Żyd i karczma miejska na Podlasiu w XVIII wieku

Abstract

The Podlaskie Voivodship was characterized by particularly high percentage of Jews engaged in the retail of liquor. The problem of urban inns should receive more attention since it is even less known than the problem of rural inns, also inadequately studied. In towns both Jewish and non-Jewish citizens were entitled to the right of the retail of liquor. This legal solution, however, was not a rule in the whole country. In the second half of the 18th century the tendencies increased to deprive Jews of the income resulting from the retail of liquor, which made 28%, but even up to 60%, of the total municipal revenues. The profits from the retail of liqur included also the payment for lease of inns, and charge for running pubs, and the right to produce liquor. The payments for lease were paid directly to the starost's administration or the town owner's clerks, or Jews who were lease-holders of municipal revenues, frequently not only from the retail of liquor, but also from other sections of economy. The lease-holders, in order to cope with such a complex economic task, often entered into partnerships which were accepted by the Kahal authorities. Jewish lease of the production and retail of liquor had various forms: from both produdion and sale of beer, vodka and mead, to the sale of purchased liquor only. The right to retail also diversified: drinks were sold either in pubs or private homes. To increase the revenues from the retail of liquor, starosts or towns owners introduced a system of pressures and restrictions aimed at both Jewish and Christian population. This system was in many cases similar to that applied in villages. The system was expected to provide Jewish lease-holders with means of support as well as the possiblity to pay high rentals. Apart from the system of pressures and restrictions, another incentive to increase the revenues from inns was the credit granted to regulars. Debts were enforced by starosts or squires when the lease-holders were unable to collect the debts thems elves. To avoid the financial ruin of peasants' and tonwsfolks' households, the extent of credit was established by the owner or the starost of the town, and depended on social and financial status of the drinking person. Jewish lease-holders were provided with a helper („pachołek") or even a few serfs (against the rule not to employ Christians). The contracts to lease the retail of liquor stipulated that if the lease-holder would not pay the rentals in due time, he was to pledge his wife and children to the owner. Lease-holders unable to pay exorbitant payments frequently escaped. In case the family was „sequestered", the local Kahal tried to redeem them from pawn, but their fate was sometimes tragic. Despite all the inconveniences as well as the attempts of Christian townsfolk to eliminate Jews out of liquor revenues, Jews nevertheless retainied this section of economy. For many Jews retail of liquor was frequently the only way to provide for minimum existence.