Plette

With Plette or Plet ( Yiddish פלעטען; from franz. Billette , plural Pletten) was the name of a kind of voucher that was issued by Jewish communities in Germany , Poland and neighboring countries to provide for those in need traveling through . The system was in use from the late 15th century to the 19th century.

background

Before emancipation, the Jewish communities had to organize and finance their poor relief themselves, as they were excluded from the general poor relief that was incumbent on the Christian churches. Jews traveled more often than Christians. In many cities and towns the number of Jews entitled to settle was limited and had to be bought with a special tax so that the poor were excluded.

functionality

The plette was a slip of paper that contained the name of the parishioner who had to perform the service. Most of the time, this was food and accommodation for one or more people for up to three days, especially on the Sabbath , which was on the one hand a day of community and on the other hand, travel was not allowed on it according to Jewish religious laws. The slips of paper were handed out in the synagogue , by a servant of the synagogue or a poor carer and then also served as a recommendation to the host. Recipients of Pletten were mostly beggars and traveling Talmud students . Other Jewish travelers, however, were also often dependent on hospitality, as few dishes in non-Jewish inns met the dietary laws . The design of the service depended on the will and the financial possibilities of the host. The recipients were called Plettengäste .

The number of pletten a household had to provide was based on wealth. In Berlin, for example, in 1769 it was stipulated that every household had to spend a plette for every 1,000 Reichstaler assets. In many communities, the refusal to redeem or spend pletten was subject to sanctions, such as fines or public notice. The system was effective and well organized.

Heilig's Blechle fulfilled a similar function in Christian communities in Württemberg .

literature

Hans Peter Althaus: Small lexicon of German words of Yiddish origin. (Beck'sche Reihe, vol. 1518), CH Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-49437-4 , p. 163.
Plet , in: Siegmund A. Wolf: Yiddish Dictionary. Vocabulary of the basic German stock of the Yiddish (Jewish-German) language. Bibliographisches Institut, Mannheim 1962, p. 156.
Pletten , in: Encyclopaedia Judaica , 1971, Sp. 645.

Web links

Jewish virtual library Pletten (English)

Individual evidence

^ Britta L. Behm: Moses Mendelssohn and the Transformation of Jewish Education in Berlin. An educational historical analysis of the Jewish Enlightenment in the 18th century. (Jewish history of education in Germany, Vol. 4), Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 978-3-8309-1135-7 .
^ Mordechai Breuer : Jewish Religion and Culture in the Rural Communities 1600–1800. In: Monika Richarz , Reinhard Rürup : Jewish life in the country: Studies on German-Jewish history . Mohr Siebeck, 1997, ISBN 978-3-16-146842-1 ( google.de [accessed June 15, 2018]). , P. 79.

[1] Britta L. Behm: Moses Mendelssohn and the Transformation of Jewish Education in Berlin. An educational historical analysis of the Jewish Enlightenment in the 18th century. (Jewish history of education in Germany, Vol. 4), Waxmann Verlag, Münster 2002, ISBN 978-3-8309-1135-7 .

[2] Mordechai Breuer : Jewish Religion and Culture in the Rural Communities 1600–1800. In: Monika Richarz , Reinhard Rürup : Jewish life in the country: Studies on German-Jewish history . Mohr Siebeck, 1997, ISBN 978-3-16-146842-1 ( google.de [accessed June 15, 2018]). , P. 79.