Znaczenie spuścizny naukowej Anatola Leszczyńskiego dla badań historii i historycznej antroponimii Żydów Podlasia

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the figure of Anatol Leszczyński (actually, Natan Lichtenstein) – a researcher of the history of Jewish settlement – and to discuss the contents of his selected works. Leszczyński based his exploration of the history of Jews in Eastern Poland, among others, on the Pinkas, chronicles written in Hebrew, which – because of the language barrier – were unavailable to Polish scholars. The author discusses Leszczyński’s findings on the Jewish settlement in Podlasie. Leszczyński divided this phenomenon into four periods and proved that in the 18th century the process of Jewish settling in Podlasie ended. The article discusses also Leszczyński’s research on the functions of Qahals, which determined the Jewish autonomy, as well as the legal situation of the Jews in Poland in various historical periods. Leszczyński discussed in his research also the issue of livelihood of the Jewish population, which was reflected in the naming of people, as a large group of Jews in Podlasie had names derived from vocations. In the last part of the text, the author discusses Leszczyński’s findings regarding relations between Jews and Christians, as well as the attitude of the Catholic Church, which held a certain type of care over other denominations, including the Jews.