JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

Bibliography: LNYL, 1 (1956), 277–8.; S.D. Singer, Dikhter
un prozaiker (1959), 105.
[Melech Ravitch]
BIALYSTOK (Rus. Belostok), industrial city in N.E. Poland;
latterly one of the principal Russian/Polish Jewish centers;
incorporated into Russia between 1807 and 1921 and administered
by the U.S.S.R. between 1939 and 1941, reverting to
Poland in 1945. Originally the Bialystok community formed
part of the *Tykocin (Tiktin) community. Jewish settlement
in the village of Bialystok was encouraged by the manorial
overlords, the counts of Branicki. In 1745 the Bialystok
community became self-governing, although remaining
within the Tykocin province. The heads of the Jewish community
were permitted to take part in municipal elections in
1749. In 1759 the Jews had to contribute two-thirds of the funds
required to provision the armies in transit through Bialystok.
The character of the craft guilds explicitly admits Jewish membership.
Communal affairs were regulated by the counts in
1749 and 1777. By 1765, there were 765 Jews living in Bialystok.
(See Table: Jewish Population of Bialystok, 1765–1948.)
The Jewish Population of Bialystok, 1765–1948
Absolute Numbers Percentages
1765 765 22.4
1808 4,000 66.6
1856 9,547 69.0
1861 11,873 69.8
1895 47,783 76.0
1910 52,123 68.5
1913 61,500 68.6
1929 43,150 47.8
1932 39,165 60.5
1936 42,880 43.0
1945 1,085 n.a.
1948 660 n.a.
The position of the Jews deteriorated when Bialystok
passed to Prussia (1795), and subsequently to Russia. Its situation
on the western border was favorable for developing trade
with Russian markets, however, and the Jews were able to earn
a livelihood as army purveyors or importers of tea and other
commodities. The economic situation deteriorated when there
was an influx of Jews expelled from the neighboring villages
in 1825–35 and 1845, under the 1804 discriminatory legislation
(see *Russia), who crowded into Bialystok. There was a steep
increase in the Jewish population which in 1856 numbered
9,547 out of a total population of 13,787, many of them homeless
or unemployed. Welfare institutions were established in
an attempt to alleviate matters.
The development of the large textile industry in Bialystok
after the Napoleonic wars owes much to Jewish enterprise. A
number of the soldiers from Saxony were expert weavers and
spinners who settled in Bialystok and established workshops
largely financed by Jews; textile mills were erected by two Jews
bialystok
in 1850. As they acquired spinning, weaving, knitting, and
dyeing skills, Jews replaced the German specialists. In 1860,
19 of the 44 textile mills in Bialystok were Jewish owned, with
an output valued at 3,000,000 rubles; in 1898, of the 372 mills
in Bialystok, 299 (80.38%) were Jewish owned, while 5,592
(59.5%) of the workers were Jewish. Of the total output of the
Bialystok mills for this year, valued at 12,855,000 rubles, the
Jewish share amounted to 47.3%.
The Jewish labor movement found strong support in Bialystok,
and in 1897 many Jewish workers there became members
of the *Bund. The Bialystok Jewish workers issued an
underground newspaper, Der Byalistoker Arbayter, the same
year. The intensive activities of the labor movement in Bialystok
during the Russian revolution of 1905–06 provoked savage
acts of reprisal by the Russian authorities. The *pogroms
in Bialystok that occurred between June 1 and 3, 1906, were
the most violent of the mob outbreaks against Russian Jewry
that year, resulting in 70 Jews being killed and 90 gravely
injured. The commission of inquiry later appointed by the
Duma to investigate the circumstances surrounding the pogrom
held both the local police and the central authorities to
blame for the tragedy. A prolonged crisis in Bialystok’s trade
and industry followed.
The contacts with German Jewry during the period that
Bialystok was governed by Prussia had introduced the spirit
of Enlightenment (*Haskalah) into Jewish circles in Bialystok.
Prominent in the movement were members of the
*Zamenhof family; Abraham Schapiro, author of Toledot
Yisrael ve-Sifruto (1892); Jehiel Michael Zubludowsky, a contributor
to Ha-Karmel and author of Ru’aḥ Ḥayyim (1860);
and the poet Menahem Mendel *Dolitzki. A Ḥovevei Zion
group was formed in Bialystok in 1880. Zionism in its manifold
ideological ramifications subsequently gained numerous
supporters. The Bialystok Zionists were led by Samuel
*Mohilewer, and later by Joseph *Chasanowich. Rabbis living
in Bialystok in the 19th century included Aryeh Leib b.
Baruch Bendit (1815–20), author of Sha’agat Aryeh; Yom
Tov Lipmann Heilpern (1849–79); and Samuel Mohilewer
(1883–98).
Modern Jewish elementary schools, such as the modern
ḥeder (ḥeder metukkan), a girls’ school, and institutes for
commerce and crafts were founded while Bialystok was part
of Russia; the language of instruction was Russian, but Hebrew
was also taught. The first Hebrew kindergarten was founded
in 1910. Hebrew elementary and high schools were established
after World War I.
In 1895 the Jewish population numbered 47,783 (out of
62,993). Of the 3,628 merchants and shopkeepers in the city
in 1897, 3,186 (87.8%) were Jews. In 1913 the Jewish population
numbered 61,500 (out of 89,700). In 1921, 93% of the businessmen
were Jewish, and 89% of the industrial plants were Jewish
owned; later the proportion of Jews in business decreased
(to 78.3% in 1928). In 1932 there were over 39,165 Jews (out of
91,207) in Bialystok.
[Nathan Michael Gelber]
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 567