This privilege, granted to a small community in what is today Ukraine (the 1765, census notes 293 Jews in Jampol), illustrates the extent to which Jews were integrated into the life of the town in the 18^th century. The basis for this integration was the economic policy of the Polish nobility - in particular, the wealthiest magnates. In order to reconstruct the economy of their estates following the destruction of the mid-17^th wars, the magnates initiated a policy of encouraging Jewish settlement and economic activity. The legal basis for this was a law of 1539, which removed the Jews on noble estates from royal control, leaving them entirely under the jurisdiction of the nobility. This put an end to the Jews' medieval status of "servi camerae" and allowed each community to negotiate its own settlement terms separately. Since the magnates recognized the Jews as a highly effective economic force, they were prepared to grant them very favorable conditions. The Jews' economic importance was largely felt in the realm of the production and sale of alcoholic beverages - the so-called propinacja monopoly, which the estate owner granted Jewish businessmen on lease (arenda). Though their dependence on their noble lords could sometimes leave the Jews exposed to persecution at their hands, in the vast majority of cases, the economic services the Jews gave meant that they could rely on help and support. This may be seen here not only in the broad concessions granted to the Jews in the realms of trade and crafts, but also in the permission to build a synagogue, mikveh and cemetery (and to use wood from the estate owner's forests). The magnate estate owner also lent his support to the community council (kahal) and the Jewish courts, even allowing the Jews themselves to try cases where a Christian was the plaintiff. However, the most striking example of Jewish integration into urban structures in this document is the stipulation of the magnate estate-owner that the Jews of Jampol should be active participants in the municipal council. This was an extremely rare concession and should in no way be taken as representative of the situation in the overwhelming majority of Polish and Lithuanian towns and cities in this period. It should be noted that almost all the forms of Jewish integration into 18^th century urban life in Eastern Europe were possible only due to noble support. The non-Jewish townspeople remained hostile to the Jews, whom they saw as economic competitors and religious enemies, but could not easily express their hostility for fear of invoking the wrath of their lords. From time to time, however, this hostility did find expression: in Jampol, the townspeople, with the support of the local bishop, accused the Jews in 1756 of murdering a local Christian boy.

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