A pinkes (Hebrew: פִּנְקֵס, also pinkas, פִּנְקָס; plural: pinkasim, פִּנְקָסִים) is the ledger of a Jewish community, in which the proceedings of and events relating to the community are recorded. Such record book were used to co-ordinate and document organizations in Jewish towns and villages throughout the early modern period in Europe.[1]
The term pinkes is derived from the Greek word πίναξ, meaning a board or writing-tablet. It originally referred to a physical writing-tablet, as described in the Mishnah, which came in three types:
Over time, the term evolved to refer to a book composed of such tablets,[3] and eventually any written record. The use of "pinkes" to denote a register is found in the Mishnah: "The pinkes is open, and the hand writes."[4]
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Seligsohn, M. (1905). "Pinḳes". in Singer, Isidore. The Jewish Encyclopedia. 10. New York: Funk & Wagnalls. p. 46–47. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12168-pinkes.
Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkes.
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