ZOLKIEW AND JEWS IN THE 17TH CENTURY (land ownership and every day life)

[Kiwi]

Its starts.........

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE OWNERS
OF ZOLKIEW AND JEWS IN THE 17TH CENTURY


The situation for the Jews in private towns owned by magnates in
the historical Polish Commonwealth was generally favourable. This
resulted from the fact that Poland lacked a middle class, which besides
having the ability to make use of various tools and carry on a profitable
commerce, could also invest considerable capital in small enterprises
(e.g. inns, vineyards, malt houses or mills) and would boast of being able
to write, read and count. Jews were the best people for this kind of
activities since they had all the above-mentioned virtues and in addition,
maintained wide contacts in the country and sometimes even abroad. In
royal towns, where most matters were dependent on the municipal
authorities, Jews, conducting their businesses under no restriction had to
confront an active opposition of Christian burghers. The high competitiveness
of the goods and services of the Jewish community made the
fellow burghers undertake repeatedly illegal actions in the forms of various
harassments, brawls, tumults and destructions of Jewish properties.
The followers of the Mosaic Law were even removed from towns on the
basis of the privilege de non tolerandis Judaeis obtained from the King.

Continues in the PDF File every interesting.


http://www.studiajudaica.pl/sj04gasi.pdf