X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Pale of Settlement


Jewish settlement

Pale of Settlement, a region of the Russian Empire in which permanent residency by Jews was allowed and beyond which Jewish permanent residency was generally prohibited

Mestechko

a place located within Pale of Settlement in the Russian Empire with predominantly Jewish population; see shtetl

Pale of Settlement

Thousands of followers of rebbes such as the Gerrer Rebbe Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (known as the Sfas Emes), the Chernobyler Rebbe, and the Vizhnitzer Rebbe flocked to their towns for the Jewish holidays and followed their rebbes' minhagim (Jewish practices) in their own homes.


Batushansky

On the other hand, Botoşani was beyond Russian Empire's borders, while Butuceni (and all of Transnistria) became part of Russia's Pale of Settlement since Russo-Turkish war of 1792.

Latgale

As part of the Polotsk and Vitebsk guberniyas, the region was part of the Pale of Settlement and had a very large Jewish population – but most of the Jews perished in the Holocaust and much of the remainder has emigrated.


see also