was the Sephardi, Dr. Gershon Rappaport, known in the literature as the Physician of Porto, Rofe de Porto (the grandfather of Baal Eytan HaMizrahi). Dr. Shlomo Klifora, or Kalahara came to Poland at the same time as Dr. Shlomo the Ashkenazi. He came to Poland along with his father Joseph, and brother Moshe, later a writer. He was the son of Spanish-born Jews. He himself was born in Amsterdam, and indeed, studied medicine there. He took up residence in Krakow in 1560. In the year 1570, he is appointed by the King, Sigismund-August [sic: Sigismund II] as the physician for ‘special medical knowledge, and practical application.’ He is freed, along with his wife and children, from paying any taxes. His virtues and integrity are praised in the renewal of his privilege by the King, Stefan Batory, which was issued in 1578. He even obtains rights to conduct trade, and finds himself to be very capable in this field as well. Along with his son, Abraham, and a Sephardic Jew, Shlomo Habibi, he conducts a substantial business in salt, and exploits the newly discovered salt mines in ‘Red Russia.’ He is also something of a banker, and lends money at interest.

Balaban writes that Dr. Shlomo Kalahara was well acquainted with the ReM”A^[7] and carried on lengthy conversations with him on matters of the faith, which were often referenced in the ReM”A's responsas. This was the era in Poland, when heated discussions were taking place between the adherents of the Rambam^[8], which included the Spanish Jews in Italy, and his protagonists.

Thanks to this organization – Balaban writes – the REM”A's outlook on the world was changed, and made him more tolerant with regard the activities and “easements” that began to appear with the onset of

[Page 40]

the new era on the Polish-Jewish horizon. This is the source of the REM”A's liberalism in many of his responsas.

The world-famous Marrano physician, Alatus Lusitanus (1511-1568) came from Portugal. King Sigismund-August asked him to become his personal physician through a special emissary, at the time when the former had already taken up residence in Ancona. However, he did not accept the invitation. However, the son of his cousin, who was named Moshe ben Eliyahu Montalto, took up residence in Lublin, where he died in 1637. Moshe Montalto built a synagogue in Lublin at his own personal expense, where services were conducted according to the Sephardic tradition. He had a son who studied medicine in Padua, and later became a senior physician in Poland. As his grandfather, Eliyahu Montalto was a physician (died in France in 1616), we have three generations of prominent Sephardic physicians in Poland.

Such families of Spanish origin, which had generations of doctors in Poland, were not rare. It suffices to recall the family of Khazak, which changed its name to Fortis de Lima, and inter-married with the Kalaharas, and many others. Because they were important, by virtue of their calling, social standing, and integrating themselves into Jewish life, the historical documentation relating to community of Sephardic Jews in Poland is not meager. There were, however, also Sephardic merchants, bankers, substantial entrepreneurs, often of an adventurous stripe. There is also documentation about the Volkhoviches of Italy. One of them, Shlomo Volkhovich, even signs his documents as Salomo Szafaradi. He was a commercial agent, by royal appointment, and therefore a Jew of substantial means. There were however, probably no lack of Sephardic Jews of middling means. Perhaps, in locally documented town books, there may in some places be traces of their existence. It is possible, that as a tiny minority, they were ‘assimilated’ by the Ashkenazim, and vanished into the roiling life of the majority life of Jews in Poland. In the main, one cannot speak of great masses of Sephardic Jews in Poland in general, especially not of a direct immigration from Spain or Portugal into Poland, analogous to the influx that went to Italy, France, Turkey and later (already as Marranos) to Holland.

However, because of a local political conjunction, of all places, in Turkey, in one city in Poland, in Lemberg, a colony of Sephardic Jews began to take shape which in a larger measure, influenced the rise of the Jewish settlement in Zamość. The high moral and social importance that the Sephardim earned for themselves in Polish literature, and in the eyes of the nobility, played no small part in the strong good fortune that Sephardic Jews enjoyed in Poland, and gave rise to patronage from the magnates and ruling classes, which simultaneously, the Jews, who had been locally rooted for generations, never enjoyed.

This intensive contact between Poland and Sephardic Jews, dates from [the time of] Don Joseph Nasi (passed away in 1572), who by virtue of his standing in the Turkish regime as a diplomat, banker and literally a global merchant, obtained many concessions to carry on businesses in Poland. Don Joseph Nasi took up residence in Turkey in 1552. He converted from being a Marrano back to Judaism, and began, a little at a time, to play a controlling role in the imperial politics of Turkey, in the time of the rein of the Sultan Suleiman II (1566-1520) and his son, Selim II (1566-1574). Joseph Nasi helped to consummate the Polish-Turkish Tractate of 1561, which guaranteed peace for Poland for a period of time, for the price of not interfering with Turkish expansion in Europe. What role Joseph Nasi played in these negotiations is not entirely clear. On the face of it, his political compensation appears to have been quite meager, if the Sultan saw fit to bestow upon him so many favors and concessions. In the year 1562, the Sultan Suleiman permitted the import of wine into Constantinople, even for the use of Jews and Christians, but there were no restrictions place on the transit [of the wine] for sale in other countries. Being that the newly conquered territories produced a great deal of wine, and the surrounding countries were heavy consumers, this became a very large business. The chief diplomat and banker Joseph Nasi received a firman (a concession) to export wine from the island of Crete to Moldova, and from there, to Poland. He was able to secure broad commercial concessions in Poland, with the help of the Turkish Sultan. In the letter from the Polish King, it is stated, that these sweeping concessions, to import goods into Poland without taxes, is granted to Joseph Nasi because the Sultan had made a personal request of him to do so. He thinks of this privilege as an expression of his gratitude for the favors that the said Joseph Nasi did on behalf of his ambassadors in Turkey. This was in the year 1567. In the meantime, Joseph Nasi gave the Polish King a loan of 150,000 ducats, a truly large sum for those times. When the king subsequently declared to a special messenger of Don Joseph Nasi, that he was as yet unable to repay the debt, he extended his commercial concessions as an act of good faith. It was in this

[Page 41]

fashion that contact was maintained for something less than eleven years, between the Polish King, and the Jewish banker-diplomat in Turkey.

As a direct result of the sweeping, extra-territorial commercial concessions that had received diplomatic sanction, Turkish Jews appeared in Poland, all agents of Joseph Nasi, and began to deal, on a tax-free basis, in wines and other oriental products. The central point for all of these businesses was Lemberg, because many Greeks and Armenians lived there. The coming of the Jewish merchants elicited a strong dissatisfaction not only on the part of the Christian merchants, who sensed the danger of competition, against which they could not defend themselves, but also on the part of local Jews.

In 1567, two agents of Joseph Nasi, the Turkish Jews Haim HaKohen and Abraham Da Mossa, receive the exclusive rights to import wines into Poland. Abraham's brother, Moshe Da Mossa, is designated as the intermediary with the headquarters in Lemberg. The local city council there, along with the merchants association protested vigorously against this sweeping commercial concession which had been received by those Turkish Jews. That they were released from having to pay any import duties, and had the right to transit their wares prawo skladu while other merchants were required to restrict their sales to local city residents for the first 14 days, and only later in other venues – placed the economic security of the Lemberg merchants, who dealt in wine, in danger, and among them Jews. Foreign merchants had never had such privileges in Poland before. The Lemberg merchants did not want to recognize these concessions and deals under any circumstances.

The Turkish Jews themselves could not do very much. The truth is, that the King personally intervened, and reminded the Lemberg city council that what these Sephardic Jews had received, was an expression of the gratitude that Poland feels towards Turkey. Therefore, every act of sabotage against these very merchants would be thought of as effrontery and rebelliousness. The King also warned that he would severely punish the guilty parties that would place themselves in opposition to this arrangement, and prevent the carrying out of the privileges, that he had personally granted to these Jews.

The citizens of Lemberg came out with other statements. Seeing that any arguments regarding business were of no avail, they came out with patriotic complaints, and began to spread the word that these Jews were really not merchants, but were acting as real Turkish spies. When these false accusations were also found to be useless, the city appealed to the Sejm which happened to have gathered in Pietrkow. After long discussions in that location, it was decided to annul these diplomatically-based mercantile concessions. The King, however, refused to affix his signature to such an act, and consequently, the concessions remained in force.

Jan Zamoyski, as the Royal Chancellor, understood that Poland could not go back on its word, that had been signed and sealed in an official document [of state]. He therefore worked strenuously to assure that these Jews would be able to travel freely, and conduct their business in accordance with the agreement received by Joseph Nasi. In Lemberg proper, the Sephardim felt very badly. This time, the local Jews went hand-in-hand with the Polish citizens, because that is what their [economic] interests dictated, despite the fact that the latter were anti-Semitic, but in this contrived situation the Jews were exactly in the same danger from being overrun, just like the non-Jews.

The animosity toward to Turkish Jews in Lemberg became very strong. They, personally, felt this quite rapidly. Moshe HaKohen Da Mossa, the Lemberg intermediary, writes in a letter to his brother, that the Lemberg merchants want to literally ruin them. Also, that the Jewish merchants in Lemberg show very little love for their fellow co-religionists from Turkey. On a specific point, they are even more contentious than the non-Jewish merchants. Because of this, Da Mossa could not find enough words to praise the relationship that Jan Zamoyski had with him, and his colleagues. In this letter to his brother in faraway Turkey, Moshe HaKohen writes as follows:

Where it not for the sympathy and good will of the Lord Chancellor (meaning Jan Zamoyski), who shows me respect, and receives me in his home, not like one receives a merchant, but like a kinsman, the Lembergers would eat us up alive.

[Page 42]

It would appear, that the commercial mission, carried out by the Da Mossa brothers, had an effect, enabling other Jews from faraway Turkey to come to Poland, and also achieving success in their business. In March 1568, the Turkish Sultan sends a letter to the King of Poland with the protest that one of ‘his own,’ a Jew, is being strongly harassed by the local merchants, despite the fact that he has an explicitly granted concession to carry on business. He requests that this Jew and his group not be disturbed, since he belongs to those who earn his support, just as is the case with Joseph Nasi, a ‘Model of a Prince of the Jewish Nation.’ It is in his nature, writes the Sultan, to recognize those who distinguish themselves with ‘their loyalty and dedication to our throne.’

From what we can tell, this was a rather new Turkish-Jewish expedition, which worked in Lemberg, but it was confronted with such an intense level of difficulty, that the Jew Gianamore was compelled to testify to the Sultan and the latter demanded the satisfaction of his rights. In 1570, Joseph Nasi sends a special emissary to the Polish King, in connection with the King owed him. The King had no payment ready, and because of this, he demanded an extension to the concessions, not mindful of the great dissatisfaction that these concessions elicited from the Polish citizenry, and no less from the Jewish merchants.

The agents of Joseph Nasi, again carried on their business under the hail of clamor and explicit acts of sabotage, they had great difficulties with credit, and they had to lend money in Lemberg. The gentile weekly moneylenders, however, skinned them alive. They were too afraid to even approach Jewish moneylenders.

“The dogs,” – as Moshe HaKohen referred to the Lemberg Jews – they really ‘barked.’ The town magistrate and the gentile merchants protested vigorously, but the King carried out his will: commerce continued on the existing basis. Drained by the conflict, the Lemberg city fathers were forced to cease their attacks, and hoped that these foreign, uninvited Turkish Jewish merchants, would sooner-or-later be broken economically. The Sephardic merchants began to feel the hostile atmosphere towards them more and more strongly. Isolated from the Lemberg Jewish community, which distanced itself from them, having no command of the local language, without friends – they felt themselves to be in dire circumstances. They understood that they had to immediately do something that was concrete, because they could not be protected from far away, at a time when they were confronted with hatred and anger up close.

The agent, Moses HaKohen, writes to his brother in faraway Turkey:

I have stopped worrying, because my one salvation is God. When I can have a garment and a slice of bread, nothing bothers me at all, because I know what is going on in the world. Wherever I turn, I will manage to earn my little slice of bread, and in the end I will make aliyah to Jerusalem, in order to live there. All your friends are now your enemies, they want to annihilate you, stone you.

These very Sephardic Jews lived in this kind of an atmosphere, conducted their business, and carried on a battle for less than eight years.

The Chancellor, Jan Zamoyski, exerted himself to help by whatever means he could. In 1580, when he built the city of Zamość, the thought occurred to him to invite these Turkish Jews to take up residence there, and in this way, become the foundation of the Jewish settlement there. From the [archival] sources, it is not clear whether this was his own [personal] idea, or whether it was presented to him by the Sephardic Jews. The condition was, however, that [indigenous] Polish Jews would not be admitted [to live] there. The Chancellor, who yet from his student years in Italy held a high opinion of Sephardic Jews, did what was very strongly close to his heart in this instance. In any event, the Sephardim in Lemberg stressed very strongly in their letter, that Zamoyski's explicit intent is not to permit indigenous Polish Jews to be admitted to Zamość. Zamoyski also reckoned by this, that the Sephardic Jews will, by living in the city, be able to once again be able to import goods into Poland in general, and into Lemberg in particular. In 1587, that is, one year before Zamoyski issued the official concession for the Sephardic Jews, which would allow them to settle in Zamość, Moshe HaKohen Da Mossa traveled there and subsequently remained there. This most certainly came at the behest of the Chancellor. He, personally, strongly approved of the concept of a Sephardic Jewish colony in Zamość, which is not far from Lemberg, but far from Jewish and probably non-Jewish competition.

[Page 43]

In a letter to his friends in Turkey, dated 1587, from Zamość already, Moshe HaKohen advised already:

I tell you, that the large estate owners and Kings constantly look after, and especially in Poland, are concerned that their subordinates not suffer any form of injustice, whether the individual is a Jew, a Gypsy or a Tatar.

Another such hyperbole, which came as a result of an unexpected rescue from the doubly painful plight in which he found himself in Lemberg, he further writes in the following manner:

The Lord Chancellor wants to colonize his newly-founded city. This city, like the city of Lemberg, has many virtues, because it is located in the center of the land, in an attractive area, not more than four miles from a port that leads to Warsaw and Danzig. Here, there are sufficient open places on which to build houses and also a sufficient number of fields, which in Lemberg happen to be quite expensive. Also, it is the Chancellor's wish that only Frankish (meaning Sephardic) Jews shall settle here. From the outset, he wants no indigenous Jews to settle here. The local residence there have many privileges. The Lord himself is a very fine man, even stones have love for him, and self-evidently – people. He showed me personally a great deal of consideration, and he set aside a place for me, so that I will be able to build a house. This has to cost me 400 Gulden, but it will be a beautiful house! As soon as I sell off my wines, I will certainly approach the task of building a house for myself. If, among you, there can be found those who entertain the idea of establishing residence in Zamość, they will find places for themselves and come to enjoy all personal freedoms. This is not only for o u r o w n, but in general, for every person in Turkey.

We are unable to establish with certainty what impact this very interesting letter may have had. In any event, one can see that a small number of Sephardic Jews did come from Turkey, just as Armenians came there and took up residence in Zamość.

One thing, however, is clear, that at the time Moshe HaKohen wrote this letter to his co-religionists in Turkey, he already had Zamoyski's consent [to the plan]. He, and other Sephardim that found themselves in Lemberg, were previously invited by Zamoyski as individuals. The fact that several of them received such broad concessions in order to attract them to settle in the new city, in a large measure was an influence that helped the founder of the city to enlarge the number of Jews, but only Sephardim. Protected from the competition of local and foreign [merchants], that is to say, Polish Jews and the Christian merchants, the Sephardic Jews hoped, once again, to conduct their business as they had in Lemberg, and utilize Zamość only as a place of residence.

This notable invitation to Zamość occurred at the same time that the business of the agents of Joseph Nasi in Lemberg was going significantly downhill, and no diplomatic salvation from the high protector in Turkey arrived, and seemingly was not able to arrive. Drowned in debt, the Sephardic merchants had no funds with which to redeem their goods, which they had been forced to put up as collateral. Moshe HaKohen has actually been arrested at one point for not paying his debts. The protests of two noblemen did not help, who in Zamoyski's name asked that he be set free. True, Moshe HaKohen was set free after four days, but the situation did not improve. This took place after he was already living in Zamość, and had come to Lemberg in connection with his business.

It was in this fashion that the Sephardic colony in Lemberg was seized with the concept of changing its place of operation, hoping that this would also change their fortune in business.

This conjunction, literally presented to the small Sephardic group on platters, led to the enactment of the official act that created a Jewish settlement in Zamość, that should consist of Sephardic Jews only, an act that was one of its kind in the History of the Jews in Poland.

[Page 44]

A Portion of the Architectural Decoration on Ormianska Number 30

A Frieze Under the Window of a House on the ‘Rynek’, Ormianska 24

A Frieze on the House of the ‘Potchineh’ at Staszica 31

The Zamość Concession of 1588 was conceived in this spirit, in which the feudal magnate Jan Zamoyski provided with a generous hand only for Sephardic Jews. As the oldest concession of its kind, obtained by Sephardic Jews at the time of the establishment of any new city, this document deserves a very special description.

Zamoyski begins his concession document with the concrete statement that he was asked ‘in the name of several Jews of the Spanish and Lusitanian (meaning Portuguese) nation,’ to grant them permission to take up residence in Zamość, just as he had granted permission to other groups.

He tells that he had a consultation with the city magistrate, and reached a decision to grant the Jews the same rights and freedoms that other groups enjoy. The Jews only need to be Spanish and Portuguese, even though they may come from Italy or Turkey. ‘They will have the freedom to bring in and take out all manner of goods and implements without exception.’

These Jews may not be asked what their faith is, or what they are obligated to observe with regard to ‘Jewish Laws and Customs.’ These Jews may not be ridiculed, harassed, or caused damage, and in general they have to feel as secure in the city as a nobleman or a senator feels for himself in the land.

A street is allocated to the Sephardim where they can build houses (die Schustergasse) and also a side street that leads to the small marketplace, die Zaltsgasse. They may hold property and build houses on these streets, and may think of these houses as ‘their own property’ for themselves and their heirs. These houses may be mortgaged, sold, re-built, etc. ‘In all other respects, they must live in security, and in the pleasure of owning their own homes. They, as well as their children, may not be ridiculed, and their right to freedom in earing their livelihood may not be impaired.’

They are also given permission to build their own synagogue, but until they are of sufficient capacity to have a house of worship constructed of stone, they are afforded the right to gather in a private home to pray. They may have their own books, either printed or handwritten. They may bring in teachers for their children and also they (meaning the teachers) may also have books that are necessary. The Jews are given permission to take building materials from Zamoyski's forests, and bricks as well as lime and stones, as much as they need – without charge.

In case the Jewish colony in Zamość should grow so large, that the two streets allocated to them at the outset become crowded, they may expand. ‘If in time, so many of this nation is in-gathered that it shall become impossible to live within the walls of the city that have been designated for them, they shall have the permission to buy other property in the outskirts of the city, outside of the city [proper], with the right to build houses there.’ Jews will not have to pay any more for those houses than other citizens of the city.

[Page 45]

Zamoyski declares himself prepared to donate a place for a cemetery, under the condition that the Jews themselves will enclose the cemetery with a wooden fence.

With regard to commerce, which for everyone was the principal test by which to decide to settle in the new city, this Privilege offers the following concessions:

The Sephardim obtain the right to open up stores on the main marketplace, in the Rathaus, and other locations. They are given permission to deal in jewelry, pots and pans, fine clothing, items of gold and silver, as well as medicines and perfumes. They may import these goods from wherever they want to, and they may sell them directly, or indirectly at fairs.

Of interest is the paragraph concerning the right of Jewish physicians in Zamość. This concession document states that those ‘who are educated in medical science, have a license, and also the title of Doctor in Zamość, may practice medicine, healing the sick, without restriction. They may maintain pharmacies in an unimpeded fashion, preparing prescriptions and selling them. They may engage in practical medicine without impediment, on condition that the Zamość bathhouse will not have any part, because a part of such income naturally belongs to it.’

They may wear any kind of clothing that they please, and they may not be compelled to affix any external identifying labels to their garments, that would enable them to be identified as Jews, and ‘in order to protect themselves, they may carry the same weapons that other citizens may carry for the same purpose.’

The Sephardim may build bathing facilities in their own homes for the members of their own families, closed to being rented out.

Regarding matters of commerce, there were a series of limitations that were instituted that were a direct outgrowth of the guarantees that other groups, such as Armenians, Greeks, etc, had received from Zamoyski. Because, for example, since dealing in Eastern and Southern wines was a privilege of the Armenians, and the commerce in foodstuffs, such as bread, meat, and chickens was guaranteed to the Czechs, the Sephardim, consequently, had to forswear participation in these businesses. An exception was made for wine, which was sold in large quantities.

The Sephardic Jews may engage in crafts, except for millinery, manufacture of pots, and shoemaking. They also cannot be butchers. These trades already had guilds, who guarded their interests of these craftsmen.

They may slaughter animals for their own use. They are given permission to sell meat considered unfit for personal consumption [sic: trayf] at the weekly market-fairs, as well as to other towns and villages in ‘my domain,’ Panstwa mojego, meaning on the territory that was Zamoyski's own.

The point about the organization of the Jewish community in Zamość is very interesting:

The above mentioned Jews of the Spanish and Portuguese nation will not be thrown under the authority of other Jews. They will, by themselves, elect leaders and create a community of Portuguese and Spanish Jews, to which a Jew from a second [sic: other] nationality will not be permitted to join without prior permission. Such (a decision) must be concurred in by the heads of the synagogue or by a majority of Portuguese and Spanish Jews. The name of each Jew must be recorded in the Pinkas of the synagogue. (The Jews) will have the power to select their leaders in accordance with their own customs. These leaders will have the power to adjudicate all disputes, judgements, punishing the guilty and those who have broken the law, to excommunicate, and even to expel.

In regards to city taxes, the Sephardic Jews do not come under municipal jurisdiction, but still have to pay taxes that Zamoyski himself will establish.

City residents cannot bring Jews before the municipal court. In any matter, whether civil or criminal, the non-Jewish

[Page 46]

plaintiff must first come before Zamoyski himself.

I promise – Zamoyski declares in this Concession – to be just. I will designate an experienced and ethical judge, who is not tainted by suspicions, and in matters regarding their disputes with Christians will render judgement, both in civil and criminal matters.

The Privilege secures the right of the Sephardic Jews to travel. If one of them needs to leave Zamość, he may do so without constraint, on condition that he pay off all of his debts, if he owes anyone money. He may sell his house, and take his entire wealth with him.

Zamoyski further declares, that the Jews of his city, Zamość, will have the same rights as the Jews of Krakow, Posen, Lublin, and other cities in Poland, and as ‘Senators and Nobility of the Polish Crown.’

In order to give this Privilege the weight of the law, it is recorded ‘word by word’ in order that ‘my heirs will carry it out for generations [to come].’

I promise and guarantee, that they may build houses on the designated places, and increase the city's businesses.

As previously mentioned, this unusual privilege, was the only one of its kind received by Sephardim in Poland, even if it often occurred in other countries in later years.

Generally, this was a liberal privilege. The accounting was done without the homeowner. In general, the homeowners who were the potential residents of Zamość, came from Spanish roots. How many Jews in Turkey responded to Moshe HaKohen's letter that praised the good intentions of Zamoyski, in connection with Sephardic Jews, is hard to establish with confidence. The evidence suggest that a small number of Jews did indeed take up residence in Zamość. We find a couple of names of Venetian Jews, and even from more distant places. This Privilege is for the Sephardic colony in Zamość, which at its center, had an interest in having a secure fallback position, a refuge, in order to conduct business with less risk than in Lemberg – just as the Sephardim in Glickstadt wanted to do, in relation to Hamburg – was a bit late. Don Joseph Nasi was no longer alive. The later Sephardic agents who we learn, came to Poland on their own accord, no longer found diplomatic protection for themselves. Jan Zamoyski dies in 1605, and with him, the last person prepared to intercede for the ‘Turkish Jews’ disappears from the scene.

The Sephardic Jews that took up residence in Zamość, conducted their business largely in Lemberg. The same Moshe HaKohen Mossa, incidentally, the first Jewish resident of Zamość (since 1587), figures in 1596 in Lemberg proceedings as a principal in commercial disputes with an Armenian merchant, that is to say, barely nine years after settling in Zamość. In 1597, it is noted that two Sephardim from Zamość, both from Venice, Shlomo Markus and Abraham Mizrahi, sell a house to one Isaac Metcalf, who was supposedly an English Jew. In 1598, the local Sephardim are mentioned in connection with their debt of 80 Gulden for the benefit of constructing the Rathaus.

Despite the fact that the Privilege explicitly states that it is forbidden to insult Jews, and do anything that would cause them a loss, the local Academy takes on a monetary bequest, which a professor left for a ‘loan fund’ (mons pictatis) which is to lend money against collateral to everyone except Jews. This fund was established in 1607. That means it was in total, nineteen years after the Sephardim settled in Zamość.

The Concession of 1588 enumerates four lines of work in which the Sephardic Jews may engage. But in 1621, the Jeweler's Guild published amendments, according to which Jews may undertake this line of work on an equal footing with non-Jews. Such an amendment was certainly not intended for Sephardic Jews, because such an issue could not be included in an amendment, because by the terms of the Concession, this was a clearly delineated matter. What this means, is that in 1621, there already were non-Sephardic Jews in Zamość.

Of further interest is the story of a Jewish doctor (not a physician, but rather an academic doctor, whose name is regrettably not given). On May 13, 1631, students of the Zamość Academy kidnaped his daughter, a child of eleven

[Page 47]

years of age, and forcibly converted her to Christianity. At that time, the new leader, the younger Zamoyski was in charge. This incident was in direct contradiction of a guaranteed right, according to the Concession of 1588, and therefore without a doubt occurred to a non-Sephardic Jew. All of this, it happens, takes place after 1605, that is to say, after the death of Jan Zamoyski, the founder of Zamość. When a general decline in the city is felt, the Academy, which was to have competed with Krakow, becomes shrunken and descends to the level of an unimportant center of learning. The ‘nations’ that had guaranteed amendments and privileges complain that they are harassed, and they are constrained in regard to their freedom to engage in commerce, which was originally granted to them. The Armenians, the Greeks and the Scotsmen do this. Many of them abandon Zamość altogether, and settle in other cities. The Italians go away to Krakow, the Greeks to Lemberg, the Armenians fight on for a period for their rights, guaranteed in the privilege.

The Polish gentry is bursting with envy. They want to become the total masters of the city. The concession of the wine trade affected the Sephardic Jews in an especially strong manner. There was no one to whom to sell jewelry and silk garments in Zamość, what the city needed was provided by the Polish Jews from neighboring places, which incidentally also belonged to the Zamoyskis.

Whether large or small in number, the Sephardic Jews looked about them, and observed that the ‘Garden of Eden’ that Zamość was not what they had thought it would be. Competing with the Armenians in Zamość was no simple matter. Nowhere did they take up any of the trades, so the privilege of engaging in a craft was of minimal value to them. The merchants from outside of the country, in general, did not feel comfortable in the Polish surroundings. Jan Zamoyski would receive letters from them, especially the English merchants who had taken up residence in Zamość , and had very large stores there, just as they did in other cities, that the nobles were not paying their bills, and when they go to collect the money that is owed to them, they are beaten. A foreign merchant cannot get justice in court, and as a result they feel they must leave the country, if the Chancellor himself cannot personally protect them.

If Christian merchants were unable to get protection from Zamoyski, it goes without saying that the Jews certainly could not, even those of Spanish origin, of whom he had such a high opinion.

In this manner, one can come to the conclusion, that even before the Sephardic colony in Zamość was founded, it was already at the verge of disintegration. But how long the Sephardic settlement lasted in Zamość , until it finally disappeared, is to date not readily established One thing is certain: around 1600, the names of Sephardic Jews vanish from the records in Lemberg.

It is recorded, for example, that the Zamość Synagogue was built in 1595. It is even told that the Bimah was donated by one R' Shmuel Barzel. If this is more than a folktale, it would mean that a small group of Sephardim (we cannot speak of a large group of Sephardim in any case), built this synagogue, which later became an object of study by art historians in Poland.

There are no traces of a Sephardic cemetery in Zamość, and not a single name of a Sephardic Rabbi has been handed down to us. From all of this, we are left with the conclusion that more or less, the entire history of the Sephardim in Zamość came to an end during the first fifty years after its establishment.

The travelers who visited Zamość after the 1648 Chmielnicki pogroms mention no Sephardic Jews at all. By 1648, Zamość was already a large Jewish community of only Ashkenazim, which became even larger during the period of the Chmielnicki decrees, when Jews from the surrounding small towns sought refuge in the fortress and were saved from death in this manner, despite the fact that many fell victim and died from disease and hunger.

Because of this, one can demonstrate with great certainty, that by 1630, the Sephardic Jews of Zamość vanished. This does not mean that the Ashkenazic community began to function only after the Sephardic community disappeared. By all the evidence, we have to conclude that Polish Jews entered there originally as merchants, who lived in the closest of the nearby cities and towns, which belonged to the Zamoyskis. In neighboring Szczebrzeszyn, in 1594, the chief land estate manager was Yaakov ben Natan. In almost all of the large properties of the Zamoyskis, Jews played the leading roles as estate managers and merchants. In his private cities such as Tomaszow, Turobin and others, Jews can be found directly from the founding of these cities. They did not have the sort of sweeping concessions of the type granted to the Sephardim in Zamość. The evidence suggests that they went in there to fulfil the functions which were then needed, and

[Page 48]

consequently became more integral to the general structure of the municipal economy without privileges, where the Sephardic Jews did this with privileges.

The time that the Sephardim were in Zamość needs therefore to be thought of as a unique episode, which in the final analysis had no lasting influence on the later development of the Jewish community in Zamość, and left behind no traces of its existence, apart from relevant notations in the text of the Privilege, which a Polish Chancellor, a ‘Lover of Spain,’ threw to this community literally as if by a magnate's caprice.

The entire original Polish text is presented here. It is not translated into English, since that is beyond the scope of this effort. Interested readers are referred to the original text.

The interested reader is referred back to the original text for the footnotes of the author.

Translator's footnotes:

1. Dr. Shatzky provides a series of 46 footnotes to his essay, which will not be reproduced in their entirety. If they provide some specific clarification of interest, they will be included here as well. Interested readers should consult the original text for further details. Return
2. Shown as Bernardo Morando in the general literature. Return
3. “Prawo skladu” was a warehousing statute that required every merchant passing through the city to display his merchandise for sale for a certain period of time. There was a total “prawo skladu,” requiring the merchant to sell everything. There was also a partial “prawo skladu” forcing the merchant to sell a certain part of his merchandise. Polish cities were being given “prawo skladu” starting 1274. Its importance was already fading in 15^th century, and disappeared totally in 18^th century. Return
4. From ‘safian’ meaning Moroccan leather. Return
5. This is very likely a typographical error, since the context suggests it should have said 1593. Return
6. Sebastian Fabian Klonowicz (1545 - 1602) Return
7. Moses ben Israel Isserles (c. 1525-1572), considered the “Maimonides of Polish Jewry,” was one of the greatest Jewish scholars of Poland. Born in Krakow, he was the great-grandson of Yekhiel Luria, the first Rabbi of Brisk. Isserles died in Krakow and was buried next to his synagogue. Thousands of pilgrims visited his grave annually on Lag b'Omer, until the Second World War. Return
8. The Hebrew acronym for Maimonides (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon). Return

[Page 49]

The Great Synagogue in Altstadt. View from the North Side

The Plans of the Synagogue Right from the Top; Left from the Ground

The Interior of the Synagogue. In the Middle is the Artistic Bimah.

A Cross-Sectional Plan of the Synagogue

The Ornamentation of the Soffit of the Synagogue

The Entrance to the Polish

The Plan of the Portal from the Polish

Window Decoration from the ‘Kassierer's Haus’

A Frieze Under the Window at Zamenhofe 1

Professor Szyszko-Bohusz, the renown researcher of medieval Polish architecture, gave us an accurate portrait of this synagogue in his substantive research work, ‘Materials Pertaining to the Architecture of Jewish Synagogues in Poland:’^[2] in the fully developed complex of the modern day synagogue in Zamość, the elements that are organically fused, which belong to the earlier parts, the core – are the main building and the two side ‘Women's Synagogues,’ on the south and north side, that are united with it. The modern day ‘Polish’ also belongs to an earlier period. It is possible that the ‘Polish’ was re-built, but in any case, the original was very similar to the present day one. It is possible that over the ‘Polish’ there was a ‘Women's Synagogue.’ The remaining parts, that are attached to the main building already belong to later periods. Very significant modifications took place, not only to the exterior appearance of the building, but also in the entire interior of the synagogue.

The ‘Polish’ of the synagogue recalls the vestibule in the walls of the marketplace (the ‘Rynek’). It has an vestibule, a very wide and castle-like soffit construction with lintels. The ‘Polish’ is more than a meter deep into ground level, the entrance to the large prayer hall being on the east side, and whose floor was even lower, where it was necessary to go down several steps; from the west side, stairs lead to a small sanctuary for prayer (a shtibl). In the very small corner of the corridor of the Polish, is the entrance to the courtyard; in the western part is the entrance to the ‘Talmud Torah’, in the eastern side, to the ‘Women's Gallery.’ Between the two sections of the ‘Polish’ are the stairs that lead to the choir gallery.

[Page 50]

The essential part of the construction, which is of interest from an architectural and artistic standpoint, is the great prayer hall, whose construction art is estimated as belonging to the 17^th century. The synagogue is nearly square (12.22 meters by 11.57 meters); in size and style, the synagogue reminds one strongly of the synagogue in Szczebrzeszyn (13.43 meters by 11.35 meters). However, the wall decorations in Zamość are different. Here, as in Szczebrzeszyn, there are double lintels in the corners of the building. However, the corners here are finished differently. Here, the corners are made of pilasters, which are matched to the boundary with the soffit construction. From an architectural standpoint, this is better finished than [the synagogue] in Szczebrzeszyn. In the side walls (North and South) there are 8 alcoves in the walls (4 to a side), which unite the large synagogue hall with the ‘Women's Synagogues.’ Over these openings, there are tableaus, whose borders are especially beautifully decorated. The carved Holy Ark occupies the place of the central pilaster on the East Wall, between two Ionic columns. Today, light comes in through only two windows that are on the eastern wall.^[3] The two windows that had previously been on the west wall, were perhaps connected with the ‘Women's Synagogues.’ The four side windows, after many of the modifications that were made, serve today as see-through separation devices to the side chambers of the ‘Women's Synagogues.’

Inside the main prayer hall, as recently as a few years ago, there still stood two wooden galleries along the length of the west wall for the Heder boys.^[4] References to these galleries can be found in Z. Gloger's ‘Wooden Buildings and Woodworking in Polish Buildings of Old.’ Traces of these galleries were wiped out over a period of time. It is very difficult to say what the outward appearance of the synagogue was like before, based on what it looks like today.^[5]

Apart from the barrel-like construction of the building, it is an example of Renaissance architecture, which was adopted by the Polish synagogues of that era. There are a series of other important artistic features to be noted regarding the Zamość Synagogue – and a specific instance from the first – from which one can see a strong evidence of the Italian Renaissance.

Among all the well-known Renaissance synagogues in Poland, the Zamość Synagogue serves as the first example of the appearance of architectural embellishment of the inside walls of the synagogue. Here one can see the arcade, which is so characteristic of these fortress-like synagogues, which were built starting from the middle of the 17^th century. The wall decorations described by Szyszko-Bohusz as ‘Tableaus where both framed edges which stand out because of the profusion of decoration,’ does not have the motifs of the connecting rows – the external decoration which is interesting in the fortress-like synagogues – which was transferred to the interior of the house; there is also nothing of the ‘trifurium’ of the Christian temples: those embellishments have in them an exceptional delicacy, and an architectural flavor that complement the wide upper spaces between the high windows and between the apertures that tie together the [main] synagogue and the lower ‘Women's Synagogues.’ The two tableaus, with the fine decorations, which are on both sides of the pilasters, that is: four on each of the walls (including the Eastern Wall), have the appearance of a parallelogram, whose upper horizontal line is not in the same line, but evolves into its center in a semi-circle which goes out from the side of the line, and at the edges is formed into a fire with a rose in the middle. The plastic motifs of the

[Page 51]

line of the frame is distinguished by its braided ornamentation, which recalls the appearance of an arabesque^[6], and separately it stands out against the lower line of the frieze, which then spreads itself over both frames between the pilasters of the walls of the entire building.

Also, the decorations of the soffit, made in the form of decorated bands, which stretch from the edge of the lintels, in the center from the girds, and between the pilasters and girds – are the product of artistic hands. It is necessary to specially cite the folksy decorative motif that stands out so much, which shows itself in the corners of the building – the flower vases with the two roses by the side. The use of this specific decorative device following the style of the Italian Renaissance on the bending-sides, is characteristic of the Zamość Synagogue.

The iron Bimah is among the most original and beautiful in Poland; the Bimah reminds one of the appearance of a colossal Torah crown, and octagonal crown skeleton, which comes together in the top part of the Bimah; also that [top] part terminates in a Torah crown in miniature, but in a very realistic rendition. The ornamentation of the topmost part of the Bimah, is very delicate, and is wrought in motifs of floral growth (leaves, twigs) and on both sides, there are two tableaus with the names of the donors.^[7] The base of the Bimah is made from geometric motifs which are interlaced with roses, with reliefs of acacia leaves, this Bimah was constructed in the year 1788.

There is a large Hanukkah menorah found in the Synagogue, with 9 branches, entirely typical of those found in Polish synagogues.

Regarding the ‘Polish,’ it is worth remarking about the beautiful gate that served as the entrance into the Synagogue. The gate is made in the form of a stone portal, put togther from two baroque sides whose crowns bear two semi-circular arcs. On this portion, in the frieze, the following sentence appears: ‘how awesome is this place, it can be no other than the House of the Lord, and this is the gateway of Heaven,’ and in the center, the more prominent part, the sentence: ‘this is the gateway to the Lord, the righteous enter it.’ The door is covered with a cris-crossed iron webbing which calls to mind [the motif of] the Krakow Synagogue, named ‘Isaac Yekeles Synagogue.’

Footnotes:

1. Author's footnote: According to Balaban, the synagogues in Zamość and Szczebrzeszyn were built simultaneously, at the end of the 16^th century, bu the actual date of their construction is not known. Also, the dispensation, that the Zamość Synagogue was built with the help of the Chancellor, Jan Zamoyski, the owner of the city, is not sufficiently well-founded. Z. Gloger depicts Jan Zamoyski as a model of a refined Polish man, and a man of great wealth, who built this synagogue for the Jews. He notes however, “as is related in a legend, Zamoyski built the synagogue in Zamość.” Z. Gloger: Budownictwo drzewa i wyroby z drzewa w dawnej Polce. Warsaw 1907, in the introduction to the chapter ‘Synagogues,’ page 22. Return
2. Author's footnote: The study by: A. Szyszko-Bohusz: Materijaly do architektury bóznic w Polsce. Krakow, 1926, is dedicated to the synagogues in the center of Poland and the essentials of the synagogues belonging to congregations on the line along the banks of the Vistula (the centers: Kielce, Lublin, Warsaw). See D. Davidovich “In Memory of Prof. A. Szyszko-Bohusz” in Gazot, Tammuz 5710 (1950). Return
3. Author's footnote: Today?...M. Tzanin (“On the Destruction of Polish Jewry” – Davar January 28, 1948) writes about the tragic end of this synagogue. After his visit to Poland, among other details, he writes: “When the Jews of Zamość were driven out and into the ghetto, the pillaging assault of the city residents rose higher. In a matter of only a few hours, only bare walls remained in the synagogues.” See also: M. Tzanin “Concerning Stones and Landings,” Tel-Aviv 1952,pp. 54-55. We provide an excerpt of Tzanin's description in the section of the Pinkas that deals with the destruction. Return
4. Author's footnote: According to the definition of Szyszko-Bohusz Chórki, which means a small choir, or a place for choirs. Places of this sort were kept up in a variety of synagogues in Poland such as: Vishogrod, Gombin, Lemberg, and they were certainly designated for the Heder boys or for singers in the Cantor's choir. Return
5. Author's footnote: See the study of Szyszko-Bohusz previously referenced, pp. 21-23. Return
6. {to be found in] The Sephardic Synagogues in Toledo, today the Christian Church of ‘Santa Maria La Blanca,’ and ‘El Tarnsita.’ G. K. Lukomski: Jewish Art in European Synagogues, London 1947, Page 34. Return
7. It is told that the Bimah was given to the synagogue as a gift of R' Shmuel Barzel. It is possible that this name is indicative of the Sephardic origin of the donor. However, it cannot be confirmed, that the small Sephardic community constructed this synagogue. See the memoir of Dr. Yaakov Shatzky, “Sephardim in Zamość” in this Pinkas, p. 69 and on. Return

  Zamość, Poland     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 18 Apr 2022 by LA