Wiktor Sybilski
Studia Judaica, Nr 1 (51), 2023, s. 3 - 39
https://doi.org/10.4467/24500100STJ.23.002.18219Booklists from Notarial Records as a Valuable Source for Researching the Religious Life of Jews in Chełm during the First Quarter of the Nineteenth Century
The article presents an edition of booklists extracted from notarial records focusing on two collections of Jewish religious books belonging to Dawid Wajnberg (ca. 1757–1824) and Nute Mojsze Rubinsztein (ca. 1783–1824), two merchants from Chełm. The records have been identified through historical transcriptions of the local Ashkenazi Hebrew, and the article examines the patterns found within these documents. One such pattern is the consistent placement of Talmud treatises at the beginning of the booklists, following the order of the Mishnah. The author stresses the fact that alongside essential Midrashic, Halakhic, and ethical works, there are also unusual books present, such as the Hebrew-Latin Liber Cosri by Yehuda Halevi (1075–1141), published in Basel in 1660. As a result, the article confirms the popularity of certain religious works in Eastern Europe at that time, and explores the significance of these unique items within the collections, considering their connection to the activities of Halakhic and Maskilic centers in the area.