The Minutes Book of the Jewish Community Council of Tykocin, 1621-1806, Volume 1

Very few of the Minutes Books faithfully kept by the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe have come down to us. That of the Tykocin (Tiktin) community is particularly significant, owing to Tykocin's status as a principal community in the Council of the Four Lands, the central institution of Jewish self-government in Poland up to 1764. The 1,000 Hebrew documents in the Minutes Book shed light on the inner workings of the community, on the operation of its leadership, on how it exercised its influence over the surrounding dependent communities and on the ways in which new urban communities came into being.