[Page 31]

The History of the Jewish Community of Minsk (Cont'd)

Chapter 5

The Economic life
of the Jews of Minsk

Translated by Jerrold Landau

The first Jews in Minsk and their professions. The order of the Arenda. Tax collectors and wholesale business. The Christians as lenders for interest to the Jews. The institution of “rights of possession” as the means of permitting competition and the means of security. Supervision of the community over business in the markets of Minsk and the fairs of other centers. Tradesman and the organization of guilds. The Jews as middlemen between the landowners and farmers. The Jews in the import and export business. The pressure on the Jews by the nobility that was becoming impoverished during the end of the 17^th century. The tavern owners and innkeepers. Accusations against the Jews about exploiting the farmers. The revolt of the tradesmen in the year 1777.

A small sector of the Jews of Minsk was occupied in wholesaling and export to outside of the country. They went to the markets of Koenigsberg, Danzig, Leipzig, Lublin, etc. and busied themselves with the export of agricultural and forestry products in barges through the rivers to the port cities. They also imported items needed by the noblemen, and to a smaller degree by the villagers. In Minsk, the monasteries and churches lent money for interest, utilizing Jews as middlemen between themselves and the noblemen and burghers, and even the permanent farmers. The monasteries avoided direct business contact with the noblemen, either for religious reasons or because of their political and conciliatory power. A loan for interest to the Jews was more secure, due to the guarantee of the community. The clergy became protectors of Jewish rights for economic reasons, just as the kings and high nobility had been.

In the forcibly restricted realm of livelihood, there was a need to prevent internal competition between Jews in finding sources of livelihood. From this arose the diligent guarding of the “rights of possession”, that is the priority right of renewal of tenancy and leasing contracts on various estates, crop fields, businesses, merchandise and monopolies. There were also internal rights of possession within the community, such as over the meat tax (korovka) and other services. The right of possession came into force only after three years from the signing of the contract, and was generally passed down as a family inheritance after the death of the owner of the right of possession ^[3]. According to the charter of 1634, it was forbidden for an individual to hold a right of possession of more than one source of livelihood. With the passage of time, however, some individuals succeeded in holding more than one right of possession. Similarly, it was forbidden for residents of one community to encroach on the bounds of another community – once again in order to prevent competition and in order to preserve the sources of livelihood of the community. The communal protection of the sources of livelihood of the individuals did not come for free ^[4]. A lessee of the liquor tax (cropowe) had to pay the community 3% of his earnings, and owners of other enterprises paid a smaller percentage. The lessees of government and civic taxes also paid a specific sum to the community in return for its help in collection and assessing. On account of difficulties in collecting taxes, at the end of the 17^th century there was an incentive that anyone who paid his taxes at the outset would benefit from a 20% discount or would be freed from the general guarantee ^{[5] [*1]}. The communal assessors had the right to check the ledgers of the business owners, and even to conduct house searches. When the difficulties in tax collection increased on account of the economic recession of the 17^th and 18^th centuries, the situation of the official assessors became too hard to bear. Therefore, the final Committee of Lithuania instituted in 1761 that the assessors be secret. In order to collect taxes, the heads of the community were forced to use force, or appeals to the civic or royal authorities.

From an economic perspective, in Minsk there were several strata of wealthy people, owners of rights of Arenda, tax collecting, and tax leasing, large scale merchants who were occupied in import and export, as well as tradesmen who made clothing, furs, shoes, furniture and other products for the broad marketplace – as opposed to tradesmen who worked only according to orders of their customers. The majority of the members of the community were merchants and small-scale traders, owners of enterprises who worked with several apprentices or their family members. There was constant friction between the rich and the poor ^[6], even though exacerbations, such as the revolt of the organizations of tradesmen in Minsk that took place in 1777, were rare. The many poor people, tradesman, water carriers, wagon drivers and porters demanded that their voice be heard in general communal matters. The wealthy, who held important offices in the running of the community, ruled with a high hand, and did not permit the “masses” any input in the running of affairs ^[7].

Many of the wealthy Jews of Minsk earned their livelihoods from the leasing of farms lands, houses, inns, flourmills, liquor distilleries, beer breweries, forests and ponds. Practically, the first Jews who settled in Minsk and other cities of White Russia were leasers (Arendars) of taxes. Other Jews came in stages as assistants and workers in the enterprises, holders of holy office such as teachers, butchers, shochtim, cantors, rabbis and even tailors whose work also had religious connotations regarding the removal of shaatnez. A specified payment was needed in order to obtain a leasing contract, so that the lessor could be paid at least a portion of the annual amount up front. The lessors were landowners, noblemen, owners of cities and towns, and owners of villages and large estates. According to a decision of the Lithuanian Sejm in 1569, the leasing of the income of Lithuanian workshops was reserved solely for the nobility. However, they used Jews as secondary tenants, assistants, and directors. During the 16^th and 17^th centuries, the export of agricultural products, forestry products, raw or processed fish, and dairy and meat products grew in Byelorussia. Jewish lessees played an important role in the development of export and the finding of marketplaces in the west and north.

The situation of the small scale Jewish Arendars was not bright. As representatives of the landowners in the villages, towns and estates, their lives were endangered, especially during the time of the constant uprisings of the farmers and the Cossacks in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. From a religious standpoint as well, there were problems of Sabbath observance, raising and doing business with pigs, castrating animals ^[*2], etc. Problems such as these appeared in the deliberations of the Council of the State of Lithuania from time to time ^[8].

The Council of the Community of Minsk and the Council of the Communities of Lithuania protected the rights of the Jewish Arendars through the means of rights of possession, in return for a set payment, either an annual payment or a percentage of business returns.

Even though the Jewish Arendars worked as representatives of the noblemen, the anger of the ravaged farmers was directed against the Jews. This reached its pinnacle during the Decrees of Tach and Tat, during the days of the Cossack leader Bogdan Chmielnitzky, and during the Swedish and Russian wars that followed. These wars, and the pogroms against the Jews by the Polish commander Stefan Czarnicky, destroyed the economic standing of the Jewish Arendars and of the Jewish community in general. As a result of the economic destruction of Poland in the second half of the 17^th century, the impoverished Polish-Lithuanian nobility stormed against the economic status of the Jews, and pushed them out of the large cities to the point that a significant portion of the Jewish population was forced to seek their livelihoods in the villages and small towns. The status of the Jewish Arendar became completely diminished in the 18^th century, and was reduced only to the keeping of taverns for the sale of liquor ^[9].

We can get an idea of the economic situation of the Jews of Minsk in the middle of the 18^th century in comparison to the other communities in Byelorussia from the size of the tax that the Council of Communities of Lithuania imposed upon the communities of the “State of Russia” ^[10]: from a general tax of 16,500 guilder, the portion of Minsk and its 40 subordinate smaller communities was 4,260 guilder; the portion of Slutsk and environs was 2,420 guilder, of Polotsk and environs was 3,000 guilder, etc. According to a census of the Polish population in the year 1766, approximately 1,400 Jews lived in Minsk. We can assume that the number of Jews of Minsk was larger at that point, for the censuses of Minsk during those times were not yet conducted by the rational method of enumerating the residents. The “explosion” of the Jewish population of Minsk only took place about one generation after the annexation of the city and region to Russia.

We will now examine the situation and way of life of an important sector of the community of Minsk and the nearby villages – the tavern keepers.

The profession of serving liquor and beer was an important and primary source of livelihood for the Jews of Minsk and for those who lived in the nearby towns and villages. Mead and various wines ^[11] were also included in this. The profession included the manufacture of alcoholic beverages, whether in large scale wineries and distilleries or in small scale home enterprises in one room of the tavern or in a cellar – and their sale to all segments of the population, particularly to the farmers who came to the city to sell their agricultural products and to purchase products from the tradesmen and the workshops. This trade was almost completely in the hands of the Jews, and the various efforts of the authorities and the noblemen to wrest it from their hands ended in failure. In the year 1783, all of the Jews of Minsk and other cities of Byelorussia were forbidden to lease, manufacture or sell strong drink. These enterprises had to move to the towns. However, after about two years, these trades were once again permitted to the Jews, due to the dearth of other fitting people to perform these jobs.

The manufacture of strong drink and its sale in the taverns was a major factor in the transformation of the Jewish owners into members of the middle class who filled vital roles in the economic lives of the farmers, who were the majority of the population of White Russia and other areas of the Pale of Settlement. With the passage of time, the Jewish tavern keeper became the sole intermediary between the farmer and the world that surrounded him. He was the one who usually purchased his agricultural products, wheat, barley, fruit, vegetables, wood and other forest products such as mushrooms and strawberries, dairy and egg products, chickens, ducks and even sheep and cattle. From such a Jew the farmer purchased cloth, clothes, salt, spices, sugar, tea, kitchen and household utensils, work tools, etc. Many of the taverns served also as inns and hotels for travelers, even for those from outside of the country. An English traveler at the end of the 18^th century ^[12] testifies that in every area of settlement, Jews own all of the hotels, and also served as the only translators, as well as merchants and wagon drivers who transport people from city to city.

The Jewish inn also served a social role for the farmers of the region. There, they found a gathering place for conversation with other farmers, for spending pleasant time, and for forgetting their suffering and lowly status ^[13].

The legal basis for this source of livelihood was externally the lease contract, and internally the rights of possession that prevented competition. The lease contract was generally signed by the nobleman who owned the town or village, or the prince who owned the city, in return for an annual payment. Such a contract often was passed down as an inheritance, and granted the main lessee the right to establish secondary lessees. In order to prevent competition from other Jews, each community maintained a leasing custom that was based upon the traditional obligation of preventing competition between Jews. This custom, based on the charters of Jewish communities of Western Europe during the middle ages, served as a constant topic in the debates that took place in the Council of Communities of Lithuania and appears in the ledgers of the community and the organizations. With the passage of time, this is what helped the formation of a class of wealthy and powerful people who took the running of communal affairs for themselves as jobs that generally passed down from father to son as an inheritance.

In the middle of the 18^th century, particularly during the time of the “Four Year Sejm”, the various Jew-haters impinged upon the status of the Jewish tavern keepers and blamed them for causing all of the tribulations that came upon the farmers – drunkedness boorishness, poverty, etc. The Jewish tavern keeper would sell drinks and other products on credit, something which at times led to accusations of exploiting farmers and using their produce to discharge their loans with the addition of interest ^[14]. In the later half of the 18^th century the physiocratic circles in Poland claimed that the decline in status of the cities was caused by the Jewish tavern keepers and innkeepers, and that the removal of the Jews would bring a solution to the economic and social problems of Poland, which was in decline. These claims occupy a large place in the Polish literature of the era. After the partition of Poland, the Russian intelligentsia circles, primarily of the nobility class, joined in. Finally, this movement led to the law of expulsion of Jews from the villages in the year 1804. However, the danger of war with Napoleonic France and its dependencies prevented the full actualization of this law.

The income from set lease sums that accrued from the manufacture of strong drinks reached 40% of the income of the Polish treasury in the year 1789, that is, close to the time of the second partition of Poland.

It is worthwhile to point out the fact that, despite the fact that Jews were occupied in the disparaged occupation of tavern keeping, with its tendency to an atmosphere of coarseness and unclean language, they did not become corrupted, and indeed succeeded in maintaining their traditions. The tavern was closed on the Sabbath, and the sign over the entrance was even taken down.

In the latter half of the 18^th century, approximately 85% of the Jews who resided in villages of White Russia and Ukraine earned their income from the manufacture and sale of strong drinks. However, in large cities such as Minsk, this area served as a source of income for only about 15% of the Jewish population. During the time of the decrees of Tach and Tat the Jewish tavern keepers were a specific target for the arrows of the enemy Bogdan Chmielnitzky. Many of the Jews of the villages and towns in the region of Minsk who maintained taverns were murdered by the rebels. However after the signing of the cease fire with Russia in the year 1667, the Jews returned to their businesses, with the exception of areas east of the River Dnieper which were annexed to Russia, where Jews were forbidden to manufacture or trade in strong drink.

The economic development of Western Europe that came on the heals of the major inventions in manufacturing technology, the development of communication and the winning of markets abroad, did not arrive at that time to the Jewish centers of Eastern Europe. Even the interesting ideas of the fathers of modern capitalism in the west did not yet find an echo in the countries of Poland-Lithuania and Russia. Nevertheless, here and there, some Slavic rulers became affected by the ideas of the west; however it would be a long way off until these ideas would become the norm in their lands. In the meantime, the traditional patriarchal norms of the economic life of the Jews of Minsk continued.

In order to prevent accusations by the Christian purchasers of cheating and improper conduct by the Jewish merchants and tradesmen, the community of Minsk established a broad supervision, and employed supervisors who watched over prices, weights and measures, and standards of cleanliness in the stalls, shops and fairs that took place in Minsk and outside of it, especially in the city of Mir. Similarly, the community prevented Jewish merchants from purchasing merchandise that was suspected of being stolen, or that was unfit from a kashruth perspective. With regard to the tradesmen, the community supervised the practices, so that nobody would encroach on the bounds of his fellow, whether in the same trade or a different trade. For example, the tailors were forbidden to take on work in furs, and vice versa. The smiths were supervised so that they would not cheat their customers regarding the quality of the gold and silver. Even such trades-people as midwives, musicians and jesters were subject to communal supervision.

In the list of the professional organizations ^[15] of the Jewish tradesmen we find: gold and silver smiths, tanners, butchers, tailors, furriers, engravers, glassmakers, musicians, barbers, as well as merchants and owners of stalls who conducted business with various types of merchandise. The boundary between the tradesmen and the merchants was not clear and definitive. At times, the tradesmen sold their wares themselves, so they were also merchants.

The well-known revolt of the tradesmen in Minsk, which broke out in the year 1777 and lasted for 22 years, was a sign of the social struggle between the tradesmen against the prominent householders who held the communal reins and withheld from them any opinion and influence in communal affairs ^[16]. During this revolt, neither side refrained from using violence, and turning to the gentile powers to the point where the matters reached the royal court. At first the verdict of the courts was in favor of the communal leaders. However the tradesmen did not accept this verdict. They attacked the heads of the community with strength and damaged their houses. The heads of the community were once again victorious when the complaint reached the Supreme Court in Vilna. In response to this, the tradesmen attacked the communal offices, confiscated the ledgers and accounting records, and brought them to the palace of the ruler. In the general chaos that ensued, the community ceased to operate. Lease payments to the monasteries were not paid, for taxes were not collected. The government, church and civic officials did not receive their traditional gifts for their holidays. On the Sabbath of July 17, 1777, the tradesmen broke into the Great Synagogue, dragged the communal leaders from the pulpit, and beat them. In their complaint to the Royal Court in Grodno of November 1777, they accused the communal heads with a long list of offences: the leaders were getting rich from the communal fund, imposing excommunications for no reason, misappropriating funds of the korovka and rights of possession, collecting money to pay debts but borrowing new money instead of paying debts, arresting the tradesmen with chains and sending them to prison, preventing them from participating in communal matters, elections and honors, etc.

The communal upheaval lasted for many years. Even though the authorities generally stood on the side of the communal heads, who attempted to prevent the representatives of the tradesmen from reaching the courts and the government leaders in Grodno, their complaints reached the army captain, who ordered that the delegates of the tradesmen be freed, and imprisoned the communal heads. The latter only obtained their release with a payment of the sum of 5,000 guilder ^[17]. The disintegrating Polish-Lithuanian government did not succeed in imposing order on the disturbed community of Minsk, and only in 1799, under Russian rule, did the community return to its order. The tradesmen achieved what they wanted, and two of their representatives were added to the communal leadership. In a list from 1795 in the ledger of the “Seven Called Ones”, we find echoes of the battle of the tradesmen with the communal heads, who even tried to bribe the judges ^[18]. The Jewish historian Rafael Mahler describes the revolt of the masses of the population in Minsk at the end of the 18^th century as follows ^[19]:

“In Minsk, the foolish deeds of the communal oligarchy reached serious proportions: communal personalities would decree all types of korovkas upon merchants and butchers, take large payments for rights of possession, and misappropriate money without any investigation; they increased their debts and forced the community to discharge them; they did not conduct elections, so that they would be able to continue to hold power, and the opposition was persecuted with all types of oppressions: they arranged bloody attacks against the “revolutionary conspirators” in their house and even in the synagogues; they put them in the stocks or imprisoned them in chains. To counter these gangs, the tradesmen organized the civic population, chose powers from the “simple folk”, and demanded that the community conduct elections for a new leadership. The communal leaders responded with new modes of oppression. In response, the tradesmen turned to the Royal Court. When the communal forces succeeded in attracting this institution to their side by means of large bribes, the opposition searched for justice in the court of Vilna. However, the verdict was once again in favor of the communal rulers. “Gangs of tradesmen” as the powers of Minsk disparagingly referred to them, had no choice but to enter a face to face battle: in 1777, the tradesmen attacked the offices of the communal leadership and chased out the communal leaders; they broke into the communal archives, took the accounting ledgers and documents and gave them over to the office of the Starosta in the Minsk palace. The organized a boycott of communal taxes, and stopped paying the korovka; they conquered the synagogue and did not permit the communal Parnassim to enter. The communal rulers returned “order” with the help of the local government, took bitter revenge against the opposition, and continued with their acts of communal robbery.

After a new complaint of the tradesmen before the court of the Starosta did not yield fruit, there was once again no bounds to the wanton actions of the communal leaders. The communal guardians borrowed new money from one priest to the sum of 125,000 guilder, and demanded that the Jews sign the documents for this sum, under threat of excommunication. They leased the korovka of the merchants, the meat and the court to that priest. When the simple Jews refused to recognize this lease agreement with the priest, the communal leadership utilized the assistance of the army to force them to submit. The communal leaders continued to borrow similar loans, and forced the members of the community to discharge the fabricated “communal debts”. Then the “simple folk”, headed by the tradesmen, chose two powers, and sent them to the financial committee in Grodno with a memorandum against the communal leaders. However, through the intercession of the communal leaders, the Pod-Starosta of Minsk once again became involved, and sent the two delegates to jail. “The simple folk” made haste and sent a secret messenger to Grodno with a memorandum, but the communal heads succeeded in intercepting the messenger. Nevertheless, the complaint reached the royal financial committee. The communal heads answered this with cruel physical terror: one of the delegates was beaten in the eyes and later put in the stocks. The second delegate was dragged to their office and had his limbs crushed. The “simple folk” once again attempted to demand justice from the highest royal authorities of Lithuania. The heads of the community arose and spoke slanderously before the Russian army captain. The delegates chosen by the people were fettered in chains as thieves and hauled to Grodno. When the delegates proved their innocence and the heads of the community were punished with a fine of 5,000 guilder for the crime of slander, the strongmen forced the people with pressure once again to sign the loans and to return them the sum… In the year 1782, the delegates of the people of Minsk presented a new memorandum against the communal rulers to the Lithuanian financial tribunal. The verdict of the tribunal is not recorded. However, based on the former relationship of the ruling authorities to the deeds of the communal leaders of Minsk, and according to the analogy of similar legal cases in Vilna, it is possible to deduce that despite all of the tireless efforts of the people, the oligarchy of ruling authorities remained at the helm without disturbance.”

Text Footnotes:

Translator's Footnotes:

[Page 38]

Relations with the
Christian Communities of Minsk

Chapter 6

Translated by Jerrold Landau

The guilds of the citizens (the burghers). The relationship of the princes to the citizens. The legal connection of the Jews. The royal rights of the Jews and their means of actualization. Debates between communities. Enactments to protect the business relationships with the Christians. The clash between the Jews and the Pravoslavic monastery. The ascendancy of the Catholic element. Jews as one of the communities. The agreement between the Jewish and Christian guilds. Bounds of contact between the Jews and the Christians.

The Christian citizens (Burguers) of Minsk, lived in Minsk, which belonged to the princes of Lithuania, in accordance with the Magdeberg law ^[1] that granted them exclusive rights to organize closed guilds of merchants and tradesmen. Not only were Jews forbidden to join the Christian guilds, but so were all other Catholic communities aside from the Roman Catholics. The Orthodox and Uniats (Greek Catholics) were not accepted into the civic guilds, but they were permitted to organize their own professional organizations, just as the Jews were allowed. The Polish kings and Lithuanian princes did not favor the strength of the burghers (many of whom were descendents of the Baltic Germans), and therefore encouraged the other religious groups. They enabled the Jews to work in trades, unlike the situation in Western Europe. In descriptions of Minsk from the 17^th and 18^th centuries, we find that the various monasteries loaned money for interest after they received large inheritances from the noblemen who died in the battles of the 17^th century ^[2]. They bought and leased land and houses to both Christians and Jews.

After the Jews became subject from a legal perspective to the king or the prince of Lithuania, the jurisdiction of the city hall of Minsk no longer fell upon them. In the event of a debate between a Jew and Christian, the custom would be to turn to the court of the accused. Thus, at times, the courts of the community dealt as well with matters between a Jew and a Christian. This principle was particularly important in the event of a “revenge for murder”. According to the royal privileges, the punishment of the murder of a Jew and a murder of a nobleman would be equivalent.

Despite these rights, the community of Minsk suffered from successive attacks from the students of the theological seminary ^[3]. The attacks stopped when the community agreed to pay a set tax to the seminarians.

Disputes and provocations between the various communities broke out on occasion in Minsk, especially after the Burghers became impoverished as a result of the difficult battles of the 17^th century and the Northern War ^[4]. With the passage of time, the Jews moved over to earning their livelihoods through the Arenda, and the areas of friction with the Burghers diminished. However, the dependency on the nobility increased, along with all the spiritual and social diminishment that was tied up with that.

In order to preserve good relations with the Christian neighbors, the community watched diligently to ensure that no Jew would purchase an object about which there was a suspicion of theft. This was especially so with goods from the church, from the noblemen, from the students, and from army people. The community used its authority to prevent business between unseemly Jews and Christians ^[5]. Even loans from Christians, particularly from the monasteries, were placed under the supervision and guarantee of the community. If a Jew misused the trust placed in him by a Christian, he was liable to lose his right of residency ^[6]. With all this, the Jews stood strongly for the preservation of their rights, and did not refrain from using force. Just as all the other entities in Minsk were organized into corporations, protected their members, and also instilled their fear upon their members; the Jews as well protected the members of their community and firmly ensured that no individual would disturb the discipline of the community. A document from the year 1629 relates that a Jew of Minsk named Shlomo Pinczasowicz decided to become a Christian. The Jews of Minsk attacked the Pravoslavic monastery in which the baptismal ceremony was to take place, armed with knives and stones, and they threatened to set the monastery on fire ^[7]. The friction between the community and that Pravoslavic monastery continued for a long time. A document twenty years later once again tells about the complaints of the monastery to the ruler of the region (Wojewoda) that the Jews broke into the monastery during the times of prayer, bound people in chains and sent them to prison. Of course, one cannot rely on the text of the complaint of the monastery, however these documents demonstrate that the Jews stood up strongly for their rights, and did not hesitate even to use force.

From among the various religious communities that existed in Minsk, such as the Roman Catholics, the Pravoslavs, the Calvinists, the Muslim Tatars and the Uniats, the Jews apparently enjoyed good relations with the latter. The leadership of the city was for the most part in the hands of the Catholic Burghers or the Pravoslavs, who did not particularly appreciate the Jews, especially on account of the fact that the community was not under their jurisdiction. The Uniat sect suffered from persecution and attacks, and the Jews who lived in the areas of their monasteries suffered similarly. For this reason, they were freed from payment of taxes to the city hall, despite the mood of the heads of the city. In the conflict that broke out in 1671 between the Pravoslavs and the Uniats, the Pravoslavic mayor Jan Pures incited an attack against the church of the Uniats; however the hooligans also pillaged the Jewish houses of the region. This was on the Sabbath, when the Jews were in the synagogue, and the Jewish homes were left without protection. Among the Jewish belongings that were pillaged, mention is made of the cauldrons for distilling liquor – which demonstrates that, first and foremost, the hooligans coveted the liquor. As a result of that matter, that mayor in his complaint demanded the expulsion of both the Uniats and the Jews ^[8].

The most characteristic fact regarding the composition of the population of Minsk during the Polish-Lithuanian era (that is to say, until the end of the 18^th century) was the fact that no national-religious community had a decisive majority. Despite the economic, religious and national setbacks, and despite the disturbances that broke out from time to time, life was tolerable. Social contact between the Jewish community and the other communities was rare, and there were conditions for independent Jewish life amidst the relative peace that pervaded after the wars of the middle of the 17^th century. This situation enabled the Jewish community to grow significantly in population, and develop independently economically, culturally and educationally. There was religious freedom and internal government, from a jurisdictional perspective as well.

As has been said, the Jewish tradesmen and merchants were organized into their own unions, parallel to the Christian unions. It is possible to see something about the relationships between the parallel unions from a document of 1762, written in Polish and preserved in the archives of the regional court of Minsk. The document was published in Russian translation in “Byelorussia During the Era of Feudalism” ^[9] (Minsk 1959). It deals with an agreement between the Jewish metal workers guild and its Christian counterpart. The language of the document testifies to a high level of mutual respect, despite the fact that the Jewish union was required to pay a set annual tax of 34 Taler to the Christian union. One can interpret this payment as a desire for the Jews to live in peace with their neighbors, in order to prevent complaints of impingement on livelihood. In the introduction to the agreement, the names of three delegates of the Christian locksmiths and smiths guild, and four delegates of the Jewish counterpart, signed as “veteran tradesmen”. The expression “Nyevernye”, that is deniers of the Christian faith, used with respect to the Jews is not to be seen as an insult, since that was the common term in those days. The delegates of the Christian guilds rely on the privileges that were granted to them in the past, and on decisions of the royal court that obligated the Jews in the payment of the tax (or compensation for Jewish competition and loss of orders) that had apparently not been paid until this time. The Jews were obligated to pay the tax in two semi-annual payments of 17 Talers, and if not “our work can be stopped”. The agreement was not only applicable to the regular members of the Jewish hammer workers guild (that is the guild of smiths, locksmiths, tinsmiths, gold and silversmiths), but also on non-local Jews who were not natives of Minsk but who came to the city “during the time of the gathering of the supreme tribunal”. The heads of the Jewish guild were obligated to collect this tax also from the temporary Jewish workers who came from outside. In return for the payment, the delegates of the Christian guilds were required, under threat of appropriate punishments and fines, to never forbid or oppose the fact that Jews work in their trade. They were also obligated to send young Christian apprentices to assist the Jews in the time of need, but without force. The two sides of the agreement give a mutual pledge “through our houses, businesses, merchandise, and wealth, wherever these may be found”. In the event of dispute, the judicial authority to which the dispute should be adjudicated will be the director of the city, without right of appeal before a higher judicial authority. This latter fact proves that, as opposed to in previous generations, the Jews preferred to subject themselves to the civic courts, either because the order in the Kingdom of Poland was disintegrating, or because of a desire to draw near to their neighbors in Minsk itself.

We, Jan Grinowicz, Pawel Dwenkowicz, Stefan Kondratowicz, and all the brothers of the Guild of Locksmiths and Smiths from one side, and we, Jewish deniers of the Christian faith – Mordechai Obsejowicz, Hirsch Jankelowicz, Leib Mowsowicz, and Yisrael Chatzkelowicz, veteran tradesmen, along with the entire Brotherly Union of Jewish Hammer Workers on the other side, in accordance with all the bonds and obligations that we have willingly taken upon ourselves, without any force, and with our desire that these be fulfilled – hereby declare and inform to any one who needs to know, in this century and in the next century, by affixing our signatures of our free well without any amendment, that this should not be changed forever, not from its foundation and not for any reason, that it should exist forever, to which our hands affix our guarantee, the text of which is agreed by all of us together that its text is deliberate, in accordance with the law, and given together from one person to the next, as follows:

All of us, the aforementioned Jews, veteran workers, and the entire Brotherly Union of Jewish Tradesmen who live in the city of Minsk through the grace of the His Majesty the King, and who profess the Hammer Workers trade of all its sorts, a trade that pertains to the Guild of the Locksmiths and the Smiths who possess privileges, are not subservient to the decisions of the royal court or the court of the Greater Lithuanian Principality that were issued at set times, and to this day, we have not paid the taxes owed to the Guild of Locksmiths and Smiths for our professional work of crafting objects of gold, refining, smithing and metal working that pertains to that guild that owns the privilege. This is despite the aforementioned decisions that rightfully obligated us in the required matter. This gave way for an explicit negation of the aforementioned decisions. As a result of this, it is possible to impose upon us taxes and punishments.

Therefore, in order to prevent additional legal cases in the future, and from our will to actualize the aforementioned decisions, we have decided to forge a final agreement with regard to this tax that is owed to the guild forever. We have decided that this in an irrevocable fashion, in a unanimous fashion with the aforementioned tradesmen and with the members of the lock smithing guild, in a general meeting of the guild. Therefore, on the basis of this agreement that we have forged between ourselves, once and for the future, and in a definitive fashion, we shall pay into the coffers of the Guild of the Locksmiths and Smiths with exactitude, the tax that is owed to that guild, from the day of the signing of this memorandum, in an annual basis for all upcoming years, from the current year and forward, in two payments of 17 Taler each, in March and September, for a total sum of 34 Taler annually, in the currency that is current at the appropriate time. On account of this we await, without any pretext, in the event that stubbornness is displayed, to pay a fine of the same amount and to subject ourselves again to judicial complaint, and our work is liable to be stopped. Therefore, we issue the following declaration about the obligation that we are taking upon ourselves, and that those who continue after us will be obligated in fulfilling this obligation. It is further agreed that in the event that foreign Jews come to the city of His Majesty the King, Minsk, during the time of the gathering of the supreme tribunal, and conduct hammer based work in the city of Minsk, the prominent tradesmen of the Guild of Locksmiths and Smiths, all members of that guild and those who follow after them, can continue to work in their trade, and will offer help to the Brotherly Covenant of Jews, and will send their young members to collect from the foreign Jewish tradesmen who arrived in Minsk that which is owed for the benefit of the Jewish Brotherly Covenant.

With regard to the aforementioned, the prominent tradesmen of the guild, including all of the members of the Guild of Locksmith and Smiths, permit Jews, the veteran tradesmen and all members of the Brotherly Covenant of Jewish Tradesmen, as well as those who follow after them, without exception and without any disruptions, to practice their trade as craftsmen of objects of gold, smelters, tinsmiths and metal workers, after they pay their annual sum of 34 Taler into the coffers of the locksmiths and smiths. We promise to send from our guild young members to assist, without force. This obligation will also fall upon those who follow after us, to do thus. We promise with the threat of appropriate punishment that we will never forbid or oppose them to work in their trades, that is the work of objects of gold, of smelters, of tinsmiths, and of metal workers, after they pay the payment of 34 Taler each year into the coffers of the guild.

On the basis of this agreement, the aforementioned Jews, the veteran workers and the entire Brotherly Covenant of Jewish Tradesmen, will be free in their work and in the conducting of their trade, as craftsmen of objects of gold, smelters, tinsmiths, and workers of metal, in the city of His Majesty the King, Minsk, without any disturbance from our side, the tradesmen of the guild and all of the members of the Guild of Locksmiths and Smiths. This will apply to all those who follow after us. We ourselves, and those who are subject to us, do not have and will not have permission to forbid the Jews from working in their trades, or to oppose their work. This will be assured by fines that will be agreed upon between both sides. That obligation will also fall upon those who follow after us.

In order to fulfill all that is set above, we give a mutual bond that is appropriate for this matter, and promise as surety our houses, businesses, merchandise and wealth, in every place that they might be found. In the event of non-fulfillment, even in a trivial matter, of this agreement of ours that is being forged forever and that is being assured with great care by means of the law, we determine to bring the matter to judicial adjudication in front of the director of the city of Minsk, so that it will be judged there in a short period of time, without delays or reprieves, and without granting the right of appeal of the verdict of the lower authorities or to higher ranking legal authorities. In considering the aforementioned fine, and even if this fine is paid several times, this agreement of ours will not be nullified for any reason or pretext. We are forging this agreement with our goodwill forever, and with careful assurances of the law. Its force shall apply forever. It shall not be nullified and not changed.

To this end, we have together turned toward each other with our signature, signed in our own handwriting, with our seal and the seal of the witnesses that were personally invited by us by word of mouth, with their agreement, that is: the honorable lords Andrej Szigeloski; Captain Wiklowski; the regional representative of the Minsk treasury of His Majesty the King, Jerzy-Adam Czistecki; as well as the butler Rechicki, the captain of the city of Minsk of His Majesty the King.

From this document, we learn that relations between the Jewish and Christian tradesmen were not bad at all. Its text and spirit testify to mutual respect and even to mutual assistance. The issue of the payment of a tax for compensation is based upon earlier decisions of the royal courts. Despite the fact that the Jews did not fulfill the decisions, we do not hear about persecutions or repercussions. This document is of great interest even from the perspective of internal relations of the Jewish group in Minsk in the latter half of the 18^th century: for representatives of the central, regional and civic governments signed as witnessed to the agreement with the delegates of the Jewish tradesmen, along with their Christian counterparts. This proves the degree of importance and independence of the Jewish tradesmen, in contrast to the decline of the communal heads. We cannot image that in previous generations, the communal heads would permit the tradesmen to appear as delegates before the heads of governments, and certainly not to sign an important agreement with a Christian body, as equals to equals.

We see that the areas of contact between Jews and gentiles were generally restricted to economic matters. The Jewish businessman, tradesman, tavern keeper, innkeeper, etc. needed Christians as customers, as people from whom they would earn their livelihood. For this purpose, they needed a minimal knowledge of the language of those gentiles. As long as life was patriarchal, without the desire to attain the class of the intelligentsia aside from within the bounds of the Beis Midrash and Yeshiva, it was possible to suffice oneself with Yiddish as a spoken language and Hebrew as the language of religion and spiritual life. There was no social contact. This was a form of unwritten agreement, self-understood and mutual: the Christians because of their feelings of superiority, and the Jews because of their dedication to the Torah that filled all crevices of their souls.

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