Political and Tax Matters
In the declaration of rights from March 19, 1527, King Zigmont the First acknowledged an earlier document written by King Alexander. According to that document, Brzesc Jews were allowed to trade and work like their non-Jewish neighbors. In addition, they were allowed to receive one quarter of the revenues, and the right to share the money collected from roads toll in the city. In return, the Jews had to help with the building and upkeep of bridges, road construction, and the purchase of weapons and gun powder needed to defend the city. The Jews had to struggle in order to collect their quarter of the income from their Christian neighbors. On March 14, 1580, leaders of Brzesc's Jewish community appeared in front of the King's clerk to complain about the Christian resident's refusal to accept the king's order.
In 1567, the Lithuanian parliament, which met in Grodna, enforced a general tax of 4,000 Lithuanian's Suke [?] Grushim [?] on the Jews. Brzesc's Jews were ordered to pay half of that amount, even though, Brzesc's Jewish population was a lot smaller than the rest of the Jewish population of Lita. A year later, in 1568, a large section of the city was burnt down. King Zigmond August waved the payments of one third of the taxes for a period of 9 years, both from the Jewish and the non Jewish residents. In addition, he encouraged them to build their homes out of stone. The great tax collectors of the time, Lipman Ben Shemria and Mendel Ben Yitchak, invited an architect from Warsaw to build their homes, and to build a magnificent synagogue. The synagogue building was considered to be one the most beautiful building in Poland-Lita. It stood on that location until 1842. In 1576, a great fire broke again in Brzesc. As a result, King Stephan Batur [?] exempted Brzesc's Jews from paying their taxes. The Jewish community recovered fast. On March 5 1580, a complaint against the Jews was served to the king. According to the complaint, the Jews broke the rampart around the city, and built homes outside it. From that, we can assume that their number increased, and they did not have enough space to build their homes inside the city limit.
According to Brzesc's tax registry from 1583, the city's Jews traded with Germany and Austria. They imported wax, paper, furs, iron, lead and textile from Moravia and Hungary and exported soap, gloves made in Moscow, furs, saddles and much more. At times, Brzesc's Jews did not hesitate to collect money due to them from the Christian by using force.
A Merchant--Landlord
In the 70 years of the 16th century, Shaul Ben Yehuda Val [?] arrived in Brzesc from the city of Padua in Italy. At first, he studied in Brzesc's Yeshiva, and later on, he married a local girl, and settled in the city. In a very short period of time, he became one of the great merchants and landlords in Lita. Using his closeness with King Stephan Baturi, he argued in the king's court in favor of the Jews. In 1580, Shaul Ben Yehuda was among Brzesc's Jewish community leaders, who complained to the city's administrators that the Christian residents refuse to, oblige with the king's order to give the Jews one quarter of the city's revenue. In 1593, Val obtained a royal decree stating that the Jews should be judge only by a Rabbinical court, without the influence of the city's clerks or the king. Reb Shaul paid for the construction of two public buildings. One as a synagogue, and the other, as a Yeshiva. Later on, the Yeshiva became famous all over Europe attracting students from Italy. Germany and even from Makafa [?] in Creme [?]. A legend has been told, that Reb Shaul Vall became King of Poland for one day. His sons and decedents who came from the families of Kazlbogen [?] and Padua, served as rabbis and public servants until the break of the Second World War.
The First Prominent Brisker Rabbi
The first well-known Brzesc Rabbi was Rabbi Yechiel Ben Aaron Loria, grandfather of the Rabbi and Teacher Rabbi Shlomo Loria. He served around the year 1470. In 1514, for a very short period of time, Rabbi Moshe Vskivitch [?] served as Brzesc's Rabbi. At the end of the 16th century, resided in Brzesc Rabbi Mendel Frank who was chosen by the king to be Lita's chief Rabbi. A nomination that was not approved by the Jews. Brzesc's Yeshiva was established around the middle of the 16th century. As its director, stood Rabbi Moshe Wiss [?], and Rabbi Shimon. In 1540, Brzesc's chief rabbi was Rabbi Kelonimus [?] who was the father in law of the Rabbi and Teacher Rabbi Shelomo Loria. Some of the well known names of Rabbis who resided in Brzesc at the second half of the 16th century were Naftali Hartz, Moshe Lipschitz [?] who wrote (in 1569) the book Zicharon Moshe, Yehuda Ben Ovadia Ailenbord [?] and Beinish [?] Lipshich [?] Shaul Val's father-in-law.
During the second half of the 16th century, Brzesc's Jewish community was leading community in the Lithuanian principality. During the 17th century, and the first half of the 18th century, it lost its position when the Jewish community of Vilna captured the title....
[Discontinuity: Has text regarding general Lithuanian politics been omitted?]
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