2. CZĘSTOCHOWA
From XVIII century Jews have
lived in Częstochowa and the
area. In Częstochowa there was
even a Jewish district. In houses
there was no sewage system, so
waste was poured through the
windows. In many buildings
there were long wooden
balconies from the backyard
side. At the front door of every
Jewish housing there was a roll
of parchment with hand-written
prayer attached to a vertical
frame part called „mezuzah”.
3. To commemorate the
destruction of the Temple of
Jerusalem a piece of unpainted
wall was left in each house. It
was a symbol of the destruction
of the temple in 1765. In those
years, in Czestochowa there
were 51 Jewish families. Daily
activities started with the
sunrise. From many windows
you could hear the rattling of
sewing machines. A lot of Jews
were traders and sold goods on
New and the Old Markets in the
city.
4. Jews not only lived in Czestochowa but also in
Lelów, Żarki, Janów, Koniecpol and in many
other cities and towns.
JANÓW
Jewish community functioned in Janów
perhaps as early as in the seventeenth century,
which is much earlier than in Częstochowa.
In the eighteenth century Janów was
established Kehillah (Jewish community) for a
significant area, including Częstochowa.
5. Jews in Koniecpol
KONIECPOL
Koniecpol received city rights in 1443 . Jews were trading at that time
(including foreign), participated in the fair in Leipzig. In the eighteenth century
there was a rich independent municipality, as with the synagogue, hospital,
workhouse for the poor, kahalnym home, cemetery and a funeral home. In
1939 in Koniecpol there lived about 1,100 Jews. A ghetto was formed during
the German occupation. Many Jews from the area moved there. In October
1942 many people were killed on the spot. About 1,600 Jews were deported to
Treblinka.
6. An interesting thing is that
Lelow Jews today are
dressed like centuries ago:
they wear large black hats,
skullcaps ...
Every year, Jews arrive
from different parts of the
world: from Canada, the
United States, Belgium,
Holland, England, Australia
and Israel, to pray and
celebrate at the grave of the
tzaddik David Biedermann.
Zadik David taught:
„anyone, man or the people,
shall not depart knowing
one's own mistakes, not be
saved. To the extent we can
be saved in what we know
ourselves”.
The place where until 1974 stood a dwelling house of
the seventeenth century.
8. The Jewish communitya city since 1382. A Jewish
in Żarki
Żarki has existed as
settlement is very old (as evidenced by the
three cemeteries, of which one survived.) The
Jewish community has existed here since at
least the early eighteenth century. In 1827 702
Jews lived here (27.3% of the population), and
from 1921 to 2536 (57.6%). Most of the Jewish
people dealt with the footwear industry,
whose products were sold in Silesia,
Pomerania and Malopolska. Żarki is the
birthplace of a famous patron of the Hebrew
literature Abraham Josef Sztybla. The city has
offered a valuable library of 6,000 works.
In the city the League of Jewish Women was
founded, aimed at feeding poor school
children. Before the war, 3,000 Jews lived here.
In 1939 in Żarki lived about 600 Jewish
families. In February 1941, the Nazis
established a ghetto there. There were about
3000 people. On 6 October 1942 300 people
were shot, others were deported to the
Treblinka death camp.
9. Jewish dishes
• Kugel - a very specific dish from Jewish
cuisine, it is a baked cake with raw or cooked
potatoes, pasta or rice. It can be served as a
dessert.
• Czulent - is a midday meal on Shabbat. Since
on that day, Jews do not cook, the food is
prepared on Friday and kept up to 24 hours in
a hot oven, formerly known as "szabaśnikiem”.
10. • Kreplach - dumplings of dough is cut into
squares or circles filled with stuffing of cooked
meat or chicken and folded in a triangle. They
can be boiled or fried and served in soup, or
separately. Usually served on the eve of Yom
Kippur, Hoshanah Rabbah and Purim.
Ciulim or Czulent is a dish with a centuries-old
tradition in Jewish cuisine as well as residents
in Lelów cuisine. In Lelów it is prepared only
at Easter and Christmas.
11. Jewish outfit
Men’s fashion
An everyday outfit was a black robe [arab.chalit], called in Yiddish.
kapote. Its form and style reminds a noble "zupan", modeled on the
Turkish dress. In the eighteenth century chalat varied in colours, on
the southern borderlands it was sewn of small vertical stripes, in the
nineteenth century it adopted the black color, to symbolize
mourning for the destruction of the Temple. Boys and adults
Hasidim wore a shirt worn under a shirt or instead kutna tallis
[Hebrew talit tallis katan = small tallis] a type of a vest with a white
cloth sewn on the sides, The front was decorated just like tallis,
with dark blue or black stripes attached to the corners tzitzis Tassels That had to be let out on the top of the trousers. Under the
influence of eighteenth-century Hasidic fashion trousers were short
and to the knees. Men had black or white woolen socks and shoes many of the boots or the Turkish kapce shoes. Men covered their
heads with a small cap, yarmulke, which is assumed to have a cap or
hat-shaped depending on local fashion. On holidays they wore
sztrejml [Yid.], a wide brimmed hat with the fox or sable fur. During
prayers, men cover themselves with tallis and tefillin .
12. Women’s fashion
Women usually line with the current fashion, and
depending on the wealth dressed like a peasant
or townswomen. In religious families, married
women wear scarves or wigs because a custom
required that after marriage the bride would
shave her head so as not to wake her husband
sinful lust, as well as to protect them against evil
spirits, szedim, entangle in the hair. On the dress,
which should reach their necks and have long
sleeves covering the elbows, were richly
embroidered until the early nineteenth century
