PINKAS

PINKAS (פִּנְקָס), record book of Jewish autonomous units, used mainly in the Middle Ages. The pinkas contained minutes of meetings, bylaws, lists of officers elected at the annual meetings, records of disciplinary actions against recalcitrant members, of tax assessments and fines, of trials, of unusual historical events, and an endless variety of other entries reflecting the life of the local community. Each community and each hevrah , including artisan guilds, had its own pinkas, as did the councils of the Lands in Poland, Lithuania, and Moravia. Pinkasim of local communities and those of the Councils have been published. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Baron, Community, 2 (1942), 113, index S.V. Minute books; I. Levitats, Jewish Community in Russia, 1772–1844 (1943), index S.V. Minute book; A. Rechtman, Yidishe Etnografye un Folklor (1958), 193–240. (Isaac Levitats)