Shalom,

In the past we corresponded regarding a photo on your site that features my grandfather Herzl Berger as a 17-year-old (1921) in Minsk. Now I see that you are interested also in the yeshiva of Volozhin, so you might be interested in some of the following.

Herzl Berger's father Yitzhak-Yosef and uncle Yehuda-Leib have studied there. Yehuda-Leib was born in 1867 and studied alongside the future Rabbi Kook. Yitzhak-Yosef arrived a few years later, after his elder brother already left. He was given a "sponsor", an elder pupil by the name of Yaakov-Simcha Ritov. They were relatives, and I am trying to figure out how.

Yaakov-Simcha Ritov later became the rabbi of a town called Osipovich. He had many children by two wives. One of them was called Yisrael Ritov. Yisrael was active in organizing the defense of Jews during the civil war of Russia that followed WWI. He made Aliya and headed the "Center of Cooperations" in Israel from 1934 until 1969(!). He also apparently wrote about the history that he participated in, but did not sign his name to at least some of his writing. My (and others') guess is that he wrote two chapters of a memorial book about the nearby city of Babruisk. These chapters deal with his own father, and with Osipovich during the Russian civil war.

He also wrote the historical part of a memorial book dedicated to my grandfather that was published in 1966. So everything that I know about the Ritovs, essentially comes from him. But only he knew what the family relation between us was, and he has been dead for over 30 years.

Yaakov-Simcha Ritov had several grandchildren by the name Yaakov Ritov. One of them is a renouned Statistics professor in the Hebrew U. Another one fought in Israel's Independence War and was awarded the highest commendation for valor.

The Ritovs are somehow connected to the family of Chaim Weizmann*, but I don't recall how. Aluf Ben**, the editor of "Haaretz", is a g-g-son  of Yaakov-Simcha Ritov's 2nd wife, and Ben is the one that entered profiles of a part of the Ritov family into Geni.com.
Bye,
 Tselly Regev
*Chaim (Charles) Azriel Weizmann, 1st President of Israel is Yaacov Simcha Ritov's daughter's husband's uncle.

Sonia Bomstein (Sorkin) 
Gender:
Female
Birth:
1898 
Vitsyebsk, Vitebsk province, Belarus
Death:
1981 (83) 
Givat Brenner, Israel
Place of Burial:
Tel Aviv, Israel
Immediate Family:
Daughter of Leib Sorkin and Frumah Leah Ritov 
Wife of Chaim Bomstein 
Mother of Aryeh Sivan; Avner Bomstein; <private> Rudner (Bomstein) and <private> Rudner