History of the Jews in Russia and Poland. Volume 1 of 3. From the Beginning until the Death of Alexander I (1825). Dubnow Simon

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СКАЧАТЬ the Crimean Peninsula, connected with the mainland by the Isthmus of Perekop. In antiquity the name Tauri, or Taurians, was restricted to the inhabitants of the mountainous south coast of the Crimea.]

3

The date is that of the "Bosporan era," and corresponds to the year 80-81 of the common era.

4

In the Greek documents of that period Synagogue signifies, not a house of worship, but a religious community.

5

[It is possible that the identification was suggested by the similarity in sound between Bosporus and bi-Spharad, the Hebrew for "in Sepharad."]

6

[The Arabic and other medieval authors write the name with a kh (= hard German ch), hence the frequent spelling Chazars. In Hebrew sources the word is written with a k (כ), except in a recently discovered document (see Schechter, Jew. Quart. Review, new series, iii. 184), where it is spelled with a k (ק). Besides Khazar and Kazar, the name is also found in the form Kozar, or Kuzar.]

7

According to another version of the same story, quoted by the Arabic geographer al-Bekri (d. 1094), the Bishop who was championing the cause of Christianity said in reply to the King's inquiry: "I believe that Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, is the Word, and that he revealed the mysteries of the great and exalted God." A Jew who lived at the royal court and was present at the disputation interrupted him with the remark: "He [the Bishop] believes in things which are unintelligible to me."

8

[The author, evidently relying on the authority of Harkavy, writes Ibn Sharzi. The writer referred to by Harkavy is Ali Ibn Ja`far ash-Shaizari (wrongly called Ibn Sharzi), who made an extract from Ibn Fakih's "Book of Countries" about 1022. This extract has since been published by de Goeje in his Bibliotheca Geographicorum Arabicorum, vol. v. Our reference is found there on p. 271. I have put Ibn Fakih's name in the text, as there is no reason to doubt that our passage was found in the original work, which was written more than a hundred years earlier.]

9

[See on the name of this city de Goeje's remarks in his edition of Ibn Fakih, p. 271, note a.]

10

A group of Slav nations.

11

A group of Caucasian cities (Semender = Tarku, near Shamir-Khan-Shur; Bab al-Abwab = Derbent).

12

A group of Crimean cities (Kerch, Sudak, Mangup, and others).

13

[I. e. Sea of Constantinople, another name for the Black Sea.]

14

This supposition is confirmed by a recently discovered Genizah fragment containing a portion of another Khazar epistle, which supplements and modifies the epistle of King Joseph. See Schechter, "An Unknown Khazar Document," Jewish Quarterly Review, new series, iii. 181 ff.

15

[During the early centuries of its existence Russia was made up of a number of independent principalities, over which the Principality of Kiev, "the mother of Russian cities," exercised, or rather claimed, the right of overlordship. From 1238 to 1462 the Russian lands were subject to the dominion of the Tatars. During the fourteenth century, while yet under Tatar rule, the Principality of Moscow gained the ascendancy over the other Russian states. The absorption of the latter and the creation of the autocratic Tzardom of Muscovy was the work of Ivan III. (1462-1505), his son Basil (1505-1533), and his grandson Ivan IV. the Terrible (1533-1584).]

16

[Also written Witowt. Another form of the name is Witold.]

17

[Basurman, or Busurman, mutilated from Mussulman, is an archaic and contemptuous designation for Mohammedans and in general for all who do not profess the Greek Orthodox faith.]

18

[The name is derived from their founder, Carp Strigolnik.]

19

[For later "Judaizing" tendencies in Russia, see pp. 251 et seq. and 401 et seq.]

20

It need scarcely be pointed out that, in speaking of the Jewish immigration into Poland, we have in mind the predominating element, which came from the West. It is quite possible that there was an admixture of settlers from the Khazar kingdom, from the Crimea, and from the Orient in general, who were afterwards merged with the western element.

21

The word signifies "the powder merchant" – five hundred years before the invention of powder!

22

[The most important of these were: Great Poland, in the northwest, with the leading cities of Posen and Kalish; Little Poland, in the southwest, with Cracow and Lublin; and Red Russia, in the south, on which see p. 53, n. 2. In 1319 Great Poland and Little Poland were united by Vladislav Lokietek (see p. 50), who assumed the royal title. His son Casimir the Great annexed Red Russia. Thenceforward Great Poland, Little Poland, and Red Russia formed part of the Polish Kingdom, with Cracow as capital, though they were administered as separate Provinces. On the Principality of Mazovia, see p. 85, n. 1.]

23

Some coins bear the inscription משקא קרל פולסקי, "Meshko (= Mechislav) Król Polski," "Meshko, king of Poland," or ברכה משקא, "Benediction [on] Meshko." Other coins give the names of the Jewish minters, such as Abraham, son of Isaac Nagid, Joseph Kalish, etc.

24

[Das Magdeburger Recht, a collection of laws based on the famous Sachsenspiegel, which was composed early in the thirteenth century in Saxony. Owing to the fame of the court of aldermen (Schöppenstuhl) at Magdeburg, the Magdeburg Law was adopted in many parts of Germany, Bohemia, Hungary, and particularly of Poland. One of its main provisions was the administrative and judicial independence of the municipalities.]

25

[They were organized in mercantile guilds and trade-unions and formed the estate of burghers, called in Polish mieszczanie– pronounced myeshchanye– and in Latin oppidani, "town-dwellers," thus standing midway between the nobility, or Shlakhta (see p. 58, n. 1), and the serfs, or khlops.]

26

[The word, spelled in Polish wojewoda, signifies, like the corresponding German Herzog, military commander. The voyevoda was originally the leader of the army in war and the representative of the king in times of peace. After the unification of Poland, in 1319, the voyevodas became the administrators of the various Polish provinces (or voyevodstvos) on behalf of the king. Later on their duties were encroached upon by the starostas (see below, p. 60, n. 1). With the growth of the influence of the nobility, which resented the authority of the royal officials, their functions were limited to the calling of the militia in the case of war and the exercise of jurisdiction over the Jews of their province. They were members of the Royal Council, and as such wielded considerable influence. Their Latin title was palatinus.]

27

[Judex Judaeorum. He was a Christian official, generally of noble rank. See p. 52.]

28

[In Polish, Wladyslaw. The name is also found in the forms Wladislaus and Ladislaus.]

29

[I. e. "Span-long," so called because of his diminutive stature.]

30

A privilege denied to them by the canons of the Church.

31

[Lvov, written in Polish Lwów, is used by the Poles and Russians; Lemberg is used by the Germans.]

32

[Before Casimir the Great Red Russia formed an independent Principality (see p. 42, n. СКАЧАТЬ