The Significance of the Jewish Tavernkeeper in Early Trendy Poland

Ah sure, the cash. For those who check out the system right here, the cash was – from the attitude of the Aristocracy – the troublesome half. You needed to promote your items to have cash – to pay to your youngster’s schooling, as an illustration, however then again, you wanted to maintain the peasants in form, stopping them from accumulating their very own wealth. That was the essential premise of the quasi-taxation system, referred to as propinacja (propination legal guidelines).

This distinctive legislation, particularly within the early Poland-Lithuania, compelled the peasants to purchase a sure amount of vodka from their landlord and him alone, on this means returning him his cash in case his peasants managed to avoid wasting. Vodka was the very best commodity for this goal. It’s essentially the most processed type of grain – due to this fact, the margin is the best. It’s simply storable and conveyable, so you’ll be able to freely allocate portions for inside and exterior commerce. And it’s multi-purpose as not solely a drink however a foundation for some family works and a foundation for tinctures.

After all, there was one other downside related with propination legal guidelines – it (generally) established monopoly and minimal portions of spirits purchased. This led to the unfold of alcoholism, as spirits are usually addictive.

And thus, the function of the tavern within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the function of Jews in operating taverns, led to social tensions. Not compelled into the peasantry, Jews had been thought of free and clearly enterprise companions to the the Aristocracy. On the identical time, they served the system the place peasants had been compelled into propination legal guidelines. And when their life was no rose backyard both, the accusations of exploitation had been being raised.

Debunked stereotypes

That stated, there was way more to it than the anti-Semitic stereotype. An important textual content in Polish romantic literature, Adam Mickiewicz’s epic Pan Tadeusz (1834), depicts all of the features of bygone Polish-Lithuanian rural life, together with the Jewish tavernkeeper.

To cite American historian of Polish Jewry Glenn Dynner, Yankel, as he was referred to as, and his tavern are there:

[N]ot solely a pure a part of the panorama, they’re a unifying pressure in fractious post-partition Poland-Lithuania. As Lord (Pan) Tadeusz and firm enter the older tavern after church companies, they discover peasants, wives, gentry, and a priest ingesting and chatting harmoniously underneath Yankel’s auspices. Yankel, for his half, appears to unite all of Polish Jewry in his individual—sage rabbi, shrewd enterprise advisor, simply mediator, melancholy singer, rapt dancer, and, after all, tavernkeeper. He’s additionally, implicitly, every little thing that Polish Jewry just isn’t (but). He speaks Polish with good pronunciation, is “a loyal Pole by fame” who embraces the reason for independence, and is even an sincere tavernkeeper: “Neither peasants nor gents ever complained; why complain?/ He had good, selection drinks/ saved his accounts strictly and  with none trickery.”

Noble nostalgia? Maybe. However then once more, with centuries of the presence of Jewish tavernkeepers deeply rooted in Polish tradition, issues are absolutely sophisticated far past stereotype.