Jews and Ukrainians: The history of Ukraine according to Taras Shevchenko

(Video in Ukrainian, English transcript below)

[Editor’s note: Although the video below contains certain historical inaccuracies and idealization of Ukrainian-Jewish relations, we are sharing it because it encourages interethnic and interconfessional understanding, counteracts stereotypes, and sparks interest in cultural exchange. We have also provided a list of further readings to deepen the historical context.]

How should we speak with Jews about history? The Khmelnytsky era | The history of Ukraine according to Taras Shevchenko  

Jews and Ukrainians — our people have been living alongside each other not ten, not a hundred, and not even a thousand years. The first mentions of Jews residing on the territory of contemporary Ukraine date to pre-Christian times.

Jewish inscriptions have been found on artifacts of Greek city-states in the Black Sea region and the Bosporan Kingdom. And, if not for the fact that the Jews know their exact pedigree and since time immemorial nurtured a dream of the Promised Land, that is, Israel, then we would have grounds to consider them an indigenous people of Ukraine.

The very fact of such lengthy coexistence prompts suspicions that the myth about Ukrainians’ innate antisemitism has the same basis as the myth about the blood of Christian infants, which supposedly…well, you know the rest. We will have a separate talk about blood libel; it’s a very interesting topic. But long before the emergence of this nonsense, Jews arrived in our land from the south at a time when trade routes were developing.

In the Crimea, you can still find gravestones featuring images of the menorah and Hebrew inscriptions that date to the beginning of the first millennium, when Scythia reigned in our lands.

The steppe Sarmatians, who, after Alexander the Great destroyed Persia (a trade partner of the Scythians), mastered the way through Caucasian Albania, gave the Jewish merchants an opportunity to pave the way to the Volga, where they later became an important part of the state we call the Khazar Khaganate.

They were so important that the Khazar elites adopted Judaism as their main religion. To be honest, the history of Khazar Judaism seems rather mysterious, because Jews traditionally do not proselytize and do not have missionaries.

On the contrary, they fence themselves off from foreigners in every possible way. And here, a whole tribe suddenly accepted the faith of God's chosen people? Weird!

However, today we are interested not in the Judaized Khazars but in the Jews who brought this Judaism with them.

In general, faith is the main factor that determines inclusion in the Jewish people. Living in the lands of our ancestors, Jews began to speak the local language, or rather its dialects, that scholars call Jewish-Slavic, or Canaanite.

Likewise, Czech Jews spoke their dialect of Old Czech; German Jews spoke a dialect of Old German, which we know as Yiddish, and Spanish Jews spoke a dialect of Spanish, or rather Castilian, which was called Ladino. And only their religion and traditional way of life give us a clear indication that we are dealing with Jews, because Slavic Canaanite, as well as the other mentioned languages, were used by Jews only in everyday life, while the religious books, rituals, and prayers were all in Hebrew.

So, here's the first surprise: it turns out that Ukrainian Jews had their own Slavic language. "And where did it go?" you will ask. And I will say: "Wait, everything in its time."

The so-called Jewish question was officially raised in Europe back in the 18th century, and it remains a highly sensitive topic to this day. Its discussion can easily cause negative emotions, so we will be careful in our statements and will try to stick to dry facts as we sort out the age-long relations between our people.

One of the oldest pieces of evidence here is the so-called Kyivan letter, an authentic document written on the territory of Rus'.

According to scholars, it was created in the 10th century, or maybe even earlier, i.e., sometime during the time of Volodymyr the Great or even Askold.

The authors of the letter, the Jewish community of Kyiv, ask other Jews to help their compatriot pay off his debt. And this is one of the first, if not the first, authentic document that mentions the future Ukrainian capital.

Nestor the Chronicler lived and wrote at least 100 years later, and his writings have reached us only in copies. Meanwhile, the original Kyivan letter is kept in the Cambridge University library.

So, here's the second surprise: the oldest known document of Rus' was written by Jews. It follows from this that during the princely era, Jewish communities were already present in Kyiv and other cities. This is also evidenced by the geographical names, above all, the then names of Kyiv's districts, in particular Zhydove or Kozary. And no problems in interethnic relations were recorded at that time.

Some of you have probably come across information that Prince Volodymyr Monomakh allegedly evicted Jews from Kyiv. But here, as is now customary, one must check the primary sources. And the primary source of this information is Count Tatischev, an outstanding falsifier and imitator of historical facts.

We already made a video about this swindler; please watch it. But even if you don't watch it, just remember: the name Tatischev automatically means a lie, as proven by scholars.

In contrast to Rus', the Jews had big problems in medieval Europe. The 11th century was marked by an outbreak of Christian fanaticism, which manifested itself in the Crusades and a great split in the church between the Orthodox and Catholics.

As you and I know, regardless of their everyday vernacular language, the Jews hold fast to their faith, Judaism. That is, from the point of view of Christians, the Jews who lived nearby were infidels.

And while a knight went to fight such people somewhere in Palestine, a burgher could show his fanaticism, so to speak, without leaving the counter, between beer and a pork knuckle. It was during those times that the so-called "blood libel" began to spread, i.e., the accusation that Jews consumed the blood of Christians. And it started not here but in England, Germany, Czechia, and other civilized countries, where pogroms then raged, and Jews were expelled.

What can people do if they are persecuted by their neighbors and countrymen? Of course, they go look for better neighbors. And they found them in Rus', which stayed away from the fighting between Rome and Constantinople, the Crusades, and the Inquisition.

Local authorities and local elites tolerated the newcomers, to use the modern term. In other words, they treated them normally. An additional attraction was the fact that Rus' stood at the crossroads of two giant trade routes: from the Varangians to the Greeks, i.e. from the North Sea to the Black Sea, and the Great Silk Road, i.e. from China to the Carpathians and beyond.

Therefore, many Jews escaped to the East and settled on Ukrainian lands. How many? Well, not so many to begin with, but eventually, they supplanted the Canaanite, i.e., Slavic, vernacular languages of the local Jews and ensured the dominance of Yiddish, i.e., a Jewish dialect based on the German language.

And here's the third surprise: it turns out that Western European Jews fled en masse from persecution to Rus', where no one oppressed them. Of course, the most discerning listeners will surely ask in the comments: "What about the Kyiv Uprising of 1113, when the above-mentioned Zhydove district was burned down?" To this, we will reply: "It was not an anti-Jewish uprising."

Kyiv's entire elite was affected then, not only merchants and moneylenders. Even the seat of the voivode was ransacked. After all, the cause of the riots was the economic policy of the Kyiv authorities, which caused famine and higher prices for bread and salt.

Tatischev's false report about the expulsion of the Jews by Monomakh has to do precisely with this uprising. And once again: this is a fake, and Tatischev is a liar. The effect of collateral damage, when the Jews suffered for the sins of others, will come up again in later events.

So, the main thing here is not to confuse causes and consequences. The Golden Horde, which ruled our lands after the fall of Rus', was a pagan state, meaning that religion was separated from state authority there.

The Khans, as true pagans, considered it normal for everyone to believe in their God, so they had nothing against either the Jews or the Christians. For the latter, they even opened a special Sarai Orthodox diocese, part of the Kyiv Metropolitanate, in their capital Sarai. As a result, Jews continued to flee from Europe, which at that time was fiercely fighting against infidels of various types: from pagans, Balts, and Jews to their own heretics and even witches.

And Jewish refugees settled on the lands of the Kingdom of Poland, the Kingdom of Rus', and the Golden Horde. The Litvins, who pushed out the Horde from our lands, also tolerated other religions.

They themselves converted to Christianity, in some cases even several times, and did not prevent others from believing in other gods. Thus, during the time of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus', we could not find any mention of conflicts with Jews.

In the Ukrainian territories that became part of the Kingdom of Poland, the Polish king personally took care of the Jews, and they paid a tax to him in return. An interesting feature of this tax was that, unlike Ukrainians and Poles, who were personally responsible for their taxes, Jews were responsible at the level of the entire kehila, i.e., community. And for this, they were granted fairly broad self-government rights, which looks quite logical: you govern yourselves and pay together.

Evidently, this situation suited the Jews perfectly, because, in the 100 years from the middle of the 16th to the middle of the 17th century, their number on Ukrainian lands increased tenfold and exceeded 50,000 as of 1648.

Incidentally, the territory of Jewish residence in the east and north ended outside the borders of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. After all, the Muscovite kingdom, which reached our lands from that side, was an absolutely antisemitic state.

One after another, the tsars issued decrees prohibiting the residence of Jews in the territory under their control, and those who were already there were evicted and even killed. The relations of the Jews with Muscovy and its successor Russia require a separate study, so for now, we will simply record the fourth surprise: there were no Jews in Muscovy — none at all.

The Cossack state, unfortunately, left virtually no documents. All the archives were taken away or destroyed after the capture of the Sich's capital by the Muscovites in 1775. So, we cannot investigate the relationship of the Cossacks with the Jews with documents in hand.

Here we will have to rely on second-order sources, in particular folklore and literature. And there, we will not find even a hint of Cossack antisemitism.

I want to clarify right away: we are now talking about the times before Khmelnytsky. We will analyze the era of the Ukrainian liberation wars a little later.

So, in Ukrainian folklore and literary sources, Jews are mentioned, and their special status is noted. The dominant religion of the Cossacks was Christianity, which had a complicated relationship with Judaism, but there was no mention of any pogroms or executions.

Let us remember, for example, the traditional Ukrainian nativity scene, in which the Cossack and the Jew always stand on the side of good and fight together against King Herod.

Jews often converted to Christianity and then became full members of the community. For such people, there was even a separate word vykhrest. Incidentally, there is now a Ukrainian boxer with that last name. His Jewish ancestors once converted to Orthodoxy. This is why we can find surnames like Abramovych in the Cossack registers.

However, the registered Cossacks should not be confused with the lower Cossacks, because the lower Cossacks were a separate state, while the registered Cossacks were subjects of the Polish king.

In the Crimean Khanate, in addition to the Jews, there were two more peoples that practiced Judaism: Karaites and Krymchaks. We will not delve into the nuances and differences of their beliefs but will only note that the Khan's subjects practiced different religions without problems, paid the appropriate taxes, and did not flee anywhere.

In the same way, the Crimean Jews calmly went about their business, as did the Crimean Christians of the Gothic diocese.

True, Jews and Christians who lived in Cossack or Polish lands could be captured and turned into slaves, but that's another story. We will definitely analyze it in a separate video.

Jews were mainly active in trade, handicrafts, and money lending. As the lands had long been divided among the feudal lords, who zealously protected their exclusive right to land ownership and the system of relations with the peasantry,

Jews were rarely allowed to engage in farming. However, when the nobles, who were much more willing to fight than to farm, needed help, the Jews often became the intermediate link between the master and the peasants, occupying the positions of managers or even leaseholders.

And here it is worth noting right away that the word orenda 'lease' in those days had a slightly different meaning than today. In addition to the direct current meaning of "using someone else's property in exchange for rent," back then, this word also had the meaning of "license, permission."

For example, it encompassed the right to produce vodka and keep a tavern in exchange for rent. That's why Jews were often addressed as 'leaseholders' even in the literature of the 19th century.

Anyone who watches our channel or simply paid attention in history classes at school knows that in the so-called "state of two nations" (the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), the third nation, i.e., Ukrainians, did not fare well, to put it mildly.

In that state, our ancestors were, frankly, people of the second, if not the third, class. And this was true of all domains, starting with the oppression of Orthodoxy, which was then the foundation of national consciousness, and ending with the ban on the official use of Ukrainian, a "peasant" language, and Ukrainian customs.

This actually had to do with the problems in interethnic communication that arose at that time. Imagine: the master with his son is fighting somewhere, and all the oppression is perpetrated on his behalf by a Jewish leaseholder, manager, or administrator. Who will be to blame for everything?

This is how the unjust laws and rules of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against Ukrainians received a sort of lightning rod in the form of leaseholders. Of course, we do not declare our ancestors to be saints. The saints would have endured everything that God sent their way, and the Jews were probably not saints either. But here, we cannot judge as we do not know the Jewish rules.

However, we draw attention to the fact that the laws in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were not established by Jews but were often implemented by them, evoking corresponding emotions in those affected by the injustices of these laws.

We have now approached the main problem in Ukrainian-Jewish relations, which was the Khmelnytsky Uprising.

As you and I know, in 1648, the Rus' elites, having secured the support of the lower Cossacks' army, started a war for independence and proclaimed a democratic state called the Hetmanate, headed by an elected hetman.

We know about these events from Ukrainian sources: the Samovydets Chronicle, the chronicles by Hryhoriy Hrabianka and Samiilo Velychko, as well as from the History of the Rus' People.

There are, of course, Polish documents, but the national view of history is primarily shaped by national works.

The Jews also have a national work about Khmelnytsky. It is called Yeven Mezulah (The Deep Mire) and was written by Rabbi Nathan Hannover, a native of the city of Zaslav, who was a contemporary of those events.

The book was printed in Venice in 1653 and has been constantly reprinted since then, shaping the historical memory of the Jewish people. It has also been translated, creating an outside view of these events. Researchers highlight the title of this work, The Deep Mire, is a reference to King David's Psalm.

Those who will check this keep in mind that Wikipedia indicates Psalm. This is due to the different number of psalms in the Orthodox and Catholic or Jewish versions of the psalter.

The psalmist calls for God's help in a situation of utter despair, but the main focus here is not on David, but on the word mire. In Hebrew, it is consonant with the word Greek, which points directly at Orthodoxy, i.e., the Greek religion.

But let us hear the author himself. The gematria of the phrase "I'm sunk in a deep mire" is the same as the gematria of the words "Khmel and Tatars joined the Greeks."

Gematria is the numerical values of the letters according to the alphabet. This is one way of analyzing the hidden meaning of words used in the Jewish tradition.

But let's continue: "The words 'I was flooded by a stream' are equal in their gematria to the expression 'Khmelnytsky, a Greek, and a Tatar drowned me in a stream of anger and sin.'"

I have entitled this book A Deep Mire because the words of the psalm tell about these terrifying events caused by two mutually hostile peoples: the Tatars and the Cossacks. And may the name of the villain Khmel be cursed forever. May the Lord send destruction upon him." There.

The text is not long, but it gives a description of the Cossack-Polish wars, starting with Nalyvaiko, i.e., Nalyvaiko is followed by Pavliuk, and then there is a detailed, quote-unquote, "description of the misfortunes of Russia, Lithuania and Poland, ... caused by Khmel."

Moreover, when mentioning the names of the Cossack starshyna, Hannover uses the curse formula "May his name be erased" every time.

The book gives a fairly detailed account of the events with vivid descriptions of the crimes committed by the Cossacks, including mass murders and rapes.

I will not quote these descriptions but will give you only the summary:

"There was no terrible method of killing that they didn't use." And then, there are separate chapters dedicated to the troubles of the Jewish communities.

Nemyriv, Tulchyn, Polonne, Ostrih, Zaslav, Konstiantyniv, Bar, Lviv, Narol (in Polish Subcarpathia), Zamość, and all of Lithuania.

These chapters again detail massacres, robberies, torture, and abuse. And the work ends with the chapter entitled "And now I will turn to the description of the customs of the Polish kingdom, based on piety and justice."

It tells about the life of Jews on Ukrainian and Polish territories and their observance of the rules and requirements of Judaism.

A Ukrainian translation of this work with detailed commentary is available online. Those who wish can read it.

For the sake of justice, we must add that the author does not limit himself to descriptions of crimes, but also explains their reasons. "The king began to promote the magnates and landowners of the papal faith and demote the magnates and landowners of the Greek faith, so that almost all the Orthodox magnates and landowners betrayed their faith and converted to the papal faith, and the Orthodox people began to grow poor and decline more and more, became despised and lowly, and turned into slaves and servants of Poles, and I would even say more, servants of Jews."

And here's another quote:

"Cossacks were exempt from taxes and enjoyed freedoms on a par with the nobility, but the rest of the Orthodox people were enslaved by princes and landowners. ... And the landowners imposed heavy taxes on them, and some even subjected them to harsh and bitter tortures, inciting them to convert to the papal faith.

And they were so humiliated that almost all the peoples, even those lower than all, ruled over them."

Thus, a contemporary of the Khmelnytsky Uprising confirms the real culprits of the conflict were the Polish rulers who established the laws, but the ones who suffered were the Jews that enforced these laws.

The Poles also suffered at the hands of the Cossacks, but Hannover does not say anything about that in his book.

And this is only logical because the history of the people is a subjective thing.

Interestingly, even though the author realizes the original cause of the whole disaster, Hannover does not curse the king or magnates and does not say, "Let their names be erased." about them, as he does in the case of Khmelnytsky.

However, one must understand that Cossack leaders and the real authorities of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were two different things.

This is where, like it or not, you will bite your tongue. It's hard to say to what extent Hannover's descriptions correspond to real events.

The first thing that jumps at you is the number of victims. The author estimates that 100,000 Jews were killed, but, as we mentioned earlier, their total number on Ukrainian lands was only 50,000.

Modern scholars have reduced the number of victims to 10,000–20,000.

It should also be noted that during the Khmelnytsky Uprising, many Jews converted to Christianity and joined the Cossacks. And in the Jewish tradition, such people are considered dead; a memorial service is held for them, and they are not counted among the living. As far as tortures and rapes are concerned, well, there is nothing to deny here.

In those days, such practices were not rare, but the main reason for the hype that surrounded all those events, they created uproar rather than hype in those days, was not the graphic depiction of tortures but a fantastic coincidence.

Or perhaps it wasn't a coincidence after all? Judge for yourself. The thing is that all the calamities and misfortunes that befell the Jews happened in what the author describes as "the glorious country of Rus'."

Please note that in the 17th century, our country was called Rus'.

So, Nathan Hannover, as a rabbi, explains calamities and misfortunes according to the Jewish holy books as signs of the fast-coming Mashiach, i.e., Messiah.

The coming of the Messiah is what all Jews are waiting for. And he actually came one day.

Many years ago, a certain Jesus from Nazareth announced that he was the Messiah, i.e., Mashiach, and those who believed him became Christians and began to wait for the second coming.

Meanwhile, those who did not believe remained Jews and are still waiting for the first coming. However, in 1665, a decade and a half after the Jewish public became acquainted with the horrors of the Khmelnytsky period from Hannover's book, a man in the Palestinian city of Gaza proclaimed himself Mashiach.

You can imagine the effect: here is the prophecy, and here is its fulfillment.

The new messiah's name was Sabbatai Zvi, and he came from the Ottoman city of Smyrna, now Izmir, in Turkey. Zvi received a good religious education and studied Kabbalah with the most influential rabbis. In short, he was not the average person.

Therefore, his announcement caused a great uproar among the faithful Jews. Jewish communities around the world split into supporters and opponents of the new God, as that was how he signed "I am the Lord, Your God, Sabbatai Zvi."

It's difficult for modern people that are far from Judaism to understand the tremendous effect those events had on [religious] consciousness, but there was certainly not a single Jew left who did not know about the new Mashiach, or the pseudo-Mashiach.

Someday we will make a separate video about it so that you could take a closer look at this religion, especially since it became the foundation of Christianity.

For now, just take my word for it: it was a phenomenon on a global scale.

Zvi, the new Mashiach, eventually converted to Islam, but in the minds of Jews and in religious history, his appearance was firmly connected with Khmelnytsky as a harbinger of these events, and according to another version, as a punishment for them, i.e., an advance for the future.

Such a complex knot that cannot be untangled or even cut. Because every conscious Jew knows about Khmel and about the saying, "May his name be erased."

Well, now let's open a Ukrainian wallet and take out a five-hryvnia note with Bohdan's portrait.

Let's go to the Ukrainian Maidan, and there is Khmel on a horse and without a horse. Let's look at the city of Proskuriv, and it is Khmelnytsky now. Let's look at a university named after him and at the Order of Khmelnytsky. The name has not been erased at all and is a constant reminder of Nathan Hannover and his Deep Mire.

Here you will say: "Can this be serious? Is it possible to build modern relations between peoples based on prophecies, messiahs, and old stories?" And I will answer with sadness: "Unfortunately."

Think of the common phrase "the Jews crucified God," which periodically surfaces, or, again, the "blood libel," i.e. accusations of blood drinking. This delusion lives in the 21st century and engenders a new delusion.

Thus, it is very important for us to understand where it came from so as not to fall under its influence.

"Well, what happened next with the Ukrainian Jews?" you will ask.

After all, it is quite obvious that not all of them were killed by Khmelnytsky. And here I will answer that after Khmelnytsky, came the Ruin.

Wars with Moscow and gradual occupation, during which Ukrainian Jews turned into Russian Jews. Accordingly, Ukrainian-Jewish relations became imperial-Jewish relations, which are completely separate because there was the Pale of Settlement, pogroms, the Beilis trial, and Jewish revolutionaries.

But I emphasize once again: these are completely different relations, relations not with Ukrainians but with the empire. Similar to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, unjust laws were established by some, while the responsibility for them was borne by others.

All this requires a separate analysis. And we will certainly do it in order to understand how the sins of the Russian tsars and general secretaries were blamed on Ukrainians and why the Jewish activist Schwarzbard shot the Ukrainian Petliura as revenge for the atrocities committed by the Russians.

Well, you and I must understand that history is a subjective thing. Every nation has its heroes.

We will honor our Khmelnytsky and Bandera and will not, in return, tell others whom to honor.

What is needed for this is a strong Ukrainian information space, which we are working together to create.

And each of you can contribute to its development.

How? Subscribe to a Ukrainian channel, share a Ukrainian video, and the most important thing is to like this video, because everyone shall be rewarded according to their likes.

Further readings (in Ukrainian):

1. Entsyklopediia istoriï Ukraïny, 2005, s.v. “Ievreï v Ukraїni,” http://www.history.org.ua/?termin=Evrei_v_Ukraini
2. “Ievreis′ki hromady na terytoriї Ukraїny v XVI–XVII st: Interv’iu z doslidnytseiu Nataleiu Starchenko,” pt. 1, 3 May 2020, https://hromadske.radio/podcasts/zustrichi/my-zvykly-vvazhaty-shcho-ievrei-kredytory-ale-my-fiksuiemo-zvorotni-pozychky-vid-shliakhty-ievreiam-istorykynia; pt. 2, 10 May 2020, https://hromadske.radio/podcasts/zustrichi/yevreys-ki-hromady-na-terytorii-ukrainy-v-xvi-xvii-st-interv-iu-z-doslidnytseiu-nataleiu-starchenko-ch-2
3. Liubchenko, Volodymyr. “Ievreis′ke samovriaduvannia v seredn′ovichnii Ukraїni,” 9 July 2016, https://hromadske.radio/podcasts/zustrichi/yevreyske-samovryaduvannya-v-serednovichniy-ukrayini
4. Magochii (Magocsi), P. R. and I. Petrovs′kyi-Shtern (Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern). Ievreї ta ukraїntsi: tysiacholittia spivisnuvannia. Translated by Oksana Forostyna, 2d exp. ed. Uzhhorod: Vyd-vo V. Padiaka.
5. Shchupak, I. Ia. Holokost v Ukraїni: Poshuky vidpovidei na pytannia istoriї; Navchal′nyi posibnyk dlia uchniv starshykh klasiv sered[nikh] zahal′noosvit[nikh] navch[al′nykh] zakladiv. 3d rev. and exp. ed. Dnipropetrovsk [Dnipro]: Ukraїns′kyi instytut vyvchennia Holokostu “Tkuma,” http://www.tkuma.dp.ua/images/public_dounload/2016_holocaust_v_ukraine_for_inet.pdf
6. Shchupak, Ihor. “‘Inshi,’ ‘chuzhi’ chy svoї’: Ievreї v ukraїns′kii istoriї.” In Lokal′na istoriia, 19 February 2020, https://localhistory.org.ua/texts/statti/inshi-chuzhi-chisvoyi-ievreyi-v-ukrayinskii-istoriyi/

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