Pinkas Pruzany and It's Vicinity |
||
p. 17 - 20 N. Zuckerman PINKAS
OF THE KAHAL IN PRUZANA
We
possess the pinkas (Memorial Book) of the kahal in Pruzana from 1801 to 1851. This pinkas,
like that of the Hevra Kadisha, has no beginning nor end. Protocols from the earlier years
are found at the end and vice-versa. It is difficult to determine if this pinkas was the
only one of the kahal or whether there were others, which have been lost. According to the
reports we have, there was another pinkas from an earlier period, but it has disappeared.
The cover is a simple one, without decoration or illustration. The page is circumvented
with a parallel line in the shape of a gate. The
language of the pinkas is Hebrew, but there is also one text in Yiddish. The minutes are
not continuous and there are many empty pages between one minute and another. It is
difficult to surmise why this happened. Apparently, they left room to register more
minutes later, but they were not recorded. We find a lot of material in the pinkas about
the economic and social life of the Jews in our town. The minutes relating to the economic
situation of the Jewish population are very interesting. As
can be seen from the content of a minute written in Yiddish in 1823, the community
defended itself against the cartel of the millers who intended to milch the public. The
kehila even threatened excommunication for creating cartels. It is not clear from the
wording what circumstances existed that caused public figures to adopt this step: were
there subsidiary causes or did a real concern the welfare of the public guide their
action? In many instances, the kehila organised the economic life of the Jews in Pruzana.
Apart from the above example, which shows how the kehila protected the public against the
millers, who sought to raise the cost of milling, there is another very characteristic
incident: in 1851, the kehila sought to organise the grain trade. Grain prices soared and
there was hunger in the area. Public
figures sought to stop the price rises. In addition to this step, there was also a warning
not to send grain out of the town, because this would lead to more hunger and even higher
prices. There
is another minute of the same year (1851), which discusses the state of the kehila. It
shows that the financial situation was deteriorating. The excise taxes on brandy which
belonged to the kehila did not bring in a lot of income (as mentioned in previous
minutes). Tenders were being held in Grodno for the right to farm taxes for a further
period. The important people in the town decided to send the rich man Yitzhak Goldberg to
Grodno to acquire the tax farming rights. Later, the kehila held a competition giving the
right to the person who paid the largest sum. The most important thing in the minute is
that kehila figures call for a boycott of the `foreign' leasees of the Pruzana excise, The
lease was indeed given to foreigners and the boycott implemented, as can be seen from the
next minute, which was recorded later. The leaders decided not to lease houses to the
intruders for use as public houses nor lease public houses from them.
That
is the one recorded case in the pinkas of the Pruzana kehila that shows how the community
leaders helped a group with that sum. The significance is that the public house tenants were among the important
household owners who were supported by the kehila. Ordinarily, the kehila dealt with the
bread box, as the 1825 protocol shows. That
is to say, for the next two years, we had to lease out the bread box, which was meant for
payment of the poll tax. At the end of the minute, the kehila's seal was stamped, the only
instance of its use in all the pinkas. In order to explain the importance of the decision,
it was explicitly stated: "To give greater validity to all that has been said above,
the kehila's seal was imprinted". The tax on candles (korobke) was introduced in Pruzana in 1845 (as the protocol on page 38 shows). The writer of the minute reported that want increased in that year, the number of paupers increased and the kehila decided on a general tax on candles. The rate of tax on candles prepared for sale was three guildens a pud (about 16 kilos); on candles for home use-two guildens and for Russian candles-a guilden. The
pinkas never mentions how much the candle tax brought in. On the other hand, we found a
report that was sent to the regional offices which said that in.1868 the income from
candle tax was 659 roubles. It is difficult to estimate how much other taxes brought in
due to lack of information. Another
interesting fact in the pinkas records how the korobkes were farmed out. The first minutes
related that the kehila leaders decided that the taxes would not be farmed out until the
sums the proposed leasees were prepared to pay were announced three times in the
synagogues. The pinkas does not contain information as to how korobkes were leased. It can
be assumed the lease was made through "family" arrangements by the town's
autocratic overseers, who acted high-handedly. This is evidenced by the remark in the
protocol "whatever shall be, shall be," which meant that the leaders expected
opposition to the new regulation, which resulted from the kehila's financial interests.
The kehila had to bear a burden of taxes imposed by the authorities. The only way to get
big sums was to hand over "korobkes" for leasing through tenders. The
second most important "calamity" that bothered community leaders was army
recruitment. It was decided in 1833 to collect donations for the soldiers who were taken
into the army "for the general good", so that they could buy themselves out
through their superiors and keep religious commandments. The donations were collected at
weddings, circumcisions, in monthly payments and haphazardly, as can be seen from the
following minute: This minute dealt with the situation of those who went "to serve
the authorities for the public". They suffered a lot and kehila leaders explained
that they were taking decisions whose aim was to help and strengthen those who suffered.
The pinkas details the methods of collecting money for the soldiers. When a soldier was
sent to the army, he redeemed the rest of his relatives, who would not appear on other
army recruitment lists. There were many cases of brothers or relatives of soldiers being
sent to the army when community leaders forgot that one relative was already in the army.
Such cases were recorded in the pinkas to prevent recurrence. A similar case occurred in
1842: The kehila also exempted the parents of the recruit from taxes. The
1845 protocol referred to some Yitzhak, who was exempted from payment of taxes for ten
years, but not from the "korobkes", because "he could not be an
exception". The fate of every Jew lay in the hands of the kehila notables (deputaten)
and later the representatives. Anyone commiting a felony was immediately placed at the
head of the list (Izkazka) and had to go to the army: if anyone complained and his
arguments were substantiated, his name was struck off the list and the next-in-line went
instead. At the end of the pinkas, there are descriptions of several cases of
accidental loss of virginity through mishap by young girls. There
are 14 similar cases in the Pruzana pinkas in ten consecutive years. There are also many
protocols or minutes referring to personal matters, unredeemed promissory notes, property
matters, etc. The religious life of the kehila also occupies an important place in the
pinkas. Some of the minutes deal with the salary of the rabbi and dayanim; there are also
regulations sorting out the ties between two new Botei Midrash and the old, large
synagogue, "Shul" and the large Beth Midrash . Note: (1) Although the "korobke" on candles was introduced
in 1845 by the Russian government for the sole needs of the Jewish schools, the Pruzana
kehila leaders apparently knew nothing about this and allocated the income from the candle
tax to general community needs. |
||
| Next | Table of Contents | General PSA page |