Żydzi wiejscy w Wielkim Księstwie Litewskim w drugiej połowie XVIII wieku
Rural Jews in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 2nd Half of 18th Century

Summary/Abstract: The article looks at Jewish settlement in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the second half of the 18th century. The source documents are records of Jewish poll tax from 1764/65. Based on analyses of this source it was determined that in the second half of the 18th century, about 40% of the Jewish population of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania lived in the countryside. This settlement was of a permanent nature. The smallest proportion of rural Jews was recorded in Vilna and Minsk districts (powiat) and the Duchy of Samogitia (Żmudź), while the highest proportion of Jews in the countryside could be found in Wiłkomierz and Mozyrz districts and in Livonia (Inflanty). The available source does not permit a detailed analysis of the occupational structure of the Jews in rural areas. It was determined, however, that the occupational structure of the rural Jewish population was diversified and resembled the occupational structure of the Jewish population of towns. The largest group were persons associated with the leasing of establishments benefiting from propination laws. They were innkeepers, publicans, wine merchants and brewers. There were also craftsmen active in the village (chiefly tailors), members of the professions (mainly teachers), merchants. A comparison of the structure of Jewish rural settlement in the Duchy to such settlement in Polish Crown lands shows that the percentage of Jews in the villages was higher in the Duchy than in the Crown and that the occupational structure of Lithuania’s rural Jews was less diversified (e.g., there were fewer crafts people there).

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