Žemaičiai ir žydai: sugyvenimas, komunikacija, svetimumas

LTStraipsnyje, remiantis lietuvių istorikų tyrimais, etnologinėmis studijomis, amžininkų prisiminimais, analizuojami socialiniai-ekonominiai lietuvių ir žydų santykiai bei kontaktai Žemaitijos kaimuose ir miesteliuose, apžvelgiamas Žemaičių vyskupo Motiejaus Valančiaus požiūris į žydus ir specifiniai žydų gyvenimo Žemaitijoje bruožai. Reikšminiai žodžiai: Žemaitija, žemaičiai, žydai, prekyba, kromelninkai, karčemos, Žemaičių vyskupas Motiejus Valančius, blaivybės draugijos, šabas, kašrutas. [Iš leidinio]

ENOn the basis of the research of Lithuanian historians, ethnological studies, and memoirs of contemporaries, the article analyses social-economic relations and contacts of Lithuanians and Jews in villages and small towns of Žemaitija, overviews the attitude of the Žemaitijan Bishop Motiejus Valančius towards Jews, and identifies specific traits of the life of Jews in Žemaitija. Jews began more actively moving to small Žemaitijan towns in the early 18th century due to constant dynastic wars and epidemics in Western Europe. Until the invasion of Lithuania by the Nazi German army in 1941 and the total extermination of the Jewish community, Jews in Žemaitija lived in closed shtetls without coming into closer contact with their Žemaitijan neighbours. Basically, the communication was confined to economic relationships that started in the early 18th century and became a routine phenomenon in the 19th century. Until the first half of the 20th century, the Žemaitijan society retained quite a few features of feudalism and still had the structure of a ‘feudal’ system. For a long time, Jews were a natural part of the Žemaitijan social landscape - while living a closed halakha life in shtetls, they made contacts with the surrounding people through economic relationships. In the Christian environment, culturally and religiously separated, Jews were seen by Žemaitijans as alien but economically necessary subjects. On the other hand, separation was mutual - the laws of Jewish communities forbade partnerships and even temporary agreements with non-Jews, on the grounds that Jews collaborating with Christians disregarded the interests of both God and the community.Jews firmly believed in their cultural superiority over their neighbours, whom they regarded as wicked, prone to violence and drunkenness, and usually dangerously hostile. From the Žemaitijan point of view, only agriculture could be regarded as an honorable economic activity, whereas financial activities and trade were not seen as honourable occupations; they were not generally regarded as work. The Jews in Žemaitija, being more experienced in business, having extensive contacts with Jewish communities in other parts of Lithuania, and fiercely struggling for survival, were more economically active in the said fields of activity and outrivaled the locals who tried to make a name in the businesses of the ‘Jewish street.’ Since the arrival of Jews in Žemaitija, a binary opposition developed between man (a Žemaitijan - farmer) and a Jew. The man (a Žemaitijan - farmer) was as if a representative of the good moral qualities, while the Jew often represented dark, unfamiliar forces that could be dangerous. Motiejus Valančius, the influential Bishop of Žemaitija, took a negative view of Jews because of their hindering the establishment of temperance societies and predominance in certain economic spheres; however, Motiejus Valančius would always evaluate people, regardless of their ethnic origins or nationality, on the basis of the Christian morality criteria. [From the publication]

• Aukštaitijos ir Žemaitijos paribio vietinių gyventojų savimonė / Petras Kalnius. Lietuvos etnologija. 2007, 6 (15), p. 95-121.
• Lietuvos žydai / sudarytojai. Vilnius : Baltos lankos, 2012. 567 p.