Busk Their hands pointed at a gently sloping ביסק .Ukr. Буськ, Yid rock: It is here! Georges Clemenceau, Busk, in: Au pied du Sinai (Fr.: At the Foot of Mount Sinai), Paris 1898 The Venice of Galicia ¶ Busk is of urban infrastructure. This was also located at the place where the Poltva, strategically important due to the town Solotvyn, and Rokitna rivers flow into location at the so-called Black Trail, an the Bug, dividing the town into several ancient trade route used by merchants parts. In the past, the town was sur- travelling from Crimea to Lviv as well rounded by ponds and bogs, and the as by the Tatars during their raids. numerous rivers and brooks contributed From 1540, the position of the head of to the creation of a unique landscape. the palatinate belonged to one of the That is why, in the 18th and 19th centu- Górkas, Polish Calvinist family. Thanks ries, Busk was often called the “Venice of to the Górkas, Busk became one of the Galicia”. Today, the town looks com- first centres of Calvinism in Ruthenia pletely different. The brooks have dried (Galicia). The town expanded signifi- up and the division of the town into cantly in the 16th century: in addition to separate parts has disappeared. Only the the Old Market square, two more were bridges and wooden footbridges con- established, the Central Market and the necting the banks of former riverbeds New Market. These new market places stand as a reminder of this characteristic divided the town into three parts: old, feature. ¶ The medieval Primary Chroni- new, and central. Paper mills were built cle mentions Busk (Buzhesk) as a forti- in 1539–1541, they produced paper for fied town reporting to the counts of the printing presses in eastern Poland until Duchy of Kiev (Kievan Rus) as early as 1788; the first printer of Slavic books, 1097. From 1100, Busk was the capital the famous Ivan Fedorov (Fedorowicz) of an independent palatinate included printed his Ostrog Bible on Busk paper in in the Principality of Galicia-Volhynia; 1581. This was the first complete edition the palatinate and the principality were of the Bible in Church Slavonic language. incorporated into the Polish Crown in ¶ Towards the end of the 18th century, the late 15th century. In 1411, Busk was Józef Mier of Scottish origin became the granted the Magdeburg rights, which town owner, and due to his mercantile Busk significantly boosted the development of interests and protectionist trade policies, town trades and crafts and the creation the town began to develop dynamically Market square in Busk, , collection of the National Library, Poland (www.polona.pl) as the industrial centre. Mier ordered the this day. Busk remained in the hands establishment of sawmills and glass- of the Mier family until 1879, but the works and invited Czech and German town experienced a devastating fire in craftsmen to settle permanently in town. 1849 and subsequently lost its economic In 1810, his son Count Wojciech Mier significance. After the Mier family, Busk built a palace which has survived till was ruled by the Badenis noblemen. Count Kasimir Felix Badeni (–) became the Governor of Galicia in , and in –, he served as the Austro-Hungarian prime minister. After he retired, he settled in Busk, where he lived permanently until his sudden death on a train a few kilometres from Busk while returning from Karlsbad, the famous mineral waters spa west of Prague. He was buried in his family crypt in Busk, which was destroyed during the Soviet times. Ludwik Józef Badeni suc- ceeded his father as the owner of the estate. The Badeni family was favourably disposed towards the Jews. Stories are told about Kasimir Badeni speaking to local Jews in Yiddish and supporting poor Jews by exempting them from taxes. The Jews of Busk ¶ In 1454, Jews before the Polish Crown were concerned. were first mentioned as living in Busk. In 1518, the king exempted Jews from tax In 1510, Jews were obliged to pay 20 gold for one year due to a Tatar raid that dev- florins to the Royal Treasury through astated the town. Later, Jews had to pay the kahal of Lviv, which means that they their taxes in state-approved coins (30 were submitting to the authority of the groszy for one florin), not in gold. In 1564, Lviv Jewish community, as far as their King Sigismund Augustus confirmed the financial relations with and obligations 1550 privilege granted to the Jews of Busk Lviv; still, it maintained its own inde- pendent communal institutions such as a cemetery and a synagogue. The rabbis serving in Busk included Rabbi Aaron (1540–1560) and Rabbi Isaac ben Abraham Hayes; the latter worked here in 1564–1568 and was then invited to become the Rabbi of Prague. At the beginning of the 18th century, the posi- tion of the rabbi of Busk was held by Tzvi Hirsch ben Moshe from Zhovkva (then Żółkiew). About 100 Jews died during A view of Busk, and further expanded their privileges. the Cossack wars in 1648–1649, but by . Photo by Viktor Zagreba, digital collec- He allowed Jews to purchase plots of land the late 1650s, the community revived tion of the “Grodzka and construct houses anywhere in town, afterwards and rebuilt itself. Gate – NN Theatre” Centre (www.teatrnn.pl) build new buildings, deal in real estate, and carry out business anywhere in The Old Cemetery ¶ The old Jewish Jewish cemetery in Busk, . Photo Ruthenia (Galicia) and Podolia, including cemetery in Busk is believed to be the by Wioletta Wejman, a privileged trade in meat. In short, Jews oldest Ashkenazi cemetery in Ukraine digital collection of the “Grodzka Gate – NN enjoyed all municipal and state privileges and one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries Theatre” Centre (www. and exemptions on an equal footing with in Central and East Europe. Located on teatrnn.pl) other Gentile residents. Nonetheless, in several hills, it boasts the oldest surviv- 1582, King Stefan Báthory declared Busk ing matzeva in the Shtetl Routes area, a free royal town which implied also that dated to 1520, with an epitaph read- the town was granted De non tolerandis ing: A garland instead of ashes (Isaiah Judaeis privilege. The full consequences 61:3). Here lies an honest man, r. Yehuda of this innovation are not exactly clear, son of r. Jacob, called Judah. He died on since Jews continued to live within the Tuesday, on the 5th day of Kislev in the town walls, in the New Town, as if the year 5281 from the creation of the world privilege stipulating the banishment of (23.11.1520). May his soul be bound in Jews was not enforced. ¶ From the legal the bond of life [together with the souls] Busk standpoint, the Jewish community of of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all God- Busk continued to be part of the kahal of fearing people. The Frankists and the Hasidim Rabbi Nachman, who took the name ¶ In the 18th century, Busk turned into of Piotr Jakubowski. Due to the strong a centre of the Frankist movement that support Frank received from the Jews of galvanized Podolia and Ruthenia and Busk, King Augustus III recognised Busk was led by the ambitious schismatic as one of the Polish main towns inhabited Jacob Frank. The leader of the movement by Frankists and designated it as a place considered himself a reincarnation of the where the adherents of the sect should 17th-century pseudo-Messiah Sabbetai settle. The Jews of Busk sometimes were Tsvi (who ended up converting into referred to as bisker szabsecwijnikes, from Islam) and preached salvation achieved the twisted name of Sabbetai Zevi, Jacob through sexual orgies involving Jews Frank’s pseudo-Messianic predeces- and non-Jews and licentious behaviour sor. ¶ Rabbi David Pinkhas of Brotchin that broke all the barriers of the Judaic (Bohorodchany) actively opposed Frank, commandments. This was the new avatar whom he considered a traitor of Judaism, of the concept “redemption through sin” a schismatic, a charlatan, who exploited previously advanced by Sabbetai Tsvi. the gullibility of his Jewish followers Frank based it on his perversive read- not able to make sense of the sophis- ing of the kabbalistic Zohar which he ticated kabbalistic texts. Rabbi David claimed allegedly supported the idea of Pinkhas represented traditional Judaism, Trinity. Several hundred Jews, even the defended rabbinic Jewish authorities, then Rabbi Nachman Samuel ha-Levi of and emphasized the key role of Talmudic Busk joined the sectarians Jacob Frank. education. He participated in the defense To ensure the sect has an upper hand of Judaism at the second disputation in the larger Jewish community, Frank with the Frankists in Lviv in 1759, while orchestrated a disputation between the Frank facing a growing opposition to his traditional rabbinic Jews and himself, messianic craze preferred to stay in Busk. a new Jewish Messiah. The disputation ¶ The conversion of the Frankists and took place in Kamianets-Podilskyi in a subsequent imprisonment of the leader 1757 under the supervision of Bishop of the movement made the converted Dembrowski and was attended by 19 Frankists move into central Poland. The Frankists, four of whom – led by rabbi remaining void was soon filled by the Nachman – came from Busk. Having new movement of religious enthusiasm, rejected the reasons and traditions of Hasidism, and its adherents, Hasidim. rabbinic Judaism in public, Jacob Frank The Hasidic movement enjoyed mass fol- brought his Jewish followers to Catholi- lowing in Busk which coexisted with the cism. Among those baptised after the traditional (Lithuanian) Jews associated second disputation that took place in with mitnagdim (anti-Hasidic minded Lviv two years later, there were 103 Jews).