The article discusses activities of two Reading Rooms which were created in the milieu of the progressive Jews in Krakow, Galicia in the 19th century: The Israelite Reading Room (1871) and The Reading Room of the Jewish Merchant Youth (1882). Both Reading Rooms fostered not only readership but also social integration, education, and became centers of Polish patriotism. They contributed to the development of Jewish publish libraries.
This article concerns the events that occurred in Sofia, Bulgaria, in the late 1880s and the early 1890s when the position of the Chief Rabbi of Bulgaria was granted to an Ashkenazi rabbi Szymon Dankowicz (1834-1910). Dankowicz was able to obtain this title thanks to the Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) which intensified its activities in Bulgaria after the country had been liberated from the Turkish occupation in 1879 and the Principality of Bulgaria had been formed. The main focus of this article is to present the activities of Dankowicz in Bulgaria as well as the relations between the Sephardic and the Ashkenazi Jews in that period as they are depicted in the sources stored in the archives of the AIU in Paris.
The article focuses on the history of the Association for the Support of the Poor Jewish Boys, which was founded in Cracow in 1867. The aim of this institution was to give Jewish boys from unprivileged families an opportunity to learn crafts. Acquiring a profession was supposed to help the boys in earning the material and financial stability in their future lives. During the period of Galician autonomy, approximately 500 boys learned a profession thanks to the association. The number of association members varied in the discussed period, usually oscillating around 300 (it reached the maximum of 420 members). The majority of the association members were Jews, but also Christians engaged in its activities, among them the city president Józef Dietl. The association was financed from membership dues, donations and subsidies of various kinds (e.g. from the City Council or Cracow Savings Bank), and thanks to lectures and balls organized in its support. The activities of this association gained support among the so-called progressive Jews, praying in the Tempel. The progressives entered the association’s management board (and dominated it in some periods), many representatives of this group became regular members of this association and supported it financially. The association was supported also by the progressive preachers: Szymon Dankowicz, Samuel Landau and Ozjasz Thon. For many years Arnold Rapaport served as the head of the association and supported it financially. Currently we celebrate the 150th anniversary of the existence of this association (it was founded in 1867, its statute confirmed one year later), which might serve as a good opportunity to recall its activities.
The article provides an overview of available printed statistical sources that carry information on Jewish students in Galician schools, both at primary and secondary levels. It describes the statistics at the state (Galician) level, compiled by the National School Council and by Galician statistical offices, as well as statistics at the imperial level compiled by the Central Statistical Commission in Vienna.
PL
Tekst oferuje przegląd dostępnych drukowanych źródeł statystycznych, które niosą informacje na temat uczniów żydowskich w szkołach galicyjskich, zarówno poziomu podstawowego jak i średniego. Opisano statystyki szczebla krajowego (galicyjskiego) tworzone przez Radę Szkolną Krajową oraz przez galicyjskie biura statystyczne, a także szczebla państwowego, zestawiane przez Centralną Komisję Statystyczną w Wiedniu.
The public elementary schools (in practice established due to educational reforms of the late 1860s and early 1870s) and secondary schools operating in Galicia were legally open to children of all faiths, including Jews. However, in practice, these schools adapted to the needs of Christian children. Most Galician Jews who received a secular education and fulfilled compulsory schooling requirements, which were increasingly more effectively enforced during the autonomy period, attended these schools. This article analyses how Jewish time functioned in these institutions. It examines three key issues: the rhythm of the week (respecting the right to observe the Sabbath), the religious education provided at school (scheduling of classes and the simultaneity of religious instruction for children of different faiths), and the school year’s rhythm (particularly the religious holiday calendar according to which the school year was organised). Despite legislation allowing Jewish students to observe the Sabbath and religious holidays, living according to Jewish time proved challenging. The scheduling of religious instruction for Jewish students demonstrates their unprivileged position in the Galician school.
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