ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20 in The
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vatican In the Aggadah Bibliography: A.D. Rosenthal, Megillat ha-Tevaḥ, 2 (1929), Vashti was the granddaughter of Nebuchadnezzar (Meg. 10a). 81–82. [Yehuda Slutsky] She witnessed the Persian conquest of Babylon from her fa- ther, Belshazzar. On the night that the city fell, Vashti was so alarmed by the confusion that, unaware that Belshazzar had VASLUI, district capital in Moldavia, E. Romania. The old- already been killed, she ran to his private quarters. There she est tombstones in the Jewish cemetery indicate that Jews set- was confronted by Darius who, out of compassion for her, be- tled there in the first half of the 18t century, most of them trothed her to his son, Ahasuerus (Yalk. Est. 1049). Her action from *Bukovina and *Galicia, and from the 1850s many Jew- in having her banquet for women “in the royal house which ish *Cantonists who fled from Russia. In 1851 two Jewish in- belonged to Ahasuerus” (Esth. 1:9) was that her guests would habitants were raised to the nobility (boyarhood) for service be hostages if their husbands should rise and rebel against the to Vaslui. The early Jewish population was joined later on by king (Est. R. 3:10). According to R. Abun, however, the loca- Jews expelled from villages in the vicinity of Vaslui (in 1867, tion of the banquet was dictated by the consideration that 1889, 1901, and 1908). The Jewish population numbered 892 “women would sooner have well-decorated rooms and beauti- in 1839, 1,202 (25.3 of the total) in 1859, and 2,823 (41) in ful clothes, than eat fatted calves” (ibid.). Vashti had low moral 1889; in 1899 their number increased to 3,747. Difficulties were standards: it was not for reasons of modesty that she refused to encountered in the organization of the community because comply with Ahasuerus’ command to appear before his guests the merchants and the artisans each had their own institu- (Esth. 1:11) in the nude. She was as immoral as her husband tions, and even their own rabbis. In 1877 a primary school (Meg. 12a). Her refusal was occasioned either by the fact that was founded, but the craftsmen had their owntalmud torah. she was suffering from leprosy (ibid.), or by fear for Ahasuerus’ In 1904 an attempt was made to unite the community’s insti- life. She remonstrated with him: “If they consider me beauti- tutions but this lasted only two years. The community was fi- ful, they will want to enjoy me themselves, and will kill you; nally unified only in 1923. if they consider me plain, I shall be a disgrace to you” (Est. Zionist activity began in Vaslui in the 1880s. Rabbis of R. 3:14). When Ahasuerus nevertheless repeated his request, the town included Alexander Taubes (1841–1913) and Benja- Vashti insulted him by reminding him of his lowly descent as min Rabinovici. Ẓaddikim of the Ruzhin-Buhus dynasty lived servant to her father (cf. Song R. 3:5), Belshazzar, before he in the town. On the eve of World War II there were in Vaslui was murdered. According to one version, she exclaimed: “You eight prayer rooms, a hospital and clinic, an old-age home, a used to be the stable boy of my father’s house, and you were mikveh, a primary school, and a kindergarten. After the natu- used to bringing naked harlots before you. Now that you have ralization laws were passed (in 1919), two to six Jews were ac- ascended the throne you have still not changed your habits” tive in the local council. In 1947 the Jewish population num- (ibid.). She was put to death on the Sabbath because, when she bered 3,200, decreasing to 2,400 in 1950. In 1960 there were was queen, she would force the daughters of Israel to strip and about 70 Jewish families with one synagogue. work in the nude, on the Sabbath (Meg. ibid.). Bibliography: I. Brociner, Chestiunea israeliţilor români…, 1 (1910), 114–6; Almanachul ziarului Tribuna evreeascaˇ, 1 (1937/38), Bibliography: Cooke, North Semitic Inscriptions (1903), 242–8; N. Leven, Cinquante ans d’histoire, 1 (1911), 121, 143; I. Loeb, no. 85; L.B. Paton, Esther (ICC, 1908), 66–67, 88–89, 142ff. IN THE La situation des Israélites en Turquie, en Serbie et en Roumanie (1877), AGGADAH: Ginzberg, Legends, index; I. Ḥasida, Ishei ha-Tanakh 168; PK Romanyah, 120–3. (1964), 142. [Theodor Lavi] VASILKOV, city in Kiev district, Ukraine. In 1648 Vasilkov VATICAN, residence of the *pope, who is the ruler of Vati- was conquered by *Chmielnicki’s Cossacks who massacred can City in Rome. its inhabitants, Jews and Poles alike. Since Vasilkov was an- nexed to Russia in 1686, no Jewish community existed there The Vatican and Zionism until the second partition of Poland in 1792. There were 1,478 Theodor Herzl was the first Zionist leader to understand the Jews in Vasilkov in 1799, 2,407 in 1847, and 5,156 (39.2 of the political importance of the Catholic Church in the Middle total population) in 1897. Vasilkov was a ḥasidic community East. He also realized the necessity for Zionists to come to and for some time David b. Nahum *Twersky of Chernobyl terms with the Church and gain its support or at least try lived there. The Jews in Vasilkov engaged in crafts, small-scale to neutralize its influence. The Vatican wished to safeguard business, and worked in local tanneries. In February 1919, S. Catholic rights in the holy places, and therefore Herzl was *Petlyura’s armies conducted pogroms in Vasilkov, massacring ready to propose an extraterritorial status for the holy places 50 Jews and 60 Russians suspected of being Communists; the when he was received by the nuncio in Vienna, Msgr. Anto- Jewish community was forced to pay a special contribution. nio Agliardi, on May 19, 1896, a short time after the publica- When the Soviet regime was established, Jewish communal life tion of his book The Jewish State.Herzl repeated the idea of was discontinued. In 1926 the Jews in Vasilkov numbered 3,061 extraterritoriality to Secretary of State Cardinal Rafael Merry (14.4 of the total population). In 1941 the Jews of Vasilkov del Val on January 22, 1904, but Merry del Val answered that were exterminated by the Nazis. the holy places could not be regarded as entities separate ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 20 479 vatican from the Holy Land. On January 25 Herzl was received by Belgian representative, Jules Van den Heuvel: “The transfor- the pope, *Pius X, who told him: “We cannot prevent the Jews mation of Palestine into a Jewish state would not only endan- from going to Jerusalem but we could never sanction it. The ger the Holy Places and injure the feelings of all Christians, it Jews have not recognized our Lord, therefore we cannot rec- would also be very harmful for the country itself.” ognize the Jewish people. If you come to Palestine and settle A few days later, on December 28, the pope expressed his your people there, we will have churches and priests ready to fear to De Salis, the British representative, that Great Britain baptize all of you.” might hand Palestine over “to the Jews to the detriment of the During World War I new realities were changing the po- Christian interests.” litical situation in the Middle East. The Vatican was aware at In January 1919 the Peace Conference met in Versailles a very early stage of the secret *Sykes-Picot Agreement divid- (France) but the Holy See was not admitted to it. The reason ing the region between France and Great Britain and putting was that Italy had included Article 15 in the secret London the central part of Palestine under an international regime. Treaty, excluding the Vatican from the future conference, France had been for centuries the protecting power for Cath- since the question of Rome was still open between them. On olics in the Ottoman Empire, but the Holy See hinted that March 10, 1919, the pope convened a secret consistory in the the Vatican would not be averse to British patronage of the Vatican and said that “it would be a terrible grief for us and for Holy Places. This is what Sir Mark *Sykes heard on April 11, all Christians if infidels [in Palestine] were placed in a privi- 1917, from Msgr. Eugenio Pacelli, undersecretary for extraor- leged and prominent position; much more if those most holy dinary affairs at the Secretariat of State, and a few days later sanctuaries of the Christian religion were given into the charge from Pope *Benedict XV himself. of non-Christians.” As Gasparri explained some days later to Following the advice of Sykes, Nahum *Sokolow of the the Belgian representative: “The danger that we most fear is Zionist Executive in London met Msgr. Pacelli on April 29, the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. We would have 1917, and Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Gasparri on May 1, found nothing wrong in Jews entering that country, and set- and was received by the pope on May 4, 1917. Pacelli wanted ting up agricultural colonies. But that they be given the rule clear geographical boundaries acceptable to the Vatican to be over the Holy Places is intolerable for Christians.” demarcated, while Gasparri wanted the Church to have a “re- Three cardinals visited Palestine in those years: the Brit- served zone” that would include Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Naz- ish Francis Bourne, the Italian Filippo Giustini, and the French areth, Tiberias, and Jericho. The pope said: “The problem of Louis Ernest Dubois.