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(May 5, 1626), he set the following conditions:
"that the Jews . . . the Rabbanites . . . should set
aside on the roof certain prepared positions on
which to place weapons [in orden ] to participate
in defense."
The greatest number of such fortified synagogues
were built in the second half of the 17th
century. Among these was the synagogue in
Lubom1.26
And so the heyday of the Luboml community,
interrupted during the Chmielnicki massacres,
resumed relatively quickly and lasted through the
17th century and most of the 18th.
As has already been pointed out, Luboml was
always a part of the Chelm-Belz district. A series
of documents shows that for about 100 years,
1664-1754, this area was often called the Nine
Towns. Included in the district were Chelm,
Belz, the Zamoiski holdings, and a number of
settlements in the Lublin vicinity. For tax purposes,
the Zamoiski holdings were generally not
included.
The larger communities of the Chelm-Belz
district in 1717 were Luboml, Chelm, Belz,
Oleshitz, Shiniave, Varsh (Sokol), and Tishvitz.
When we add Zamosc, a chapter unto itself, the
total is nine, which is why the area was called the
Nine Towns.
The Jews of Luboml were, for most of their
history, more connected with Jews of the west
than the east, more with Lublin than with Kovel,
Lutsk, or Ludmir. In the ledger of the Lublin
Hevra Kadisha (Burial Society) from 1685, there
is an entry for expenses for "guests from Luboml.""
Also, rabbinical contacts and family relationships
were greater with Lublin than with neighboring
communities east of Luboml.
In 1721, the per capita tax for Luboml was 833
gulden. In 1729 it was reduced to 544 gulden, for
in that year Luboml was struck by a terrible fire
that destroyed a large part of the town. Here we
note the strange fact that among the few remaining
buildings were the Great Synagogue, the Catholic
church, and the Greek Orthodox church.
From the list of the victims of the fire we see
that in addition to shopkeepers, the city's Jews
THE EARLY DAYS 13
included tailors, glaziers, watchmakers, and barbers.
In 1762, a dispute broke out between a Jew
from Luboml and the Chelm-Belz council, revealing
that the city then boasted some quite well-off
householders.
The Jew's name was Reb Dovid son of Efrayim
(Fraimovitch), and he, together with Berk, son of
Isaac from Chelm, and Reb Isaac, son of Yosef
from Belz, were seeking 6,024 gulden from the
council." If Reb Dovid son of Efrayim received
only a third for his portion, that was considered
a fine sum for those times.
By the way, this fellow was a great entrepreneur,
associating with nobles with whom he had
various dealings. As previously mentioned, in
1765 he was the representative from Luboml to
the Chelm-Belz council.
Though the Luboml community quickly recovered
from the massacres of 1648-49 and regained
its economic and Jewish position, the
Chmielnicki massacres certainly had a negative
effect on the growth ofJewish population. In 1765,
almost 120 years after 1648-49, 850 people lived
in the town, somewhat fewer than before. In the
surrounding villages there were 476 Jews."
The Ledger (Pinkas)
At the beginning of the 1720s, an association in
Luboml began to keep a ledger (pinkas) in which
events in the life of the association were recorded.
Understandably, these events were connected with
the general Jewish life and no less with events in
the Christian environment. For this reason, such
ledgers are primary source material for Jewish
history.
This ledger encompassed more than 200 years
ofJewish life in Luboml (1720-1927), with several
interruptions, either because during those years
records were not kept, or because they were lost.
These intervals were 1801-1802 and 1861-1896.
In the inventory of Hebrew documents found
in the National Library of Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, archivist Yisoschor Yoel mentioned
the Luboml Ledger [which had been borrowed
and brought to Israel for study in the 1930s]. He
called it the "Registry of the Tailor's Association,"
but historian Israel Halperin later cor-