Photograph: Comment on the Talmud (on the reverse is the inscription in ink)

Jews

Podolia province, city Kamenets-Podolsky

1870-1880s

Museum of the Peoples of the USSR

Albumen print

18,3 x 12,7; 23,8 x 16,4

РЭМ 8764-21522

Folder "Types of Jews of Podolia Guberniya " from the album " Types of Podolia and Bessarabia". Comment on the Talmud (on the reverse is the inscription in ink). Talmud (in Aramaic, literally “learning;” Hebrew “study, education”) is a collection of dogmatic, religious, ethical, and legal fundamentals of Judaism, which are summarized into sections and treatises on the basis of the Oral Torah. The relationships between family members in everyday life, and between person and community were strongly regulated by Talmudic law. The Jewish communities had many schools for its study and interpretation; community members assembled in synagogues and praying houses. By the end of the 19th century, there were 89 active synagogues and 431 praying houses in Podolia (of these, over 30 synagogues and 21 houses in Kamenets-Podolsky). In Jewish communities they read and studied comments on the Talmud written and adapted to suit the signs of the time by outstanding Jewish spiritual leaders, philosophers, scholars, and rabbis, who had in common their profound knowledge of the Torah. For instance, comments on Talmud articles explaining outdated words by the Jewish scholar Rashi (1040-1105) are still used. The picture shows a Hasid (adept of Hasidism) seated at a desk with books. On his head is the traditional headgear “shtreiml,” a cylindrical fur-trimmed cap.