Long before there was social media, or even shul newsletters, there was the pinkas — the book where Jewish communities as a whole, as well as individual workers’ guilds and charitable societies, recorded both their loftiest aspirations and mundane activities. Some of their records can fetch tens of thousands of dollars at auction. We investigated the story of one such pinkas, which will go on the block in Jerusalem at the end of the month.
Who knew?
Certainly not Yossi Goldstein a resident of Kiryat Ono. All he knew was that his father had inherited an interesting record of their family’s history which was inscribed at the back of an old leather-bound book. He had no idea that the book itself might be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
The book had come from Bacau a city then located in Moldavia Romania in which Jews began to settle in the late 1700s. During the 1800s the time when Yossi’s great-great-grandfather a tailor was plying his needle the city had everything that a flourishing Jewish kehillah needed. In addition to shuls and a Talmud Torah there was a chevra kaddisha chevra Mishnayos and chevra gemilus chasadim. There were also artisans’ guilds such as the one that Yossi’s ancestor belonged to the Po’alei Tzedek Tailors’ Association.
Each of these groups recorded their rules and regulations in a book called a pinkas. In 1832 the year the Tailors’ Association was founded Yossi’s great-great-grandfather proudly signed his name in the impressive book along withBacau’s other tailors.
“His name is second on the list right after the gabbai” says Yossi. “Apparently he was in charge of taking care of the book which is why it stayed in our family’s possession. He gave the pinkas to his son the grandfather of my father.”
Create a free account to keep reading.
