The Council of Four Lands (Vaad Arba Aratsot) in Poland

The Vaad Arba Aratsot (Council of Four Lands) was, from the mid-sixteenth century until 1764, the supreme self-governing body of the Jews of the Polish Crown, originally grouping the major provinces of Greater Poland, Lesser Poland, Ruthenia, and Volhynia. Composed of delegates from the principal communities and eminent rabbis, it met regularly, often at the great fairs of Lublin and Iaroslav, to deal with common affairs. Its primary function was the apportionment and collection of the lump-sum tax that the Crown demanded from all Jews, but it also legislated on religious, economic, and social matters, adjudicated supracommunal disputes, and defended Jewish interests before the authorities. Its existence reflects both the vitality of Jewish internal organization and the recognized, if precarious, place of Jews in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Its suppression in 1764, when the state decided to levy the poll tax directly, marked the end of a remarkable premodern Jewish political autonomy.

Sources & resources

• The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe ↗
• Encyclopaedia Judaica — 2e éd., Keter/Macmillan