The Kahal of Riga

Collection description

Collection

Country:: Latvia

Holding institution:: Latvian State Historical Archives

Holding institution (official language):: Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs

Postal address:: 16 Slokas Street, Rīga, LV-1048

Phone number:: +371 67 613 118

Web address:: http://www.arhivi.lv/index.php?&16

Email:: vestures.arhivs@arhivi.gov.lv

Reference number:: LVVA f. 7328

Title:: The Kahal of Riga

Title (official language):: Rīgas kahals

Creator/accumulator:: Kahal of Riga

Date(s):: 1769/1898

Language:: German; Russian; Hebrew; Yiddish

Extent:: 862 files

Type of material:: Textual material

Physical condition:: good

Scope and content:: The archival collection of the Jewish community (Kahal) of Riga includes a broad range of materials, both modern and traditional, representing the community's activities in the period between 1769 and 1898.

A substantial part of the collection reflects the community's interactions with the non-Jewish authorities, ranging from the Russian government in St. Petersburg (several orders and regulations of the senate and other institutions are mentioned in the files) to the local officials in Riga (the heads of the governorate of Livonia and municipal officials and institutions). Correspondence with these authorities reflects the supervision of the community's financial activities and such issues as taxation, conscription to the Russian military and the community's religious, charitable and educational activities.

Several documents include lists of Jewish residents, statistical data and lists of Jewish institutions and enterprises. The issuance of residence, trading and travel permits and the holding of the community's vital records are also reflected in the collection (including such issues as the migration of Jewish families to southern Russia and the registration of Jewish apostates).

Another significant part of the collection includes records on the activities of communal functionaries and institutions: these includes the protocols of the Kahal from different periods; data on elections held in the community, including lists, regulations and correspondence; financial data, including account books, data on the community's budget and records of income and expenditures; and data on the construction of buildings for communal institutions – synagogues, schools, alms-houses and others (in some cases the files include data on the establishment and functioning of these institutions). The community's charitable activities are mentioned in several files, including correspondence with the local authorities on the support of Jewish hospitals and other institutions and on the establishment of scholarships for Jewish students.

Other files include documents relating to the collection of the meat tax (korobka) with regulations, correspondence with lessors, butchers, ritual slaughterers and local officials, account books and other data. Some records of the local Jewish court, records of synagogues and the local Jewish burial society from various periods can be also found in the collection.

Officials serving in the community – rabbis, cantors, teachers, preachers (including Max Lilienthal and Aharon Pompianski) – are mentioned in several files (in some cases, the employment agreements and similar documents are included); a file from 1880 mentions the community's midwife. The community's rabbis' records include, along with administrative materials, a substantial amount of civil records from different periods.

Lists of Jewish residents can be also found in records related to the conscription to the Russian army. Jewish conscripts and soldiers are mentioned in several documents, such as the community's correspondence on the provision of the soldiers with kosher food and on the establishment of a soldiers' prayer house.

The collection also includes data on various lawsuits and complaints related to the community (on such issues as conscription to the military and commercial disputes) as well as data on Jews fined or arrested by the authorities and cases of Jewish books confiscated by local customs (mentioned in papers from 1849-51).

Archival history:: After World War II the materials from the Tsarist period and from interwar Latvia were kept in the Central State Archive of the Latvian SSR. In 1962 these materials were deposited in the Central State Historical Archive of the Latvian SSR, predecessor of the current State Historical Archive.

Administrative/biographical history:: Before the 1760s permanent settlement by Jewish residents in Riga was forbidden. Although certain Jewish residents were tolerated due to personal privileges, the majority of Jewish visitors to the city were obliged to stay in a designated inn. During the reign of Catherine the Great the regulations concerning the Jewish presence in the city were altered and growing numbers of Jewish merchants and artisans settled in the city and its outskirts (especially in the suburb of Sloka, where they were officially allowed to reside from 1785).

The governing board (Kahal) of the local community gained formal recognition in 1842, which remained intact until 1893 despite the official abolition of the Kahal in other Jewish communities in the Russian Empire in 1844. The 19th century saw significant development of the Jewish community in Riga due to migration from other parts of the empire and synagogues, schools and other communal institutions were established. Towards the end of 19th the community, which traditionally fostered Germanic orientation, also developed as a hub of modern Jewish culture in Yiddish, Hebrew and Russian.

Access points: locations:: Riga

Access points: persons/families:: Liliental’, M.

Subject terms:: Aid and relief--Philanthropy and charity; Financial records; Jewish community records--Pinkasim; Jewish soldiers; Kahal; Kashrut; Legal matters; Taxation; Taxation--Korobka; Vital records

System of arrangement:: The collection consists of three inventories.

Finding aids:: For additional data see the website of the Latvian Archives.

Links to finding aids:: www.arhivi.lv/index.php?&3

Yerusha Network member:: Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People

Author of the description:: Alex Valdman, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2015

fullscreen: The Kahal of Riga

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