Kel Maleh Rachamim [Memorial Prayer for Rabbi Yechiel Michel of Nemirov and the Victims of the Chmielnicki Masacre of 1648]

(LITURGY)

Ukraine

Late Seventeenth Century

Manuscript in Hebrew, scribal lettering. On final page, exquisite calligraphic artwork

Davidson, Thesaurus of Medieval Hebrew Poetry, Vol. I, p. 176 (no. 3802)

MEMORIAL PRAYERS FOR THE VICTIMS OF THE CHMIELNICKI MASSACRES OF 1648. The Twentieth of Sivan, the day of the slaughter of the Jews of Nemirov, Ukraine, by Hetman Bogdan Chmielnicki in 1648, was set aside as a fast day. On that day 6,000 men, women and children—including their spiritual leader, Rabbi Yechiel Michel, one of the great luminaries of the generation—were massacred. To this day, there are Jews who observe this solemn fast on the 20th Sivan, especially among the Skever Chasidic community. The city of Nemirov later became a seat of Breslov Chasidism. It was home to Rabbi Nathan Sternhartz, eminent disciple and amanuensis of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. See JE, Vol. IX, p. 223