Tselovalnik usually referred to the innkeeper in the Kabak: the
Tsar's tavern. Often these innkeepers were Jews. The profits
earned by the consumption of vodka by peasants was very valuable
to the Tsarist government (Mikhail Saltykov, in "Tchinovnicks: Sketches
of Provincial Life", chapter "Times of Yore") that government revenue
from otkupshchik or откупщик
(revenue from vodka tax-farmers exceeds ⅔ of all governmental
revenue)! The Tsarist government held a dim view
of the peasants, preferring Jews as tselovalniki. The Tsar preferred
Jewish tselovalniki because the Jews were at the mercy of the Tsar: a
small minority. A Jewish minority was dispensible, while the peasants
were an essential majority. As the tselovalniki effectively
collected taxes for the Tsar, the peasants viewed Jews as predatory,
or at best, as predatory agents of the Tsar. The Kabak tselovalnik
sold vodka to peasants to the point that the peasants even sold their
clothes to buy more vodka, emerging from the Kabak literally naked.
In this sense, some of the Jewish tselovalniki may have acted
immorally, but as they acted as agents of the Tsar, they may have
been compelled to act this way. As kabaki often also doubled as brothels,
it can accurately be said that the Tsar acted as official pimp, the most
powerful procurer in all of Russia. See: "Vodka Politics: Alcohol,
Autocracy, and the Secret History of the Russian State", by Mark Schrad.
The tavern functioned as a store, bank, post-office, newspaper, place for
elections and political meetings, weddings and receptions. See: "The Jewish
Tavern-Keeper and his Tavern in Nineteenth Century Polish Literature",
by Magdalena Opalski, p. 59
Most Kabak or inns had Jewish tseloval'nik, but people other than Jews
served as tseloval'nik. Thus Pushkin writes in "Captain's Daughter", chapter
II, about a Yaizky Kazak (Яицкии Казак)
who is a tseloval'nik in a Postoyaly dvor (Постоялыи двор).
A Postoyaly dvor is an inn, usually surrounded by walls, where travelers can
eat and sleep if they choose, their horses fed and sheltered as well
(Click to see).
How much revenue Yaizky Kazak tseloval'niki contributed to the Tsar is not clear.
Similarly, Issak Babel writes about Armenian innkeepers. Gypsy barmen served
in Czárdas (old Hungarian for an inn) that existed in Wallachia
and Moldava (Click to see).
Karaite tavernkeepers also existed, See: "The Jewish Tavern-Keeper and his
Tavern in Nineteenth Century Polish Literature", by Magdalena Opalski, p. 37
"Jewish tavernkeeping in Eastern Europe goes back to the early modern Jewish-noble
symbiosis in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, wherein Jews helped to manage
nobles' estates by leasing aspects of the manor economy. An extremely profitable
way to create domestic markets for Polish grain, the production and sale of
alcoholic beverages developed into a major industry in Poland-Lithuania and its
successor states, including imperial Russia. Jews entered this market through the
arenda (lease holding) system, whereby they paid nobles for a variety of
market concessions, from leasing toll and bridge taxes to leasing flour mills and
taverns. Nobles leased almost exclusively to Jews, such that the term arrendator
(lessee) came to connote "Jew" in local parlance. For centuries, Polish rulers and
landowners had encouraged Jewish settlement to develop markets, and in that role,
Jews brought goods to the countryside, lent money, and served as the noble landowners'
managers and leaseholders."
"Confessions of the Shtetl: Converts from Judaism in Imperial Russia, 1817-1906",
by Ellie R. Schainker, p. 88.
"Leyb, the tavernkeeper, 'thought himself master of the tavern, [but] rarely sat
behind the counter; he had his own affairs, serious, important matters. He viewed
the tavern with disdain, as a two-bit operation fit only for women.' Indeed, in
Ansky's story it is Leyb's wife and daughter who manage the tavern and interact
with its raucous patrons. Ansky himself, born in a shtetl and raised in Vitebsk,
saw his mother run a tavern while his father was increasingly absent as he traveled
on business."
ibid, p. 96, from "In the Tavern", by S. Ansky (Semen Akimovich), or Shloyme Rapoport
". . . Ansky's later sketch about a tavern was undoubtedly drawn from his own experiences
growing up in a tavern. In an autobiographical mode, Ansky depicts a young Jewish female
tavernkeeper named Chanka (his own mother was Chana) who, along with her grandmother Malka,
runs the tavern. Contrary to Russian stereotypes of exploitative Jewish tavernkeepers,
Ansky depicts Chanka as caring for her drunken clients and even offering local Slavic
folk songs as antidotes to their socioeconomic despair."
ibid, p. 275 (footnote # 40)
Contracts were usually for a period of three years, during which time
leaseholders were obliged to pay the rent at specific points. They
sometimes also had to agree to list their children or wives as
collateral in case these conditions were not met. Such instances were
rare, but when they did occur it was exclusively children who were
taken as collateral, sometimes being forced to convert to Catholicism.
Burghers, relying on their municipal privileges, treated Jews who
produced and sold alcoholic beverages as hostile intruders depriving
burghers of potential income. A conflict of this sort led to a pogrom
in Leczyca in 1791.
See: "The Jewish Tavern-Keeper and his Tavern in Nineteenth Century
Polish Literature", by Magdalena Opalski
Note: Most Jews lived in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Walachia, and Moldova. Enlightenment colonialization took place, in which Prussia, Austro-Hungary, and Russia seized Polish lands. In the First Polish partition (1791), the Second Polish partition (1794), and the Third Polish partition (1795), Russia suddenly found itself with a large Jewish population that inhabited what was formerly Polish lands. Catherine the Great required all Jews (with few exceptions) to live within the "Pale of Settlement" (Черта оседлости). The word "pale", as in pallisade, or boundary. Borders changed frequently, thus an area in the Pale of Settlement might be predominantly Russian Orthodox, or Catholic, etc. Thus Jews might be forcibly converted to the Russian Orthodox religion, or to Catholicism, etc. in the Wildfields (Ukraine, Ruthenia, Ruxlana or Руслана, etc.). To get an idea of how divided the peoples (Russian Orthodox, Catholic, Jewish), of the Ukraine were (are), read Taras Shevchenko's (Тарас Шевченко) poem "Haidamaky" (Гайдамаки). Consider the virulently anti-semitic Symon Petlura (Симон Петлюра), and Anton Denikin (Антон Деникин). Thus views of Jewish tselovalniki are not surprisingly anti-semitic.
Look closely at the above painting by Perov. Perov was a keen observer and wanted to tell the truth in his paintings. The Russian Orhodox priest looks drunk, because he is drunk. Perov is not being anti-Russian nor anti-religious, he is pointing out the facts.
(English transliteration) | Russian | definition | Citation page(s)2 |
---|---|---|---|
arenda | аренда | lease (rent must be paid by leasee) | |
arendator, arendarz (Polish) | арендатор | Jewish leasee of a tavern, tavernkeeper, not necessarily a tselovalnik. Rent typically paid to a nobleman, or landlord after serfs were freed. Jews were sometimes leasees of mills, too. | "The Jewish Tavern-Keeper and his Tavern in Ninteenth-Century Polish Literature", M. Opalski, p. 10, p. 82 |
czárda | czárda (Hungarian) | inn or tavern (not the dance: czárdá) in Wallachia and Moldava | |
kabak | кабак | tavern, pub, or pot house, where cold food (not hot food), and drink can be had. Often are brothels. | p. 38, p. 100, p. 109 |
kabatchik | кабатчик | tavern or inn manager (may not be a tselovalnik), a bar man. | |
korchestvo | корчемство | illicit liquor outlet | p. 418 |
korchma | корчма | tavern (16th century) or pub where food and drink can be had (Ukrainian) | p. 418 |
korchmi | корчмы | pot still | p. 26 |
kruzhechnyi dvor | кружечный двор | pot house (17th century), liquor must be consumed off premises | p. 38, p. 418 |
otkupshchik | откупщик | tax farmer | p. 418 |
piteinyi dom | питейный дом | kabak | p. 418 |
podtolchek | подтолчек | jogging the customer's arm so that some liquor is spilt, thus customers come back sooner for more liquor. | p. 110 |
pogrebok | погребок | drinking establishment, but no food is available | |
porter | портер | stout beer | p. 418 |
porternaya lavka | портерная лавка | beer stall | p. 418 |
postoyalyi dvor | постоялый двор | inn | p. 407 |
renskovye pogreba | ренсковые погреба | wine cellars | p. 419 |
shinkar', szynkarz (Polish) | шинкарь | Christian tavernkeeper (owner, Ukrainian) | "The Jewish Tavern-Keeper and his Tavern in Ninteenth-Century Polish Literature", M. Opalski, p. 36 |
shinok | шинок | tavern (Ukrainian) | p. 110, p. 413, p. 419 |
sidelets | сиделец | tseloval'niki (those who serve or sit in inns) | p. 419 |
traktir | трактир | tavern or pub where food and drink can be had | |
vedernye i shtofnye lavochki | ведëрные и штофные лавочки (маленькие лавки) | bucket and bottle stalls, drinks sold only for consumption off premises and only in larger quantities (by the bucket) | p. 419 |
vodochnaya lavka | водочная лавка | temporary retail outlet (in a tent), at a bazaar, fair, or market, with licence | p. 108, p. 420 |
vodochnyi magazin | водочный магазин | vodka shop | p. 420 |
vremennaya vystavka | временная выставка | temporary retail liquor outlet (in a tent), at a bazaar, fair, or market, with licence | p. 108, p. 420 |
vystavka, or lavka | выставка, или лавка | temporary liquor outlet, a stall (in a tent) | p. 108, p. 420 |
On the Iberian peninsula (Portugal and Spain) during the 15th and 16th century, Jews were compelled to convert to Catholicism. Such "New Christians" were called "marranos" and had few options: conversion, extermination, and occasionally expulsion. Jews were not the only peoples that suffered religious discrimination. Andalusian Moslems were also compelled during the 15th and 16th century, and also had the same options. When these "New Christians" converted, they were called "moriscos". However. Jewish "marranos" or Jews compelled to religious conversion also existed in Slavic countries such as Russia during the 19th century. These "marranos" were called "marrany" (Марраны). "Marranos" or "New Christians" often had to hide their identities in Iberia during the 15th and 16th century, especially as this was the time of the "Holy Inquisition" when being considered a crypto Jew or hidden Jew could result in death. Thus the title of "marranos" in the above painting is correct, as Jews were often faced with pogroms and extortionate state officials in Russia. One way Jewish women might "legally" exit the ghetto created by enlightened Catherine the Great's Pale of Settlement, was by using a "Yellow Ticket".
Term | Meaning | Citation * |
---|---|---|
Cameralism | Cameralism refers to the policies of the Bureau of economics whereby state revenues are maximized by removing concentrations of ethnic groups in specific occupations while social order is maintained. Thus Jews would have to abandon leaseholding (tavernkeeping), peasants would have to abandon praedial occupations. | p. 53 |
Compass (obręb) | Geographic area where Jews are excluded. | p. 93 |
Exymowany | Part of city in which residency is restricted to exclude Jews. Click to see a Exymowany. | p. 87 |
Garkuchnia | Inexpensive restaurant (in a bazaar) Click to see. | p. 71 |
Konsens (concession) | Jews had to pay liquor concessions (leases) for taverns (non Jews were exempt). Effectively, the state trained Jews to use Christian fronts for taverns. | p. 56 |
Kwitki | Money (liquor vouchers) issued by noble landowners paid to peasants valid only on the noble landowner's estate for peasants to purchase liquor only in the noble landowner's taverns. An infringment of state prerogatives. Sobriety oaths (also antisemitic) administered by the clergy, also an infringment of state prerogatives. | p. 73 |
Propinacja | Monopoly (ie: liquor monopoly). | p. 90 |
Rewir | Inverse of a ghetto. A ghetto is an explicit area where Jewish residencies and businesses are required to be located. A rewir are explicit areas outside a ghetto where Jewish residencies and businesses cannot be located. Click to see. | p. 88 |
Stupajków | Tavern police. | p. 73 |
Supliki | Petitions to landowners. | p. 84 |
To avoid antisemitic restrictions placed upon taverns leased by Jews such as those listed in the above table (both in cities as well as in the countryside), Jewish tavernkeepers paid Christians to act as "fronts". Ibid, p. 176.
An interesting view that sheds light on these questions has been expressed in "The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity", by Paul Wexler. Some salient observations drawn from this book, pp. 241-246.
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