NAROL

NAROL , small town in the region of Lubaczow, southeastern Poland. Founded in 1585 as the settlement of Floryjanowa, the town later received the name of Narol. Jews who settled there were active as merchants and lessees. They developed an economically flourishing community which existed until 1648–49, when the entire settlement of some 12,000 was destroyed in the *Chmielnicki pogroms. About 40,000 refugees from neighboring settlements fled to Narol in 1648 in fear of the Cossacks. When the town was captured (1649) all of them were slaughtered. Nathan Nata *Hannover, in his Yeven Meẓulah, described the massacre in these words: "Many were drowned in the water, many hundreds shut themselves up in the synagogue, but they broke down the doors and first slew the Jews inside it and then burnt the synagogue with the slain. There was no such slaughter in the whole of Poland …" Documents on the history of the Jews in the town were also destroyed during the massacre. Although much wealth was lost in the Cossack plunder, a large part of it hidden under the ruins of the houses was discovered in the 19^th century. Moses Kohen, rabbi of Narol, who was saved from the slaughter and later appointed rabbi of Metz in France, composed a *seliḥah in which he lamented the destruction of Narol – the death of its scholars and the loss of the Torah centers in the town. The settlement never returned to its prior glory. When the *Council of Four Lands was disbanded, the town still owed sums of money on taxes and other payments to the Council. Narol was incorporated into the territory of Austria following the partition of Poland in 1772. After World War i, Narol became part of independent Poland, and in 1921 the number of Jews totaled 734 (out of 1,817). The majority of its Jews were Zionists who took an active part in the affairs of the Zionist Federation. In 1933 misfortune again overtook the town when a fire completely destroyed the houses of 23 families. In 1939 the Germans expelled the Jews to the Soviet sector.

[Shimshon Leib Kirshenboim]