An interaction of the rural Jews with different social strata in the 16th-18th centuries Polish-Lithuanian village

The present paper deals with the forms of interaction between the rural Jews and different strata of the peasant rural society in the 16th-18th centuries in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Contrary to stereotyped views, both Jewish and non-Jewish rural population are not perceived here as homogeneous groups. Patterns of interaction between different categories of rural Jews and different social strata of their fellow villagers took different forms. These diverse forms of contacts are examined here on the basis of a variety of sources: rural courts' records, resolutions of Jewish councils, pastoral epistles, rabbinical responsa, memoir literature, etc