Vodka and the Jews

Vodka played a central role in the Ukrainian economy during the early modern period, and Jews dominated its production and sale. Based on an examination of numerous published sources scattered through various collections, and of new unpublished archival documents from Kyiv and Lviv, this book examines the economic and social causes of this dominance, and its impact on both Jewish and Ukrainian society. It discusses the distinctive features of the Jewish role in this important sector of the Ukrainian economy, as well as the abandoning of this occupation by the Jews in the late nineteenth century: how it was caused, and its effect.

Understanding the Jewish role in the network of taverns and inns in Ukraine contributes significantly to our understanding of vital issues in the Ukrainian economy in the early modern era, of the Jewish experience in Ukraine, and of Jewish-Ukrainian relations. Precisely through the prism of the Jewish tavern which served as a focal point of social life it is possible to show the relations between the Jews and various strata of Ukrainian society: nobles, Cossacks, peasants, and clergy.

Judith Kalik's field of research is the history of Eastern Europe with an emphasis on the Jewish history. She has authored four books: The Polish Nobility and the Jews in the Dietine Legislation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1997); Scepter of Judah: Jewish Autonomy in the Eighteenth-Century Crown Poland (2009); Movable Inn: The Rural Jewish Population of Minsk Guberniya in 1793-1914 (2018); (with Alexander Uchitel) Slavic Gods and Heroes (2018).