Jassy, city in N. E. Rumania, capital of the former principality of Moldavia from 1565. The community of Jassy was the oldest in Moldavia. Jews first settled there in the second half of the 15th century because of its position on the commercial route between Poland and Bessarabia and to the Danube port of Galati (Galatz). Their number increased when Polish Jews took refuge there during the Chmielnicki massacres (1648/49). In 1650 and 1652 many Jews in Jassy were murdered by Cossacks. There were new disturbances in 1726 when the populace, incensed by a blood libel, sacked the houses of the Jews in Jassy and desecrated a number of synagogues. The Jewish guild of Jassy obtained an order from the sultan to liberate the Jews who had been arrested in the blood libel case. In 1742 Prince Constantin Mavrocordat, wishing to attract Jews from Poland, exempted those who settled in the town from taxes.

At the end of the 18th century the Jews were concentrated in their own quarter. Several branches of commerce (cereals, livestock, wool, honey, cheese) were exclusively handled by Jews. By the middle of the 19th century they had taken the place of the Turks and Greeks as bankers and money changers. Many Jews were also occupied as goldsmiths, tailors, hatters, furriers, and shoemakers. A number of these crafts had their own unions, some possessing their own synagogues. When the Christian tradesmen and artisans tried to limit the activity of their Jewish counterparts, a decision was issued by the prince in favor of the Jews (1817). In 1831 Jewish merchants and artisans formed 43% of the total number of these occupations, and by 1860 their proportion had increased to 78%. The Jewish population numbered 4,396 families in 1820, 31,015 persons (47% of the total) in 1859, 39,441 (50.8%) in 1899, and 35,000 in 1910.