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Theirrelativeprofusionallowsustoobservemanyaspectsof
aJewishcommunity’sinternallife.Moreover,thePoznańand
Swarzędzcommunitiesmaintainedrelationsand,usingthese
communitiesasanexample,onemaykeeptrackofhowtheprincipal
communityanditsbranchoperated.WhenJewishsourcesare
comparedwiththoseproducedbythemunicipal,starosta’s,or
voievode’sinstitutions,onemaygetabroaderpictureof
theenvironmentinwhichtheauthoritiesofaJewishcommunity
operated.
Thisstudycoversaperiodof150years,beginninginthemid17th
centuryuntilthePartitionsofPoland.Iamawarethatthedividingline
setinthemiddleofthe17thcenturyiscontroversial.Thereasonwhy
Ioptedforitwasthechronologicalscopeofthesourcematerials.In
myopinion,themid17thcenturydoesnotconstituteaqualitative
turningpointintheoperationofJewishinstitutions.Some
phenomena,suchasindebtednessorcentralization,hadbeenevolving
graduallyovertheentireperiod,eventhoughtheirstartingpointmay
betracedbacktoearliertimes.Ontheotherhand,theturnofthe18th
centurywascertainlyaturningpoint,notonlyduetothefactthat
PolishJewsbegantoliveinthreeseparatestateswithdifferent
politicalsystems,butalsoduetonewtrendsthatbecamemanifestin
Jewishsociety,namelytheHaskalahandHasidism,bothofwhichhad
theirimpactonthefollowingcentury.
Moreover,Iamnotinclinedtoperceivetheexaminedperiodasan
eraofcrisis,mainlyforthisreason,e.g.,thatitisdifficulttoconceive
ofacrisisthatwouldpersistfor150years.Thisiswhytheapproach
takenbymanystudies,onethatemphasizescrisisphenomena,
oligarchy,andabusesofpowerbyofficials,seemstobeonlypartially
right.
Moreover,
most
of
those
phenomena
affected
theCommonwealth’sentiresociety,eventhoughtheymanifested
themselvesindifferentwaysandtheirscopedifferedaswell.Manyof
thepracticeswhichseemrepellentbytoday’sstandards,suchas
thebuyingofpositionsandtitlesortheexistenceofinformalpatron-
clientrelations,weretypicalofearlymodempoliticallifeinwhich
aborderlinedemarcatingtheprivatefromthe“public”wasperceived
