The Jewish community of Brody (a city in the Lviv region of western Ukraine) was one of the oldest and best-known Jewish communities from western Ukraine (and formerly of the Austrian Empire / Poland up to 1939) until it perished in the Holocaust in 1942–1943.
While today it is a non-significant town in Western Ukraine, only serving as the administrative center of the Brodovsky rayon, in the northeastern fringe of the Lviv oblast, Brody once stood out as a Jewish cultural and economic center in the area.
After Lviv, Brody was the second largest city in Eastern Galicia and had the largest proportion of Jewish residents (88%), in contrast to other areas in the region.
Even the remote tiny forest village of Stanislavchyk, 15 km northeast of the city and surrounded by hip plantations, presumes of a Jewish heritage as it had many Jews living there, most likely moving from Brody.
An old desolate Jewish graveyard in Stanislavchyk bears witness to its vivid Jewish past.
History The earliest mention of Brody as a settlement takes place in the medieval Teaching of Vladimir Monomah to the Children. The city is said to have served twice as a meeting place of Duke Vladimir II Monomah and Volhynian Duke St. Yaropolk Izyaslavich in 1084 and 1086, the prior date formally figuring as the beginning of Brody's history in local historiography.
Austro-Hungarian rule For a long time, Brody was one of the greatest trade centers of the whole Austro-Hungarian Empire, being referred to as the Trieste of the continent. Known since the 12th century, Brody had been almost entirely inhabited by Jews short after, which earned it the nickname of the Galician Jerusalem.
During Austrian rule in Galicia, the northeastern fringe of the Empire passed just a few kilometres from Brody, which lied between the borders of the two main empires of the time, i.e. the Austrian and the Russian one.
Until 1664, Brody was a "sub-kahal" of Lviv, i.e. under the administration of the Lviv Jewish Community. From the 17th century on, it became an important center of Jewish trade (esp. horse fairs) and artisans.
18th century In 1756, Brody was home to 7191 Jews, reaching 14.718 in 1880 (out of 19.977 of total town inhabitants).
In 1779, Brody was granted the status of a free city, i.e. it was tax-free. As it could trade with all European countries, new ideas and foreign culture were brought about, making it an intellectual center. The main commercial hub of Eastern Galicia, Brody was connected to major European trade centers such as Leipzig, and its commercial turnover surpassed that of the whole province of Galicia.
At the end of the 18th century, the Jewish Enlightenment started in Eastern Galicia in three cities: Lviv, Ternopil, and Brody. As such, Austrian authorities associated enlightened Jews with the free city of Brody. The governor of Galicia noted that, while Orthodox, Hasidim and Karaite Jews lived in the region, enlightened Jews could only be found in Brody.
19th century During the 19th century, Brody was the second-largest city in Eastern Galicia (after Lviv (Lemberg)), with the highest proportion of Jewish population (88%) among Eastern European cities. Few other European cities had a nearly exclusively Jewish population; only Berdychiv (in Russian Ukraine) and Thessaloniki in Greece to a certain degree.
Its "sister city" over the Russian side of the border was Radyvyliv, just 9 km east of Brody, which had a similar role to that of Brody on the Russian side.
In 1827, out of a total number of 11,718 Jewish merchants and shopkeepers in all Galicia, 1,134 (about 10%) lived in Brody. The same year, Brody was home to 36 Jewish brokers and 9 Jewish bankers. Jews owned 163 (93%) large commercial and industrial enterprises in Brody (175 in total).
Among the six largest Jewish commercial firms in Brody in 1849 were M. Nathanson, with 40,000 florins in the capital, Yidl Nathanson and Nirenstein with 30,000 florins each.
World Wars Brody was destroyed twice; once during World War I, and again in World War II in 1944.
Hasidism
Besides its commercial importance, the city was of a great Talmudic and scholarly importance, where Talmudists and Hasidim fought and coexisted. The famous sages of Brody Kloiz were "the lions and tigers in the Torah and in piety".
Around 1720, it was home to the founder of Hasidism, Baal Shem Tov (aka Besht or Baalshem). Dubnow gives a vivid account of the Brody phase in Besht biographical history. Baal Shem Tov arrived in Brody at the age of 20 when his religious outlook was taking shape,.
Dubnow states that Besht settled in some village by Brody. He engaged in the profession of melamed, teacher of the youngsters.
As he was not well trained in the Talmud, Simon Dubnow presumes he was an elementary level teacher instructing children in prayer, reading and translating Torah. Despite his insignificant position, he soon earned respect and fame in Brody.
His honesty, non-passionate meek character, humbleness and life gained wisdom attracted the attention of the surrounding common people, heading to him for consultations and court advice. Among the suppliants was Ephraim Kutover, father to Brody rabbi Gershon Kutover.
The seeker was so pleased with Besht's decision that after getting to know him better and learning he is a widower, he offered him his divorced daughter in marriage.
Shevhei ha-Besht explicitly mentions the existence of pre-Besht era Hasidic circle in Brody. The source mentions Brody as the place where Besht was first made a Rabbi of local Hasidim: "...the conventicle of great pietists Hasidim in that city Brody...who made him their rabbi."
Though Besht was at first rejected by Brody's kabbalistic brotherhood as he did not match the traditional qualifications to be admitted, he eventually earned himself the respect of his fellows thanks to his charisma.
Besht had high regard for those "great Hasidim" of the Brody circle and it seems quite plausible that the Baalshem intended to organise a similar fellowship of his own or wanted to unite with a brotherhood of Brody kind.
However, the married couple was later expelled of Brody and settled in Kuty, some 100 km to the south at the foothills of the Carpathians. The kabbalistic fellowship of Brody did not act on social scale.
It was a closed circle of pietists who used to gather at Brody Study Hall, founded around 1736, and did not spread their activities beyond there.
Ban on Hasidism (1772)
As Hasidism grew as a social phenomenon, a ban was issued in Brody, forbidding a great number of Hasidic practices and only allowing prayer in the Lurianic rite. Among the forbidden practices were the Hasidic shehitah (slaughter by Talmud forbidden honed shehitah knives / geschleefeene) that irritated the Misnagdim.
Brody native Gershon Kutover (secretary to Baal Shem Tov and his brother-in-law, who settled in Palestine later) defended his employer when sages were preparing to anathematise him, in which they eventually succeeded.
The proclamation is included in the pamphlet Zamir arisim ve-harevot surim. Brodyites expressed their concern that the new heresy can bring a catastrophe on whole Polish Jewry discrediting God's name in the same way as Frankists and Sabbateans did. Brody sages feared that the sect was particularly dangerous as there was no high authority to interfere after dissolution of the Great Council of Fours Lands. Brody declaration caused great furore on the tsaddiks when learning of it, who in their turn became even more active in a fight for a believer, as a cause of it.
Haskalah movement
Brody played a leading role in the Galician Haskalah movement, with many important figures living in Brody.
Israel ben Moses Ha-Levi of Zamość Lefin, teacher of Moses Mendelssohn, chose Brody to be his final seat, and died there in April 1772.
Israel Lefin spent part of his life in Berlin, but persecution from Orthodox rabbis forced him to seek another home. Thus, he returned to Galicia and settled in Brody, where he lived in great poverty. He was an outstanding Jewish astronomer, author of the Nezah Yisrael, dedicated to the astronomical and geometrical passages in both Talmuds (published in Frankfurt-on-Oder in 1741) and of Arubbot ha-Shamayim, treaties on ancient and modern astronomy.
In his memoirs, Avrom Ber Gotlober gives a vivid account of the importance Brody had on the spreading of the Age of Enlightenment ideas in Russia and Ukraine proper:
The Jews who lived in the large Galician cities were the first to be enlightened by the light of the wisdom of the RaMbeMaN [acronym for Moses Mendelssohn] and his followers. On the account of their travels they would travel to various Russian cities and bring with them at the same time the spices of their enlightenment and knowledge… In this regard, Brody especially excelled, being a city of scholars and Maskilim who used to do business mostly with Russia. Everywhere that a merchant of Brody would come, he would excite the youth with his fine speaking – their eyes opened…and they would take up education...Avrom Ber Gotlober. Zikhronot u-masaot (Memoirs and Travels). Jerusalem, 1976.
Among the maskilim living in Brody in the 19th century, were Dov Ber Blumenfeld, Isaac Erter, and Joshua Heschel Schorr. The latter published periodical He-Halutz (the Pioneer) in Brody during 1852–1889.
Adolf Stand, president of the Galician Zionists, was elected to the Austrian parliament from the Brody district in 1907. However, in 1911, he was forced to quit his deputy mandate due to the political intrigues initiated by the assimilationist .
Because of the highly commercial and internationalised nature of Brody's Jewish community, it was one of the most Germanised Galician cities. In May 1784, the first Josephinian style German Jewish Normal school opened in Brody. In 1815, the first Jewish Realschule was established with German as the main language for instruction.
Brody was home to the acclaimed Royal Gymnasium of Archprince Rudolf (today, Brody Gymnasium), which was once attended by the known Jewish writer Joseph Roth. taught there as well, Roth being his student. The modern monument next to the school commemorates several outstanding figures that studied here. It is shaped in a rainbow of head figures associated with the establishment. Along with Roth's, it includes the sculptures of three Ukrainian cultural notabilities: painter Trush, folklorist Rozdolsky, scientist Shchurat, and writer Tudor.
The issue of national identity in the 1880s
The issue of Jewish national identity, the problem of the Jewish national language and their recognition in the legal system of Habsburg monarchy was reflected in the Brody school case and tribunal dispute from 1880.
Since 1867, Austrian monarchy recognized the equal status of all nationalities and languages used in the large multicultural state.
The 19th paragraph of the new Austro-Hungarian Constitution (from the 21st of December, 1867) guaranteed equal national rights to all the ethnic group in the empire. In Brody, where more than ¾ of the population was Jewish (out of ca. 20.000 of inhabitants), there was only one public school teaching in German and two schools with Polish as instruction medium.
The Galician Regional School Council (Landesschulrat) in Lviv allowed opening of two more schools refusing however the wish of Brody town commune to have German for instruction language in these new schools. Council was only willing to allow them to be in Polish. In the end, in 1880 Brody town commune appealed with the complaint to the Tribunal of the State (Reichsgericht) in Vienna, after unsuccessful attempts to defend their claim at the Galician Landeschulrat and the Ministry of Religion and Science.