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This project seeks to collect all of the Jewish families from Iași (Jassy), Romania.
http://kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/iasi/iasi.html
Iaşi is one of the largest cities in Romania and the capital of Iaşi Judet (county) in the Moldavia region in northeastern Romania. Iaşi was the capital of the country of Moldavia for almost 300 years (1564 to 1859). When Moldavia merged with Wallachia in 1859 Iasi and Bucharest were defacto capitals for three years. In 1862 the two principalities were recognized as Romania with the national capital in Bucharest. Iasi also served as capital of Romania during World War I from 1916–1918 when Bucharest was occupied by Germany and it's Allies.
The first Jewish settlers arrived in Iasi around the 15th century. Isaac ben Benjamin Shor, a Jew from Jassy was steward and chancellor to Prince Stephen the Great who ruled Moldavia from 1457 ro 1504. Isaac also served under Bogdan (1504-1517), the son and successor of Stephen. In 1551, the Jew “Emanuel” was nominated by the Turkish sultan to be the ruler of Moldavia, however it is not clear whether he actually ruled.
At the end of the 16th century, the Jewish settlement in Iasi became a stopover place for Polish merchants on their way to Bessarabia and the port at Galati. Several Moldavian princes used Jewish doctors, who also served political roles. The trade in wine and hard spirits at that time was almost solely in Jewish hands. In the 17th century, Iasi served as a stopover for immigrants from central and eastern European countries and Jews slowly began to settle in the area.
In the 19th century the Jewish population throughout Romania grew rapidly and the fastest growth was in Moldavia and especially the largest cities:
1803 1820 1831 1838 1859 1899 Iasi 2420 4396 17570 29692 31015 39441 Botosani 1400 2444 1646 9880 13123 16660 Galati 72 --- 408 976 3137 13970 Piatra 120 160 683 1760 3900 8473 Bacau 232 220 544 1740 3819 7850 Roman 288 416 1200 1936 3290 6099 For more details see Romania and the Jews by Radu D. Rosettio (1904). This is a very detailed and interesting history but it is very worthwhile to preface this by reading the Introduction and especially page VII.
In 1855, Iaşi was the home ofAvram Goldfaden the first Yiddish language newspaper, Korot Haitim. In 1876 Avraham Goldfaden (right) founded the world's first professional Yiddish Theater in Romania.
Iasi's prominence as a major center of Jewish culture is also noted in the area of music. The words of Ha Tikvah, the Israeli national anthem were written by Naphtali Herz Imber in Iasi.
One particularly noteworthy Iasi academic family was headed by Benjamin Schwarzfeld who lived from 1822 to 1896. He was an educator, writer and father of:
Elias Schwarzfeld (1855-1905) novelist and historian Wilhelm Schwarzfeld (1856-1894) writer, publisher, historian Moses Schwarzfeld (1857-1943) writer, publisher, Zionist leader. Elias wrote two highly regarded and interesting articles in the AJY 1901-02: The Jews of Roumania - From the Earliest Times to the Present Day and Situation of the Jews in Roumania - Since the Treaty of Berlin (1878).
On the eve of the Holocaust (1930) Jews were the second largest ethnic group with 127 synagogues. After World War II Iaşi played a prominent part in the revival of Yiddish culture but politics and renewed anti-semitism in the 1960s/70s led to a declining Jewish population. Today there are about 300 to 600 Jews and one synagogue.
http://www.romanianjewish.org/en/mosteniri_ale_culturii_iudaice_03_...