Obj. ID: 38261
Jewish printed books  Sha'arei Tzedek by Yosef ben Avraham Giktilia, Korzec, 1785

This text was prepared by William Gross: The community in Korzec, where this volume was printed, was one of the oldest in Poland. Jews were living there in the 13th century. During the Chmielnicki massacres in 1648/49 the community was almost annihilated, but recovered soon afterward to become the most influential in the council of four lands. A textile factory established by Joseph Czartoryski in Korzec at the end of the 18th century employed 120 Jewish workers.
Between 1766 and 1819 there were four Hebrew printing presses in Korzec, some of them associated with those in Shklov, Nowy Dwór, and Ostrog. They printed nearly 100 books, mostly works of kabbalah and chasidism, which contributed considerably to the spread of Hasidism in poland and adjoining countries. Works by Jacob Joseph of Polonnoye and Dov Baer of Mezhirech were first printed there. Korzec was a center of Hasidism. Dov Baer the maggid of Mezhirech and Phinehas Shapiro were active there.
The present volume was issued by the Christian printer Johann Anton Krüger who ran a Hebrew printing press in Nowy Dwór, Neuhof (near Warsaw), from 1781 until 1814. His books from these years record either Nowy Dwór or Korzec on their title pages, and often include his monogram printer's mark (Ya'ari 154-155). In this instance, the monogram is absent.