Jews lived in Tomaszów probably from the very beginning of the town’s existence. Already in 1595, i.e. 26 years before the town’s location, the first wooden synagogue was built. This state of affairs was confirmed by Tomasz Zamoyski, the then owner of the town, who guaranteed freedom and vast economic liberties granted to the Tomaszów Jews in a privilege from 26 May 1621. He imposed the same rents and taxes on both Jewish and Christian inhabitants and he equalled the rights and privileges of both groups as far as settlement, craftsmanship, and trade with other citizens within his estate were concerned. The very same privilege gave Jews the right to build a synagogue, a rabbi’s house and a shelter for the poor, as well as allowed them to purchase land for a cemetery in the suburbs. Zamoyski, by restricting the rights of Jews to build houses in the market square, released them at the same time from bearing the costs of dam’s repairs[1.1].

The rights and privileges of the Tomaszów Jews, similarly to those from Zamość, significantly prevailed over the privileges of Jews living in other centres, outside the Zamoyski Family Fee Tail, where Jewish trade and craft, as well as settling and house building within the town limits, and particularly in its centre were severely restricted. The only restriction issued by Zamoyski, concerning the number of Jewish houses by the market square, was in practice often surpassed. Not being able to build houses by the market square, the most affluent Jewish merchants leased them from Christians, therefore in due time the majority of plots located in the strict town centre was occupied by them. In 1671, this led to a conflict between the Roman-Catholic parish losing its revenue and the Jewish kehilla. It ended in signing an agreement, approved by the pope and obliging the Jewish owners of former Christian houses to pay levy for the benefit of the parish. This agreement was re-negotiated in 1825[1.2].

In 1630, an independent Jewish kehilla was established in Tomaszów. At the end of 1643, already 60 houses in Tomaszów were occupied by Jews[1.3]. The first known rabbi of Tomaszów was Noach, who died in 1644, whereas his successor was Jakow ber Uri Fewjusz. In the following years, the rabbis of Tomaszów were: Mordechaj, Jehuda ber Nissan (the author of Bet Jehuda), Reuwen Zelig Ber Jakow, Pinchas Ber Mosze Katzenelenbogen, Chaim ber Mordechaj, Elizer Lejzor Halperin (later rabbi of Furth in Bavaria), Jehoszua, Mosze ber Jehuda Golin, Natan Nute Kahane-Szapira, Cwi Kirsz Minc and Eliezer Pereles[1.4].

In the mid-17th century, a dynamically growing Jewish community was destroyed, at first during the invasion of the Cossacks–Tatars army under the command of Chmielnicki, and later by the Swedish army. Many inhabitants were killed, and the Jewish district with the synagogue complex were demolished[1.5]. During the first invasion, in 1648 or 1649 the Jewish community leader – Jakow ber Uri Fewjusz was killed. In 1700, out of the 205 Jewish families living in Tomaszów, only 18 were left, while the kehilla was severely indebted, behind with levies, rents and taxes[1.6].

In the 18th century, the Jewish community in Tomaszów restored itself, while in the sources of that period the town was described as “a settlement of Jewish population surrounded by farmers”[1.7]. The main source of income of most community members was trade, as well as inn keeping and craft. Gradually the obligations of Jews for the benefit of the town were increased – at the beginning of the 18th century, Jews were obliged to repair dams, bridges and roads to the same extent as Christians.

In the 18th century the town became known on account of the rabbis living and teaching there, and in the 19th century Tomaszów turned into a powerful centre of Hasidism. For a short period of time a famous Kock tzadik resided there – Menachem Mendel Morgenstern, known as „Mendełe of Tomaszów”. Tzadik Josef Gryn of Jarczow, student of the Seer of Lublin, also lived in Tomaszów, but was forced to move to Kock[1.8]. The Najhaus family of tzadikim established their own dynasty in Tomaszów. Many prayer houses operated in the town in that period, belonging to particular Hasidic groups, originating from Kock, Turzysk, Radzyń, as well as from Galicia – from Bełz and Nowy Sącz[1.9].

In 1827, the Jewish population of Tomaszów numbered 1,156 people, constituting 43% of all town inhabitants. The largest cluster of Jewish houses was located in the south-west part of the town. A considerable part of the buildings (including 413 wooden and 32 brick ones), belonged to Jews in those days, as they grew prosperous on trading cherry and raspberry brandy and honey, that Tomaszów was famous for. Jews owned a cloth, hat, comb and soap factories, as well as a pottery plant. Trade, brokerage, inn-keeping, handicraft, and playing music at weddings were the main source of income for Jews. Economically based conflicts between Jewish craftsmen and Christian ones, organized into guilds, arose in those times [1.10].

In 1868, Pinkas Singer was born in Tomaszów Lubelski – a local rabbi, father of the later Noble prize winner – Isaac Bashevis Singer. The writer’s grandfather Szmul, who was a synagogue assistant, came from that area.

After the first partition of Poland, when Tomaszów went under Austrian rule, Jews from the whole annexed territory were admitted to guilds under the emperor’s warrant. They were granted the right to create a German-Jewish religious school then, whereas Jewish doctors were given permission to treat Christian patients, but only in towns lacking a Christian doctor.

As Tomaszów was located on the border of the Austrian and Russian annexed territories, the local Jewish kehilla made money on legal and illegal border trade under Russian partition after 1815. Jews were also employed in local craft and industry; in addition they supplied with food Russian troops stationed on the border with Austria.

In 1898, the Jewish population of Tomaszów amounted to 4,736 people, constituting 59% of the total number of inhabitants, which was over 8,000 at that time[1.1.7]. They possessed a large number of wooden and brick houses[1.11]. In January 1910, among the 730 properties existing in Tomaszów, 401 belonged to Jews, 102 to Russians, while the remaining 227 buildings were owned by Poles[1.12]. In 1913, almost 5,000 Jews lived in Tomaszów, but the percentage of Jewish inhabitants to Christian ones lowered to nearly 50%[1.13]. Two Loan and Credit Associations were established in 1905, the first one was co-created and co-managed by Jews and Poles, whereas the other one only by Jews[1.14].

Different types of social organizations and political parties were established and functioned in Tomaszów in that period, among others the Bund founded in 1907 and a branch of Poale Zion. A charity association Linas ha-Tsedek operated in Tomaszów from 1912, whereas during World War I a local branch of the Mizrachi Party was founded in the town[1.15]. These organizations, in particular Poale Zion and Bund, conducted a large scale activity also in the field of culture and education. Still before World War I, in 1913, a secular Hebrew school for boys operated in the town, apart from numerous cheders and the Talmud-Torah community school[1.16].

When Poland gained independence in 1918, the population of Tomaszów Lubelski amounted to 10,000 people, out of which 5,600 were Jews[1.17]. In September 1921, out of 7,125 inhabitants of Tomaszów, 4,643 were Jews, constituting 65.2% of the total population. Roman Catholics were the second largest religious group (29.5%), and Orthodox Christians the third (5.1%). Some other minorities, as Greek-Catholics (0.1%) and Protestants (0,06%) also lived in the town. Jews dealt with craft and trade in those days, and they also ran restaurants and inns. They lived in the streets located in the town centre, in Krasnobrodzka, Lwowska, Piekarska, Kilińskiego, Rynek, Ordynacka, Bożnicza and Szkolna, Zamojska, Kościuszki, ks. Skorupki, Bracka, Głowackiego, Mydlarska, Chocimska and Boczna streets.

The kehilla board of Tomaszów, which was the largest community in the county, administered one synagogue, a house of prayer, a mikveh, a ritual slaughter house and a cemetery. In addition, eight prayer houses, as well as six registered cheders operated in the town[1.18]. From 1918 to 1931, Tomaszower Vokhblat, a weekly magazine in Yiddish, was published there, and from 1931 to 1939 – Tomaszover vort [[refr: |R. Kuwałek, Z Lublina do Bełżca. Ślady obecności i zagłady Żydów na południowo-wschodniej Lubelszczyźnie, Lublin (2006), p. 28.]].

Part of local Jewish community was secularized under the influence of new ideas and social-political movements. Among the numerous Jewish social organizations and political parties present in Tomaszów at that time, Orthodox, Zionist as well as socialist and social-democratic groups could be noticed, competing with each other for seats in the Tomaszów City Council. In the 1927 election, the Orthodox won the largest number of seats, the Bund – three, and the General Zionists – one.

The party which found followers mostly in the working class was the socialist-workers Bund, established in 1907. Along with the Bund operated also: the Central Jewish School Organization (Jewish Schools Association), which ran its school, the youth annex of Tsukunft, and the Kultur Lige, which promoted Jewish culture, ran and supported education. Among the local trade unions influenced by the Bund, the following should be mentioned: the Timber Wood Industry Workers Union, the Needle Workers Union and the Industry Workers Union. A branch of the Aguda party, established in the town in 1923, which represented a political unit of Orthodox and traditional inclination was active in town. It ran a school for girls Beit Yaakov[1.19].

In addition, the Zionist movement escalated in Tomaszów. In 1918, a branch of the Zionist-religious organization Mizrachi was funded there, running a school of the Yavne branch[1.1.19]. The Zionist Al ha-Mishmar, belonging to the General Zionist Organization competing with the Orthodox Aguda, was also active in Tomaszów. From 1925, the Rightist Poale Zion fraction, which combined socialist and Zionist elements operated in town, as well as the socialist democratic Leftist Poale Zion. Unofficially from 1923, and then officially from 1929, the culture and education organization Tarbut, which was under the impact of the Zionist movement, was present in Tomaszów. Furthermore, at the turn of 1918 and 1919, the Zionists and Bund’s leaders founded a Jewish library, the oldest institution of this kind in the Tomaszów county. The local town library, established in 1929, possessed numerous works in Yiddish and Hebrew, which constituted roughly 50% of the total collection.

Amateur theatre movement developed in town: the Stage Lovers Circle, as well as an amateur drama circle by the Craftsmen Association were established there. In Tomaszów’s people’s country centre, Jewish groups performed alongside with Polish ones, among others, the Jewish string orchestra, named after Aron Binderlman.

Just before World War II, the Jewish population of Tomaszów amounted to approximately 6,000 members which constituted a half of the town’s inhabitants. The following buildings remained under the supervision of the Jewish kehilla, which was the biggest in the whole county: the brick synagogue built in the first quarter of the 17th century, which replaced the previous one, destroyed in 1648; a single-storied synagogue, dating from the end of the 16th century, a bath house remodelled a few years before the outbreak of World War II, as well as a cemetery, one of the oldest in the town, established in 1623 and located in Starozamojska Street (former Krucza Street ). There was also a ritual slaughterhouse in Tomaszów.

In the first few days of World War II (7 and 9 September 1939), when Tomaszów was bombed by the Nazi air force, a large part of the Jewish quarter, located between the halls by the market square and the old city defensive walls, was destroyed by fire. The synagogue and prayer houses were also ruined. A great number of the Tomaszów Jews were killed at that time.

After the Nazi army had invaded the town on 13 September, Jewish property was robbed and mass Jewish persecution started. In the end of September, the Red Army entered Tomaszów and stayed there for a dozen of days. Along with the withdrawing Soviets, the majority of local Jews (about 4,500 people) left Tomaszów, among them the last rabbi of Tomaszów – Arie Leib Rubin. Merely 1,500 people remained in the town.

When the Nazis again took over the town, they murdered all disabled Jews, and forced all the others to leave the town’s centre; moreover a steep contribution was imposed upon them. The Jewish population was gathered in a dozen of houses located mostly in Piekarska Street, where an open ghetto was established. The Nazis devastated the cemetery, and in 1940 blew up the ruins of the synagogue left over after the bombing. Grunwaldzka Street was paved with the bricks from the synagogue’s walls up to the building of the secondary school, which housed the headquarters of military police. The matzevot from Tomaszów’s cemetery were used for paving a pavement in front of the house of the German prefect of the town.

At the beginning of 1942 the ghetto was closed down, and in March of the same year, 500 local Jews were sent to the labour camp in nearby Cieszanów. On 22 May 1942, they were deported to the Bełżec concentration camp. The Tomaszów’s ghetto was liquidated at the end of October 1942, when the Nazis transported part of the ghetto inhabitants to Bełżec by trucks, and shot the remaining part at the Jewish cemetery[1.20]. The last Jew from Tomaszów, Szymon Leja, was executed on 9 September 1943[1.21].

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