Dear Eilat Gordin
Levitan;
I was informed by Mr Randy Daitch that you might be able to assist me in
tracing my Jewish family roots in Belarus.  Though
my name now is Takahashi, I was born Saul Israel Chodos, in the United States.
My grandfather, Israel Chodos, was born in either 1899 or 1900, and emigrated
to the United States with his family when he was five years old. My understanding
is that my grandfather originated in a community of (I believe Polish speaking)
Jews in the Myadel region of Belarus. My great grandfather was named Schrage
Feyvush Chodos, and it appears that in Belarus he was somewhat of a scholar,
and a rabbinical student (my grandfather eventually became a rabbi in the
United States, keeping with the family tradition). Â Unfortunately,
that is really all the information I have. My grandfather passed on before
I was born, and nobody in the family appears to have any more detailed information.
The only other â€factoid†I can provide is
that both my great grandfather and my grandfather were (like all their offsprings,
myself included) very big men; generally over 190 cm tall and broad shouldered.
 I am sure you must be extremely busy with these kind of queries,
and am very mindful that this is not much information to go on. The lack
of concrete information on my family history has been somewhat of a source
of frustration for me as well; unfortunately however, this is all there
appears to be. I really would be most grateful for any information you may
be able to provide, no matter how general. Conversely, if there is another
source better situated to help me, I would be most grateful if you could
point me in that direction. FYI, I am currently living in Vienna, and, if
possible, am hoping to pay a visit to Belarus this summer, if only to take
a quick look at my grandfatherâ€s old home town.
Yours sincerely, Â Saul Takahashi
Dear Mr. Takahashi,
Thank you so much for writing. Chadash/ Chodos / Hodes was a very common
name in Myadel.
I will start with the list of the perished during the holocaust in Myadel;
Chadash, Avram Leib son of Yankel* born; 1884 - killed; 30 August 1941 (Among
the first killed)Â - House # 64
Chadash, his wife Freide daughter of Benes Chadash** born;
1894 - killed; 23 September 1942
Chadash, his daughter Etke** 1930 - 23 September 1942
Chadash, his son Aron** 1926 - 23 September 1942
Chadash, his son Benes - 1941 Russia
Chadash, his daughter Dvora 1919 - 1941 (Among the first killed)
Chadash, his son Yankel - killed at the front
Chadash, his son Hershel - killed at the front
Chadash, Ruvke son of Yankel* 1924 - killed at the bridge -
30 August 1941 (Among the first killed)
Chadash, his brother David son of Yankel - killed at the front
Chadash, his brother Shalom son of Yankel - killed at the front
Chadash, Leibe son of Chaim Velvel (the butcher) 1874 - 21 September 1941
Kobylnik - House # 69
Chadash, his second wife Asne** 1868 - 21 September 1942
Chadash, Motke's wife Beile bat Shlomo Istrin** 1900 - 23 September 1942
 - House # 51Chadash, their son Zalman** 1927 - 23 September
1942 Â - House # 51
Chadash, Berl (Chaim) Velvel (the butcher) - killed in the woods date unknownÂ
- House # 16Chadash, his second wife Keile bat Efraim Matzkevich -1941 -
House # 16Chadash, their son Maishe Yoshke* - 30 August 1941 (Among the
first killed) Â - House # 16Chadash, his son Motke* 1896 - 30
August 1941 (Among the first killed)Â - House # 62Chadash, his
wife Soshya Chadash (no information as yet) Her sister Sore Chadash (see
Pearlman) Â - House # 62Chadash, his daughter Sore Rivka 1929
- killed in the woods, date unknown Chadash, his daughter Adle (see Zelig
Istrin below)
Chadash, second wife of Chaim Velvel Sore Freida** 1880 - 23 September 1942
Chadash, their daughter Zelda bat Chaim Velvel** - 23 September
1942Â - House # 14
Chadash, their son Yoshke ben Chaim Velvel** 1905 - 23 September 1942Â
- House # 14
Chadash, his wife Roche bat Shlomo Katz** 1913 - 23 September
1942 Â - House # 14
Chadash, his daughter Leah** 1939 - 23 Perished on 30th of August, 1941;
9. Chadash Avraham Leib
10. Chadash Zalman
11. Chadash Motke son of Berl.
12. Chadash Motke son of Leib
13. Chadash Moshe Yoshke
14. Chadash Ruvke
Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Kostzevsky
and twenty other Myadel Jews are buried in four mass graves in the cemetery
in old Myadel and their names are etched on the tombstone that was put
into position in 1993. These Jews were tortured and murdered on the 30th
of August, 1941 by the Germans and their local associates, may their name
be erased. They were murdered near the bridge just outside the shtetl
in the swamp area. Before they were murdered, they were forced to dig
their own graves. After two weeks they were buried at the cemetery with
the help of some Gentiles that had the grace to help and retrieve
the bodies from the boggy mud. Among those that brought the
bodies for burial to the four mass graves in the cemetery were the late
Yerachmiel Chadash (whose father was among the ones murdered) and Mr.
Arie Geskin, may he live long! - Chaya Lupinsky
Notes:Yerachmeil ben Motka Chadash survived the war and died 1998 Lepel,
Belarus
Chaya Lupinsky lupinsky@netvision.net.il
has conducted exhaustive research creating this list with cooperation
of the survivors of Myadel. This small community in Israel, Canada and
the United States meets yearly in October. For further information contact
Chaya or Meyer Svirsky. manager@interprom.co.il
I translated a story about the war time in the area and I am pasting here
a few lines;
...On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany's attack on the Soviet Union took us
by surprise. At the time, I was living in Myadel, a shtetl situated on
the shore of the Narutz Lake, where I had moved the previous year after
marrying a native girl. The next morning, I left the area with 9 other
youths from Myadel in an attempt to escape the rapidly approaching Nazi
Army. With great rapidity we walked all the way to the Kanhanina train
station, and in the last moment managed to push our way into the very
last train car. As it turned out, the train was to be the last Soviet
train to leave the area for some years.The train was full of soldiers
and officers of the Red Army, as well as some local civil servants for
the USSR. There were also some prisoners of the Soviets who were taken
from Vilejka's (aka Vileyka) jail. Also, some locals (mostly Communists
and Jews) who wanted to flee the Nazi occupation had crowded the train.
The young people who came with me from Myadel were Moshe Hadash/ Chodesh,
Hirsch Hadash, Yitzhak Alperovicz, Yoshue Leib Yanovsky, Yitzhak Keller,
Shimon Kotzer, Yosef Rubin, Zalman Kaplan, and Nahum Perelman from Dokshitz.
We barely found a spot to stand as the train departed. The ride was very
peaceful until we reached Karlovisziczina, where about a dozen Luftwaffe
Foch-Wulfes appeared. There were no Soviet forces in the area to repel
them, so they rained their gifts down freely upon us. One of their huge
bombs exploded right by the train and derailed the last three cars of
the train, including the one we were on.To our great fortune, we were
not physically hurt, but we were very anxious since we could not continue
on our journey. When we got out of our car we realized that the rest of
the train was long gone. After a moment to gather ourselves, we decided
to walk to Dokshitz, a place where we thought we would have easier access
to cross the border of Poland and the Soviet Union (the pre-partition
border from 1939).Dokshitz was situated on the outskirts of the border.
After arriving at Dokshitz, we found hundreds and I might not be exaggerating
if I said thousands of refugees by the side of the road. Some came by
horse and buggy, some by foot. They were running back and forth, looking
for a place to cross to the other side and save themselves from the disaster
to come. However, Soviet guards stood with weapons ready at every crossing
point. They demanded that everyone go back, saying that we were all causing
unnecessary panic, and that we must return to our proper places.We had
no choice but to return to our homes, but first I decided to visit Dolhinov
(aka Dolginovo), the place where I was born and raised. My mother and
my married sister with her children lived there, and I wanted to help
them. As it turned out, although I was able to help out many and save
their lives from the hands of murderers, I was unable to save my mother,
my sister, or her children. My sister on the other hand, saved my life
from a certain torturous death at the hands of the Gestapo, as I will
tell you later. Back to my visit to Dolhinov. Shortly after I arrived,
on Saturday the 28th of June 1941, the first German scouts entered the
town. They didn't hurt anyone at first, they just shot at a few farmers.
We then decided that it was time to go back to Myadel, where our wives
and children were.Four young people from Dolhinov walked with me to Myadel.
On the way we didn't see any Germans. We avoided the main roads, sticking
to more out-of-the-way routes and we safely arrived at the village Nyavia,
a few kilometers from Myadel. Here we had to cross the river using a boat
since German planes had demolished the bridge. We saw a few farmers taking
out the bridge debris from the river. After begging, pleading and bribing,
we were able to convince one of them to take us with his boat across the
river for a large amount of money.At home, my wife and father-in-law received
me with great delight. "The husband and son-in-law has returned,"
they said. However, after a few moments of discussion of the situation
of the Jews, I realized, "What did I really achieve? Why did I leave
and then come back?"Forthwith I was told that there was already carnage
in town, and blood was flowing like a river here. As soon as the German
troops arrived, they appointed some local collaborators to take charge
of the police department. Most of the youths in the police force were
local Polish people, amongst them about 20 hooligans and thugs who were
full of animosity toward the Soviets, and showed even greater repugnance
towards the Jews. They declared, "All the Jews were Communists."
That statement launched the first event in a series of tragedies and tortures
that I would experience. Immediately I realized that we must organize
young people to fight the enemy, though the road to achieving that goal
was very long and there were many twists and turns on the way to accomplishing
that lofty idea.At the head of the local police in Myadel, there were
two corrupt, cruel and bloodthirsty goons. The head of the police was
Baginisky, and Koprevicz was his assistant. As soon as the Nazis appointed
them to the job, together with the gendarme of Vilejka they started torturing
the Jewish community, which was totally without defense and had never
committed any crime. In some ways, the local assistants were many times
crueler than their German bosses. The First Massacre and Its VictimsOne
Sunday, in the first weeks of the occupation, two bodies of prisoners
from the Vileyka jail were brought to Myadel. When the Soviets started
retreating from Vileyka, they killed a few political prisoners that they
thought were too dangerous to be taken to the Soviet Union. Those executions
of those sentenced to death were done near the village Ravoni, which was
in the vicinity of the jail. When later the bodies were found, one of
the thugs who found them was from Myadel, and he recognized two of the
bodies as of natives of Myadel.The locals said, "Who is guilty? The
Jews. They were the cause of these people's imprisonment, and now they
were the cause of their death." They soon organized a majestic burial
ceremony that paid great homage to the deceased in which they made fiery
speeches laden with malevolence called for retribution on the Jews. They
also invited some Germans from the engineering troops that were rebuilding
the local infrastructure to take part in the ceremony. The Germans who
were responsible for the improvement of the infrastructure decided to
exploit the Jews to do the hard labor as slaves. They started kidnapping
Jews and forced them to build the roads. One day for no clear reason they
gathered 22 young Jews from Myadel and ordered them to walk. At the head
of the procession they put the Rabbi and kosher slaughterer (shochet).
Soon after, they started tormenting them and moments later they begun
torturing them. The tortures were executed methodically and brutally.
They used clubs and attack dogs that tore at their victims' limbs and
flesh. I saw everything with my own eyes, since in all the panic around
I was able to escape and hide in a house not far from this tragic event.
I saw an agitated German officer holding a ferocious dog ordering it to
attack the rabbi, who was already too weak to stand on his feet. The dog
pushed him on the ground and started eating his flesh, which was bleeding
profusely. The killers ordered the other victims to put the rabbi's body,
which was still twitching, on a wheelbarrow and to take him outside of
the town. Others were also tortured mercilessly, and at the end, they
ordered the few survivors who were still able to walk to take shovels
and to start marching. Soon after, they were told to dig holes. When they
had finished digging, they were shot on the spot and buried in the holes
that they had just dug. In outrage, I escaped from my hiding place and
took with me Berl Chodesh, my father-in-law, who was also hiding out there.
....
You should read the rest of the story if you want to know more details
about the amazing story of survival of many families who escaped from
the ghetto of Myadel.
http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/dolginovo/dol274.html
HOW MYADSIOL ADOPTED FAMILY NAMES;
The surname Hodosh is said to have been bestowed upon the latter settlers
of Myadsiol to denote their recency; Hodosh, meaning "new" in
Hebrew. -
but they were not so "new"as you could see in the list (atÂ
about the time that Jews in the Russian empire chose last names); Householder
Surnames in Myadel Revision Lists years; 1811 - 1850 H=Households or Family
Groupsh=Male head of family
 1811 1816/1818 1834 1850
Gordon 4H 4H/19h 8H/9h 9H/22h 12H/28h
Chodash 20H 21H/26h 23H/39h 30H/95h 33H/95h
Svirdler 2H 2H/5h 6H 5H/10h 5H/11h
Smytski 2H 2H/3h 2H 2H/5h 2H/2h
Kopelevich 3H 3H/4h 2H/3h 1H/16h 7H/8h
Maleschevich 3H 3H 2H 1H/3h 4H/4h
Svirsky   1H/ 2H/
Taits  1H 1H/ 2H/2h
Sheven Â
1923 Business Directory for MIADZIOL NOWY;
Apteczne sklady (drogueries): Chodas L.
Rozne towary (articles divers)
:Chodes Jank.; Chodes Joch.; Chodes S.; Chodes T.; Chodes, Z.; Spozywcze
artykuly (comestibles) : Chodos B.
Szewcy (cordonniers) : Chodes
N http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Myadel/households_in_myadel.htm
(between 1921- 1939 the region of Vilna became part of Poland- at the
time of your family residing there it was part of the Russian empire (1795-
1915) and Yiddish was the language the Jewish people used. If they were
well educated they spoke Russian. I will write more later....
           Â
Eilat
Personal Information
Name: Â Israel Chodos
SSN: Â 058-36-9434
Last Residence: Â 11235Â Â Brooklyn,
Kings, New York, United States of America
Born: Â 11 Sep 1900
Died: Â Jun 1969
State (Year) SSN issued: Â New York (1961-1962 )
1930 Census; I checked one family who had a son ; Israel/ Isidor born
in 1900 (September) and came to the country in 1906 -must have been during
the first months of the year since a sister was born in New York in 1906
and the father left Russia in 1904 ;
William Chodos Bronx, Bronx, NY 53 BirthYear(1930, '53');1876 Russia White
Head married at age 20 came to the country in 1904 was a carpenter
Esther Chodos Bronx, Bronx, NY 55 BirthYear(1930, '55');1874  Russia Â
 Wife married at age 22 came to the country in 1906
Isidor Chodos Bronx, Bronx, NY 29 BirthYear(1930, '29');1900 RussiaÂ
 Son came to the country in 1906
Sam Chodos Bronx, Bronx, NY 27 BirthYear(1930, '27');1902 RussiaÂ
  Son came to the country in 1906
Yetta Chodos Bronx, Bronx, NY 23 BirthYear(1930, '23');1906 Â New
York  Daughter bookkeeper
Joseph Chodos Bronx, Bronx, NY 19 BirthYear(1930, '19');1910 New YorkÂ
 Son
owned their home on Brayant Ave. $ 17,600
I found the same family in 1920 and the son Isador is Israel here. They
lived in Manhattan, were Jewish
1920 U.S. Census - New York
1920 U.S. Census • New York • New
York • Manhattan • ED#
1181Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
let me know if it is the right family.
others;
Name Home in 1920
(City,County,State) Age in
1920 Estimated
Birth Year Birthplace Race View
Census? Save
This
Chodos, A Sterling Evans, Columbia, GA 43 BirthYear(1920, '43');1876 Georgia
White
Chodos, Virgina Indianapolis, Marion, IN 60 BirthYear(1920, '60');1859
Indiana White
Chodos, William S Des Moines, Polk, IA 47 BirthYear(1920, '47');1872 Illinois
White
Chodos, Joseph Crystal Falls, Iron, MI 31 BirthYear(1920, '31');1888 Russia
White
Chodos, James Stuntz, St Louis, MN 27 BirthYear(1920, '27');1892 Greece
White
Chodos, James W Pike, Stoddard, MO 44 BirthYear(1920, '44');1875 Missouri
White
Chodos, Clevin B Denver, Adams, NE 47 BirthYear(1920, '47');1872 Nebraska
White
Chodos, Frank A Greenwich, Warren, NJ 21 BirthYear(1920, '21');1898 Pennsylvania
White
Chodos, William Bronx, Bronx, NY 29 BirthYear(1920, '29');1890 Russia
White
Chodos, Maxwell Brooklyn, Kings, NY 27 BirthYear(1920, '27');1892 Russia
White
Chodos, Sadie Brooklyn, Kings, NY 25 BirthYear(1920, '25');1894 Russia
White
Chodos, Alex Manhattan, New York, NY 19 BirthYear(1920, '19');1900 Russia
White
Chodos, Philip Manhattan, New York, NY 60 BirthYear(1920, '60');1859 Russia
White
Chodos, Philip Manhattan, New York, NY 40 BirthYear(1920, '40');1879 Russia
White
Chodos, Sarah Manhattan, New York, NY 38 BirthYear(1920, '38');1881 Russia
White
Chodos, William Manhattan, New York, NY 42 BirthYear(1920, '42');1877
Russia White
Chodos, Malcolm W Reedsport, Douglas, OR 45 BirthYear(1920, '45');1874
Iowa White
Chodos, Benjamin P Salisbury, Lancaster, PA 34 BirthYear(1920, '34');1885
Russia White
Chodos, Gaddie Jackson, Madison, TN 32 BirthYear(1920, '32');1887 Tennessee
White
Chodos, F J Fort Worth, Tarrant, TX 49 BirthYear(1920, '49');1870 Tennessee
White
Chodos, Sue Peter Vancouver, Clark, WA 26 BirthYear(1920, '26');1893 Greece
White
Chodos, John Roosevelt, Taylor, WI 32 BirthYear(1920, '32');1887 Poland
White
1910;
Name
Age in 1910
Estimated Birth Year Birthplace Race Home in 1910
(City,County,State) Gender Save This?
Jacob Chodos 40 BirthYear(1910, '40');1869 Â White 3-WD MINNEAPOLIS,
HENNEPIN, MN Male
Wolf Chodos 29 BirthYear(1910, '29');1880 Â White 11-WD MANHATTAN,
NEW YORK, NY Male
Morris Chodos 38 BirthYear(1910, '38');1871 Â White 7-WD MANHATTAN,
NEW YORK, NY Male
Name Home in 1930
(City,County,State) Age in 1930 Estimated Birth Year Birthplace Race Relation
to head-of-house
Norma Chodos Columbia, Houston, AL 39 BirthYear(1930, '39');1890 Alabama
White Daughter
Charles Chodos Columbia, Houston, AL 9 3/12 BirthYear(1930, '9 3/12');1920
  Son
Guy Chodos Columbia, Houston, AL 8 2/12 BirthYear(1930, '8 2/12');1922
  Son
Max Chodos Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 42 BirthYear(1930, '42');1887
Russia White Head
Mannie Chodos Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 36 BirthYear(1930, '36');1893
  Wife
Katha Chodos Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 18 BirthYear(1930, '18');1911
  Son
Sylvia Chodos Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 14 BirthYear(1930, '14');1915
  Daughter
Adolph Chodos Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 8 BirthYear(1930, '8');1921
  Son
Abraham Chodos Denver, Denver, CO 38 BirthYear(1930, '38');1891 Poland
White Lodger
Jacob Chodos Bristol, Hartford, CT 38 BirthYear(1930, '38');1891 Poland
White Head
Francis I Chodos Bristol, Hartford, CT 30 BirthYear(1930, '30');1899 Â
 Wife
Muriel Chodos Bristol, Hartford, CT 10 BirthYear(1930, '10');1919 Â
 Daughter
Marvin Chodos Bristol, Hartford, CT 30 BirthYear(1930, '30');1899 Â
 Son
William Chodos South Bend, St Joseph, IN 70 BirthYear(1930, '70');1859
Indiana Negro Head
Fanny Chodos South Bend, St Joseph, IN 68 BirthYear(1930, '68');1861 Â
 Wife
Salina Chodos South Bend, St Joseph, IN 27 BirthYear(1930, '27');1902
  Daughter
Sam Chodos Chelsea, Suffolk, MA 38 BirthYear(1930, '38');1891 Poland White
Head
Rose Chodos Chelsea, Suffolk, MA 37 BirthYear(1930, '37');1892 Â
 Wife
Barney Chodos Chelsea, Suffolk, MA 12 BirthYear(1930, '12');1917 Â
 Son
Morris Chodos Chelsea, Suffolk, MA 9 BirthYear(1930, '9');1920 Â
 Son
Thank you so much for your prompt replies, and for already doing so much
work on this. I really am very grateful.
Â
I hadn't even thought of American population data -- which is why I neglected
to mention that my great grandfather apparently took the name Philip after
coming to the United States. I see there are a couple of Philip Chodoses
in the data you've dug up, both of whom lived in Manhattan. This would
definitely make sense, as my grandfather's family lived in NY after immigrating
to the United States. As nobody in my family remembers my great grandfather's
approximate year of birth, it's impossible to say whether
either one of the two Philips could be him; conceivably either
one.
Â
The Israel you've found unfortunately isn't my grandfather; he did live
in NY for many years after immigrating to the United States, but moved
to LA after becoming a rabbi and passed on there. My father and all his
brothers were very small when the family moved west, so they wouldn't
remember their old addresses or the like.
Â
Still, you have given me some very concrete leads, which I will do my
best to follow up. As I am sure you know, with this kind of quest, any
sort of information is very valuable; each piece fits in, somehow.
Â
Best wishes,   Saul
Â
 It is most likely;
Chodos, Philip Manhattan, New York, NY 60 BirthYear(1920, '40');1879 came
from Russia in 1907 White he had a son Israel.
His wife was Anna and she had another first name (Kellie
or Nellie?)
she was also 40 years old in 1920 and came from Russia in 1910 with son
Israel who was born c 1905 (was 14 in 1905) also a daughter who was 12
and her name start with an E and hard to read- almost looks like my name
(Eilat)
son Israel would be right for; CHODOS, ISRAEL died; 27 Dec 1963 LOS ANGELES
MALE born; 11 Nov 1905 POLAND Mother's Maiden Name ABRAMSON
There was another son; Abraham who was born in New York and was age 2
they rented a home and owned a butcher store
This is definitely the family; just as you sent your e mail I actually
got the same data (with just a little bit more detail on the siblings
and the address in NY) from another researcher, and checked it over the
phone with my grandmother (who is still alive).
Â
According to that information, the family came from the community of Breslaw
Kovno. I'm not sure where this is; there is a
Braslav in Belarus, so that is probably my best bet, but it
is quite far from the Myadel region, where I had always understood
my grandfather to be from. Perhaps I am missing
something fundamental; would you happen to know anything about this particular
place in Belarus?
Â
Incidentally, thanks very much for the newspaper article;
indeed, this is my grandfather. He helped set up the Sinai synagogue in
West LA.
Â
Best wishes,    Saul
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