The Jews in Lublin - Biblioteka Multimedialna Teatrnn.pl - Brama ...

Agata Paluch (Krakow)*
Mystical Traditions in the Teachings of the Rabbis of Lublin
The Jewish commune of Lublin was proud of its exceptional reputation from the
beginning of its existence. The institution of the kahal of Lublin had existed probably
since the 15th Century 1 . The fact of the Jews receiving privileges from King
Kazimierz the Great proves the high status of this community. What caused the fact
that Jewish Lublin is considered the third most important kahal in Polish lands, after
Krakow and Lviv?
The assessment of the Jewish community (at least from the time of Haskala and
the arising new social relations in bigger kahals) is based mainly on the acceptance and
underlining of the role of the most educated people, religious authorities, and only
in the next turn on other members of the community. Therefore, religious scientists
are in the first place (Rabbis, Talmudists, teachers of tradition and later zaddiks) and
subsequently the financial elite and secular activists, even if their contribution to the
functioning of the kahal institutions was significant in the material dimension 2 . Deciding
about the importance of a particular commune one should therefore consider
the persons thanks to whom it was possible to achieve so high a position.
Lublin was perceived as a city of Talmudic tradition. The most important reason
was of course the existence of the Yeshiva in its terrain, recognized as the best Yeshiva
in Polish lands (and competing with the one in Krakow). This Yeshiva was founded
in 1518 by the Rabbi Szalom Szachna. Its position was so high, that the first leading
Rabbi, Szlomo Lurii (Maharszal) got the title of rector from the King, as a privilege
affirming the status of the school (1567).
The second half of the 16th Century and the first half of the 17th Century was a
period of wide-spreading Kabbalahistic Polish Jews, mainly in the form of the so called
practical cabala of Icchak Lurii. The thesis of Lurianic Kabbalah found a favourable
response among them, it is also believed, that they influenced the later popularity of
the Sabbatianism and Frankism 3 . The most basic, most external forms of the teaching
of Lurii were accepted by the whole of the Jewish community, because they did not
Student of the Inter-Faculty Individual Humanistic Studies at the Jagiellonian University (specialty
-Jewish Studies).
1 Cf. Żydzi w Lublinie. Materiały do dziejów społeczności żydowskiej Lublina. Radzik T. (ed.), Lublin 1995.
2 Cf. Materiały źródłowe do dziejów Żydów w księgach grodzkich lubelskich. Lublin 2001.
3 Cf. SCHOLEM G.: Mistycyzm żydowski i jego główne kierunki. Kania I. (translated by), Warszawa 1997.
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