The main body of the book contains the most vivid testimonies of contemporaries and eyewitnesses of the “Khmelnytsia” - the terrible defeat of most of the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe in 1648–1649. The chronicles of Nathan Hanover “The Bottomless Abyss”, Meyer from Shchebrzeshin “The Hardships of the Times” and Sabbatai Hakogen “The Message” were published two to three years after the events described and were subsequently reprinted many times, becoming not only the most important historical source, but also a passionate appeal to teshuvah - repentance and moral revival of the people. Such perception and awareness of the tragedy of the era became the basis for the spiritual restoration of the nation. The Chronicles, published for the first time in Russian in full, were prepared for publication in the mid-1930s. outstanding historian S.Ya. Borov, but were not passed by Soviet censorship in the memorable 1937. And only now, according to the accidentally preserved layout, this book is being published by the Gesharim publishing house.