This book is a proxy for Yurevichi, which was part of the Rechitsa district.

• mestechko in Russian (miasteczko in Polish) was a Jewish shtetl that was between a town and village in size
  • Privileges during Russian period: holding of markets at least twice a month
  • Russian requirements for designation: presence of an Orthodox church, markets (held at least once a week) and presence of a Jewish population
  • Catherine II policy forced settlement of Jews from villages into towns and mestechkos; Jews became a significant part oft he population
• Geographic territory known as Belaia Rus' (White Russia)
  • “Local people” were regarded as part of the Russian population
  • Local Russians were Orthodox; Poles were Catholic
• Litvins were subjects of the duchy
  • Jews of Rechitsa were known at Litvaks (Litvakes in Yiddish)
  • Grand Principality of Lithuania had tolerant attitudes towards Jews
    • with the exception of a few “aggravations” interethinic relations in Rechitsa were tolerant
    • economic relations in several sectors were symbiotic

• Medieval history, page 20. Rechitsa part of Duchy of Pinsk-Turov in 1150s
• Vitautas of grand duchy in Vilna tolerant of Jews; Judical rules protected life and property of all inhabitants, including Jews
  • grants Jewish communities in Brest, Grodno, Toki privileges to develop the backward economy
  • imposed death ponalty and confiscation of property as punishment for killing a jew
  • collected find and awared the same amount to Jew who was a victim of a beating or injury
  • Jews given guarantee of the inviolability of their property
  • punishments imposed for disrupting Jewish religious services or vandalizing Jewish cemeteries
  • Vitautas offered Jews the same righs as Christians in commerce and banking
  • allowed Jews to engage in trade and farming
• Jews formed joint ventures to pool resources
• Alexander I Jagiellon expelled Jews in 1495, but brought them back 6 years later because of the duchy's economic decline and drop in tax revenue.
• Forms of taxation
  • Principal income of Rechitsa governors came from the collection of wild honey. Honey gathering was most important occupation (and traditional Slavic occupation)
  • Reform of 1560 replaced 'taxes in kind' with monetary taxes, promoting trade and ability of peasants and craftsmen to sell their services
• Jewish population
  • Existed sometime in 1625-1650
  • Jewish quarters appeared during the same time in Bykhov, Gomel, Mozyr, Chausy and Shklov
  • Jews came from the populated west of duchy
  • Christians made same migration to vacant eastern lands (ravaged by raids of Tartars, Cossacks and Muscovites) between 1550-1600
  • Jews developed the eastern territories, moving from western to eatern, Belorussia.
  • Jews mostly engaged in small-scale retailing, selling alcohol (tavern owners) and brokerage. Lesser Litvin landowners took on trade, farming and credit and saw Jews as competition. Magistrates defended the rights of Christians, impeding Jews. Few large entrepreneurs in teh southeastern Belorus engaged in wholesale trade and leasing.
• 1662-1665: Muscovite and Cossacks overrun Belarus, capturing most of the area. Jews massacred or forced to convert. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth recaptures Belorus in early 1660s. Belorus population losses from war amount to 53 percent
  • War weakens Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Many towns and estates in Grand Duchy of Lithuania transfer to Polish nobility after previous owners perish during war.
• 1765
  • poll tax replaces Kahal; census of Jewsih taxpayers
• Jews lighting candles may explain source of town fires and population's belief that Jews were responsible. Towns in 1600s sought to confine Jews in a particular section, which may have given rise to ghettos.
• 1750-1800: Jews lived in private mestchkos
  • owners of mestechkos attracted Jews to develop local ecoomy
  • Principal occupation of Jews: distilling alcohol, selling bodka, leasing various sectors of nobile's estates
  • lightly populated and impoverished towns could not guarantee living for Jews in towns
  • Jews paid taxes and gave “gifts” to owners, churche, etc. paid property taxes
• Taxation of Jewish community, as a whole.
  • Not individual or family, but the whole community
  • Fiscal system that existed until 1764
• Litvaks - Lithuanian-Belorussian Jews
  • By end of 1700s: speaking own dialect, dressed differently (did not ware the long-skirted garment) and cut hair differently (no sidelocks)
  • Mentality (which set them apart from Ukranian and Polish Jewss): rationalisim in behaviur, thirst for learning, businesslike approach to work, purposefulness, restraint in expressing their feelings; asceticism in food/life
  • Litvak families: man consults with wife on imprtant matters, particularly those relating to trade; role of women in Litvak families.
  • thirst for knowledge: secular sciences
  • One branch called Mitnagdim (those who oppose/object; name given to opponents by Hasidim.
  • Habad: combined hasidism with rabbinical scholarship and rationalism
  • Antagonism existed between Litvaks and Polish/Ukrainian Jews.
  • differences: behavior and external appearance, language, culinary preferences, temperament
  • Litvak traditions in Rechitsa exist even though Rechitsa close to Ukraine. Practically no migration to Rechitsa from the south; Jews migrated from Belorussian mestechkos and towns frequently.
  • Litvaks evolved into “Russian Jewry” by the 1860s
• * Last third of 1700s, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered econoonmic decliene; implications for Jews
  • Economy impoverished. Christian population creates laws to restricute compeition from Jews. Jews had to seek new ways to earn a living. They became extremely active in commerce, competing with Chritians and one another. Economic activity in 1600-1650; political and social decline until end of 1700s. economic and social status of Jews detiorated likewise.