The Lublin Haggadah [antikvár]

^ Introduction ^The borders of the Polish state underwent many changes over the generations. Up until the middle of the 17th century, Poland-Lithuania extended eastward into the territory of what is today Ukraine and Belarus. Towards the end of the 18th century, when Poland lost its independence, some 70% of the Jews of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth lived in these areas.The beginning of Jewish settlement in Poland is clouded in mystery. Legends and facts are mired together and hard to tell apart. Actual details about the Jews' arrival in Poland are few and fragmented, but we know they had a hold on areas annexed by Poland before the end of the first millermium. For instance, in the western regions of the ancient Polish Kingdom, gravestones with Hebrew writing have been discovered. Even royal Polish coins with Polish words in Hebrew letters have survived intact!In the Middle Ages, Jews emigrated from Germany, Austria and Bohemia to Poland, receiving rights to live, make a living and practice their religion in Polish cities.The first known charter of rights was granted by King Boleslaw the Pious of Kalisz in 1264. It and others like it regulated Jewish individual and communal rights, credit and trading activity relatively liberally for the next 500 years.Poland's "House of Israel" - this is how rabbis, writers and historians referred to Polish Jewry - was a highly influential spiritual center at the end of the Middle Ages and afterwards. Its production of Rabbinic works grew tremendously over the course of hundreds of years of immigration and settlement. The famous Minhag Ashkenaz spread throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and became what is now known as the Minhag Ashkenaz and Polin.In the course of time, laws, customs, prayer passages and tunes from Eastern Europe were added to the traditions brought over from the cities of Germany. The Polish communities were part of the Ashkenazi, Yiddish-speaking Diaspora that, shortly before the Modern Age, spread out from Holland and the Alsace in western Europe up to the Russian Empire in the east. In the 16th century, the greatest Talmudic scholars lived in the communities of BCrakow and Lublin.The Jews of Poland lived in hundreds of cities, towns and villages. The vastness of the population and its wide dispersal led to the development of many vigorous, energetic and creative communities. They enjoyed broad autonomy and worked together in bodies such as the Council of Four Lands and the Council of the Land of Lithuania, in areas of legislation, economics, and more.