Jewry and the Individual Jew
92.
The Cossack Revolt and the Fall of Nemiroy June 10, 1648 BEG[NN[NG with the sixteenth century Poland had sheltered
the largest and most important settlement of Jews in Europe. De­
spite the bitter opposition of the zealous Roman Catholic clergy,
the Jews were prosperous and fairly content.
Unfortunately for them, in 1648 Poland became the scene of a
terrible civil war and peasant uprising led by the Cossacks. The
Greek Orthodox Cossacks, semi-military bands who had been settled
in the country north of the Black Sea, were mistreated by their
Roman Catholic Polish lords. The Ukrainian peasants, also Greek
Orthodox, were particularly bitter against the Jewish stewards of
the larger estates: the peasants resented the heavy taxation which the
Jews demanded to satisfy their spendthrift Polish masters.
The Cossacks, under their leader Chmielnicki, united the Ukrainian
peasants and the wild Tatars against the "heretical" Poles and the
"unbelieving" Jews. The sufferings that the Jews now underwent
are almost too horrible to relate. This was in 1648-1649.
In 16 54 neighboring Russia turned against Poland, a year later the
Swedes poured in from the north, and all these groups, including
the native Poles, ravaged and massacred defenseless Jewish victims
throughout the land.
The following account, which deals with the destruction of the
Jewish community of Nemirov in Podolia, is taken from the Hebrew
chronicle, Yewen MezuJab ("The Miry Depth"). It was published
in 16 53 by Nathan Hannover, a Polish rabbI who wrote in detail of
the tragedy which he knew at first hand. His father was martyred
'in 1648, and he himself was murdered in 1683 by Hungarian-Turkish
troops in the synagogue at Ungarisch-Brod in Moravia.
THE PERSECUTION OF THE HOLY CONGREGATION OF NEMIROV
«The oppressor Chmielnicki-may his name be blotted out-heard
that many Jews had assembled in the holy community of Nemirov~
and that they had a greal deal of silver and gold with them. [Because
of the Cossacks, many Jews came from the countryside to the
fortress of Nemirov.] He knew also that the congregation of
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45 1
Nemirov itself was distinguished for its riches. [t was once a great
and very important community, full of justice and the abode of
righteousness, a community of scholars and writers, but now they
have been murdered!
Accordingly Chmielnicki-may his name be blotted out-sent a
certain leader, an enemy of the Jews, and about 600 swordsmen with
him against this honored congregation. [n addition he wrote to the
magistrates of the city that they should help this band; to this the
citizens readily responded that they would help them with all their
might and main, not so much because of their love of the Cossacks,
but because of their hatred of the Jews. [The Greek Catholic towns­
people hated the Jewish merchants, their competitors.]
It came to pass on a Wednesday, the 20th of Siwan, that the
Cossacks drew near to the city of Nemirov. [On the anniversary of
this day, June loth, elegies are still recited in Poland.) When the
Jews saw the tro.ops from afar they were frightened, though as yet
they did not know whether they were Polish or Cossack. Neverthe­
less all the Jews went with their wives and infants, with their silver
and gold, into the fortress and locked and barred its doors, ready to
fight them. What did those scoundrels, those Cossacks, do? They
made flags like the Poles, for there is no other way to distinguish
between the Polish and the Cossack forces except through their
banners. Now the people of the town although they knew of this
trick, nevertheless called to the Jews in the f6rtress: "Open the
gates. This is a Polish army which has come to save you from your
enemies, should they appear."
The Jews who were standing on the walls, seeing that the banners
were like the flags of the Polish forccys and believing that the towns­
people were telling them the truth, immediately opened the gates
to them. No sooner had the gates been opened than the Cossacks
entered with drawn swords, and the townsmen too, with swords,
lances, and scythes, and some only with clubs~ and they killed the
Jews in huge numbers. They raped women and young girls; but
some of the women and maidens jumped into the moat near the
fortress in order that the Gentiles should not defile them and were
drowned in the water. Many of the men who were able to swim
also jumped into the water and swam, thinking they could save
themselves from slaughter. The Russians swam after them with
their swords and their scythes and killed them in the water. Some
of the enemy, too, kept on shooting with their guns into the moat,
killing them till finaHy the water was red with the blood of the
slain.
The Jew in the MedievalWorld
Jewry and the Individual Jew
The president of the rabbinical college of Nemirov was also there.
The name of this scholar was his excellency, our master and teacher,
the rabbi, Rabbi Jehiel Michael, the son of his excellency, our
teacher, Rabbi Eliezer, of blessed memory. Jehiel knew the whole
rabbinical literature by heart and was proficient in all the known
sciences. [Jehiel Michael was also a cabalist.J He had preached to
the people on the Sabbath before the calamity and had warned them
that if the enemy should come-God forbid-they should not
change their religion, but rather die as martyrs. And this is just
what the holy people did. [But other histories point out that some
Jews did become converted to save themselves and then later came
back to Judaism.J
Jehiel also jumped into the water to save himself by swimming
when a Russian seized him and wanted to murder him; but the
scholar besought him not to kill him, for which he would give him
a great deal of silver and gold. The Russian agreed and took him to
his house, to the place where his silver and gold were hidden, and
the Cossack then let him go alive. The scholar then left that place
with his mother, and they hid themselves in a certain house there,
all that night until the morning dawn.
On the morrow Oehiel evidently lay hidden all during the Z Ist.J,
the twenty-second of Siwan, the Russians also searched the houses,
thinking perh'aps some Jew might be hidden there. The scholar then
fled with his mother to the cemetery so that if they should kill
them they would be in the cemetery and would thus receive burial.
But it happened as he approached the place that one of the men of
that city, a Russian, a shoemaker, ran after the scholar with a club
in his hand and wounded him with it. The mother of the rabbi
begged the Russian to kill her instead of her son, but he paid no
attention to her and killed first the sage and then his mother. May
God avenge their blood.
Three days after the massacre the wife of the scholar buried them;
for in all the towns where the persecutions took place they allowed
most of the women to live, except the old and sickly, whom they
killed.
It happened there that a beautiful girl of a fine 'and rich family
was taken captive by a certain Cossack who married her. But before
they lived together she told him in guile that through a magic pow.er
that she possessed, no weapon could harm her. "If you don't believe
me," she said to him, "just test me in this matter. Shoot at me with
a gun and it won't hurt me at all." The Cossack, her husband, thought
she was telling the truth, and in his simplicity, shot her with his
gun and she fell, dying for the glorification of the Name to avoid
being defiled by a Gentile. May God avenge her blood!
It also happened that there was a certain beautiful girl who was
to be wedded to a Cossack. [According to another version, this
very man was one of the group who had killed her parents and
captured her.J She asked him to marry her in one of the Christian
churches which stood on the other side of the bridge. He fulfilled
her request and with timbrels and flutes led her to the marriage in
regal dress. As soon as she came to the bridge she jumped into the
water and was drowned as a martyr. May God avenge her blood.
There were many such cases, too numerous to record.
The number of all those murdered and drowned in the holy
community of Nemirov was about 6000; these met all sorts of ter­
rible deaths, as has already been described. May God avenge their
blood! Those of the holy congregation of Nemirov who escaped
the sword fled to the honored community of Tulchin, for there,
outside the city, was a very strong fortress. [But in Tulchin the
Jews were betrayed into the hands of the Cossacks by the Polish
nobles. The Cossacks then turned and killed the Poles.J
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453
BffiLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCES TO TEXTBOOKS
Elbogen. pp. 136-139; Roth, pp. 305-30n Sachar, 24<r-24I.
READINGS FOR ADVANC£D STUDENTS
Graetz, V. pp. 1-17; Graetz-Rhine, V, pp. 82-¢j Margolis and Marx, pp.
55 1 -557.
Dubnow, S. M., History of the lews in Russia and Poland, I, Chap. v, "The
Autonomous Center in Poland during Its Decline (1648-1772)."
IE, "Chmielnicki, Bogdan Zinovi"; "Cossacks' uprising"; "Hannover, Nathan
(Nata) b. Moses"; "Nemirov"; "Russia (Poland),"