Baruch ben David Yavan

Baruch ben David Yavan was born at the beginning of the eighteenth century in Konstantynów, Volhynia. He received an education encompassing not only traditional Jewish learning but also an extensive non-Jewish curriculum, including German, French, Latin, and Polish.

In the early 1740s, Baruch got acquainted with Count Heinrich Brühl, the all-powerful minister of Augustus III (1696 – 1763) who was both elector of Saxony and king of Poland. Subsequently he became financier of minister Brühl, and a Court Jew of Augustus III. During the War of the Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748) he also served as a diplomat to Augustus III.

As a rich, powerful and educated man, Baruch used his influence at court for furthering Jewish causes. He was a leader in the Council of Four Lands (the central body of Jewish authority in Poland) and a shtadlan (intercessor) on behalf of the Council with the court.