Appointment of a Doctor for the Poor

The Jewish Community of Kraków

1657

On Sunday 3 Tammuz 5416, the lords, their honors, the wardens, may the Rock preserve them, gathered together and once again accepted master Yontil the balbirer [barber] to be the expert physician for all the poor members of our community, may the Rock preserve it, and also for any poor visitors who come to our community, may the Rock preserve it. He is considered qualified to perform faithfully his line of work, to cure any kinds of wounds—may they not occur—to let blood, and also to cut the hair of visitors. This means that if anyone brings in his possession a letter from the that month’s parnas [community leader] from the lords, the wardens, may the Rock preserve them, to the aforesaid master Yontil, he will be required to provide him with all that he needs for his treatment. Excluded are people with raten [an infectious venereal disease]—he must be careful of them and is not required to treat them. Also, with regard to a haircut [kopzetsin], the wardens, may the Rock preserve them, are required to pay him as is customary.

In return, the lord wardens, may the Rock preserve them, will give him every week one gold piece. Furthermore, we have also exempted master Yontil, may the Rock preserve him, from all types of dues, whether regular taxes or the levies for the guards, or for the maintenance of the wall, or other such contributions.

All of this we have accepted by Rosh Ḥodesh Tammuz (June 12, 1657).

Isaac Lando the Levite, Judah Sirkesh the young, from Kraków, and Moses Kahana.

Translated by

Jeffrey M.

Green

Credits

The Jewish Community of Kraków, “Appointment of a Doctor for the Poor” (manuscript, Kraków, 1657). Published in: Krako-Kazimyez-Krakov (Studies in the History of Cracow Jewry), ed. Elchanan Reiner (Tel Aviv: Tel Aviv University Press, 2001), p. 319 (no. 2).

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 5.

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The Jewish Community of Kraków

Jews were probably living in Kraków as early as the eleventh century, although the first record of a Jewish resident dates only from the thirteenth century. An organized community emerged in the following century, during which there was a Jewish street, a synagogue, and a mikveh in the city. The Jews of Kraków encountered substantial hostility, culminating in their expulsion to neighboring Kazimierz in 1495. The first yeshiva in Poland was established in Kazimierz in the late fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century, immigrants arrived from Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal, and by the 1570s the town’s Jewish population numbered more than two thousand. During the ensuing centuries Jews living in Kazimierz battled for the right to conduct business in Kraków. The community flourished, boasting seven major synagogues and numerous yeshivot by the mid-seventeenth century. However, in the second half of the seventeenth century, the community suffered as a result of the Swedish occupation, numerous attacks, and outbreaks of the plague.

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