The Chmielnicki Massacres were a series of brutal attacks carried out by Ukrainian Cossack rebels, led by Bogdan Chmielnicki, against the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe between 1648 and 1657. The devastation they brought had far-reaching consequences. Ultimately much of this brokenness was healed with the rise of the Chassidic movement a century later. Read on for 13 facts about this horrific tragedy that shaped the face of Eastern European Jewry for centuries thereafter.
1. The Jews Were the Scapegoats
Ostensibly, the Cossack rebellion was directed against the Polish nobility.1 It was the Jews, however—the enemy of each side of the fight—who bore the brunt of the Cossacks’ subhuman cruelty. Over the course of the insurrection, hundreds of thousands of Jews across Eastern Europe were savagely pillaged, tortured, and murdered, in a tragedy surpassed only by the Holocaust three centuries later.
Watch: Jews in Eastern Europe
2. Their Hebrew Name Is Gezeirot Tach V’Tat
Jewish literature refers to the massacres as Gezeirot Tach V’Tat, “The Decrees of 5408 and 5409.” These years in the Jewish calendar correspond to 1648–1649, during which the Cossacks carried out their initial wave of attacks against Jewish communities in Ukraine.
Read: Who Needs Anti-Semites?
3. The Cossacks Were Fierce Warriors
The Cossacks were a Slavic tribe that inhabited the Ukrainian region east of the Dnieper River. Known as formidable warriors on horseback, they were granted a measure of semi-autonomy by the Polish kings in exchange for their service in defending Poland from the Tatars, another fierce tribe that frequently raided Polish borders.
4. They Resented the Nobles
In the early decades of the 17th century, the Cossacks’ loyalties shifted due to new laws established by the Polish government limiting their privileges. These restrictions roused the furor of the Cossack fighters, who were now determined to crush the power of the Polish nobility.
5. Their Leader Was Bogdan Chmielnicki
The Cossacks were led by Bogdan Chmielnicki, whose military and diplomatic skills were surpassed only by his cruelty and ruthlessness. Knowing that the Cossacks alone had no hope of defeating the mighty Polish army, he convinced the Tatars to join him in battle, initiating a rebellion that took almost a decade to suppress.
6. Nemirov Portended Doom
The Jewish community of Nemirov, led by a saintly sage named Rabbi Yechiel Michel,2 was one of the first victims of the Cossack hordes. The Cossacks approached the city on 20 Sivan, 5408 (1648), displaying Polish flags and thus tricking the Jews into opening the city gates. Once they had gained entry, a bloodbath ensued in which 6,000 Jews were murdered and drowned.3 In commemoration of this event, the harbinger of the horrors to come, 20 Sivan, which had been a voluntary fast day since the 12th century, was re-established with special penitential prayers to be recited.
7. Olyka Was Saved by a Miracle
A similar fate met the Jews of Tulchin, Polonnye, Ostroh, Zaslav, and many other towns and cities,4 but some communities were miraculously spared. In 1649, as the Cossacks prepared to breach the walls of Olyka, the venerable Rabbi David Halevi (the Taz), a refugee from Ostroh, fell into an uneasy sleep. In his dream, he envisioned the verse, “I will protect this city to save it, for My sake and the sake of My servant David.”5 Indeed, miraculously, the old cannons atop the city walls fired spontaneously toward the enemy, who proceeded to flee.6
Read: Rabbi David Halevi
8. A Second Wave Occurred 6 Years Later
After two years of unparalleled atrocities and the decimation of countless Jewish communities in Ukraine and Poland, the Poles and Cossacks agreed to an armistice and the fighting subsided. In 1655, however, the Cossack assault continued, this time aided by the Russians (the Tatars had since switched sides, fighting alongside the Poles). The violence spread to Lithuania as well, with 25,000 Jews murdered in Vilna alone.
9. Acts of Bravery Shone Amid the Darkness
The Cossacks often gave their victims a chance to save their lives by converting to Christianity, however, the Jews invariably refused, opting to sacrifice their lives for the sanctification of G‑d’s name.
Many women chose death rather than defilement by their captors. In one instance, a Jewish girl, slated for marriage to a Cossack warrior, cunningly told her captor that she knew a special incantation that served as protection from weapons of all kinds. “If you don’t believe me,” she declared, “try shooting me with your rifle. You will see that nothing will happen to me.” The end of the story need not be told.7
10. A Decade of Havoc Left European Jewry in Shambles
The years 1500–1648 are often referred to as the “Golden Era of Poland.” Torah scholarship and Jewish life flourished, with Jews being welcomed by the ruling monarchs and granted economic and cultural freedom. The Chmielnicki massacres brought an abrupt end to this prolific era. An estimated 600,000 Jews were killed and 300 communities destroyed, leaving penniless survivors wandering the countryside without a place to call home.
However, the hallmark Jewish resilience soon came to the fore, and Jewish life in Eastern Europe eventually recovered, continuing to thrive until the mid-20th century.
11. Surviving Torah Scholars Memorialized the Disaster
Several Torah scholars who survived the calamity documented their experiences. Rabbi Moshe Rivkash describes his flight from Vilna in 1655 in the introduction to his work Be’er Hagolah. He fled with his family to the province of Zamut, only for it to be invaded by the Swedes, who had taken advantage of Polish weakness and attacked the country from the north. Ultimately, Rabbi Moshe found refuge by setting sail for Amsterdam.
Read: Rabbi Moshe Rivkash
Additional contemporary accounts include Megilat Eifah, composed in rhyme by Rabbi Shabtai Cohen (the Shach), and Yevein Metzulah of Rabbi Nathan Hanover, which provides a gripping and comprehensive narrative of the Chmielnicki massacres.
Read: “Queen Esther” of Vilna
12. They Raised Messianic Hopes
Desolate and desperate, large segments of Eastern European Jewry firmly believed the horrors they had experienced were the “birth pangs of Moshiach,” and that the arrival of our righteous redeemer was imminent. This provided fertile ground for the tragic debacle of Shabbatai Zevi, the false messiah who succeeded in deluding thousands of Jews but ultimately converted to Islam in 1666.
13. Chassidism Revived a Comatose Jewry
The Chmielnicki massacres coupled with the Shabbatai Zevi saga left the Jewish nation in a state of collective coma. Financially destitute and spiritually debilitated, it would take the light and warmth of Chassidism to revive it and bring it back to its feet.
It is said that calling one’s name can revive a person in a deep faint. The Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Chassidic movement, whose personal name was Yisrael (Israel), was G‑d calling the Jewish nation by its name, empowering it to endure the pains of exile until the genuine Moshiach is revealed.8
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