Judged by the
standard of the times, they were veritable freemen, freer than the
Huguenots of France and the Puritans of England. They were left
unmolested in the administration of their internal affairs, and were
permitted to appoint their own judges, enforce their own laws, and
support their own institutions. Forming a state within a state, they
developed a civilization contrasting strongly with that round about
them, and comparing favorably with some of the features of ours of
to-day. Slavonic Jewry was divided into four districts, consisting of
the more important communities (kahals), to which a number of smaller
ones (prikahalki) were subservient. These, known as the Jewish
Assemblies (zbori zhidovskiye), met at stated intervals. As in our
federal Government, the administrative, executive, and legislative
departments were kept distinct, and those who presided over them
(roshim) were elected annually by ballot. These roshim, or elders,
served by turns for periods of one month each. The rabbi of each
community was the chief judge, and was assisted by several inferior
judges (dayyanim). For matters of importance there were courts of appeal
established in Ostrog and Lemberg, the former having jurisdiction over
Volhynia and the Ukraine, the latter over the rest of Jewish
Russo-Poland.
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