Shtadlan—the intercessor שתדלן
The man who went to the king and the bishop to plead for the Jews. A dangerous office on both sides: the authorities might not receive him, and the community might suspect him.
The community had no army, no court over outsiders, and no right of complaint. One thing was left—to ask, and to ask skilfully. The shtadlan knew languages and the ways of a court, carried gifts, obtained charters, got decrees of expulsion revoked, and interceded when a blood accusation began.
Who they were. Usually a rich man who traded with grandees and so had access. Josel of Rosheim, the intercessor of the Jews of the German Empire, travelled for half a century from community to community and from prince to prince, obtained confirmation of the privileges from the emperor, and turned aside expulsion after expulsion. The Council of Four Lands kept its own shtadlanim at the Polish diet permanently.
Why it was bitter. Because what had to be begged for was the right to live, and the price each time was money. Because an intercessor too much at home at court ceased to be at home in the community. And because the whole thing rested on one man: let him die or fall out of favour, and nothing remained.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Acharonim and later rabbinic literature
- Sefer HaMiknah of Josel of Rosheim — the shtadlan described by a shtadlan from inside the work
Scholarship
- Encyclopaedia Judaica, "Shtadlan" — the office of intercessor, its spread, and the shtadlanim of the Council of Four Lands
Basis: documents and evidence.