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Hrubieszow

HRUBIESZOW, town in Lublin province, Poland. The first information about Jewish settlement in Hrubieszow dates from 1444. Two Jewish merchants are mentioned in 1456 as court purveyors. In 1578 the Jews were authorized by charter to reside in any part of the town, to engage in their customary professions, and to establish a synagogue. In the same year a Jew Abraham obtained the contract for distilling in the town. By agreement with the clergy in Hrubieszow in 1678 the Jews had to pay annual imposts to the ecclesiastical authorities. The community suffered from the disasters of the *Chmielnicki massacres of 1648–49, and in 1672 from the Tatar incursions. Twenty-seven Jewish houses and the smaller synagogue were destroyed in a fire in 1736. The leaders of the community and its rabbis were active on the *Council of the Four Lands. The main occupation of the Hrubieszow Jews was trade in agricultural products. In the second half of the 19th century they expanded into industry and the building trades. The first Jewish-run hospital in Poland was inaugurated in 1818, a new synagogue in 1874, and an old age home in 1905. The Hasidim were active from the early 19th century, and between the world wars the Zionists, Bund, and Agudat Israel were also active. Many emigrated in the post-World War I economic crisis. The Jewish population numbered 709 in 1765, 3,276 in 1856, 5,352 (out of 10,636) in 1897, 5,679 (out of 9,568) in 1921, and 7,500 in 1939.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

S.B. Weinryb, in: MGWJ, 77 (1933), 277; idem, Neueste Wirtschaftsgeschichte der Juden in Russland und Polen (1934), index; I.L. Schiper (ed.), Dzieje handlu żydowskiégo na ziemiach polskich (1937), index; Yaari, in: KS, 20 (1943/44), 219–28; B. Yanover, Adam be-Iro (1947); B. Kaplinsky (ed.), Pinkas Hrubieszów (Eng., Heb., Yid., 1962). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: PK.


Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.