SERIES Sephard in Ashkenaz and Ashkenaz in Sephard. The Case of Zamocz; a Sephardic Enclave in the Heart of Poland (Part I)
These are for the most part unedited excerpts from my upcoming book on Sephardic heritage in Eastern Europe. Please note that this is not the final product and there may be errors and such.
Jan Zamoyski, founder of the city of Zamocz
who also served later as the hetman of Poland was a scion of a family of
Polish magnates whose estates stretched out over a large territory and was
almost a state within a state.
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| From לתולדות הספרדים בפולין מאת נ.מ. גלבר | נדפס ב"אוצר יהודי ספרד" , ספר ו' ירושלים 1963 | Trans: | "History of the Sefaradim in Poland" by N.M. Gelber | Printed in "Otzar Yehudai Sefarad", volume 6, Yerushalayim, 1963 |
In 1571, he inherited this large estate and decided to
establish a new sort of capital for his estates Zamocz that would became a sort
of economic and spiritual capital of Poland . He received his education
in France and in Italy ; there he
was influenced by the enlightenment humanism of the time. While he was in Padua he became aware of
the great scholars of the university in that town and also came into contact
with people of many different nationalities, including Jews. Upon his return to
Poland , he wanted to
transplant that enlightened and sophistication to his native land to make
Zamocz a sort of Padua
with its unique architecture and liberal humanistic values. In 1580 he
officially established the city of Zamocz and in
its center he established the private university to which he brought scholars
from Italy and other
countries in order to spread to Poland
the new wisdom and humanistic values of Western Europe .
Zamocz also played an economic role as a center of trade. King Stefan Bathory
granted the privilege to Zamocz of holding a fair three times a year. The city
was surrounded by a high wall in order to keep invaders out. In order to
attract trade to the city, Zamoyski offered incentives for investors, including
the rights of monopoly in certain fields, the rights to establish exclusive communities
and also granted them properties for residential and business purposes. And
indeed these incentives brought to the city a heterogeneous mix of different
ethnicities and religions and lent the city a cosmopolitan air. In addition to
the Polish population, there were also Ruthenians (Ukrainians), Armenians, Greeks,
Germans, Italians, English, Scots, Sephardic Jews and others.
Some of the Sephardic residents of Lviv already sought
permission to settle in Zamocz in 1586. Zamoyski’s attitude toward these Jews
was magnanimous because he wanted them to settle in his new city . He therefore wrote a letter to the
Lviv city council on November 12, 1586, asking the council to ease the transit
of a group of Spanish and Portuguese Jews who are interested in leaving Lviv
and settling in Zamocz.
The first recorded Jew to settle in Zamocz was Moses de
Mosso Cohen, son of Abraham de Mosso who served as one of
Nassi’s agents. After the death of Nassi in 1579, Stefan Bathory renewed the
rights and privileges granted to Don Yosef Nassi’s agents. These rights were also
inherited by the sons of Abraham: Moses and Mordechai de Mosso Cohen. They
continued their extensive business dealings and Poland and maintained close ties
with the Jews Abraham Pasha who enjoyed an elite status in the Palace of the
Sultan, similar to that which Nassi enjoyed. Abraham also served as a liaison
between the Polis diplomats who occasionally arrived in Istanbul and the Sultan. The Turkish Jews
played an important role in maintaining the peaceful relations between the two
countries and in return received many rights and privileges by the Polish Kings.
In the period between the death of Stefan Bathory to the
ascendance to the throne of Sygmund III in 1586, the financial situation of the
de Mosso brothers gradually worsened. They became mired in debt and could not
pay their creditors. Moses de Mosso opted to settle in Zamocz and seek
protection under Jan Zamoyski. When he returned from his trips to Constantinople or Zamocz he was seized in Lviv and
brought to court where he was ordered to pay his debts. De Mosso claimed
immunity from the local courts since he was a citizen of Zamocz and under the
jurisdiction of Zamoyski. It didn’t help the entreaties of Zamoyski himself who
called de Mosso ‘Iudeus meus Zamosciensis Moses’ literally Moses my Zamocz Jew.
Under order of the courts Moses was imprisoned for four days after which he was
forced to sign new documents. As collateral he was forced to forfeit all his
assets. When he was released from prison Moses left Poland
and returned to Turkey .
In 1596 he again showed up in Lviv and demanded that his seized property be
returned to him. It seems that from 1596, he settled permanently in Zamocz. The
last piece of information about him is from 1605 and in that document one of
Zamoyski’s underlings is ordered to pay Moses 100 gold pieces. In 1587 we find
Moses writing to his brother where he mentioned that the Councilor (Zamoyski) has
granted him property to build a house in the city and added ‘ it is possible to
receive here properties for the construction of houses and fields, it is
plentiful and free [whereas] in Lviv it is very expensive.. and if there are
people there who want to settle in Zamocz, they would receive property and
ample rights…these things are not just guaranteed for us [Jews] but for every
Turkish citizen’
In 1588, Jan Zamoyski publicized his charter of rights for
the Jews of Zamocz which is still extant in the Latin original (in the archives
of Krasnystaw) and its Polish translation. Similar documents can be found being
granted to Sephardic Jews in Gluckstadt, near Hamburg
in 1618, and in Troppau (Polish: Opawa) and Karniow (Silesia ) in 1612. The documents all have in
common the provision that the privileges and rights enumerated within only
apply to the Spanish and Portuguese Jews and not to the general Jewish
population. The Sephardic in the minds of the rights givers are a desirable
element that would be a valuable asset to the city and stimulate trade culture
etc.
Pertinent to our discussion is the fact that a Polish
councilor in the end of the 16th century (200 years before the French
Revolution) Jews (albeit a small portion) are granted equal rights and
privileges.
Let us now focus on specific excerpts from the charter. In
the opening lines of the document Zamoyski informs that 'he was asked from one
of the Jews of the Spanish Portuguese nation to allow him to settle in his city
Zamocz in which there has been settled already many people from east and west’. He adds that he consulted with his city
council and concluded that in order to increase the population of the city and
to develop its commerce the Spanish Portuguese both those arriving from Turkey and
those with Ottoman citizenship should be allowed to settle in the city. They can
maintain right to come and go as they please, it is forbidden to persecute them
on the basis of their religion and to engage in inquisition, they have the
right to keep their traditions and customs and live according to their beliefs.
They will enjoy the same rights and privileges as the rest of the underlings of
the senators and noblemen. Following is al listing of streets (in the center of
the city) in which the Jews can build their house to inherit them to their
children, to sell them, or exchange them whatever they see fit.
In proximity to their residents they are permitted to build
a house of worship made of stone. Until such time as the structure is built
they are permitted to conduct services and religious services in a private
house. They are allowed to have religious tracts for the purpose of prayer and
education.
In addition to that, Jews are allowed to gather wood from the
surrounding forests as well as stones and mortar for the construction of their
homes. In the event that the Jewish population outgrows its present location, they
will be allowed to live outside the designated city. Zamoyski also pledged to
assign space for a cemetery. The Sephardic Jews are given the right to engage
in all kinds of commerce both in the city and outside of it. Those who are
skilled in the art of healing, after taking an examination at the Academy in
Zamocz will be allowed to practice medicine in the city.
They are permitted to wear any type of clothing they like of
any color and it is forbidden to force them to wear specific clothing or other
features that would identify them as Jews. They are also permitted to carry
arms as all other citizens are permitted for self-defense. They are also
permitted to build a ritual bath as long as it does not hurt the business of
the local bathhouse.
Several limitations on commerce were imposed in order not to
negatively impact the rights that were given to the Armenians, Greeks and
Czechs. Jews were forbidden to trade in liquor, bread and poultry; however they
were permitted to engage in the wine trade. In order not to impact the local
merchant guilds, Jews were forbidden from engaging in fur making, shoemaking, butchery
and pottery. However they were allowed to slaughter for their own needs and
sell the non-kosher sections at the fairs or in the surrounding towns under the
jurisdiction of Zamoyski.
The document also stipulated that the aforementioned Jews
should not fall under the jurisdiction of other Jews; they will elect their own
leaders and councils in which no Jews of other nations (Ashkenazim) will be
able to participate. No Jew will be accepted in the community without the
authorization of the heads of the Synagogue. Only with the consent of the
majority of the Sephardic congregants will the individuals name be inscribed in
the synagogues roster
The injunction also specified that the Spanish Jews are
permitted to elect their own community heads and is granted the jurisdiction to
judge their disputes and also mete out punishment against their members if
necessary, including excommunication and banishment from the community. Here
Zamoyski adds that should a dispute arise between “my townspeople” i.e. the
Sephardim and a non-Jewish resident of the city, Zamoyski himself would
adjudicate the case or appoint someone trustworthy and acceptable for all sides.
This remarkable document illustrates the sense of liberalism,
an obvious product of the Renaissance of which Zamoyski was heavily influences
by. However it is important to point out that this sense of liberalism and
tolerance did not extend to the local “indigenous” Polish Jews. From a letter
dated 1587 by De Mosson Cohen we learn that “the councilor only wants frankim
to settle there and does not desire the local Jews”. The preference of
Sephardim over Ashkenazim continued after Zamoyski’s death when his heir and
successor Thomas requested to extend the 1588 injunction for newly arrived
Sephardic settlers from Flanders and Holland .
This blatant discrimination was based mainly on the economic benefits the city
derived from the mercantilist and diplomatic skill and talent of these Jews. In
general these Jews were more cultured and modern and therefore fit in very well
in the cosmopolitan atmosphere that the city and its founders fostered.
From the writ in the many injunctions there is also evident
the faint hope that these Sephardim would prove to be a source of emulation for
their “backward” Ashkenazic brethren. This can be observed from the fact that
the Sephardim were given the right to accept into their communities Ashkenazim
if they so desired and in addition they were permitted to admit local Jews into
their educational institutions.
Zamoyski’s vision of creating in Zamocz a center of
scholarship and trade never came to fruition. Likewise his hope that Sephardic
Jews would continue to settle there and swell the ranks of the community never
occurred either. Schatzky surmises that the Zamocz Sephardim conducted most of
their business in nearby Lviv, and never gave the Zamocz community a chance to
get off the ground. According to Schatzky, by 1600 the Sephardic community in
Zamocz was no more.
Another Polish-Jewish historian named Morgenstern rejects Schatzky’s claim and claims that the
Sephardic community existed there as a separate entity at least until the end
of the 16th and possibly even into the first decades of the 17th.
In the first decade of the community’s existence until the
year 1600, the Zamocz archives contain the names of 11 Sephardic Jews, of them 6
are of Venetian origin, 3 from Turkey
and 2 whose origins are not given. The
total property ownership totaled 4 structures. From 1600 to 1610, 11 new names
are added to the list, of them 9 of Italian origin, one Turkish Jew and one
whose origins are not given. This time the community was in possession of 7
houses. As mentioned before, Thomasz Zamoyski welcomed newcomers from Flanders
and Holland
into the city and indeed the archival documents reflect that fact. Documents
from the 30s and 40s of the 17th century adds yet 18 new names to the list of
Jewish residents of the city and this time, property ownership rises to 15
houses. In the years 1638-1641, there seems to be a trend of selling houses, this
mysterious development may have come as a response to the Chmielnicki massacres,
which may have caused a migration of Sephardic residents out of the city.
It is safe to assume that at the height of its success, in
the first half of the 17th century- the Zamocz community numbered 40 to 50
families bringing it to a grand total of 200 to 250 people, if we calculate 5
to 6 members to a family.
Shatzcky’s claims were based in part on the fact that there
is no remnant of a Sephardic cemetery in the city. In addition we are unaware
of the name of even one Sephardic Rabbi in Zamocz. However this contention is
erroneous since the cemetery in the city was first used exclusive by Sephardim
and later by Ashkenazim as evidenced by the discovery of Sephardic tombstones
of residents who died before 1809. In regards to Rabbis, remnants of the old
Synagogue and communal institutions reveal the name of at least one spiritual
head of the community named Michael Doktor and his sexton David. The first
reports of a synagogue in Zamocz speak of a structure built in 1603 made of
wood, which was only rebuilt as a stone structure in 1620. An inscription gives
the name of the synagogues benefactor as one Shmuel Barzel. There is evidence
to indicate that there existed in Zamocz both a Sephardic and an Ashkenazic
community in the 40s and 50s of the 17th century. As mentioned, in the writ of
freedom granted to the community, it stipulated the right to accept Ashkenazim
into their ranks if they so desired. Indeed, the archival records indicate that
several wealthy and distinguished Ashkenazic were granted permission to buy
property in the city. In the years 1632-1635, we find 20 Ashkenazic families in
the city with ownership of 9 houses. In the years 1640-1650 many Sephardic
settlers sold their property and left the city, presumably because of the
increasing threat from Cossack hordes. At that point, many Ashkenazim began
moving in because of the increased security that the city -which was surrounded
by a wall and had its standing army –offered.
As a result, the Ashkenazim quickly became a majority in the city. Nevertheless
the Sephardim community still managed to maintain a separate existence
It is difficult to estimate the number of Sephardim in the
city after 1648. Here and there we find mention of such individuals residing in
the city at the close of the 17th century; for example we see Thomasz Zamoyski
granting permission to one Moshe Zacuto in 1691 to purchase houses in any part
of the city. Additional silent testimony to the continued Sephardic presence in
the city are the tombstones in the cemetery with dates as late as 1809.
The Sephardic community continued to exist as an independent
entity not subject to the Jewish tax that their Ashkenazi brethren were
required to pay. Toward the end of the 17th century the community breathed its
last and ceased to exist (though as mentioned Sephardim continued to reside in
the city as individuals and eventually assimilated into the Ashkenazic majority).
Until recently there were many Jewish families in Zamocz who
were well aware of their Sephardic roots. Some even held on to a copy of the
writ granted to their ancestors by Jan Zamoyski. One of these families was the
Peretz’s who numbered among them the famous Yiddish writer Yehuda Leib Peretz (of whom I blogged about here several times).
According to Eva Bar Zeev who
chairs the Israel-based Association of Jews from Zamocz[1], the
first families in Zamocz were descendants of Jews expelled from Torque in Spain . Other than
the oft cited Peretzs, there were many other families in Zamocz who bore
evidence of their Iberian roots in their surnames; families like, Kastiel, Bechar, (Efrat) Efros[2],
Manzis (Manes), Margulis (Margaliot), Kohen,
Maimon, Safian, Gerzon/Gerszon ( antecedents of Russian
revolutionary Grigori Gershuni and the famed Lithuanian Rabbi Yehuda Gershuni?) and others.
ADDENDUMS:
See here a list of murdered Jews from Zamocz. Note the various surnames of different origin.
The appropriately named “Beit
Haknesset Hasephardi” (literally, the Sephardic Synagogue) was founded in 1588
by the new arrivals and is still extant. It has recently been restored.
The city of Zamocz has also been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site see here
[2] A probable member of this
family was Israel Isaac Efros, a Hebrew educator , poet and scholar born in
Vilna in 1891 who later emigrated to Israel in 1955 and served as rector of Tel
Aviv University (see “Efros, Israel Isaac” Encyclopedia Judaica.)
Bibliography:
Alexander Guterman, Yehudim
sefardim al admat Polin, which appeared in the Hebrew journal
Pe’amim 18 (1984)
posted by Joels W. @ 8:40 PM
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