Asefah:

By: Herman Rosenthal

Technical term for the meetings of the members of the Jewish communities of Poland and Lithuania. In cases of importance, the director of the "kahal" ("parnes Ḧodesh") gave the order to the "shammash" of the "kahal-stübel" (the servant of the office) to call the prominent members of the "kahal" to a conference. All the important affairs of the community, the internal as well as the external, including in the latter communications from the government authorities, were brought before the Asefah.