Folktales of the Jews, Volume 2: Tales from Eastern Europe

Introduction to Volume 2

Introduction to Volume 2 Eastern European Jewry was a relatively late Diaspora. Its communities evolved after the Jewish societies in other Diasporas such as Spain, the countries of Islam, and Western Europe had had their periods of glory and turbulence. Theories and legends abound, but evidence is slim about the origins and early days of eastern European Jewry. Even when documentation is available, its validity and interpretations are subject to challenge and scholarly controversy. The Jewish Migration into Eastern Europe Two major groups of hypotheses have been formulated about the arrival of Jews to Eastern Europe: The first proposes that their route was across the northern Black Sea and into southern Russia; the second suggests a eastern migration from Central Europe. By and large, the theories in the first group assign earlier dates to the Jewish migration into Eastern Europe, suggesting that Jews arrived in southeast Europe from the Land of Israel as early as biblical times, either during the exile of the Ten Tribes (722 B.C.E.), or after the destruction of the First Temple (586 B.C.E.). Some scholars propose that the migration took place in the early medieval period, during the time of the Byzantine Empire (seventh to tenth centuries C.E.). Still others suggest that the remnants of the Khazar tribes that converted to Judaism formed the beginning of eastern European Jewry.1 The western route theories are less romantic, suggesting that Jews arrived in Eastern Europe either through the opening of east-west trade routes across the continent or as a result of the persecution of Jews in Western Europe. These theories date the arrival of Jews in Eastern Europe to the Middle Ages, based on documentary evidence that attests to a Jewish presence in the region from the thirteenth century.2 Each of these theories has some tangential and some more solid evidence, and it is quite likely that Jewish communities existed in Poland and Ukraine before the thirteenth century, a period for which available evidence leaves no doubt about the Jewish presence in Eastern Europe. xvii  xviii  Introduction to Volume 2 The legends concerning the Jewish arrival into this territory are clearly narratives of migration. These are anachronistic tales, probably told long after the beginnings of Jewish settlement in Eastern Europe. The first of these tales recounts an event that occurred in the ninth century, upon the death of the Polish king Popiel. The council of electors could not decide on the selection of a new king and so agreed that the first person to walk into town at daybreak would be crowned king. It so happened that that person was a Jew named Abraham “Prochownik” (gunpowder merchant). He refused to ascend to the throne and secluded himself in a room. After three days, Piast, a farmer, broke into the room; Abraham then insisted that this farmer was fit for the throne. And so he became the founder of the Piast dynasty, which ruled until 1370.3 A second legend dates the arrival of the Jews into the preroyalty past of Poland. Jews reached Poland (at the time a desolated place) as merchants and moneylenders. The local rulers accepted them into their land but insisted that the Jews continue to wear the type of clothes they wore on their arrival. This is a legend that validates their distinctiveness in costumes and language.4 A third legendary tale puts the arrival in the period of King Leszek IV (ninth century), a descendent of King Piast, and involves a community delegation. The Jews of this tale all had Sephardic names, an anachronism . The legend establishes not only the distinctiveness of the Jews but also recognizes their communal self-government, freedom of worship, freedom of settlement, and royal protection.5 The historical trustworthiness of these legends notwithstanding, they do reflect the social, religious, and linguistic distinctiveness of the Jews, at least in the nineteenth century, when the legends appeared in print, and likely earlier, when the stories circulated orally. From their early modest beginnings up through the seventeenth century, Jews in Eastern Europe thrived, with a substantial increase in population. They spread throughout the area, all the while maintaining their social, religious, and linguistic distinctiveness; residing in their quarters; and engaging mainly in craft, trade, and commerce. The Jewish population rebounded after the pogroms of 1648–1649;6 and by the end of the eighteenth century and throughout the nineteenth century, more Jews lived in the area known as the Pale of Settlement than...