History of the Jews in Brody
Encyclopedia
The Jewish community of Brody
(district city in Lviv region of western Ukraine
) was one of the oldest and most well-known Jewish communities in the western part of Ukraine
(and formerly in Austrian Empire
/ Poland
up to 1939). Jewish community of Brody perished in the Holocaust in 1942–1943 and is no more today. During the 19-th century, Brody was the second largest city in East Galicia (after Lviv
(Lemberg)), with the highest proportion of the Jewish population (88 %) among Eastern European cities.
movement in this area, such activities are bound to three exclusive centers of the Galician Enlightenment, namely: Lviv, Ternopil
and Brody. Today the latter is a non-significant West Ukrainian town, administrative center of Brodivsky rayon in the north eastern fringe of Lvivska oblast’. There are few towns in Western Ukraine with so dramatic and challenging Jewish history as it is in case of Brody. For a long time Brody had been one of the greatest centers of commerce in the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was rightly referred to as Triest on the continent. The town has been known yet since the 12th century and soon after was almost entirely inhabited by the Jews. Because of the last fact it came known to be as Galician Jerusalem. During the Austrian rule in Galicia, the North Eastern fringe of the empire passed just a few kilometres from Brody. It was the border of two greatest East European empires at that time Austrian and Russian and Brody by the luck or misfortune of history happened to be squeezed between the two borders. By misfortune, because of its border location it was twice utterly destroyed first during the First World War and again in 1944. By luck, because the city took a great commercial benefit and privileges being a border city. Because of its location, in 1779, Brody received the status of a "free city" and could trade with all the European countries. Worthwhile to note that in the 18th century the commercial turnover of Brody city exceeded the turnover of whole province of Galicia taken together. In the 19th century it was the second largest city on the territory of Galicia after Lemberg. Its "sister city" over the Russian side of the border was Radyvyliv
just 9 km east of Brody. Radyvyliv played a similar function as Brody on the Russian side of the border.
Unlike in other parts of Eastern Galicia, not only the town of Brody but also the villages around it had a significant proportion of the Jews. Even a remote tiny forest village of Stanislavchyk, 15 km north east of the city, surrounded by hip plantations, boasts a Jewish heritage and had many Jews living there, most likely moving there from Brody. An old desolate Jewish graveyard in Stanislavchyk
bears witness to its vivid Jewish past.
Austrian authorities associated enlightened Jews as such with the free city of Brody. The governor of Galicia aptly noted that in Galicia there are Orthodox, Hasidim
and Karaites, enlightened Jews one finds only in Brody. Brody was the second largest city (after Lemberg) in East Galicia with the largest proportion of the Jewish population among perhaps of all the district cities in Europe ever (88 %). Brody stands out as Jewish cultural and economic center in the area, a "symbol". Brody was tax free city during early Austrian rule, that fact which promoted its commercial status to the central commercial hub of Eastern Galicia (linking it with the major European trade centers such as Leipzig
). Its international commercial links promoted bringing of new ideas, foreign culture, enlightenment
making Brody an intellectual center. There were not many cities Europe with nearly exclusively Jewish population, except Brody, and to a certain degree Berdychiv in Russian Ukraine and Thessaloniki
in Greece. In 1827, out of total number 11,718 Jewish merchants and shopkeepers in the whole of Galicia, 1,134 (about 10 %) were om Brody. The same year, Brody was home to 36 Jewish broker
s and 9 Jewish bankers. Jews owned 163 (93 %) large commercial and industrial enterprises in Brody (175 in total).
and trade. Kratter, the contemporary of Joseph II
, notes in his Briefe über den jetztigen Zustand Galiziens that Brody is the first and almost the only commercial city, where big enterprises are concentraned in the Jewish hands, except a few German trade and banking houses.
Brody's Jerusalemic association is not a sheer modern invention. The tradition ascribes this analogy to the emperor Joseph II, who visited Brody in 1774 and presumably said that Now, it is clear why I am designated to be Jerusalem king (one of the titles of Austrian emperors). Joseph's stay in Brody resulted in significant consequences. In 1778 he issues the decree that makes Brody a free town. This event quickly reflected on city development and life, marking a new era that lasted for 100 favourable years in all the respects. Yet in 1774 Joseph II
freed Brody citizens from all the taxes under the condition of reconstruction of old houses and erecting of new ones. The market square got surrounded by new stone houses with undergrounds for storage purposes.
: "Brody between the Lines", by Ruhama Elbag. Quite recently, a work on Brody by Ukrainian Jewish author Yakov Honigsman was published in Russian under the title Евреи города Броды (Jews of the city of Brody 1584–1944), using a broad literature and archival material. Furthermore, there are several "pre-war papers" dealing with Brody history, namely by D. Wurm Z dziejów żydowstwa Brodckiego za czasów dawnej Rzeczypospolitej do 1772 (From the history of Brody Jewry in times of the old Polish state until 1772) published in Polish in Brody in 1935.
Many Jewish historians as Simon Dubnow
(in The History of Hasidism), Raphael Mahler (in Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment) all frequently direct themselves and touch upon Brody, willingly or unwillingly, as Brody was in a fact a Jewish hub, one of the most important "bricks" in the Galician and Austrian Jewish history. And any historian undertaking a serious study of Jewish past in Galicia, should draw his attention to one of the primary Jewish historical clusters in the area, namely Brody.
The role of Brody in scholarly studies was underestimated and often neglected. This is due to the consequent decline of the importance of the city after the collapse of Austrian monarchy and consequent border changes. After the First World War, Brody was not anymore a border city hub. It lost its geo-commercial and geo-cultural value. The borders of new Poland moved further eastwards and with the Holocaust there was no more Jewish Brody, and Brody as "city" itself, because Brody was 88 % Jewish city. The following incorporation of Brody into the Soviet Ukraine and Ukrainiazation of the city, due to the influx of local Ukrainian peasantry from the rural areas basically into emptied (of urban Poles and Jews) Galician cities after 1944 turned Brody into a provincial town. The changes that occurred within basically 50 years are dramatic. The deeply changing character of Brody reflects and exemplifies at its best the cross-cultural historic experience of East Galician past. History of the Jews in Brody is provides a demonstration of Jewish commercial and intellectual rise and decline in Eastern Galicia.
Western Ukrainian lands were incorporated into Poland. According to the new administrative division, Brody district became part of newly created Tarnopol Voivodeship
(Ternopil province) being administered from Ternopil
, which by that time exceeded Brody in terms of attracting Jewish population becoming a home to 13.999 Jews (1931). While the number of Jews in Brody declined to 8.288.
Like the surrounding Lviv and Ternopil areas, Brody district had one of the highest concentration of Jews in the countryside. As for December 1931 in Ternopil Voivodeship
, we find 39.862 Jews living in the villages (94.255 in the towns) and in Lviv Voivodeship
the number is even more striking reaching 84.590 Jewish villagers (correlating to 158.220 Jewish townsmen). The primary data is not about the shtetles but about real tiny villages and hamlets (generally defined as wieś
in Polish or selo in Ukrainian). In the areas north of Brody, in Volhynian Voivodeship, the number of Jewish village residents is of the same high rate 83.762 souls (out of 207.792 in the whole voivodeship). To compare, at the same time, such large Polish voivodeships as Silesian Voivodeship
numbered only 2.611, Pomeranian Voivodeship 469 and Poznań Voivodeship barely 461 Jewish souls residing in the villages correspondingly. The difference with Eastern Galicia is staggering. An excellent statistics study Ludność Żydowska w Polsce w okresie międzywojennym (Jewish population in Poland in the inter-war period) done by Szyja Bronsztejn vividly demonstrates these differences. Bronsztejn compares also the number of the Jews in the proper shtetles (localities with less than 20.000 inhabitants). Here again larger Brody district area and the surrounding Lviv and Ternopil provinces accounted for 92.193 in Lviv voivodeship
and 80.256 Jewish shtetl residents in Ternopil Voivodeship
. Correspondingly, in a vast Poznań voivodeship there were 2.779 and in the sea bordering Pomeranian Voivodeship hardly 1.621 Jewish shtetl
dwellers. Due to the micro form or in other words heavily rural and shtetl shaped Jewish past of Western Ukraine (Galicia, Volhynia
, Transcarpthia
, Bukovina
and Podolia
), the importance of study of Jewish micro history in such known West Ukrainian Jewish minor localities as Brody, Medzhybizh
, Sadhora
or unknown as Pidhaytsi, Kremenets
, Rohatyn
or Chortkiv
is indispensable for the right understanding of it as a whole.
fought and coexisted. The famous sages of Brody Kloiz were "the lions and tigers in the Torah
and in piety". For a while, it was a home to the founder of Hasidism Baal Shem Tov. Brody was one of the first three Hasidic circles yet before the public appearance of the Besht. The two other ones were in Medzhybizh
in central Podolia
and in Kuty
in south east Galician corner. Shevhei ha-Besht explicitly mentions the existence of pre-Besht era Hasidic circle in Brody. The source mentions Brody as the place where Besht was first made a Rabbi of local Hasidim: "...the conventicle of great pietists Hasidim in that city Brody...who made him their rabbi." Though first Besht was rejected by Brody 'skabbalistic brotherhood as he did not match the traditional qualifications to be admitted. But eventually, thanks to his charisma he gained respect of the fellows. It should be noted that Besht had high regard for those "great Hasidim" of the Brody circle and it seems quite plausible that the Baalshem intended to organise a similar fellowship of his own or wanted to unite with a brotherhood of Brody kind. However the kabbalistic fellowship of Brody did not act on social scale. It was a closed circle of pietists who used to gather at Brody Study Hall, founded around 1736, not spreading their activities beyond that.
with the strange exception of allowing the prayer in Lurianic rite. Gershon Kutover (Brody native, secretary to Baal Shem Tov and his brother-in-law, who settled in Palestine
later) was here to defend his employer when Brody sages were preparing to anathematise him, and so they did. Brody ban
of 1772 encompassed a great number of Hasidic practices, including Hasidic shehitah (slaughter by Talmud
forbidden honed shehitah knives / geschleefeene) that irritated the Misnagdim
. Brody ban justly predicted the impact the movement might have in Galicia. The proclamation is included in the pamphlet Zamir arisim ve-harevot surim. Brodyites expressed their concern that the new heresy
can bring a catastrophe on whole Polish Jewry discrediting God's name in the same way as Frankists and Sabbateans did. Brody sages feared that the sect
was particularly dangerous as there was no high authority to interfere after dissolution of the Great Council of Fours Lands
. Brody declaration caused great furore on the tsaddiks when learning of it, who in their turn became even more active in a fight for a believer, as a cause of it.
to establish a center following Magdeburg city laws in Brody. Brody as a settlement was first mentioned in the medieval "Teaching of Volodymyr Monomakh to the children", grand duke of Chernihiv
and Kiev
. The source notes that Brody served twice as a meeting place of Chernihiv duke Volodymyr Monomakh
and Volhynian duke St. Yaropolk Izyaslavich
. These events took place in 1084 and 1086 and the prior date formally figures as a beginning of Brody history in local historiography. Nathan Gelber writes also that Brody was originally a city called "Lubeszów." The last statement needs to be corrected as well. Naming Brody as Lubicz was an unlucky attempt undertaken by the same Stanisław Żółkiewski who used the "Lubicz" from his family's coat of arms. The new name never got a real application and already in the documents of the 1590s the city figures as Brody. In the year 1648, 400 Jewish families lived in Brody, what was quite a significant number of Jews for a town in that period. Until 1664, Brody was a "sub-kahal
" of Lviv, i.e. under the administration of Lviv Jewish Community. From the 17th century, Brody became an important center of Jewish trade (esp. horse fairs) and artisans. In 1756 Brody was home to 7191 Jews, reaching 14.718 in 1880 (out of 19.977 of total town inhabitants). Among the six largest Jewish commercial firms in Brody in 1849 were M. Nathanson - with 40.000 florins in the capital, Yidl Nathanson and Nirenstein with 30.000 florins each.
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The Galician Jewish cultural development was directly linked with the international trade, as most of Eastern Galicia was economically impoverished peasant countryside. Notorious Russian Jewish journalist and writer Solomon Ansky
who after great efforts visited Eastern Galicia, to inquire of the local Jewish state of affairs at the time of the outbreak of the First World War, gives subtly conclusive and very apt description of the land, which I find worthy to cite:
The decline of Brody started in 1879, when the city lost its rights as a free commercial city. In 1880 there were 15,316 Jews in town, who formed 76,3 % of the total population. Only in 11 years, the Jewish population dropped to 12,751 in 1890.
Mentioning the Galician Jewish immigration to America, interesting to note that most of these immigrants (along with their Ukrainian and Polish immigrant fellows) were impoverished economic refugees who were not in possession even of 50 dollars. The statistical study done by Szyja Bornsztejn witnesses that for the year of 1914, 53,1 % of Galician and Polish Jews immigrating to the United States did not possess any money at all when arriving on the American soil. 39,2 % of possessed less than 50 dollars and only 7,7 % possessed a sum over USD 50. If divided, the average sum at the hands of each Galician Jewish newcomer comprised only 22 dollars. Besides that Jewish immigration from Brody and surrounding Lviv, Ternopil
and Volhyn voivodships was among the highest in the years 1926–1929. From Ternopil province (including Brody district) it was 4,1 %, from Volhyn province 7,5%, from Lviv province 9,1 %, all of total Jewish population in the provinces.
account of the Fall of Jerusalem
, burning of the Last Temple
and its siege by Titus legions. The havoc that dominated the city at that time was terrific. Modern Josephus in case of Brody was Russian Jewish journalist Solomon Ansky
(born Shloyme-Zanvl ben Aaron Hacohen Rappoport) who witnessed the Russian invasion of Brody and described it in a great detail. Just like Josephus
was on the Roman side of the conqueror, so was S. Ansky on the Russian one in case of Brody. Ansky's account of burning of Brody reflects the depth of the tragedy that befell Brody Jews with the outbreak of the war:
Strange enough, but even greater destruction wave (if we consider Holocaust in Brody) befell upon Brody also during the Second World War. Brody went in flames for the second time. Isaac Babel
in his "The Death of Dolgushov" describes second burning of Brody:
The first known rabbis of Brody were:
Among the later line of Brody rabbis we find:
Brody fostered a number of Maggid
s and Kabblists including Mose Ostrer, Arje Löb Podhaicer, Salomo or Shlomo Kluger
.
Brody Synagogue housed the leaders of Jewish intelligentsia such as Yechezkel Landau
and Meyer Margolis. Already mentioned city rabbi Eleazar Rokach was the head rabbi of Brody for 20 years. According to tradition, he was a descendent from the house of King David. He was named after his great grandfather, rabbi Elazar of Germiza
(Mainz
), a famous 12th century Kabbalist. He moved from Brody to Amsterdam
, Holland. The people of Brody tried unsuccessfully to stop Rabbi Elazar from moving on to Amsterdam
, where he and was received with great honor both by Jewish leaders and by representatives of the Dutch government. An interesting legendary story had been told about rabbi Elazar of Brody by his descendent Rabbi Sholom Rokeach the Admor of Belz
, that when Rabbi Elazar arrived in Holland, the country was suffering from a plague of worms. The entire country was facing a ruin in the threat of being devoured by the huge numbers of worms. The Dutch king heard about the newly arriving tzaddik of Brody, and asked him for prayer in order to remove this danger. Rabbi Elazar went to the fields to pray. After finishing his prayer, the entire Netherlands
witnessed a wonder: the worms came out of the ground and fell fatally into the sea. As a "reward" for Rabbi Elazar's help, a special coin was issued. The commemorative coin was minted by the Dutch government for the occasion, bearing the Rabbi's face and two verses from Psalms
. How much truth is in this story, we do not know, however the authority and influence of Brody Rabbi Elazar were undisputed. After leaving Brody he served for 5 years as head rabbi of Amsterdam
. Later he immigrated to the Holy Land
settling in Tsfat, where he died and was buried.
(the preacher) Shlomo Kluger
. Rabbi Kluger
(1789–1869) was known as the Preacher or Maggid of Brody, and by his acronym Maharshak. He served for fifty years in the Rabbinate of Brody, and was the author of some 174 known books. He was a fierce defender of Judaic traditionalism against the onslaught of the modernistic "Enlightenment" ideology. His Hokhmat Shlomo (wisdom of Solomon if translated from Hebrew, compare 1 Kings 5:10, 14) vividly presents his great erudition in Torah
and spiritual subjects, as he compares the views of different authorities and seeks to resolve apparent contradictions between them.
Nahum Gelber reports a story how Maggid Kluger attempted to leave Brody having accepted the invitation of Berezhany
community and by a unlucky providence was forced to return to Brody. In 1843, Rabbi Kluger left his community in Brody and accepted the invitation of the community Berezhany community who, in 1845, elected him the supreme judicial authority. Despite the pleas of the Brody community leaders, the Magid left Brody and moved to Berezhany. In the winter of 1845, a delegation from Brody arrived in Berezhany and took him back to their town. In Berezhany he was received with great honor, especially by Rabbi Arie Leibush Natanson, father of the Lvov Rabbi, Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathanson
, who had served as a Rain Berezhany prior to his appointment as a Rabbi in Lvov. A few days after his first sermon in Berezhany, the Magid caught typhus. He was sick for many years, and through this understood that he should not had left Brody. He vowed to leave Berezhany and return to Brody as soon as he got better, and no pleading on behalf of Berezhany messengers changed his mind. He resided in Brody as a private person, refraining from intruding into the activities of Brody's new Teacher of Justice. His admirers, and especially Rabbi Joseph Natanson, supported him for the rest of his life.
gives a vivid account of the Brody phase in Besht biographical history. Baal Shem Tov arrived in Brody at the age of 20 when his religious outlook was taking shape, yet before making himself public and notorious all over western Ukrainian lands. Dubnow states that Besht settled in some village by Brody. He engaged in the profession of melamed, teacher of the youngsters. As he was not well trained in the Talmud, Simon Dubnow
presumes he was one of petty teachers teaching children praying, reading and translating Torah
. Despite his insignificant position, soon after he earned a respect and fame in Brody. His honesty, non-passionate meek character, humbleness and life gained wisdom attracted attention of the surrounding common people, heading to him for consultations and court advices. So happened that among the suppliants was Abraham Kutover, the father to the notorious Brody rabbi Gershon Kutover. The seeker was so pleased with Besht's decision in his matter, that after getting knowing him closer and that he is a widower he offered him to marry his divorced daughter. However the married couple was later expelled out of Brody settling in Kuty
, some 100 km to the south at the foothills of the Carpathians.
, Lviv region) choose Brody to be his final seat, where he died in April 1772. Israel Lefin spent part of his life in Berlin where he was teaching Mendelssohn, instructing him in mathematics
and to whom he imparted his love for philosophy
. Israel's sojourn in Berlin, however, was not a long one. Persecutions by the Orthodox rabbis forced him to seek another home, and he returned to Galician lands, settling in Brody, where he lived in great poverty. Israel Lefin was an outstanding Jewish astronomer, author of the Nezah Yisrael, dedicated to the astronomical
and geometrical
passages in both Talmud
s (published in Frankfurt-on-Oder in 1741) and of Arubbot ha-Shamayim, treateas on ancient and modern astronomy
. In his memoirs, Avrom Ber Gotlober
gives a vivid account of the importance Brody had on the spreading of the Enlightenment ideas in Russia and Ukraine proper:
Among the maskilim living in Brody in the 19th century, we find Dov Ber Blumenfeld, Isaac Erter
and Joshua Heschel Schorr. The latter published periodical He-Halutz (the Pioneer) in Brody during 1852–1889. Adolf Stand
, the president of Galician Zionists was elected to the Austrian parliament from Brody district in 1907. However, in 1911 he was forced to quit his deputy mandate due to the political intrigues initiated by the assimilationist Heinrich Kolischer.
Because of the highly commercial and internationalised nature of Brody Jewish community it was one of the most Germanised Galician cities. In May 1784 the first Josephinian style German Jewish Normalschule was opened in Brody. In 1815 the first Jewish Real Schule was established with German to be the main language of instruction.
Brody was home to the acclaimed Royal Gymnasium of archprince Rudolf (today it is Brody Gymnasium), which was once attended by the known Jewish writer Joseph Roth
. Max Landau taught there as well and Roth was his student. The modern monument next to the school commemorates several outstanding figures that studied here. It is shaped in a rainbow of head figures associated with the establishment. Along with Roth's, it includes the sculptures of three Ukrainian cultural notabilities: painter Trush, folklorist Rozdolsky, scientist Shchurat and writer Tudor.
, after unsuccessful attempts to defend their claim at the Galician Landeschulrat and the Ministry of Religion and Science. In the State Tribunal Brody commune was represented by Dr Heinrich Jaques (1831–1894), who published the memorial on the situation of Jews in Austria in 1859. The tribunal referee in Brody case was Hye von Glunek (1807–1894) who concluded that the rights of Brody town commune guaranteed by the 19th paragraph of the constitution were violated what all other board members agreed to as well. The Ministry of Education viewed Brody Israelites as not belonging to German nationality (against the views of Brody commune itself) while Brody and Galician Israelites did not want to acknowledge themselves neither to Polish nor to Ukrainian nationalities. According to Hye, Brody Jews could not use "the guaranteed constitutional rights as for nationality and language" and either to present themselves as a separate Hebrew ethnic group different from all other Austrian minorities what Hye declined pointing at several previous bans of usage of Hebrew language in the administrative life and non-recognition of "Hebrew tribe" by Austrian legislature. Pergin von Purschka, court councillor and member of the Highest Tribunal (Oberster Gerichtshof) considered that "the Jews joined only the language tribe (Sprachenstamm)." Though the last term was not verbum legale of Austrian legislature in difference to the term defining an ething group – Volkstamm. Two other board members (Dr Anton Rintelen
and count Edmund Hartig) suggested to limit the discussion to the fact that "Brody Jews speak German and all other issues should be set aside". So it was decided in the strident tribunal case won by the Brodyites.
Dec. 28, 1868. Goldenthal got his education at the University of Leipzig
. He was one of a few modern Jewish specialists on Sufism
and Al-Ghazali
. He issued Das Neue Zion, a monthly periodical in Leipzig (Nisan, 1845) of which only one number appeared. Another periodical which he edited, "Das Morgenland" was also short-lived.
It is no doubt that the greatest among the literary figures Brody ever produced to the world was Joseph Roth
, famous Austrian Jewish writer, was born on 2 September 1894 in a southern part of Brody called Shvaby (after German "Schwaben"). His parents were Nahum Roth and Mariam (Grubel) Roth. His father passed away when Joseph was quite young. Grubel's family was bring little Joseph up. From 1901 to 1913 had been studying in the local public school. In that school teaching was in German. He continued his studies in the above noted Brody gymnasium. The nostalgia for old days Austrian Brody was very strong in Roth's novels. He was missing his childhood and old Austrian lifestyle. His "March of Radetzky" showed author's moods and feelings. Roth masterly describes the Austrian epoch of his and local society's life. He showed different processes that were slowly destroying the great multicultural Habsburg state. Roth expresses his irony towards Franz Joseph. But at the same time through the lines the readers could feel nostalgia for stability in the society, old Galician folkways, even nostalgia after the Kaiser
. The Austrian Geselschaft für Literatur donated and fixed the memorial plate in honour of J. Roth in modern Brody with the words in Ukrainian and German: Der Dichter Joseph Roth hat im Mai 1913 an diesem Gymnasium die Matura sub Auspichs Imperatoris abgelegt.
From 1918 Brodyite J. Roth was working in Vienna
's newspaper as a journalist. In 1920 he moved to Berlin where he became a journalist of Frankfurter Zeitung
. From 1922 he was working in social democratic newspaper Vorvarts (Forward). This newspaper did match his personal beliefs. At the same year he got married to Frederica Raiher. When Nazis came to power Joseph left Berlin. He was moving from one European city to another. Last years of his life Roth spent in Paris where he died on May 27, 1939.
Brody produced also one of the most noted Israeli literary scholars, Hebrew and Yiddish writer, Knesset
member, professor of Hebrew University Dov Sadan
(born Stock, 1909–1989) who was born in Brody, Galicia and immigrated to Palestine
in 1925. He was a member of the staff of the Davar daily newspaper and the Am Oved publishing house. In 1932, he served for four months as secretary to Shmuel Agnon, being his life-long friend.
Brody played a significant role in the history of Russian Jewry as well. Galician Jewish immigrants and merchants directed themselves westwards but also eastwards. Brody was a kind of Galician "Odessa". Zipperstein, in his study on Odessa describes the immigration of Brodyites to Odessa and the role of Brody in this Galician commercial wave to the Black Sea
"pearl": Brody, "the rising star east of Lemberg", was seen by Russian maskilim as Galicia's cultural center .
In Odessa
we find Brody synagogue established by Brody merchants in the 1840s. In Leipzig
, at Keilstrasse 4 is another footprint of Brody commercial tycoons, Brody Synagogue., the only synagogue in Leipzig to survive Kristallnacht
, because there had been "Aryan" tenants in the building's upper stories – was restored and re-consecrated. A. Yehuda (Osterzetzer) devoted a few pages on Brodyites in Leipzig in the Brody Yizkor Book. There is also Broder Synagogue in Jerusalem, managed by Jewish Orthodox community.
Hundreds of Jews all over the world trace their roots to Brody and as a result of it, many adopted the last name Brodsky, Brodski, Brodskiy, Brodowski, Brodovsky, Brodisch (meaning "from Brody") or simply Brody. Among them Russian violinist Adolph Brodsky
(b. 1851), modern American singer Chuck Brodsky
, Russian American poet Joseph Brodsky
(1940–1996) - the winner of Nobel prize in Literature
of 1987, Russian painter Isaac Brodsky (1883–1939). In the imperial history of Russian Jewry the most famous is the family of Meir Schorr who adopted the last name Brodsky (after he moved from Brody settling in Kiev
). He had five sons: Israel Brodsky (1823–1889) who surpassed his brothers in wealth and philanthropy, Lazar Brodsky and Leon Brodsky who were practically at the head of sugar industry in Russia (owned 22 sugar factories and 3 refineries), Abraham Brodsky (1816–1858) settled in Odessa
, where he became the most prominent member of the city council of Odessa
being involved in sugar industry as well. Abraham's son Samuel (1846–1896) was also a member of the Odessa city council.
(in Italy he changed his last name for Eugenio Zolli) was born in 1881 in Brody. After finishing his studies he left Brody and settled in Trieste
(Italian Triest and Galician Brody were within one state at that time – Austria-Hungary
). Zoller bercame the chief rabbi of Trieste after World War I, professor of Hebrew at the University of Padua
from 1927 to 1938, and, from 1939 he takes the post of the chief rabbi of Rome. His biography during the last two decades of his life is quite controversial and had a lot of resonance world wide. In early September 1943, when the Nazis entered Rome, Zoller took refuge in the Vatican
. At the end of the hostilities he reappeared to assume his position as rabbi, but was rejected by the community. In February 1945, Zoller converted to Catholicism, taking the name of Eugenio Maria (in homage to Pope Pius XII) returning to the Vatican. After the world war, he was professor of Semitic epigraphy and Hebrew at the University of Rome. Zoller is the author of a great number of works, especially on the biblical interpretation, Jewish history, liturgy, and talmudic literature. Most were published in Italian and include Israele ("Israel", 1935), L’ebraismo ("Judaism", 1953), autobiographical reflections Before the Dawn (1954). His translation of the tractate Berakhot was published by a Catholic publishing house in 1968. Zoller died in Italy in 1956.
, where the local Jewish community was headed by Brody native Iuliu (Julius) Barasch (Yehuda)
. He was born in Brody in 1815, settling in Romania
where he was named the Mendelssohn
of Romania, leader of the Bucharest
community, author of the brochure L'emancipation des Israélites en Roumanie (1861). Barasch was among the organisers of the Romanian education system. He founded the first secular modern Israeli school (1852) in Bucharest, with Romanian-language classes. He was the director of the magazine Isis sau Natura (Isis or Nature, 18561859). He had an important activity in historiography, in 1862, he founded Societatea de Cultura Israelita (The society of Israelite culture).
Many other outstanding personalities are associated with Brody, namely Napoleonic leader and commander Baron, General Johann Hiller
who was born in Brody in 1754, was commissioned into the Artillery in 1770, became known in the Napoleonic fights with the Turks in 1788-1791. Chajes Oscar, famous Jewish chess
player (from 19th cen.) was born in Brody. The same roots had Daniel Daniel Abraham (Abe) Yanofsky, born in Brody in 1925 and settled in Canada with his family when he was just eight months old. He learned chess at the age of eight, after he and his father saw a chess board and pieces on sale for $1 in the People's Book Store window on Main Street in Winnipeg
.
Israeli Rabbi Kalman Kahana
(Kahane) was born and grew up in Brody. Kahane family was notorious in Brody and included the 18th cen. rabbi of Brody Abraham Kahane. In 1938 Kalman Kahana
immigrated to Palestine, becoming the leader of Agudat Israel Workers
and member of Provisional Council of State, as well as of the Knesset
1949-81, reaching the post of Deputy Minister of Education and Culture in 1961-66.
s in 1881, crowds of Russian Jews flooded into Brody, from where they headed for America or back to Russia. By summer of 1882 the number of Russian refugees in Brody reached 20.000, most of them stayed in Brody temporarily until the possibility of further immigration westwards. A local refugee relief committee was organised in Brody and a number of foreign representatives from Paris and Vienna Alliances, other major Jewish organisations were active at this time in the city, including such figures as Friedlander
, Netter
and Schafir. In the course of four months 1800 immigrants were transported on their way to America. After arrival of British deputies, the committee was reorganised and managed to send 11 trains with immigrants westwards (in one case 533 people in a go). Meanwhile, the number of refugees continued to grow. On 2 June 1882 it reached 12.476 individuals in 10 days the number increased to 12.668, despite the fact that 1.405 had been sent already within that week. The social situation deteriorated reaching a critical limit. Baron Hirsch entrusted his secretary Veneziani to buy spacious premises of an old clothing factory, where the refugees were consequently accommodated.
, Lopatyn and Busk
were subsequently added to Brody's ghetto
. Horrible work conditions made some young people to run away joining the Soviet army
. Ghetto's poor hygiene and hunger were non-tolerable. The disease and famine took hundreds of Jewish lives. All 9.000 Jews of Brody ghetto were subsequently mass murdered on May 1, 1943. On September 19, 1942, around 2,500 Jews of Brody were deported to the extermination camp of Belżec (today a little town on Polish Ukrainian border). On November 2, 3,000 more Jews were sent from Brody to Bełżec extermination camp. Many Brody Jews were exterminated in Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin
(a city in the south east corner of Poland).
Brody
Brody is a city in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Brody Raion , and is located in the valley of the upper Styr River, approximately 90 kilometres northeast of the oblast capital, Lviv...
(district city in Lviv region of western Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) was one of the oldest and most well-known Jewish communities in the western part of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
(and formerly in Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
/ Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
up to 1939). Jewish community of Brody perished in the Holocaust in 1942–1943 and is no more today. During the 19-th century, Brody was the second largest city in East Galicia (after Lviv
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
(Lemberg)), with the highest proportion of the Jewish population (88 %) among Eastern European cities.
"A city, where wisdom and wealth, Torah and understanding, commerce and faith are united."
Nachman KrochmalNachman KrochmalNachman Kohen Krochmal was a Jewish Galician philosopher, theologian, and historian.-Biography:...
in a letter to Isaac ErterIsaac ErterIsaac Erter was a Polish-Jewish satirist.He was born at Janischok, Galicia. The first part of his life was full of struggles and hardships...
Importance of the Jewish community of Brody
When one speaks about any major sort of modern scholarly or historiographic activities in Eastern Galicia that started with HaskalahHaskalah
Haskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
movement in this area, such activities are bound to three exclusive centers of the Galician Enlightenment, namely: Lviv, Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
and Brody. Today the latter is a non-significant West Ukrainian town, administrative center of Brodivsky rayon in the north eastern fringe of Lvivska oblast’. There are few towns in Western Ukraine with so dramatic and challenging Jewish history as it is in case of Brody. For a long time Brody had been one of the greatest centers of commerce in the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was rightly referred to as Triest on the continent. The town has been known yet since the 12th century and soon after was almost entirely inhabited by the Jews. Because of the last fact it came known to be as Galician Jerusalem. During the Austrian rule in Galicia, the North Eastern fringe of the empire passed just a few kilometres from Brody. It was the border of two greatest East European empires at that time Austrian and Russian and Brody by the luck or misfortune of history happened to be squeezed between the two borders. By misfortune, because of its border location it was twice utterly destroyed first during the First World War and again in 1944. By luck, because the city took a great commercial benefit and privileges being a border city. Because of its location, in 1779, Brody received the status of a "free city" and could trade with all the European countries. Worthwhile to note that in the 18th century the commercial turnover of Brody city exceeded the turnover of whole province of Galicia taken together. In the 19th century it was the second largest city on the territory of Galicia after Lemberg. Its "sister city" over the Russian side of the border was Radyvyliv
Radyvyliv
Radyvyliv is a small city in the Rivne Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Radyvyliv Raion , and is located south-west of the oblast capital, Rivne, near European route E40. The nearest larger cities are Dubno, and Brody; the latter being away...
just 9 km east of Brody. Radyvyliv played a similar function as Brody on the Russian side of the border.
Unlike in other parts of Eastern Galicia, not only the town of Brody but also the villages around it had a significant proportion of the Jews. Even a remote tiny forest village of Stanislavchyk, 15 km north east of the city, surrounded by hip plantations, boasts a Jewish heritage and had many Jews living there, most likely moving there from Brody. An old desolate Jewish graveyard in Stanislavchyk
Stanislavchyk
Stanislavchyk is a village in Brodivskyi Raion, Lviv Oblast, in western Ukraine.From 1918 to 1939 the village was in Tarnopol Voivodeship in Poland. In 1921 the village had 1153 inhabitants....
bears witness to its vivid Jewish past.
Austrian authorities associated enlightened Jews as such with the free city of Brody. The governor of Galicia aptly noted that in Galicia there are Orthodox, Hasidim
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
and Karaites, enlightened Jews one finds only in Brody. Brody was the second largest city (after Lemberg) in East Galicia with the largest proportion of the Jewish population among perhaps of all the district cities in Europe ever (88 %). Brody stands out as Jewish cultural and economic center in the area, a "symbol". Brody was tax free city during early Austrian rule, that fact which promoted its commercial status to the central commercial hub of Eastern Galicia (linking it with the major European trade centers such as Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
). Its international commercial links promoted bringing of new ideas, foreign culture, enlightenment
Enlightenment (spiritual)
Enlightenment in a secular context often means the "full comprehension of a situation", but in spiritual terms the word alludes to a spiritual revelation or deep insight into the meaning and purpose of all things, communication with or understanding of the mind of God, profound spiritual...
making Brody an intellectual center. There were not many cities Europe with nearly exclusively Jewish population, except Brody, and to a certain degree Berdychiv in Russian Ukraine and Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki , historically also known as Thessalonica, Salonika or Salonica, is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the region of Central Macedonia as well as the capital of the Decentralized Administration of Macedonia and Thrace...
in Greece. In 1827, out of total number 11,718 Jewish merchants and shopkeepers in the whole of Galicia, 1,134 (about 10 %) were om Brody. The same year, Brody was home to 36 Jewish broker
Broker
A broker is a party that arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller, and gets a commission when the deal is executed. A broker who also acts as a seller or as a buyer becomes a principal party to the deal...
s and 9 Jewish bankers. Jews owned 163 (93 %) large commercial and industrial enterprises in Brody (175 in total).
Brody - Jewish Jerusalem of Austrian Empire
The city name Brody derives from Ukrainian word "brid" which means "ford" (German Furt) changing in plural into "brody" i.e. "fords". Crossing a swampy ford on the way to the city one marvels with a question how could something referred to as "Jerusalem" in such a flat and boggy pine forested "mosquito area". What could attract the Jews here in the "fords"? The answer is indisputable – commerceCommerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
and trade. Kratter, the contemporary of Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, notes in his Briefe über den jetztigen Zustand Galiziens that Brody is the first and almost the only commercial city, where big enterprises are concentraned in the Jewish hands, except a few German trade and banking houses.
Brody's Jerusalemic association is not a sheer modern invention. The tradition ascribes this analogy to the emperor Joseph II, who visited Brody in 1774 and presumably said that Now, it is clear why I am designated to be Jerusalem king (one of the titles of Austrian emperors). Joseph's stay in Brody resulted in significant consequences. In 1778 he issues the decree that makes Brody a free town. This event quickly reflected on city development and life, marking a new era that lasted for 100 favourable years in all the respects. Yet in 1774 Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
freed Brody citizens from all the taxes under the condition of reconstruction of old houses and erecting of new ones. The market square got surrounded by new stone houses with undergrounds for storage purposes.
Historiography of Brody Jewry
The number of articles and works concerning Jewish history of Brody is inconsiderable. The most significant work is Nahum Gelber's History of the Jews in Brody (in Hebrew), followed by Balaban's exhaustive article on Brody in Russian Jewish Encyclopedia. Concerning Brody's role as a commercial center, the most significant study was done in Polish Studyja nad Dziejami Handlu Brodów w latach 1773–1880 (Studies on the History of Commerce in Brody in the years 1773–1880) by Tadeusz Lutman. There was a short article on Brody published in the Israeli newspaper HaaretzHaaretz
Haaretz is Israel's oldest daily newspaper. It was founded in 1918 and is now published in both Hebrew and English in Berliner format. The English edition is published and sold together with the International Herald Tribune. Both Hebrew and English editions can be read on the Internet...
: "Brody between the Lines", by Ruhama Elbag. Quite recently, a work on Brody by Ukrainian Jewish author Yakov Honigsman was published in Russian under the title Евреи города Броды (Jews of the city of Brody 1584–1944), using a broad literature and archival material. Furthermore, there are several "pre-war papers" dealing with Brody history, namely by D. Wurm Z dziejów żydowstwa Brodckiego za czasów dawnej Rzeczypospolitej do 1772 (From the history of Brody Jewry in times of the old Polish state until 1772) published in Polish in Brody in 1935.
Many Jewish historians as Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow was a Jewish historian, writer and activist...
(in The History of Hasidism), Raphael Mahler (in Hasidism and the Jewish Enlightenment) all frequently direct themselves and touch upon Brody, willingly or unwillingly, as Brody was in a fact a Jewish hub, one of the most important "bricks" in the Galician and Austrian Jewish history. And any historian undertaking a serious study of Jewish past in Galicia, should draw his attention to one of the primary Jewish historical clusters in the area, namely Brody.
The role of Brody in scholarly studies was underestimated and often neglected. This is due to the consequent decline of the importance of the city after the collapse of Austrian monarchy and consequent border changes. After the First World War, Brody was not anymore a border city hub. It lost its geo-commercial and geo-cultural value. The borders of new Poland moved further eastwards and with the Holocaust there was no more Jewish Brody, and Brody as "city" itself, because Brody was 88 % Jewish city. The following incorporation of Brody into the Soviet Ukraine and Ukrainiazation of the city, due to the influx of local Ukrainian peasantry from the rural areas basically into emptied (of urban Poles and Jews) Galician cities after 1944 turned Brody into a provincial town. The changes that occurred within basically 50 years are dramatic. The deeply changing character of Brody reflects and exemplifies at its best the cross-cultural historic experience of East Galician past. History of the Jews in Brody is provides a demonstration of Jewish commercial and intellectual rise and decline in Eastern Galicia.
Jewish population of Brody and surrounding countryside in comparison
After the collapse of Habsburg monarchyHabsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
Western Ukrainian lands were incorporated into Poland. According to the new administrative division, Brody district became part of newly created Tarnopol Voivodeship
Tarnopol Voivodeship
Tarnopol Voivodeship was an administrative region of interwar Poland with an area of 16,500 km², 17 counties, and capital in Tarnopol...
(Ternopil province) being administered from Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
, which by that time exceeded Brody in terms of attracting Jewish population becoming a home to 13.999 Jews (1931). While the number of Jews in Brody declined to 8.288.
Like the surrounding Lviv and Ternopil areas, Brody district had one of the highest concentration of Jews in the countryside. As for December 1931 in Ternopil Voivodeship
Tarnopol Voivodeship
Tarnopol Voivodeship was an administrative region of interwar Poland with an area of 16,500 km², 17 counties, and capital in Tarnopol...
, we find 39.862 Jews living in the villages (94.255 in the towns) and in Lviv Voivodeship
Lwów Voivodeship
Lwów Voivodeship was an administrative unit of interwar Poland . According to Nazis and Soviets it ceased to exist in September 1939, following German and Soviet aggression on Poland . The Polish underground administration existed till August 1944.-Population:Its capital, biggest and most...
the number is even more striking reaching 84.590 Jewish villagers (correlating to 158.220 Jewish townsmen). The primary data is not about the shtetles but about real tiny villages and hamlets (generally defined as wieś
Wies
The Pilgrimage Church of Wies is an oval rococo church, designed in the late 1740s by Dominikus Zimmermann, who for the last eleven years of his life lived nearby. It is located in the foothills of the Alps, in the municipality of Steingaden in the Weilheim-Schongau district, Bavaria, Germany.In...
in Polish or selo in Ukrainian). In the areas north of Brody, in Volhynian Voivodeship, the number of Jewish village residents is of the same high rate 83.762 souls (out of 207.792 in the whole voivodeship). To compare, at the same time, such large Polish voivodeships as Silesian Voivodeship
Autonomous Silesian Voivodeship
The Silesian Voivodeship was an autonomous province of the interwar Second Polish Republic. It consisted of territory which came into Polish possession as a result of the 1921 Upper Silesia plebiscite, the Geneva Conventions, three Upper Silesian Uprisings, and the eventual partition of Upper...
numbered only 2.611, Pomeranian Voivodeship 469 and Poznań Voivodeship barely 461 Jewish souls residing in the villages correspondingly. The difference with Eastern Galicia is staggering. An excellent statistics study Ludność Żydowska w Polsce w okresie międzywojennym (Jewish population in Poland in the inter-war period) done by Szyja Bronsztejn vividly demonstrates these differences. Bronsztejn compares also the number of the Jews in the proper shtetles (localities with less than 20.000 inhabitants). Here again larger Brody district area and the surrounding Lviv and Ternopil provinces accounted for 92.193 in Lviv voivodeship
Lwów Voivodeship
Lwów Voivodeship was an administrative unit of interwar Poland . According to Nazis and Soviets it ceased to exist in September 1939, following German and Soviet aggression on Poland . The Polish underground administration existed till August 1944.-Population:Its capital, biggest and most...
and 80.256 Jewish shtetl residents in Ternopil Voivodeship
Tarnopol Voivodeship
Tarnopol Voivodeship was an administrative region of interwar Poland with an area of 16,500 km², 17 counties, and capital in Tarnopol...
. Correspondingly, in a vast Poznań voivodeship there were 2.779 and in the sea bordering Pomeranian Voivodeship hardly 1.621 Jewish shtetl
Shtetl
A shtetl was typically a small town with a large Jewish population in Central and Eastern Europe until The Holocaust. Shtetls were mainly found in the areas which constituted the 19th century Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire, the Congress Kingdom of Poland, Galicia and Romania...
dwellers. Due to the micro form or in other words heavily rural and shtetl shaped Jewish past of Western Ukraine (Galicia, Volhynia
Volhynia
Volhynia, Volynia, or Volyn is a historic region in western Ukraine located between the rivers Prypiat and Southern Bug River, to the north of Galicia and Podolia; the region is named for the former city of Volyn or Velyn, said to have been located on the Southern Bug River, whose name may come...
, Transcarpthia
Carpathian Ruthenia
Carpathian Ruthenia is a region in Eastern Europe, mostly located in western Ukraine's Zakarpattia Oblast , with smaller parts in easternmost Slovakia , Poland's Lemkovyna and Romanian Maramureş.It is...
, Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
and Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
), the importance of study of Jewish micro history in such known West Ukrainian Jewish minor localities as Brody, Medzhybizh
Medzhybizh
Medzhybizh, previously known as Mezhybozhe, population 1731, is a town in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is located in the Letychivsky Raion , 25 kilometres from the Khmelnytskyi on the main highway between Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia at the confluence of the Southern Buh and...
, Sadhora
Sadhora
Sadhora is now a microraion of Chernivtsi city, which is located 6km from the city center. Previously, it was an independent town.-History:During the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774, the commander-in-chief of the Russian army in Moldavia and Wallachia took measures to enhance the economic and...
or unknown as Pidhaytsi, Kremenets
Kremenets
Kremenets is a city in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Kremenets Raion , and rests 18 km north-east of the great Pochayiv Monastery...
, Rohatyn
Rohatyn
Rohatyn is a city located on the Hnyla Lypa River in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Rohatyn Raion .The current estimated population is around 8,800 .-History:...
or Chortkiv
Chortkiv
Chortkiv is a city in the Ternopil oblast in western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chortkiv Raion . Population: 29,057...
is indispensable for the right understanding of it as a whole.
Importance of Brody as Jewish religious center
Besides its commercial importance, the city was of a great Talmudic and scholarly importance, where Talmudists and HasidimHasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
fought and coexisted. The famous sages of Brody Kloiz were "the lions and tigers in the Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
and in piety". For a while, it was a home to the founder of Hasidism Baal Shem Tov. Brody was one of the first three Hasidic circles yet before the public appearance of the Besht. The two other ones were in Medzhybizh
Medzhybizh
Medzhybizh, previously known as Mezhybozhe, population 1731, is a town in the Khmelnytskyi Oblast of western Ukraine. It is located in the Letychivsky Raion , 25 kilometres from the Khmelnytskyi on the main highway between Khmelnytskyi and Vinnytsia at the confluence of the Southern Buh and...
in central Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
and in Kuty
Kuty
Kuty is a town in Ukraine, on the Cheremosh river, located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. It is notable as one of the historical centres and the namesake of a historical region of Pokuttya. Population is 4,272 ....
in south east Galician corner. Shevhei ha-Besht explicitly mentions the existence of pre-Besht era Hasidic circle in Brody. The source mentions Brody as the place where Besht was first made a Rabbi of local Hasidim: "...the conventicle of great pietists Hasidim in that city Brody...who made him their rabbi." Though first Besht was rejected by Brody 'skabbalistic brotherhood as he did not match the traditional qualifications to be admitted. But eventually, thanks to his charisma he gained respect of the fellows. It should be noted that Besht had high regard for those "great Hasidim" of the Brody circle and it seems quite plausible that the Baalshem intended to organise a similar fellowship of his own or wanted to unite with a brotherhood of Brody kind. However the kabbalistic fellowship of Brody did not act on social scale. It was a closed circle of pietists who used to gather at Brody Study Hall, founded around 1736, not spreading their activities beyond that.
"Ban of Hasidism" (1772) by Brody Jewish community
When thanks to Besht, the Hasidism started taking a shape of large scale social phenomenon, in 1772 the same Brody Community issued a famous harsh ban against its own "son and offspring" Besht and "illness infected" HasidimHasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
with the strange exception of allowing the prayer in Lurianic rite. Gershon Kutover (Brody native, secretary to Baal Shem Tov and his brother-in-law, who settled in Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
later) was here to defend his employer when Brody sages were preparing to anathematise him, and so they did. Brody ban
Cherem
Cherem , is the highest ecclesiastical censure in the Jewish community. It is the total exclusion of a person from the Jewish community. It is a form of shunning, and is similar to excommunication in the Catholic Church...
of 1772 encompassed a great number of Hasidic practices, including Hasidic shehitah (slaughter by Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
forbidden honed shehitah knives / geschleefeene) that irritated the Misnagdim
Misnagdim
Misnagdim or Mitnagdim is a Hebrew word meaning "opponents". It is the plural of misnaged or mitnaged. Most prominent among the Misnagdim was Rabbi Elijah ben Shlomo Zalman , commonly known as the Vilna Gaon or the Gra...
. Brody ban justly predicted the impact the movement might have in Galicia. The proclamation is included in the pamphlet Zamir arisim ve-harevot surim. Brodyites expressed their concern that the new heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
can bring a catastrophe on whole Polish Jewry discrediting God's name in the same way as Frankists and Sabbateans did. Brody sages feared that the sect
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...
was particularly dangerous as there was no high authority to interfere after dissolution of the Great Council of Fours Lands
Council of Four Lands
The Council of Four Lands in Lublin, Poland was the central body of Jewish authority in Poland from 1580 to 1764. Seventy delegates from local kehillot met to discuss taxation and other issues important to the Jewish community...
. Brody declaration caused great furore on the tsaddiks when learning of it, who in their turn became even more active in a fight for a believer, as a cause of it.
Early Jewish history of Brody
In Toldot Yehudei Brody (The History of the Jews of Brody) Nathan-Michael Gelber was wrong by saying the city was founded by Stanisław Żółkiewski in 1584. Though Żołkiewski indeed got a permission from Polish king Stefan BatoryStefan Batory
Stephen Báthory was a Hungarian noble Prince of Transylvania , then King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania . He was a member of the Somlyó branch of the noble Hungarian Báthory family...
to establish a center following Magdeburg city laws in Brody. Brody as a settlement was first mentioned in the medieval "Teaching of Volodymyr Monomakh to the children", grand duke of Chernihiv
Chernihiv
Chernihiv or Chernigov is a historic city in northern Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Chernihiv Oblast , as well as of the surrounding Chernihivskyi Raion within the oblast...
and Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. The source notes that Brody served twice as a meeting place of Chernihiv duke Volodymyr Monomakh
Vladimir II Monomakh
Vladimir II Monomakh |Basileios]]) was a Velikiy Kniaz of Kievan Rus'.- Family :He was the son of Vsevolod I and Anastasia of Byzantium Vladimir II Monomakh |Basileios]]) (1053 – May 19, 1125) was a Velikiy Kniaz (Grand Prince) of Kievan Rus'.- Family :He was the son of Vsevolod I (married in...
and Volhynian duke St. Yaropolk Izyaslavich
Yaropolk Izyaslavich
Yaropolk Izyaslavich was a Knyaz during the eleventh-century in the Kievan Rus' kingdom and was the King of Rus . The son of Grand Prince Izyaslav Yaroslavich by a Polish princess named Gertruda, he is visible in papal sources by the early 1070s but largely absent in contemporary Rus sources...
. These events took place in 1084 and 1086 and the prior date formally figures as a beginning of Brody history in local historiography. Nathan Gelber writes also that Brody was originally a city called "Lubeszów." The last statement needs to be corrected as well. Naming Brody as Lubicz was an unlucky attempt undertaken by the same Stanisław Żółkiewski who used the "Lubicz" from his family's coat of arms. The new name never got a real application and already in the documents of the 1590s the city figures as Brody. In the year 1648, 400 Jewish families lived in Brody, what was quite a significant number of Jews for a town in that period. Until 1664, Brody was a "sub-kahal
Kahal
Kahal is a moshav in the Galilee near Highway 85 in northern Israel. The moshav is a combined agricultural community. It lies at the border of the Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee, north of Lake Kinneret and just northwest of Tabgha. It belongs to the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council and was...
" of Lviv, i.e. under the administration of Lviv Jewish Community. From the 17th century, Brody became an important center of Jewish trade (esp. horse fairs) and artisans. In 1756 Brody was home to 7191 Jews, reaching 14.718 in 1880 (out of 19.977 of total town inhabitants). Among the six largest Jewish commercial firms in Brody in 1849 were M. Nathanson - with 40.000 florins in the capital, Yidl Nathanson and Nirenstein with 30.000 florins each.
Economic conditions of local Jewry and immigration to America
S. Ansky
Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport , known by his pseudonym S. Ansky , was a Russian Jewish author, playwright, and researcher of Jewish folklore....
who after great efforts visited Eastern Galicia, to inquire of the local Jewish state of affairs at the time of the outbreak of the First World War, gives subtly conclusive and very apt description of the land, which I find worthy to cite:
Galicia is one of the poorest regions in Central Europe, if not the poorest. It has few natural resources, few mineral deposits. The soil is not particularly fertile; the farming methods are primitive and the harvests meagre. The deeply rooted Galicians, especially RutheniansRutheniansThe name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
(i.e. UkrainiansUkrainiansUkrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
) in the eastern part are barely educated and live roughly; they are more backward than the Russian muzhik. All this has of course effected the economic condition of Galician JewsGalician JewsGalician Jews or Galitzianer Jews are a subdivision of the Ashkenazim geographically originating from Galicia, from western Ukraine and from the south-eastern corner of Poland . Galicia proper, which was inhabited by Ukrainians, Poles and Jews, was a royal province within Austro-Hungarian empire...
, who numbered between 900.000 and 1 million before the war. Even Jews in the Austrian Empire enjoy equal rights, with equal access to all the professions and government jobs, those in Galicia are very poor and unsophisticated. This is confirmed by two sets of statistics: Galicia has the highest death rate among Jews and the highest immigration to America.
The decline of Brody started in 1879, when the city lost its rights as a free commercial city. In 1880 there were 15,316 Jews in town, who formed 76,3 % of the total population. Only in 11 years, the Jewish population dropped to 12,751 in 1890.
Mentioning the Galician Jewish immigration to America, interesting to note that most of these immigrants (along with their Ukrainian and Polish immigrant fellows) were impoverished economic refugees who were not in possession even of 50 dollars. The statistical study done by Szyja Bornsztejn witnesses that for the year of 1914, 53,1 % of Galician and Polish Jews immigrating to the United States did not possess any money at all when arriving on the American soil. 39,2 % of possessed less than 50 dollars and only 7,7 % possessed a sum over USD 50. If divided, the average sum at the hands of each Galician Jewish newcomer comprised only 22 dollars. Besides that Jewish immigration from Brody and surrounding Lviv, Ternopil
Ternopil
Ternopil , is a city in western Ukraine, located on the banks of the Seret River. Ternopil is one of the major cities of Western Ukraine and the historical region of Galicia...
and Volhyn voivodships was among the highest in the years 1926–1929. From Ternopil province (including Brody district) it was 4,1 %, from Volhyn province 7,5%, from Lviv province 9,1 %, all of total Jewish population in the provinces.
First World War events: burning of Jewish Brody and Russian invasion
The key and turning point in the history of Brody was the Russian onslaught and burning of the city at the outbreak of the First World War. This drama and scope of the tragedy of these events closely echoes JosephusJosephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
account of the Fall of Jerusalem
Siege of Jerusalem (70)
The Siege of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD was the decisive event of the First Jewish-Roman War. The Roman army, led by the future Emperor Titus, with Tiberius Julius Alexander as his second-in-command, besieged and conquered the city of Jerusalem, which had been occupied by its Jewish defenders in...
, burning of the Last Temple
Second Temple
The Jewish Second Temple was an important shrine which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem between 516 BCE and 70 CE. It replaced the First Temple which was destroyed in 586 BCE, when the Jewish nation was exiled to Babylon...
and its siege by Titus legions. The havoc that dominated the city at that time was terrific. Modern Josephus in case of Brody was Russian Jewish journalist Solomon Ansky
S. Ansky
Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport , known by his pseudonym S. Ansky , was a Russian Jewish author, playwright, and researcher of Jewish folklore....
(born Shloyme-Zanvl ben Aaron Hacohen Rappoport) who witnessed the Russian invasion of Brody and described it in a great detail. Just like Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
was on the Roman side of the conqueror, so was S. Ansky on the Russian one in case of Brody. Ansky's account of burning of Brody reflects the depth of the tragedy that befell Brody Jews with the outbreak of the war:
At the start of the war Brody's train station had gone up in flames. Now a ramshackle buffet had been set up in one of the ruins. When I entered, the place was packed with officers, who were standing at the buffetBuffetA buffet is a system of serving meals in which food is placed in a public area where the diners generally serve themselves. Buffets are offered at various places including hotels and many social events...
or around small tables, consuming borshch. I noticed that the soup bowls bore a Hebrew inscription that read "mazel tov", congratulations. The china had been evidently stolen from a Jewish hotel…The road to Brody was flanked by burned and desolate cottages. In the distance we saw a broad field covered with ruins. Soon the devastated town emerged from the grey mist of an early winter morning. There were blackened chimneys and burned walls as far as we could see, visible beneath a dusting of downy snow. The town looked like the ancient, mossy remnants of PompeiiPompeiiThe city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
. I noticed the schorched wall of a synagogue. Above the door, some Hebrew words had survived: How awesome is this place [from Genesis 28:17]. The verse was fitting for the ruins of the house of worship and for the entire spread of the shattered neighbourhood. Nestled among the wreckage I saw a small cottage almost embedded in the earth. It looked as if it had crouched down during the conflagration, hidden in the ground, and therefore survived. An old Jewish man was standing nearby, as poor and hunched as the cottage itself. When he saw me and my friend in our uniforms, he whipped off his cap and bowed deeply. I went over and asked in Yiddish, "How come your cottage escaped the fire?" The old man gaped at me, then shrugged and sighed. "Perhaps a miracle… Heaven granted us a place to starve to death." I gave him a rouble. He was so amazed he forgot to thank me. He stood motionless, gawking. We walked on among the burned ruins. I noticed something that I would see again and again: at every street corner, shiny metal signs in Russian had been nailed to the walls. The occupiers had given every street a fancy, new name: Pushkin Street, Gogol Street, Lermontov Steet, and even Turgenev Street, if I remember correctly. The irony of naming these horribly deformed street after the luminaries of Russian cultureRussian cultureRussian culture is associated with the country of Russia and, sometimes, specifically with ethnic Russians. It has a rich history and can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts, especially when it comes to literature and philosophy, classical music and ballet, architecture...
had escaped the victors: they did not realize how offensive it was to the memory of our great Russian authors...
The burning of Brody had devoured almost half of the town – several hundred exclusively Jewish houses...With its old market place, the unsigned area looked impoverished and dejected. Many stores, especially the bigger one and richer ones, were locked or boarded up…The instant…I entered the market, we were surrounded by whole army of poor, ragged, famished kids, who were begging for a kopek. Most of them were Christian, but three or four were jewish. I gave each child a few kopekKopekKopek or Köpek may refer to:*A Kopek, 1/100th of a Ruble*A Kopek, 1/100th of a Ukrainian hryvnia*Kopek , an Irish rock band*Sa'd al-Din Köpek , court administrator under Seljuq Sultans of Rum...
s, no matter what is his religion. But the instant I handed a coin to a Jew, all Christian children began shouting at me: "Don’t give him anything! Don’t give him anything! He is a Jew! The children were joined by a Jewish beggar, a strange woman of about sixty. She wore a red dress, her grey hair was powdered, and her movements were nervous. She stood before me, grinning, her nasty, hungry eyes glaring at me, and she sort of danced a little. Then in a hoarse voice, mangling the language, she began warbling a sentimental Russian song, "Ptichka Kanareyka", dearest little canary, about a young man who sends out a canary with a greeting for his beloved. The old beggar woman's screechy voice and outlandish appearance made a terrible impression on me. I gave her some coins and tried to hurry off. But she blocked my way, taring into my eyes and squawking her horrible song. She plainly expected me to be surprised that she could sing in RussianRussian languageRussian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
. I was haunted for the rest of the day by the nightmare of the beggar's appearance and performance.
Strange enough, but even greater destruction wave (if we consider Holocaust in Brody) befell upon Brody also during the Second World War. Brody went in flames for the second time. Isaac Babel
Isaac Babel
Isaak Emmanuilovich Babel was a Russian language journalist, playwright, literary translator, and short story writer. He is best known as the author of Red Cavalry, Story of My Dovecote, and Tales of Odessa, all of which are considered masterpieces of Russian literature...
in his "The Death of Dolgushov" describes second burning of Brody:
The curtains of battle were moving toward the city. At noon, Korochaev, in a black cloak, the disgraced commander of the fourth division, fighting alone and seeking out death, flew past us. On the run he shouted to me: "Our communications links are broken! Radziwillow and Brody are in flames!" And he galloped off, fluttering, all black, with eyes like coal. On the plain, flat as a board, the brigadeBrigadeA brigade is a major tactical military formation that is typically composed of two to five battalions, plus supporting elements depending on the era and nationality of a given army and could be perceived as an enlarged/reinforced regiment...
s were repositioning themselves. The sun was rolling along in the crimson dust.
Brody rabbis and synagogue
The great synagogue (famous Brody Kloiz) was founded in 1742 with the initiative of Mose Rokach.The first known rabbis of Brody were:
- Saul Katznellenbogen (1664–1673)
- Isaak Krakower (1674–1673), the founder of Babad family. Isaak's son Berko Rabbinowicz (abbreviated as Babad) was marszalekMarszalekMarszałek was one of the highest officials in the Polish royal court since the 13th century and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the 15th century...
(deputy) of the seym (parliament) of the RusRus' (region)Rus' is an ethno-cultural region in Eastern Europe inhabited by Eastern Slavs. Historically, it comprises the northern part of Ukraine, the north-western part of Russia, Belarus and some eastern parts of Poland and Slovakia.The name comes from Old East Slavic , and remains the same in modern...
lands. - Abraham Kahane,
- Eleazar Rokach (1718–1734)
- Jakob Jukel Horowitz (1735–1734), the last one of earlier generations;
Among the later line of Brody rabbis we find:
- Nathan Nate b. Arje Löb (1744–1760)
- Isaak Horowitz (1760–1763)
- Joseph SchatzkesJoseph SchatzkésDr. Joseph Schatzkés , of France, was a philatelist who performed in-depth studies of French and Mexican postage stamps and postal history, and wrote extensively on the subject.-Collecting interests:...
(1765–1771) - Hirsch Zebi from Zamość (1771–1785)
- Meier Kristianpoller (1785–1814)
- Arje Löb Tumim (1814–1830)
- Eliezer Landau (1827–1830)
- Jechiel Michl Kristianpoller (1831–1863)
- Isaak Chajes (1894–1901)
- M.A. Steinberg (1908–1928)
Brody fostered a number of Maggid
Maggid
Maggid , sometimes spelled as magid, is a traditional Eastern European Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A preacher of the more scholarly sort was called a "darshan", and usually occupied the official position of rabbi...
s and Kabblists including Mose Ostrer, Arje Löb Podhaicer, Salomo or Shlomo Kluger
Shlomo Kluger
Solomon ben Judah Aaron Kluger , born at Komarow, Congress Poland, was chief dayyan and preacher of Brody, Galicia. He was successively Rabbi at Rawa , Kulikow , and Józefów , preacher at Brody, and Rabbi at Brezany and, again, at Brody...
.
Brody Synagogue housed the leaders of Jewish intelligentsia such as Yechezkel Landau
Yechezkel Landau
Yechezkel ben Yehuda Landau was an influential authority in halakha . He is best known for the work Noda Biyhudah , by which title he is also known.-Biography:...
and Meyer Margolis. Already mentioned city rabbi Eleazar Rokach was the head rabbi of Brody for 20 years. According to tradition, he was a descendent from the house of King David. He was named after his great grandfather, rabbi Elazar of Germiza
Elazar Rokeach
Eleazar Rokeach , also known as Eleazar of Worms or Eleazar ben Judah ben Kalonymus, was a leading Talmudist and mystic, and the last major member of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a group of German Jewish pietists.- Biography :...
(Mainz
Mainz
Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...
), a famous 12th century Kabbalist. He moved from Brody to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Holland. The people of Brody tried unsuccessfully to stop Rabbi Elazar from moving on to Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, where he and was received with great honor both by Jewish leaders and by representatives of the Dutch government. An interesting legendary story had been told about rabbi Elazar of Brody by his descendent Rabbi Sholom Rokeach the Admor of Belz
Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
Belz is a Hasidic dynasty named for the town of Belz in Western Ukraine, near the Polish border. The town has existed since at least the 10th century, with the Jewish community being established during the 14th century. The town became home to Hasidic Judaism in the early 19th century...
, that when Rabbi Elazar arrived in Holland, the country was suffering from a plague of worms. The entire country was facing a ruin in the threat of being devoured by the huge numbers of worms. The Dutch king heard about the newly arriving tzaddik of Brody, and asked him for prayer in order to remove this danger. Rabbi Elazar went to the fields to pray. After finishing his prayer, the entire Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
witnessed a wonder: the worms came out of the ground and fell fatally into the sea. As a "reward" for Rabbi Elazar's help, a special coin was issued. The commemorative coin was minted by the Dutch government for the occasion, bearing the Rabbi's face and two verses from Psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
. How much truth is in this story, we do not know, however the authority and influence of Brody Rabbi Elazar were undisputed. After leaving Brody he served for 5 years as head rabbi of Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
. Later he immigrated to the Holy Land
Holy Land
The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...
settling in Tsfat, where he died and was buried.
Rabbi Shlomo Kluger, the Maggid of Brody
Other famous rabbi associated with Brody was maggidMaggid
Maggid , sometimes spelled as magid, is a traditional Eastern European Jewish religious itinerant preacher, skilled as a narrator of Torah and religious stories. A preacher of the more scholarly sort was called a "darshan", and usually occupied the official position of rabbi...
(the preacher) Shlomo Kluger
Shlomo Kluger
Solomon ben Judah Aaron Kluger , born at Komarow, Congress Poland, was chief dayyan and preacher of Brody, Galicia. He was successively Rabbi at Rawa , Kulikow , and Józefów , preacher at Brody, and Rabbi at Brezany and, again, at Brody...
. Rabbi Kluger
Shlomo Kluger
Solomon ben Judah Aaron Kluger , born at Komarow, Congress Poland, was chief dayyan and preacher of Brody, Galicia. He was successively Rabbi at Rawa , Kulikow , and Józefów , preacher at Brody, and Rabbi at Brezany and, again, at Brody...
(1789–1869) was known as the Preacher or Maggid of Brody, and by his acronym Maharshak. He served for fifty years in the Rabbinate of Brody, and was the author of some 174 known books. He was a fierce defender of Judaic traditionalism against the onslaught of the modernistic "Enlightenment" ideology. His Hokhmat Shlomo (wisdom of Solomon if translated from Hebrew, compare 1 Kings 5:10, 14) vividly presents his great erudition in Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
and spiritual subjects, as he compares the views of different authorities and seeks to resolve apparent contradictions between them.
Nahum Gelber reports a story how Maggid Kluger attempted to leave Brody having accepted the invitation of Berezhany
Berezhany
Berezhany is a city located in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Berezhanskyi Raion , and rests about 100 km from Lviv and 50 km from the oblast capital, Ternopil. The city has a population of about 20,000, and is about 400 m above sea level...
community and by a unlucky providence was forced to return to Brody. In 1843, Rabbi Kluger left his community in Brody and accepted the invitation of the community Berezhany community who, in 1845, elected him the supreme judicial authority. Despite the pleas of the Brody community leaders, the Magid left Brody and moved to Berezhany. In the winter of 1845, a delegation from Brody arrived in Berezhany and took him back to their town. In Berezhany he was received with great honor, especially by Rabbi Arie Leibush Natanson, father of the Lvov Rabbi, Rabbi Joseph Saul Nathanson
Joseph Saul Nathanson
Joseph Saul Nathanson was a Polish rabbi and posek, and a leading rabbinical authority of his day.-Biography:...
, who had served as a Rain Berezhany prior to his appointment as a Rabbi in Lvov. A few days after his first sermon in Berezhany, the Magid caught typhus. He was sick for many years, and through this understood that he should not had left Brody. He vowed to leave Berezhany and return to Brody as soon as he got better, and no pleading on behalf of Berezhany messengers changed his mind. He resided in Brody as a private person, refraining from intruding into the activities of Brody's new Teacher of Justice. His admirers, and especially Rabbi Joseph Natanson, supported him for the rest of his life.
Hasidic mystics of Brody
Brody was not only home to Jewish commercials but also to Jewish mystics and miracle workers. A true place where faith and commerce blended. Mysticism and commerce are probably two the most distant notions, however in Brody such a combination was a reality. Brody served as home to the founder of Jewish Hasidic mysticism Baal Shem Tov (Israel Ben Eliezer, 1698–1760) where he lived, worked, got to know his future wife and married. DubnowSimon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow was a Jewish historian, writer and activist...
gives a vivid account of the Brody phase in Besht biographical history. Baal Shem Tov arrived in Brody at the age of 20 when his religious outlook was taking shape, yet before making himself public and notorious all over western Ukrainian lands. Dubnow states that Besht settled in some village by Brody. He engaged in the profession of melamed, teacher of the youngsters. As he was not well trained in the Talmud, Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow
Simon Dubnow was a Jewish historian, writer and activist...
presumes he was one of petty teachers teaching children praying, reading and translating Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
. Despite his insignificant position, soon after he earned a respect and fame in Brody. His honesty, non-passionate meek character, humbleness and life gained wisdom attracted attention of the surrounding common people, heading to him for consultations and court advices. So happened that among the suppliants was Abraham Kutover, the father to the notorious Brody rabbi Gershon Kutover. The seeker was so pleased with Besht's decision in his matter, that after getting knowing him closer and that he is a widower he offered him to marry his divorced daughter. However the married couple was later expelled out of Brody settling in Kuty
Kuty
Kuty is a town in Ukraine, on the Cheremosh river, located in the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. It is notable as one of the historical centres and the namesake of a historical region of Pokuttya. Population is 4,272 ....
, some 100 km to the south at the foothills of the Carpathians.
Haskalah movement in Brody
Brody played a leading role in the Galician Haskalah movement. Moses Mendelsohn's teacher Israel ben Moses Ha-Levi of Zamość Lefin (who was born in BibrkaBibrka
Bibrka is a town in western Ukraine, located in the Lviv Oblast about 29 km southeast of Lviv on PI29.The town has been ruled at various points by the Kingdom of Poland, Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Austrian empire, the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria,...
, Lviv region) choose Brody to be his final seat, where he died in April 1772. Israel Lefin spent part of his life in Berlin where he was teaching Mendelssohn, instructing him in mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
and to whom he imparted his love for philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
. Israel's sojourn in Berlin, however, was not a long one. Persecutions by the Orthodox rabbis forced him to seek another home, and he returned to Galician lands, settling in Brody, where he lived in great poverty. Israel Lefin was an outstanding Jewish astronomer, author of the Nezah Yisrael, dedicated to the astronomical
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and geometrical
Geometry
Geometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
passages in both Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
s (published in Frankfurt-on-Oder in 1741) and of Arubbot ha-Shamayim, treateas on ancient and modern astronomy
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
. In his memoirs, Avrom Ber Gotlober
Avrom Ber Gotlober
Avrom Ber Gotlober was a Jewish writer, poet, playwright, historian, journalist and educator. He mostly wrote in Hebrew, but also wrote poetry and dramas in Yiddish. His first collection was published in 1835.Gotlober's last name is often transliterated as Gottlober...
gives a vivid account of the importance Brody had on the spreading of the Enlightenment ideas in Russia and Ukraine proper:
The Jews who lived in the large Galician cities were the first to be enlightened by the light of the wisdom of the RaMbeMaN [acronym for Moses MendelssohnMoses MendelssohnMoses Mendelssohn was a German Jewish philosopher to whose ideas the renaissance of European Jews, Haskalah is indebted...
] and his followers. On the account of their travels they would travel to various Russian cities and bring with them at the same time the spices of their enlightenment and knowledge…In this regard Brody especially excelled, being a city of scholars and MaskilimHaskalahHaskalah , the Jewish Enlightenment, was a movement among European Jews in the 18th–19th centuries that advocated adopting enlightenment values, pressing for better integration into European society, and increasing education in secular studies, Hebrew language, and Jewish history...
who used to do business mostly with Russia. Everywhere that a merchant of Brody would come, he would excite the youth with his fine speaking – their eyes opened…and they would take up education...
Among the maskilim living in Brody in the 19th century, we find Dov Ber Blumenfeld, Isaac Erter
Isaac Erter
Isaac Erter was a Polish-Jewish satirist.He was born at Janischok, Galicia. The first part of his life was full of struggles and hardships...
and Joshua Heschel Schorr. The latter published periodical He-Halutz (the Pioneer) in Brody during 1852–1889. Adolf Stand
Adolf Stand
Adolf Stand was a Jewish politician in Austria-Hungary. Stand, president of the Zionist organization in Galicia, stood as a candidate in a parliamentary by-election in 1906. Stand obtained 454 votes, defeated by Joseph Gold . The election was, however, marred with irregularities...
, the president of Galician Zionists was elected to the Austrian parliament from Brody district in 1907. However, in 1911 he was forced to quit his deputy mandate due to the political intrigues initiated by the assimilationist Heinrich Kolischer.
Because of the highly commercial and internationalised nature of Brody Jewish community it was one of the most Germanised Galician cities. In May 1784 the first Josephinian style German Jewish Normalschule was opened in Brody. In 1815 the first Jewish Real Schule was established with German to be the main language of instruction.
Brody was home to the acclaimed Royal Gymnasium of archprince Rudolf (today it is Brody Gymnasium), which was once attended by the known Jewish writer Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth, born Moses Joseph Roth , was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his novel of Jewish life, Job as well as the seminal essay 'Juden auf Wanderschaft' translated in...
. Max Landau taught there as well and Roth was his student. The modern monument next to the school commemorates several outstanding figures that studied here. It is shaped in a rainbow of head figures associated with the establishment. Along with Roth's, it includes the sculptures of three Ukrainian cultural notabilities: painter Trush, folklorist Rozdolsky, scientist Shchurat and writer Tudor.
The issue of national identity of Brody Jews: "Brody school case" of 1880s
The issue of Jewish national identity, problem of Jewish national language and their recognition in the legal system of Habsburg monarchy was reflected in Brody school case and tribunal dispute from 1880. Since 1867 Austrian monarchy recognized the equal status of all the nationalities and languages used in the large multicultural state. The 19th paragraph of new Austro-Hungarian Constitution (from the 21st of Dec., 1867) was meant to guarantee equal national rights to all the ethnic group in the empire. In Brody where more than ¾ of the population were the Jews (out of ca. 20.000 of inhabitants) there was only one public school with instruction in German and two schools with Polish as instruction medium. Galician Regional School Council (Landesschulrat) in Lviv allowed opening of two more schools refusing however the wish of Brody town commune to have German for instruction language in these new schools. Council was only willing to allow them to be in Polish. In the end, in 1880 Brody town commune appealed with the complaint to the Tribunal of the State (Reichsgericht) in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, after unsuccessful attempts to defend their claim at the Galician Landeschulrat and the Ministry of Religion and Science. In the State Tribunal Brody commune was represented by Dr Heinrich Jaques (1831–1894), who published the memorial on the situation of Jews in Austria in 1859. The tribunal referee in Brody case was Hye von Glunek (1807–1894) who concluded that the rights of Brody town commune guaranteed by the 19th paragraph of the constitution were violated what all other board members agreed to as well. The Ministry of Education viewed Brody Israelites as not belonging to German nationality (against the views of Brody commune itself) while Brody and Galician Israelites did not want to acknowledge themselves neither to Polish nor to Ukrainian nationalities. According to Hye, Brody Jews could not use "the guaranteed constitutional rights as for nationality and language" and either to present themselves as a separate Hebrew ethnic group different from all other Austrian minorities what Hye declined pointing at several previous bans of usage of Hebrew language in the administrative life and non-recognition of "Hebrew tribe" by Austrian legislature. Pergin von Purschka, court councillor and member of the Highest Tribunal (Oberster Gerichtshof) considered that "the Jews joined only the language tribe (Sprachenstamm)." Though the last term was not verbum legale of Austrian legislature in difference to the term defining an ething group – Volkstamm. Two other board members (Dr Anton Rintelen
Anton Rintelen
Anton Rintelen was an Austrian academic, jurist and politician. Initially associated with the right wing Christian Social Party, he later became involved in a Nazi coup d'etat plot....
and count Edmund Hartig) suggested to limit the discussion to the fact that "Brody Jews speak German and all other issues should be set aside". So it was decided in the strident tribunal case won by the Brodyites.
Jewish literary figures from Brody
Famous Jewish literary historian Marcus Landau was Brody native. Jacob Goldenthal, one of the most renown Austrian orientalist was born at Brody, April 16, 1815 and died at ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
Dec. 28, 1868. Goldenthal got his education at the University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
. He was one of a few modern Jewish specialists on Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
and Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī , known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia was a Persian Muslim theologian, jurist, philosopher, and mystic....
. He issued Das Neue Zion, a monthly periodical in Leipzig (Nisan, 1845) of which only one number appeared. Another periodical which he edited, "Das Morgenland" was also short-lived.
It is no doubt that the greatest among the literary figures Brody ever produced to the world was Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth
Joseph Roth, born Moses Joseph Roth , was an Austrian journalist and novelist, best known for his family saga Radetzky March about the decline and fall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and for his novel of Jewish life, Job as well as the seminal essay 'Juden auf Wanderschaft' translated in...
, famous Austrian Jewish writer, was born on 2 September 1894 in a southern part of Brody called Shvaby (after German "Schwaben"). His parents were Nahum Roth and Mariam (Grubel) Roth. His father passed away when Joseph was quite young. Grubel's family was bring little Joseph up. From 1901 to 1913 had been studying in the local public school. In that school teaching was in German. He continued his studies in the above noted Brody gymnasium. The nostalgia for old days Austrian Brody was very strong in Roth's novels. He was missing his childhood and old Austrian lifestyle. His "March of Radetzky" showed author's moods and feelings. Roth masterly describes the Austrian epoch of his and local society's life. He showed different processes that were slowly destroying the great multicultural Habsburg state. Roth expresses his irony towards Franz Joseph. But at the same time through the lines the readers could feel nostalgia for stability in the society, old Galician folkways, even nostalgia after the Kaiser
Kaiser
Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...
. The Austrian Geselschaft für Literatur donated and fixed the memorial plate in honour of J. Roth in modern Brody with the words in Ukrainian and German: Der Dichter Joseph Roth hat im Mai 1913 an diesem Gymnasium die Matura sub Auspichs Imperatoris abgelegt.
From 1918 Brodyite J. Roth was working in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
's newspaper as a journalist. In 1920 he moved to Berlin where he became a journalist of Frankfurter Zeitung
Frankfurter Zeitung
The Frankfurter Zeitung was a German language newspaper that appeared from 1856 to 1943. It emerged from a market letter that was published in Frankfurt...
. From 1922 he was working in social democratic newspaper Vorvarts (Forward). This newspaper did match his personal beliefs. At the same year he got married to Frederica Raiher. When Nazis came to power Joseph left Berlin. He was moving from one European city to another. Last years of his life Roth spent in Paris where he died on May 27, 1939.
Brody produced also one of the most noted Israeli literary scholars, Hebrew and Yiddish writer, Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
member, professor of Hebrew University Dov Sadan
Dov Sadan
Professor Dov Sadan was an Israeli academic and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1965 and 1968.-Biography:...
(born Stock, 1909–1989) who was born in Brody, Galicia and immigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
in 1925. He was a member of the staff of the Davar daily newspaper and the Am Oved publishing house. In 1932, he served for four months as secretary to Shmuel Agnon, being his life-long friend.
Brody's role in Russian, German, Italian and Hungarian Jewish history
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
"pearl": Brody, "the rising star east of Lemberg", was seen by Russian maskilim as Galicia's cultural center .
In Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
we find Brody synagogue established by Brody merchants in the 1840s. In Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, at Keilstrasse 4 is another footprint of Brody commercial tycoons, Brody Synagogue., the only synagogue in Leipzig to survive Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht
Kristallnacht, also referred to as the Night of Broken Glass, and also Reichskristallnacht, Pogromnacht, and Novemberpogrome, was a pogrom or series of attacks against Jews throughout Nazi Germany and parts of Austria on 9–10 November 1938.Jewish homes were ransacked, as were shops, towns and...
, because there had been "Aryan" tenants in the building's upper stories – was restored and re-consecrated. A. Yehuda (Osterzetzer) devoted a few pages on Brodyites in Leipzig in the Brody Yizkor Book. There is also Broder Synagogue in Jerusalem, managed by Jewish Orthodox community.
Hundreds of Jews all over the world trace their roots to Brody and as a result of it, many adopted the last name Brodsky, Brodski, Brodskiy, Brodowski, Brodovsky, Brodisch (meaning "from Brody") or simply Brody. Among them Russian violinist Adolph Brodsky
Adolph Brodsky
Adolph Davidovich Brodsky was a Russian violinist.He enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a performer and teacher, starting early in Vienna, going on to Moscow, Leipzig, and New York City and finally Manchester. During its course he met and worked with composers such as Tchaikovsky and...
(b. 1851), modern American singer Chuck Brodsky
Chuck Brodsky
Chuck Brodsky is an American musician and singer-songwriter currently living in Asheville, North Carolina. He is particularly known for his often humorous and political lyrics, as well as his songs about baseball, such as "The Ballad of Eddie Klepp" and "Moe Berg: The Song"...
, Russian American poet Joseph Brodsky
Joseph Brodsky
Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky , was a Russian poet and essayist.In 1964, 23-year-old Brodsky was arrested and charged with the crime of "social parasitism" He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and settled in America with the help of W. H. Auden and other supporters...
(1940–1996) - the winner of Nobel prize in Literature
Nobel Prize in Literature
Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
of 1987, Russian painter Isaac Brodsky (1883–1939). In the imperial history of Russian Jewry the most famous is the family of Meir Schorr who adopted the last name Brodsky (after he moved from Brody settling in Kiev
Kiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
). He had five sons: Israel Brodsky (1823–1889) who surpassed his brothers in wealth and philanthropy, Lazar Brodsky and Leon Brodsky who were practically at the head of sugar industry in Russia (owned 22 sugar factories and 3 refineries), Abraham Brodsky (1816–1858) settled in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
, where he became the most prominent member of the city council of Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
being involved in sugar industry as well. Abraham's son Samuel (1846–1896) was also a member of the Odessa city council.
Israel Zolli, Brody born rabbi of Rome
Brody gave Italy its main rabbi as well. Brody native, Israel ZollerIsrael Zolli
Israel Zolli was from 1939 to 1945 Chief Rabbi of Rome. After the war, he converted to Roman Catholicism, taking the name Eugenio in honor of Pope Pius XII.-Early years/rabbinate:...
(in Italy he changed his last name for Eugenio Zolli) was born in 1881 in Brody. After finishing his studies he left Brody and settled in Trieste
Trieste
Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
(Italian Triest and Galician Brody were within one state at that time – Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
). Zoller bercame the chief rabbi of Trieste after World War I, professor of Hebrew at the University of Padua
University of Padua
The University of Padua is a premier Italian university located in the city of Padua, Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 as a school of law and was one of the most prominent universities in early modern Europe. It is among the earliest universities of the world and the second...
from 1927 to 1938, and, from 1939 he takes the post of the chief rabbi of Rome. His biography during the last two decades of his life is quite controversial and had a lot of resonance world wide. In early September 1943, when the Nazis entered Rome, Zoller took refuge in the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. At the end of the hostilities he reappeared to assume his position as rabbi, but was rejected by the community. In February 1945, Zoller converted to Catholicism, taking the name of Eugenio Maria (in homage to Pope Pius XII) returning to the Vatican. After the world war, he was professor of Semitic epigraphy and Hebrew at the University of Rome. Zoller is the author of a great number of works, especially on the biblical interpretation, Jewish history, liturgy, and talmudic literature. Most were published in Italian and include Israele ("Israel", 1935), L’ebraismo ("Judaism", 1953), autobiographical reflections Before the Dawn (1954). His translation of the tractate Berakhot was published by a Catholic publishing house in 1968. Zoller died in Italy in 1956.
Iuliu Barasch, Brody born leader of Romanian Jews
The same concerns RomaniaRomania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, where the local Jewish community was headed by Brody native Iuliu (Julius) Barasch (Yehuda)
Iuliu Barasch
Iuliu Barasch or Baraş was a Galician-born Jewish physician and writer who made his career in Romania.-Biography:Born in Brody into a Hasidic family as Yehuda ben Mordehai Barasch...
. He was born in Brody in 1815, settling in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
where he was named the Mendelssohn
Mendelssohn
Mendelson is a Polish/German Jewish family name, meaning "son of Mendel", Mendel being a Yiddish diminutive of the Hebrew given name Menahem, meaning "consoling" or "one who consoles".Mendelssohn is the surname of a number of people:...
of Romania, leader of the Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
community, author of the brochure L'emancipation des Israélites en Roumanie (1861). Barasch was among the organisers of the Romanian education system. He founded the first secular modern Israeli school (1852) in Bucharest, with Romanian-language classes. He was the director of the magazine Isis sau Natura (Isis or Nature, 18561859). He had an important activity in historiography, in 1862, he founded Societatea de Cultura Israelita (The society of Israelite culture).
Many other outstanding personalities are associated with Brody, namely Napoleonic leader and commander Baron, General Johann Hiller
Johann Hiller
Johann Adam Hiller was a German composer, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas he collaborated with the poet Christian Felix Weiße...
who was born in Brody in 1754, was commissioned into the Artillery in 1770, became known in the Napoleonic fights with the Turks in 1788-1791. Chajes Oscar, famous Jewish chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
player (from 19th cen.) was born in Brody. The same roots had Daniel Daniel Abraham (Abe) Yanofsky, born in Brody in 1925 and settled in Canada with his family when he was just eight months old. He learned chess at the age of eight, after he and his father saw a chess board and pieces on sale for $1 in the People's Book Store window on Main Street in Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
.
Israeli Rabbi Kalman Kahana
Kalman Kahana
Kalman Kahana was a long-serving Israeli politician and journalist, and a signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence.He was the brother of Yitzhak Kahan, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel.-Background:...
(Kahane) was born and grew up in Brody. Kahane family was notorious in Brody and included the 18th cen. rabbi of Brody Abraham Kahane. In 1938 Kalman Kahana
Kalman Kahana
Kalman Kahana was a long-serving Israeli politician and journalist, and a signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence.He was the brother of Yitzhak Kahan, former President of the Supreme Court of Israel.-Background:...
immigrated to Palestine, becoming the leader of Agudat Israel Workers
Agudat Israel Workers
Poalei Agudat Yisrael was a political party in Poland, and is a minor political party and settlement movement in Israel. It is also known as PAI or PAGI, its Hebrew acronym .-History:...
and member of Provisional Council of State, as well as of the Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
1949-81, reaching the post of Deputy Minister of Education and Culture in 1961-66.
Pogrom refugees from Russia
After the pogromPogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s in 1881, crowds of Russian Jews flooded into Brody, from where they headed for America or back to Russia. By summer of 1882 the number of Russian refugees in Brody reached 20.000, most of them stayed in Brody temporarily until the possibility of further immigration westwards. A local refugee relief committee was organised in Brody and a number of foreign representatives from Paris and Vienna Alliances, other major Jewish organisations were active at this time in the city, including such figures as Friedlander
Friedländer
-Places:* a citizen of Friedland in Ostpreußen, modern Pravdinsk, Russia.* a citizen of one of the German towns or villages called Friedland.- Friedländer :* Albert Friedländer, German bank director, later French and Swiss author...
, Netter
Netter
Netter is a surname, and may refer to:* Charles Netter , Zionist leader* Claude Netter , French foil fencer* Douglas Netter , American film producer and founder of Netter Digital...
and Schafir. In the course of four months 1800 immigrants were transported on their way to America. After arrival of British deputies, the committee was reorganised and managed to send 11 trains with immigrants westwards (in one case 533 people in a go). Meanwhile, the number of refugees continued to grow. On 2 June 1882 it reached 12.476 individuals in 10 days the number increased to 12.668, despite the fact that 1.405 had been sent already within that week. The social situation deteriorated reaching a critical limit. Baron Hirsch entrusted his secretary Veneziani to buy spacious premises of an old clothing factory, where the refugees were consequently accommodated.
Holocaust in Brody
Jewish community of Brody perished in the Holocaust. A great number of Brody Jews were murdered in the autumn 1942. A group of 250 Brody Jewish intellectuals were shot nearby the Jewish cemetery in Brody (where the Holocaust monument stands now). Some of surviving Brody Jews were imprisoned in the family camp of Pyanytsia (Pianica) in the forests near Lviv. All of remaining Brody Jews were moved into the ghetto created in the town on January 1, 1943 (or December 1942). Another 3,000 Jews from neighbouring areas of ZolochivZolochiv
Zolochiv is a town located in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Zolochiv Raion ....
, Lopatyn and Busk
Busk
A busk is the rigid element of a corset placed at the centre front.In stays, the corsets worn between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, the busk was intended to keep the front of the corset straight and upright. It was made of wood, ivory, or bone slipped into a pocket and tied in place with...
were subsequently added to Brody's ghetto
Ghetto
A ghetto is a section of a city predominantly occupied by a group who live there, especially because of social, economic, or legal issues.The term was originally used in Venice to describe the area where Jews were compelled to live. The term now refers to an overcrowded urban area often associated...
. Horrible work conditions made some young people to run away joining the Soviet army
Soviet Army
The Soviet Army is the name given to the main part of the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union between 1946 and 1992. Previously, it had been known as the Red Army. Informally, Армия referred to all the MOD armed forces, except, in some cases, the Soviet Navy.This article covers the Soviet Ground...
. Ghetto's poor hygiene and hunger were non-tolerable. The disease and famine took hundreds of Jewish lives. All 9.000 Jews of Brody ghetto were subsequently mass murdered on May 1, 1943. On September 19, 1942, around 2,500 Jews of Brody were deported to the extermination camp of Belżec (today a little town on Polish Ukrainian border). On November 2, 3,000 more Jews were sent from Brody to Bełżec extermination camp. Many Brody Jews were exterminated in Majdanek concentration camp near Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
(a city in the south east corner of Poland).
Sources
Source article (written by the uploader and contributor of the Wikipedia version)- Roman Zakharii. Galician Jerusalem - Brody as Jewish Intellectual and Cultural Hub of Eastern Galicia. Article, ca. 20 pp., with pictorial material. Leipzig: Simon Dubnow Institute for Jewish History and Culture at Leipzig University, 2004. * By permission of the author, who uploaded the material to Wikipedia himself.
Literature
- Ruhama Elbag. Brody between the Lines. A literary journey to the `Jerusalem of Austria' - a hothouse in Galicia for Hebrew and Yiddish literature. Article in Israeli newspaper "Haaretz". April 24, 2003.
- Toldot Yehudei Brody (The History of the Jews of Brody) by Nathan-Michael Gelber.
- D. Wurm. Z dziejów żydowstwa Brodckiego za c zasów dawnej Rzeczypospolitej do 1772 (From the history of Brody Jewry in times of the old Polish state until 1772). Published in Polish. Brody, 1935.
- Хонигсман Я. Евреи города Броды (1584–1944) - Jews of the city of Brody / Львовск. общ-во евр. культуры им. Шолом-Алейхема. — Львов, 2001. — 120 с., [8] с. ил. 120 экз.
- Tadeusz Lutman. Studyja nad Dziejami Handlu Brodów w latach 1773–1880 / Studies on the History of Commerce in Brody in the years 1773–1880. In Polish.
- An Eternal Light: Brody, in Memoriam. Translation of Ner Tamid: Yizkor leBrody. Edited by: Organization of former Brody residents in Israel, 1994.