1 The Old Polish Period (Fifteenth–Eighteenth
3. ORGANIZATION AND FUNCTIONING OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY (KEHILLA)
As noted, the exact date of the initial Jewish settlement in Kleczew is not known. The first mention of Jews dates to 1507 and concerns the impo-sition of a coronation tax on them. The next mention of Jews in Kleczew appears only in 1695. Nothing is known about the kehilla—the organized Jewish community—or how many members it had. It may be assumed
that the kehilla in Kleczew resembled its counterparts in other towns of Greater Poland.
The kehilla had a central administrative body called the kahal, a Hebrew word for “assembly” or “collective” that Jewish local govern-mental bodies in Poland, Lithuania, and Russia used. In medium-sized communities, the kahal had twenty-two to thirty-five members; in small communities it had no fewer than eight. These administrative officers were divided into four classes. At the head were four elders (rashim, sing.
rosh), and directly below them were three to five “honorary” members (tuvim). These two classes formed the nucleus of the kahal, the official council that adjudicated all community affairs. The remaining classes were the judgmental authority, consisting of the rabbi and dayanim, and the operational authority, consisting of gabbaim, the shammes, the shochet, and the melamed. The elders took turns of one month each as treasurers (parnasim, sing. parnas) and, in general, as executive officers.
The rabbi confined his activity to teaching and rendering decisions on religious questions.
Above the local institution of the kahal stood the Council of Lands, the central administrative organization of Jewish autonomy in Poland for nearly two centuries—from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth.73
As mentioned above, the kehilla changed leaders every month; the parnas in authority was referred to as the “monthly parnas.” His prin-cipal duties included, inter alia, representing the kehilla vis-à-vis the community at large, summoning kehilla members to local and other meetings, acting on the kehilla’s behalf, collecting revenue and dealing with expenses, inspecting bills, and ensuring proper tax collection. The parnas was authorized to grant couples permission to get engaged and to announce important events such as sales and purchase transactions and cherem (excommunication) pronouncements. Parnasim were also respon-sible for repaying debts of the kehilla; it was they who signed promissory notes. Another group active in the kehilla was the gabbaim (sing. gabbai), known in Polish as szpitalnicy. These officials distributed honors in syna-gogues and collected donations for the construction of new synasyna-gogues and the like. They also supervised, together with the shkolnik (synagogue sexton), the synagogue and the mikve (ritual bath).
The kehilla was characterized by its strong commitment to weak indi-viduals and by the deep sense of solidarity among members. Its officials looked after orphans and widows, tried to aid poor unmarried women by providing them with dowries, offered scholarships to schoolchildren and older students who could not afford tuition, and so on. A significant role in the kehilla was played by dayanim (rabbinical judges), who performed various social functions apart from their court duties: visiting women who gave birth on the Sabbath, announcing the names of newborn girls, filing marriage contracts, etc. Other kehilla appointees were lay judges, tax collectors, scribes, memunim (supervisors) for various trades, and market clerks. Most of these officials served without remuneration.
Exceptions were dayanim, the rabbi, the cantor, the shkolnik (also known as the shammes), the scribe, the melamed (elementary school teacher), and the shochet (ritual slaughterer); these were contracted for one to three years. Sometimes they also received an apartment, wood for fuel, or the tools of their trade. It was common practice to entrust several functions to one person.74
The records show that in 1769 Salomon Leszczyński, Michał Layzerowicz, and Jakub Alexandrowicz were the elders of the Kleczew synagogue.75 In 1771, the aforementioned Michał Layzerowicz, along with Chersz Layzerowicz and Lachman Łachmanowicz,76 were the parnasim. Also noteworthy is the fact that in 1714 the Jews of Kleczew had their own school.77 Like Catholics, kehilla members were obliged to pay taxes to the state treasury, the town’s owner, or the town itself.
One encounters records of occasional disputes between the town authorities and the kehilla. They were not, however, of a religious nature.
There is no record of persecution of Jews as such in Kleczew. Rather, such conflicts as may have occurred were personal or economic. A memo-randum dated June 2, 1769, in the court register concerns Jewish unrest in town, preceded by a dispute between the brothers Chersz and Jakub Jelenkiewicz, Masiek Cyrulik, and Boruch the barber-surgeon. The syna-gogue elders—Jakub Aleksandrowicz, Fraym Zelenkiewicz, and Chersz Layzerowicz—turned to the mayor, Mateusz Liszkowski, for help, but the latter was loathe to interfere, as the matter was within the jurisdic-tion of the kehilla. The disturbances, however, continued. To keep the
problem from escalating, Liszkowski sent town guards and several other officials, including the town clerk, to the kehilla. The event earned the witness Maciej Fuga, president of the sundry crafts guild, a beating by one of the Jelenkiewicz brothers. The clash involved the guild masters, Balcer Poradziński, Walenty Dobosiewicz, Antoni Woźnicki, Walenty Gruchalski, Michał Kopczyński, Kazimierz Ściński, Jakub Dzikowski, Maciej Fuga, and Andrzej Oyrzyński,78 who collectively constituted one of the parties to the dispute.
Confrontations between Jews and non-Jewish townspeople were quite frequent. Cases against Jews were settled in the wójt or county courts.
Jews sued their neighbors, both Catholic and Jewish, in the same manner.
The town owner was the highest court of appeal, superseding the mayor, the wójt, and the synagogue. Leaseholders also held adjudication rights.79
In 1781, a case was brought to the county court in Konin. The parties were the kehilla members (represented by the elder Salomon Lechman), the merchant Jakub Pupiek (a.k.a. Chaskiel), and the town owner, Władyslaw Gurowski. The suit concerned an incident in which Gurowski arrested fellow Kleczew countrymen, shackling them and placing them in stocks.80
In 1786, a Jew named Jek Effaimowicz was accused of stealing liturgical objects. The wójt court in Kleczew received a complaint from the parish priest of Budzisław and from a person named Ulatowski, a captain in the Crown Army. Effaimowicz was accused of possessing two chalices, two paintings, and a monstrance, all stolen from the church in Budzisław. In the course of the trial, it turned out that Effaimowicz had bought these items from two other Jews, residents of Praga near Warsaw, for 25 red guldens.81
Criminal cases concerning the assassinations of Jews were noted in the county records numerous times. In 1728, when unidentified perpetrators murdered a Jew named Jakub Cerulik, the synagogue elders turned to the wójt court to “… display the head of the assassi-nated man on the four corners of the market.”82 In a similar case taken to the wójt court in 1763, the Kleczew synagogue elders asked the town authorities to publicly acknowledge, on the four corners of the market, the assassination of two Jewish residents of Kleczew who had been
found slaughtered in Bór Świnogacki (Świnogacki forest).83 In 1769, after unknown assailants murdered two Jews—Salamon Rachwalczyk and Wolf Gierszczen—the synagogue elders demanded that the town authorities accept the findings of their autopsy. Salamon Rachwalczyk, the elders ruled, “… had been struck on his head with an axe through his brain down to the chin.” His legs had been bound with rope. Wolf Gierszczen had “his left cheek beaten and his eyes hemorrhaged, one of them knocked out of its socket.” Both victims had been thrown into the water and left to drown.84 On October 1, 1778, Tadeusz Lubiszewsk of Giewartów and a slagger85 named Pawel Minicki went on trial for killing the merchant Jachman of Kleczew. The two were accused of assaulting and murdering Jachman, then burying his body in the forest. They were also suspected of having robbed Jachman and then throwing the stolen goods into the lake.86 Unfortunately, the outcome of the trial is unknown because the case was transferred to a higher court.
In 1779, the eight-year-old son of the locksmith Maciej Zielenkiewicz was killed in a tragic accident caused by Haym Kacper, a sixteen-year-old Jew. Entering the locksmith’s house, Haym had noticed four double- barreled firearms. As he picked up one of the weapons, the bolt moved and the gun accidentally discharged in the direction of Zielenkiewicz’s son. The boy was struck in the back of the head, causing grievous and ultimately fatal brain damage.87
Jews also were victims of battery. In 1772, Michal Metlewski’s wife went on trial for having beaten Jakub Jelenkiewicz.88 The wójt courts very often settled disputes regarding family assets and passed sentence in trials concerning debts. For such cases, they were the competent authority not only for Catholics but also for Jews. For example, on January 15, 1771, one of the trials pending was that of a Jew, Salomon Leszczynski, for 700 złoty in debts.89
NOTES
1 Background materials presented in the text boxes are based mainly on: A.Wolska, ed., One Thousand Years of Jews in Poland (Warsaw, 2006), and Encyclopedia Britannica.
2 M. Bogucka and H. Samsonowicz, Dzieje miast i mieszczaństwa w Polsce przedroz-biorowej (Wrocław, 1986), 332.
3 The smallest centers, with fewer than 600 residents, constituted about 10% of towns in Greater Poland and Royal Prussia, 40% in Lesser Poland, Masovia, and Red Ruthenia, and 75% in Ukraine. M. Bogucka and H. Samsonowicz, Dzieje miast, 371-376.
4 M. Bogucka and H. Samsonowicz, Dzieje miast, 337.
5 A. J. Parczewski, ed., Rejestr poborowy województwa kaliskiego z lat 1618-1620 (Warsaw, 1879), 139-144.
6 J. Łojko, “Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu,” in Dzieje Kleczewa. Collected works, ed. J.
Stępnień, (Poznań-Konin, 1995), 50.
7 Archiwum Państwowe w Poznaniu (State Archive in Poznań; hereafter: APP), Akta miasta Kleczew (Kleczew Town Records, hereinafter: AmK), I/2, card 1.
8 APP, Księga Grodzka Konin (Konin Court Ledger; hereafter: KGK), 67, cards 237-240; J. Łojko, Kleczew, 41-42.
9 J. Wąsicki, Opis miast polskich, vol. 1 (Poznań, 1962), 137.
10 The term łan denotes a “field.” It was measured variously—anywhere from several hectares to fifty—in different times and places.
11 APP, KGK, 34, cards 405v-406.
12 APP, KGK, 43, cards 487-491; APP, KGK, 60, card 763.
13 R. Grodecki, “Dzieje Żydów w Polsce do końca XIV w.,” in Polska piastowska, ed. R.
Grodecki, (Warsaw, 1969), 652; S. Ettinger, “Sejm Czterech Ziem,” in Żydzi w dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (Wrocław, 1991), 35.
14 M. Bogucka, H. Samsonowicz, Dzieje miast i mieszczaństwa w Polsce przedroz-biorowej (Wrocław, 1986), 157.
15 M. Bogucka and H. Samsonowicz, Dzieje miast i mieszczaństwa, 159. According to J. Łojek, the provincial court in Kleczew was not given competence to adjudicate Jewish cases until the eighteenth century; J. Łojko, “Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu,”
in Dzieje Kleczewa, 27.
16 S. Kutrzeba, Przywileje Kazimierza Wielkiego dla Żydów, “Sprawozdania PAU” 27, no. 10 (1922): 4-5; J. Wyrozumski, “Żydzi w Polsce średniowiecznej,” in Żydzi w dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, 134-135; H. Zaremska, “Przywileje Kazimierza Wielkiego dla Żydów i ich średniowieczne konfirmacje,” in Małżeństwo z rozsądku? Żydzi w społeczeństwie dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, ed. M. Wodziński and A. Michałowska- Mycielska (Wrocław, 2007), 13. Laski’s statute (1505) is considered the first codifica-tion of law published in the Kingdom of Poland.
17 M. Horn, “Najstarszy rejestr osiedli żydowskich w Polsce z 1507 r.,” Biuletyn Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego w Warszawie, no. 3 (1974): p. 11.
18 G.D. Hundert, Żydzi w Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów w XVIII wieku.Genealogia nowoczesności (Warsaw, 2007), 23.
19 A. Tomczak, ed., Lustracja województw wielkopolskich i kujawskich 1564-65 (here-after: Lustracja 1564-65), part II (Bydgoszcz, 1963), 271-275; M. Bogucka and H.
Samsonowicz, Dzieje miast, 473.
20 K. Stefański, Mieszczaństwo kaliskie w XVI wieku (Kalisz, 1933), 30-31; Z. Guldon and J. Wijaczka, Ludność żydowska w Wielkopolsce w drugiej połowie XVII wieku, in Żydzi w Wielkopolsce na przestrzeni dziejów, ed. J. Topolski and K. Modelski (Poznań, 1999), 23.
21 Lustracja 1565, 272.
22 W. Rusiński, ed., Dzieje Kalisza (Poznań, 1977), 118.
23 Lustracja 1565, 272.
24 Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych w Warszawie (Central Archives of Historical Records in Warsaw, hereafter: AGAD), Archiwum Skarbu Koronnego I (Crown Treasury Archives I, hereafter: ASK I), 13, card 765v.
25 Z. Guldon, ed., Lustracja województw wielkopolskich i kujawskich 1628-1632, part 3 (Bydgoszcz, 1967), 161.
26 The original title of the document is “Taxa Judeorum in civitatibus et opidis Regni existentibus.” According to Roman Rybarski, it was issued in 1507–1510; Maurycy Horn dates it to early February 1507. After a detailed analysis, Horn stated that the list was drawn up concurrently with the income and expenditure register associated with the coronation of Sigismund I. M. Horn, Najstarszy rejestr, 11.
27 AGAD, ASK I, Royal bills, no. 38, card 131v.
28 APP, AmK, I/5card 152.
29 Z. Guldon and J. Wijaczka, Ludność żydowska, 26.
30 Cz. Ohryzko- Włodarska, ed., Lustracja województw wielkopolskich i kujawskich 1659-1665, part I (Wrocław, 1978), 115 and 187.
31 Lustracja województw wielkopolskich i kujawskich 1659-1665, 187.
32 Z. Guldon and J. Wijaczka, Ludność żydowska, 28.
33 Ibid., 28-29.
34 Ibid., 30-31.
35 APP, AmK, I/6, cards 70-71; J.Łojko, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 42-43.
36 APP, AmK, I/7, card 119; J. Kleczyński and F. Kulczyński, eds., Liczba głów żydows-kich w Koronie z taryfy 1765 (Kraków, 1898), 7.
37 APP, KGK, 151, cards 492-495.
38 J. Łojek, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 87.
39 J. Wąsicki, Opis miast polskich, vol. 1 (Poznań, 1962), 137.
40 J. Łojek, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 96-97.
41 APP, AmK, I/11, cards 21-23, 32-34.
42 APP, AmK, I/10, card 27.
43 J. Łojek, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 97.
44 Dzieje Wielkopolski, 469.
45 Źródła dziejowe, vol. XII, Polska XVI wieku pod względem geograficzno–statysty-cznym opisana przez Adolfa Pawińskiego, vol. 1, Wielkopolska (hereinafter: Źródła dziejowe), (Warsaw, 1883), 220; S. Sierpowski, ed., Dzieje ziemi gostyńskiej (Poznań, 1979), 118-119.
46 Źródła dziejowe, vol. 1, 95.
47 Ten peddlers, sixteen shoemakers, five butchers, one locksmith, six tailors, five blacksmiths, two coopers, two wheelwrights. Źródła dziejowe, vol. 1, 164.
48 In the sixteenth century, guild statutes were awarded to the following trades:
linen-drapers (weavers), potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, and wheelwrights. These guilds were recognized later on: bakers, brewers, butchers, shoemakers, tailors, and a combined guild gathering together wheelwrights, blacksmiths, and carpen-ters, as well as carriage-builders, coopers, binders, locksmiths, sword-makers, goldsmiths, needle-makers, basket-weavers, turners, and practitioners of similar crafts. APP, Cechy miasta Poniec 1, 2, 6, 9, 26, 32, 35, 42, 43, 45; A. Bitner–Nowak, Z. Wojciechowska, and G. Wojciechowski, Dzieje Ponieca (Poniec, 2000), 81-82; T.
Jurek, “Mikrokosmos prowincjonalny. Nad najstarszą księgą Ponieca z przełomu XVI i XVI wieku,” in Aetas media aetas moderna. Studia ofiarowane profesorowi Henrykowi Samsonowiczowi w siedemdziesiątą rocznicę urodzin (Warsaw, 2000), 44.
49 Źródła dziejowe, vol. XII (Warsaw, 1883), 242-243; Rejestry poborowe województwa kaliskiego z lat 1618-1620, 139-144.
50 Źródła dziejowe, 242-243.
51 APP, AmK, I/4, card 10.
52 APP, AmK, I/4, card 47.
53 Its wardrobe was placed in the parish church; the guild was still operating in 1775;
APP, AmK, I/3, card 215; APP, AmK, I/11, card 165.
54 APP, AmK, I/2, card 118.
55 The guild was represented by the elders Bartłomiej Prusak and one Jan. APP, AmK, I/2, card 118.
56 Dzieje Wielkopolski, 476-477.
57 J. Łojko, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 59.
58 The mayor, Franciszek Martynowicz, sold beer in his own house, located on the market square, APP, AmK, I/12, card 104.
59 APP, AmK, I/4, cards 40-41 and 82-83. In the inventory of belongings of Szot Dawid /Christa/ (1641), we also find a list of stall-keeper items: pepper, caraway seeds, anise, Hungarian knives, Gdansk knives, Kraków knives, paper, white hooks and eyes, women’s combs, needles, ribbons, dyed threads, and a rope, among other things.
60 The 1783 census mentions a goldsmith, Boruch the barber-surgeon, Eliasz the tailor, Józefowa the dress maker, Leymusiak the furrier, Mark the barber-surgeon, Chudy the tailor, Kałme the butcher, Chersz the furrier, Jóźwiak the tailor, Szkol-niak the tailor, Bakalasz the tailor, Abram the butcher, Izrael the coppersmith, Jakub the barber-surgeon, a glazier, and the furrier Izrael. Biblioteka Kórnicka (Kórnik Library), Manuscript 7799, card 37.
61 In the vetting of Jewish heads of household in 1776, a goldsmith named Samson and a barber-surgeon named Hersz are mentioned. APP, AmK, I/7, card 119; and in 1778: Lewek Intrologator, Hersz Bakałarz, Marek Cyrulik, Jakub Bakałarz. APP, Księga Grodzka Kalisza (Kalisz Count Leger), 432, cards 213-214.
62 J. Łojko, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 55.
63 APP, AmK, I/12, card 24v.
64 APP, KGK, 118, card 517.
65 In her 1763 will, Józefowa Szeygowska mentioned a debt of 13 złoty for liquor to Lachmanek, a Jew. APP, AmK, I/9, card. 88.
66 APP, AmK, I/9, cards 276-277.
67 APP, KGK, 118, card 27; J. Łojko, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 61.
68 Dzieje Wielkopolski, 473.
69 We discover the Jewish sheep merchants from files concerning disputes. In 1777, Lewek Leymusiewicz, Litman Leszczyński, and Józef Dawidziak took the mayor, Kazimierz Ściński, to court over a debt of 1,000 złoty that he owed them for the purchase of 580 wethers. APP, AmK, I/10, cards 89-90, and similar cases: APP, AmK, I/11, cards 137-138, 139, 140-141.
70 APP, AmK, I/11, card 168.
71 Jelenkiewicz had a dispute with Bartłomiej, a sheep-keeper from Lisewo, who did not want to sell him sheep: APP, AmK, I/11, card 199; Jan Szaydziński had a dispute about 300 wethers and 90 sows that Samuel, a Jew, was supposed to sell: APP, Records of the Town of Kleczew, cards 200, 206; Kazimierz Ściński and Franciszek Woźnicki had a dispute with Kacper Szayda about the impeding purchase of 200 pigs for the price of 24 złoty: APP, AmK, I/11, card 221.
72 M. Horn, “Chronologia i zasięg terytorialny żydowskich cechów rzemieślniczych w dawnej Polsce (1613-1795),” in Żydzi w dawnej Rzeczypospolitej, 211.
73 More details may be found at http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4705-council-of-four-lands.
74 A. Michałowska, Między demokracją a oligarchią. Władze gmin żydowskich w Poznaniu i Swarzędzu (od połowy XVII do końca XVIII wieku) (Warsaw, 2000), 31-65.
75 APP, AmK, I/10, card 60.
76 APP, AmK, I/11, cards 22-23.
77 That year, Jews purchased a house in Obłąki for the sum of 28 złoty: APP, AmK, I/6, card 149.
78 APP, AmK, I/10, card 63 and subsequent.
79 J. Łojko, Kleczew w XVI-XVIII stuleciu, 70.
80 APP, KGK, 150, cards 435-436, 437-437v, 439-439v.
81 APP, AmK, I/12, cards 37 and next.
82 APP, Aktamiasta Konarzewo (Konarzewo Town Records), 2340, card 4.
83 APP, AmK, I/9, card 45.
84 APP, AmK, I/10, card 60.
85 A person who deals with ashes for commercial use.
86 Tadeusz Lubiszewski, 27, was from Ruthenia; Paweł Minicki was born c. 1754 in Duszniki, Poznań County. Only 16 red złoty were found on the victim. APP, AmK, I/11, cards 153-156.
87 APP, AmK, I/11, cards 169-170.
88 APP, AmK, I/11, card. 46.
89 APP, AmK, I/11, card 18.