Term | Definition |
(1) History of Jews in Poland | For centuries Poland was a unique shleter for persecuted and expelled Jewish Communities |
(2) History of Jews in Poland | Under Boleslaus III (1102–1139), the Jews, encouraged by the tolerant régime of this ruler, settled throughout Poland |
(3) History of Jews in Poland | Jews came to form the backbone of the Polish economy |
(4) History of Jews in Poland | The talerant situation towards Jews was occassionally altered by the Cattholic Church and neighboring German States |
(5) History of Jews in Poland | Some of the reigning princes protected Jews...who considered them desireable for the economy |
(6) History of Jews in Poland | (in 1264) Boleslaus (prince of Great Poland) issued a General Charter of Jewish Liberties...which granted freedom of worship, trade, and travel |
(7) History of Jews in Poland | (1548-1572) Zygmunt II August followed tolerant policies towards Jews, and granted autonomy to Jews in the matter of Communal administration (laid the foundation for the power of the Kahal) |
(8) History of Jews in Poland | (by 1551) Jews were given permission to appoint their own Chief Rhabbi |
(1) Jews of Poland Legal Status | they had the best legal status in all of Europe |
(2) Jews of Poland Legal Status | less precarious # different charter (rights given by kings or princes) # did not need to be renegotiated # felt secure |
(3) Jews of Poland Legal Status | depended on Nobles and aristocrats for safety support # Nobles protected Jews from the Church and Peasants (1st charter 1264) # Nobles viewed a Jew as indespensible |
(1) Jews of Poland Population | Enormous growth in Jewish population in Poland |
(2) Jews of Poland Population | 1550...20,000 Jews # 1600...100,000 Jews # 1660...150,000 Jews # 1720...375,000Jews # 1765...750,000Jews |
(3) Jews of Poland Population | flourished demographically and culturally |
(4) Jews of Poland Population | Still seperate communities between Jews and Christians |
(5) Jews of Poland Population | Felt as if they lived in their own community # Didn't feel a minority b/c within the community which they rarely ventured from they were the majority # Jews were highly concentrated in towns owned by Nobles in eastern Poland |
(6)Jews of Poland Population | Fuedalism # most Jews in Europe lived in eastern Poland # Royal cities in western Poland restricted Jews # largest Jewish community # Jews migrated eastward in the late middle ages into Poland (from Germany and other States they had been expelled from) |
(ID1a) Council of Four Lands | Central body of Jewish Authority |
(ID1b) Council of Four Lands | In Poland (Great Poland, Little Poland, Ruthenia, Volhynia) |
(ID1c) Council of Four Lands | 1580 to 1764 |
(ID1d) Council of Four Lands | Seventy delegaters from local Kehillah met to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish Community) |
(ID1e) Council of Four Lands | Activity devided into four components (legislative, administrative, Judicial, Spiritual / cultural) |
(ID1f) Council of Four Lands | Importance: the outcome of which was their exemplary communal organization (constituted a unit of self-government) |
ID1g) Council of Four Lands | met twice a year |
(ID2a) Chmielnicki Uprising | 1648 to 1654 |
(ID2b) Chmielnicki Uprising | lead by Bohdan Khmelnytsky |
(ID2c) Chmielnicki Uprising | Cossacks allied with Crimean Tartars and Ukrainian Peasantry rebelled against Polish-Lithuanian Nobles (Magnates) |
(ID2d) Chmielnicki Uprising | Importance: began a period of Polish History called Deluge (which included various other uprisings against the Polish Commonwealth (Nobles) |
(ID2e) Chmielnicki Uprising | Importance: Allowed elite members of the Commonwealth (elite Nobles) to make more money off less financial strong Nobles in the form of support / Killed many Jews and Nobles |
(ID3a) Polish Magnates | were a social class of wealthy and influential Nobility in the kingdom of Poland (and later became the Polsih-Lithuanian Commonwealth) |
(ID3b) Polish Magnates | Magnates (higher nobility) vied for political power with lesser and middle Nobility |
(ID4a) Moses Mendelssohn | German Jewish Philospher in the 18th century |
(ID4b) Moses Mendlessohn | translated the Torah into German |
(ID4c) Moses Mendlessohn | This book became the manual of the German Jews teaching them to write and speak in German |
(ID4d) Moses Mendlessohn | Importance: prepared German Jews for participation in German Culture and secular science |
(ID5a) Sabbatean Movement | Messianic movement from1665 to 1666, which believed Sabbatai Zvi was the Messiah |
(ID5b) Sabbatean Movement | Sabbatai Zvi was a Rhabi and a Kabbalist (he studied the Talmud and attended yeshiva as a youth), he was fascinated with mysticism and the Kabbalah |
(ID5c) Sabbatean Movement | He traveled to Smyrna, Constantinople, Jerusalem, Cairo |
(ID5d) Sabbatean Movement | he claimed he would lead back the Ten Lost Tribes to the Holy Land |
(ID5e) Sabbatean Movement | How he gained supporters...mortifying the body through frequent fasting, singing psalms all night with a meoldious voice, pray at graves of pious men and women, distrubuted meats on the streets to children, married an orphan / prostitute |
(ID5f) Sabbatean Movement | Dangerous b/c he broke Jewish Law (changed fasting days of the Seventeenth of Tammuz and the Ninth of Av into feasting days |
(ID5g) Sabbatean Movement | Importance: he inspired the founding of a number of other similar sects |
(ID6a) Talmud | record of Jewish disscussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs, history |
(ID6b) Talmud | Two components: Mishnah & Gemara |
(ID6c) Talmud | Mishnah: Jewish Law (c. 200 CE) |
(ID6d) Talmud | Gemara: discussion of Mishnah and related Tannaitic...basis for all Rabbinic Law (c. 500 CE) |
(ID7a) Yeshiva | a Jewish institution for Torah study and thestudy of the Talmud |
(ID7b) Yeshiva | caters to boys and men (taught by Rhabbis) |
(ID8a) Kabbalah | is the mystical aspect of Judaism |
(ID8b) Kabbalah | it refers to a set of esoteric teachings meant to define the inner meaning of (1) Hebrew Bible and (2) traditional rabbinic literature, as well as explain the significance of Jewish religous observances |
(ID9a) Zohar | is a mystical commentary on the Torah (the 5 books of Moses) |
(ID9b) Zohar | is widely considered the most important work of Kabbalah |
(ID9c) Zohar | it contains: (1) mystical discussion of the nature of God, (2) origins and structure of the universe, (3) the nature of souls / sin / good and evil / redemption |
(ID10a) Hasidism | a pietistic movement which began in 18th century Poland |
(ID10b) Hasidism | Founded on 2 components: (1) Religous Panentheism (omnipresence of God), (2) Communion between God and Man (an unbroken intercourse take place between the world of God and the world of humanity) |
(ID10c) Hasidism | God influences man / Humanity influences the will of God |
(ID11a) Tzadik (Rebbe) | Hasidic Religous Leader |
(ID12a) Hasidim | Members of the Hasidic Movement |
(ID13a) Mitnagdim | Opponents of Hasidism |
(ID14a) Tikkun | means "repairing the world" |
(ID14b) Tikkun | Restoring sparks of Holy Light to God (when God created) |
(ID14c) Tikkun | will hasten the coming of the Messiah through pious deeds...which brings redemption (redemption is the completetion of God's act of creation) |
(ID14d) Tikkun | The Messiah will come when redemption is complete (this will end wars, bring Jews back to Isreal, form Monarchy under the descendents of King David) |
(ID15a) Isreal Ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov) | lived from 1698 to 1760 and was born in a small village in Poland |
(ID15b) Isreal Ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov) | Considered the foundered of the Hasidism Judaism Movement |
(ID15c) Isreal Ben Eliezer (Baal Shem Tov) | little is known about him b/c only his followers wrote of him after his death with legends of his miracles performed (many contend he was the right person, at the right time, in the right place) |
(1) Traditional Rhabbis | Rhabbis were judes of the Jewish Law (bear the law, make the law, teach the law)...monopoly on interpreting the law |
(2) Traditional Rhabbis | led school for Yeshivot (schools for boys)..not just rabbinic but to study the Talmud also |
(3) Traditional Rhabbis | Learning not just for elite, any man could become a Rhabbi |
(1) Kehillah | had a quasi-goernmental authority over both the Jewish Community and its relationship with tthe Gentiles (Nobles) |
(2) Kehillah | what is the Kehillah: The Jewish Council...it consisted of wealthy men most married and over the age of 25 |
(3) Kehillah | what did it do: collected taxes for Christian Government (king prince, or gov't), was how individual Jews dealt with the Christian authorities |
(4) Kehillah | Christian Gov't saw Jews as a community, Jews couldn't exist outside the community, 1 Jew messed up...entire Jew community was punished |
(5) Kehillah | Tools of the Kehillah: ex-communication (very powerful), denied kosher meat, fines, corporal punishment |