Khorostkiv

Khorostkiv lay on the Taina River in Galician Podolia. It was recorded in 1565 as a private town of Jakub and Jerzy Strus and received limited Magdeburg rights in 1578. Its later development drew on the surrounding estates and their agricultural produce. During the eighteenth century the landowner Siamianski encouraged Jewish artisans and merchants from other Podolian towns to settle, offering rights intended to sustain their livelihoods and communal life.

The community's growth left unusually specific records. A census of 1765 counted forty-two Jewish poll-tax payers and two infants. At first the settlers depended on neighbouring congregations for religious authority and burial. A large synagogue was subsequently built with the landowner's help. In 1785, under Austrian rule, the authorities challenged its construction because it lacked a government licence. The town's history thus includes both the encouragement offered by an estate owner seeking a commercial centre and the regulations imposed by a new administration.