Title

Description

The title page states the year of its founding as 5563 [(1802). [Image 1]

The ledger opens with a transcription of a chapter of Psalms. [Image 3]

An introduction and the 22 statutes of the society. Each statute begins with a letter of the Hebrew alphabet, from the first letter to the last. The statutes were signed on the 5^th of Kislev, 5563 (1802). [Images 5-10]

Entries recording the acceptance of new members into the society, and results of the elections of the officers of the society, and the censuring of a member of the society. These entries are from the year 5563-5591 (1803-1831). [Images 11-80]

The following entries are some of the more interesting entries appearing in images 11-80:

At a gathering of the society, the community’s numerous expenses were discussed, and that the money in the treasury of the trustee is not sufficient for all of the necessities. The members of the society agreed to donate as their hearts desired and they were successful in raising 20 rubles. There is a list of each person’s donation. [Image 26]

The following entry was apparently written by a Ḥasidic Rebbe. The transcriber writes that he was unable to decipher the signature. Being close to Bershad, perhaps this entry was written by the Ḥasidic Rebbe, Rabbi Refael (ca. 1751-1827) of Bershed. It may have been written in 1812, as was the next entry. It states, “As I traveled through the town of Sobelifke, they requested that I sign their pinkas and formulate statutes. I told them that the statutes at the beginning of the ledger found favor in my eyes. I outlined the boundaries of a new cemetery for the community. May it be the will of our Father in Heaven that death shall be swallowed forever, and grass weeds and thorns shall grow on this plot of land, and the members of the community shall live many long years. As the desire of he who prays for them. Hakaton … [Image 39]

An entry regarding funding the building of a wall around the new cemetery, dated 5572 (1812). [Perhaps this entry was made while the Rebbe who wrote the previous entry was in town.] [Image 39]

“Since the rabbi of our town is extremely poor, and his income is insufficient for him to support his family, we the members of the society, with the consent of the entire town, have decided that it is forbidden for any of our townspeople and particularly members of the society to sell candles or yeast. The sale of candles and yeast shall be the sole monopoly of the rabbi." Dated 5582 [1822]. [Image 71]

The transcriber provides a physical description of the pinkas. [Image 84]

Image 85 is an envelope addressed to Samuil Yeremevich Vinner (1860-1929), who was also a collector of Jewish books, in care of Baron David Günzburg in St. Petersburg. It is postmarked 1897.

A product of a cooperative agreement between the Russian National Library and Touro College & University System’s Project Zikaron. This pinkas is part of the Günzburg Manuscript Collection at the Russian National Library in Moscow. In the 1890s, Baron David Günzburg of St. Petersburg, Russia hired Avraham Sharfshteyn to arrange for the original pinkas and others like it to be transcribed for his private library. The current location of the original pinkas is unknown, if it at all still exists. This overview was prepared by Rabbi Yitzchok Stroh of Brooklyn, New York, in 2020.

Category

Year of Publication/Creation

1802-

Language(s)

Hebrew

Geographic Places

• Sobolivka (Sobolevka, Sobelivke, Sobelifke), Ukraine (read online)