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Volozhin Guestbook Archive - 3

Archived on October 1, 2003

Volozhin Guestbook ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Your site was very helpful to me. Thank you. bdsm greeting card <fdreevideo@fromru.com> - Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 19:01:14 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ So very glad I found this truly great site. I come here when I have just taken a weight loss diet pill to take my mind of my weight problem. Does any one else take prescription slimming pills? Mine are FDA approved to help obesity sufferers avoid associated health risks from being overweight. Adipex <Adipex> Anaheim, California USA - Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 12:44:23 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Gute Webseite! I'll tell my friends about it... )N live web cam <liveweb@pisem.net> - Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 08:12:58 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi, I typed in my grandfathers name in the search engine online to see if I could find anything out about my ancestry and your website came up. I saw that there was information about my family written on June 17th in your guestbook. I was wondering where you found the information. I am the daughter of Judy Graffman. Annie Isaacson was my great grandmother. I would love to know how you found your information and if you have any questions for me please let me know. I live in Baltimore,Maryland. Great website! Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 20:45:34 (PDT); Annie (Elka) ISAACSON-GRAFFMAN (b. ~~1870; bur. 1955 in AUBURN,MAINE) -- 1st husband: Samuel (Yehoshua) ISAACSON (d. 5/13/04) 2nd husband (of Annie/Elka ISAACSON-GRAFFMAN): Joseph L. (Hebrew name;Yosef-Yehuda son of Mordechai-Eliezer) GRAFFMAN (died 1/23/33) children; Keith GRAFFMAN (wife: Bertha) (FLORIDA & SKOWHEGAN,MAINE)Born 7 Apr 1909 Died 23 Jul 2002 Issued: ME (1952)Bertha still reisdes in Stuart Fl. I have a , -------------------------------Joel, resides in Palm city Fl, with his second wife Jeannette, ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////daughter Jamie and son Joshua /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////from his first wife; Joanne a son;Ross ----------------------------Debra lives in Huntington, NY with husband Steve Gardner and /////////////////////////////////////////////////////Daughter, Chelsea, b, July 30 1987 Bernard ("Benny") GRAFFMAN (1st wife:, Rita died some years back *, d.) (FLORIDA & SKOWHEGAN,MAINE) Bernard Graffman, (D - 1998) Benny and Rita had 2 Children ------------------------- son Peter, of Newton Mass. His wife is Jennifer and they have 1 child/////////////////////////////////////////////// Loralee. -------------------------a daughter, Judy who is married with 1 child and lives in Baltimore. -- second wife of Bernard ("Benny") GRAFFMAN: sister of Keith's wife Bertha; Charolette /Lottie now resides in Atlanta, Ga. Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 20:45:34 (PDT) Lorena . USA - Thursday, September 25, 2003 at 07:22:58 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ am researching the names listed below and am interested in knowing if there any resources or persons who have taken photographs of headstones in either Rakow or Volozhyn? Edward Meltzer Kansas City Researching: Meltzer Sukon (Zuken) Botwinik Sklut --- . - Wednesday, September 24, 2003 at 15:01:32 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------- Bruce Sanders' theory is that having the sugar cube visible for all to see, while drinking tea, was a sign that you could afford sugar. I'd like to expand this with some nice info in an eMail which I kept an year ago - but could not find on-line now. I had to do some research for a friend. His family is related to the Weizmanns from Motol. Chaim Weizmann, the first president of modern Israel, was born in Motol, in today's Belarus. Searching for Weizmanns and Motol, I came across this. The author of the eMail.mentioned quoted his uncle Aaron. Aaron - believed to live across from the Weizmanns in Motol - said that "the Weizmanns were so rich" that.... "they had sugar in their tea every day." !! Certainly many of us take some things for granted nowadays - sugar, for example. Extracting and refining sugar from sugar beet was the activity of some of my family members. Probably, the Weizmann's sugar came from sugar beet, too. By the way, I remember the tradition of cube-in-teeth and tea- in- tall- glasses (with and without handles) for family members originating as North as Vilna Gubernia and as South as Kremenchug, Ukraine. Who copied whom? Carlos GLIKSON Buenos Aires, Argentina . - Monday, September 15, 2003 at 20:23:50 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I would like to correspond with anyone who has information about the Skloot family. I have read some interesting entries and understand that the "Skloots" may be related to the "Skluts" Can anyone shed any light on the subject? Thanks, Gwen Skloot gwen skloot <gwen.skloot@msnyuhealth.org> new york, ny USA - Wednesday, July 23, 2003 at 09:32:27 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ There was a Rabbi Yitskhak Mirenberg from Amstislav who studied in his youth at Volozhin where he was known as the "Illui of Amstislav". His son Yaakov was born in 1879 in Haslavitz and settled in Eretz Yisrael with his mother about 1880. Does anyone know of him or does he appear in Volozhin records ? Chaim Freedman <chaimjan@zahav.net.il> Petah Tikvah, Israel - Wednesday, July 02, 2003 at 05:24:48 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------------------------- Subj: pedro alperowicz Date: 6/30/03 6:59:05 AM Pacific Daylight Time From: salonelcano@arnet.com. To: eilatGordn@aol.com Dear Eilat: Today, José Alperovich is the new governator of the Tucuman´s province.(Argentina) José is the son of León Alperovich. regards. Pedro Alperowicz José Alperovich' family originated in Vileyka. http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/alperovitz/20303_1_b.gif click for picture and information - Monday, June 30, 2003 at 10:12:42 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ How did I survive. By Leyzer Meltser,Translated from Russian by M. Porat, February 11th, 2003 I, Meltser Dovid-Leyzer was born in Volozhin in 1923. Meltser Shimen Itskhok son of Zvi of Vishnevo was my father; Sore Sheyne nee Rabinovitsh was my mother. I was studying in the Volozhin Hebrew Tarbut School and in the Polish Primary Povshekhna until 1939. From 1939 until 1941, during the Soviet rule, I completed my studies in the Russian School. The Germans occupied Volozhin on June 1941. All Jewish inhabitants were transferred into the Ghetto a month later. 200 Jews were gathered on the towns Sport Stadium and executed by shooting In October 1941. It was the first mass slaughter in Volozhin. The second massacre occurred near the ancient Graveyard on May 10, 1942, where 2000 Jews were murdered. The last mass slughter, the third one took place in the Volozhinka streambed in August 1942. Our family; my parents, brother and sister and I were driven away from the ghetto by the Germans and their assistants; local Policemen. We were taken into the black smith building that was erected during the time of the Soviet rule. The building was located on the Dubinski Street (now Sovietskaya) . The Aktion took place during the second Pogrom, They put us in groups of eighty people each and transfered us group by group to the killing field. the killings were conducted near the Jewish Graveyard The Jews were executed by shooting. My father told me... "Run, my son, perhaps you'll be the sole to survive of our family". I put myself on his shoulders, removed some tiles from the roof and run away. One other person was able to jumped and run away after me, It was Ele Mlot. I spent some days in forest, than returned to the Volozhin Ghetto where I was hiding in a nook. I found out that my parents, my sister and brother were executed on May 10, 1942. I run back into forest after the third slaughter, than I was able to transfer to the shtetl Krevo, where a ghetto still existed. From Krevo I went to Smorgon where from they transferred us to Lithuania and imprisoned in the Zhensistoria concentration camp. A group of us they brought into Vilnius in December 1942, where we were ordered to build a commercial rail station. Once in the evening, returning from work, I run away into a near by forest. I wandered there some days until I met with Russian Partisans. I joined the Bagration group of the Voroshilov Brigade. I was with the partisans until the liberation of Belarus and Lithuania. After liberation I joined the Red Army. The Victory day I met in Magdenburgh, Germany. I was released from the army and returned to Volozhin in December 1945 and went to work. I married Sofiya (Sonia) Milikovski, daughter of Leyzer Itskhok and Hana born Berman from Horodok Our marriege took place in Volozhin in 1947. Our daughter Hasia was born in 1950. She was ill and passed away at age 31 to our great grievance in the year 1981. Our son Shimon was born in Volozhin on 1954. We made Aliya to Israel, the entire family, my wife, my son Shimon, his wife Polina, his children Asia and Yakov and me where now we live. I will post the letter in Volozhin stories some of the tree; Zvi MELTZER (grandfathjer of Shimon Peres) Born: Abt 1865, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Spouse: ELTE Children: Shimon Isaac MELTZER Born: Abt 1895, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 1942, May 10 , Volozhin, Vilna, Russia.Spouse: Sarah Shiena nee RABINOVICH Born: 1900, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia PERISHED: 1942, May 10 , Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: Leizer MELTCER, Living. Spouse: Sophia nee Milikovski, Living . - Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at 12:09:19 (PST) . - Saturday, June 28, 2003 at 11:47:28 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jason Alpert writes; My mother Dorothy (OBM) had a best friend. Her name was Ada (nee Meltzer) Abromson. Ada and her husband John retired to Phoenix Arizona. I believe that Mary (Mrs Samuel) Skolnik was a close relative of Ada or John. Dear all; I received a family tree from Jewel Fishkin that tells the connection; Ada (nee Meltzer) Abromson was married John (born 1909 died 1992) the brother of Mary (Mrs Samuel) Skolnik (she was the youngest child of the family). Here is the Abromson family tree in a short version; Chana nee Edelman [daughter of John Adelman and Anne nee Skloot was born on May 18, 1874 in Russia. She died on February 2, 1960 in Auborn, Main she was married to; Luis Abromson died on December 25, 1947. Children; 1.Hyman Abromson was born in Krasne in 1894 and died in Lewiston, Maine in 1972 Spouse; Lena nee Cohen.Daughter Charlotte married Ernest Bart (Susan, Nancy, Laurnce) 2.Celia abromson was born April 5, 1900 and died in Lewiston, Maine January 25, 1996. Spouse; Morris Supovitz.Children; Paul and Beverly Supovitz+ Paul Hurvitz (son James Hurvitz) 3. Fannie Abromson born May 10, 1902 and died ? Spouse;Israel Abraham Miller Married in Old Orchard Beach, Maine 9-19- 1926. Children; Stanley John Miller (Scott, David, William) Maynard Miller (Diana and Anita). Judith + Henry Jordan.Joseph Milton Miller (Matthew). Michelle Lynn+ Ryan Damare 4. Esther Abromson born 11- 21- 1903 in Auborn, Maine.Died 11- 27- 1995 in Chicago. Married Max Gordon in Portland, Maine ( children; Howard died as a baby in 1944, Ruth Adele married Herbert Halperin) 5. Benjamin Abramson Spouse; Natalie Supovitz (Son Michael died in 1993, grandsons; Richard and Daniel) 6. John Abramson born 1909 died 1992 in Portland, Maine married Ada Meltzer (sons; Irving Joel Abromson and Morton Colp Abromson) 7. Mary Abromson Spouse; Sam Skolnick (sons; Louise and Steve.) ..------------------------------------------ 1. Towns (Shtetlakh) within area of former Vilner Gubernia where Jason's family once lived --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dieveniskes (Yiddish: Di-VEN-i-shok) Dolhinov/Dolhinow/Dolginovo (Yiddish: Dal-HI-nev) Dokshitzy (Yiddish: DOK-shitz) [Home of Yiddish journalist Nissan Gordon (OB"M)] Horodok/Grudek/Gorodok (Yiddish: Ha-ro-DOK) Ilja/Ilya (Yiddish: IL-ye) Krasne/Krasnoje-Nad-Usza [Krasnoye on the Usha River] (Yiddish: KRAS-ne) Kurenets/Kurenitz/Kurzeniec (Yiddish KU-re-nitz) Molodechno (Yiddish: Ma-lo-DETCH-ne) Oshmyany (Yiddish: Osh-mi-YE-ne) Radoshkovichi (Yiddish: Ra-desh-KO-vitz) [At the former "Russian-Polish" border] Rakov (Yiddish: RA-kev) Smorgon (Yiddish: Smar-GON) [Birthplace of famed Cantors Koussevitzky (OB"M)] Vileyka/Vileika/Vilejka/Wilejka (Yiddish: ViLEYke) Vishnevo (Yiddish: VISH-ne-ve) Volozhin (Yidish: Va-LO-zhin) [Home the the famed Volozhiner yeshiva] Below are some scattered notes from my files and my memory on the Scolnik and Manpel Families (who are among the descendants of Eliyohu Zaludik) ------------------------------------------------------------------- Kalman and Mary Scolnik (both deceased) 210 Ash Street Lewiston, Maine 04240 Tel. 207-782-5794 Kalman and Mary were married 9/23/1910. They are the parents of Samuel, Bill, and Eddy Scolnik. Mary's yortsait is 24 Nissan. I (Jason I Alpert) knew Kalman and Mary well. (I was born in Lewiston, Maine, March 8, 1940.) My mother worshipped her Aunt Mary, and repeatedly took me to visit her. Many years ago, I spent a few hours with Kalman Scolnik at 210 Ash Street. I picked his brain in compiling our family tree. Unfortunately, Kalman has passed on, and the piece of paper containing that family-tree has been lost. Some things survive in my memory, to wit: Kalman said that our ultimate ancestor was named Eliyahu Der Vilner (meaning Eliyahu from the City of Vilna). This is undoubtedly the Eliyahu Zaludik that is listed on Dave Fessler's excellent family-tree (see below). (And, no -- this is NOT the Vilner Gaon.) Kalman lived to the age of perhaps 110 or 120. In case you want to try to figure out his exact age, consider this: Kalman once told me that he (Kalman) was born in Kurenitz (Kurenets in Belorus) "the year of the big fire." Kalman also told me that he'd had a brother who'd changed his name to Alperowicz (a very popular family-name in Kurenitz), and that this brother had then moved (from Kurenitz) to Bobruisk (Belorus). Someone should try to locate any descendants of this displaced family-member ... Kalman's wife (and first-cousin) was Mary. "Aunt Mary" was a sister of my grandfather (Eliyohu-Shlomo or "E-le-SHLEY-me") Gurewitz. My mother Dorothy Gurewitz Alpert (Eleshleyme's daughter) used to address her as " Mi-YA-she" (probably from the Russian name Mar-ya-sha)" My mother OB"M passed away Feb 1991. Kalman and Mary's two unmarried sons, Bill and Eddy, still live at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston. Bill and Eddy probably possess a treasure-trove of information that could be used for family genealogical research. By this I mean correspondence from pre-war Europe. This is because the Scolniks have lived at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston "forever", and that address has for many years served as a rally point for separated and dispersed family members to seek each other. (According to Dave Fessler's family-tree, Bill was born in 1913, and Eddy in 1917 -- so I wouldn't procrastinate contacting them.) For example, cousin Ida Manpel Rubin (see below) once told me the story of how she'd been reunited with her brother Elye after the Holocaust. She said that Elye had written to the Scolniks at 210 Ash Street saying that he was still alive. He'd survived the Nazis, and was living in Russia. (The only American address that he had was 210 Ash Street.) The Scolnik's contacted Ida in NYC upon receipt of this letter (more about this below). Nevertheless, Ida disliked her uncle Kalman. She called him "a miyeser shlang!". (Perhaps she was jealous of his great wealth???) Ida (Chaya-Hinda) MANPEL was born in Dalhinov (Dolginovo), which is now in Belarus. Ida emigrated to the USA, where she married Israel "Tulie" RUBIN. They lived in Brooklyn, NY. I used to have a b/w photo of Ida Manpel and her parents and siblings, sent from Dalhinov to my grandfather Louis Sam Gurewitz in Auburn, Maine. It was sent before she emigrated to the USA. Does anyone have a copy of this priceless photo? I doubt that Ida is still alive. You could check with her son Lewis -- with whom I once played chess while the Rubin family lived on (367?) Miller Avenue in the East New York section of Brooklyn -- around 1954 or so. Here is his address: Rubin, Lewis MD (Urologist) 2320 Bath St # 309 Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Phone: 805-682-7661 After Ida Manpel emigrated to the USA, her brother Elye Manpel remained behind in Dalhinov (Dolginovo). Elye was there during the Holocaust. Fortunately, Elye caught the very last train that managed to leave Dalhinov before the Nazis arrived, and thus miraculously escaped the invading Nazis. MANY YEARS LATER, a letter from him was received by the Scolniks at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston. He was (is?) living in the Russian city of Orel (pronounced Aryol). I am attaching a file named Manpel.GIF. This is an image of Elye's address written in Cyrillic characters. Here is my transliteration of the Cyrillic version, and it may be WRONG. Elye Manpel Komsomolskaya Street 46, Apt. 3 Orël, Russia 302001 (ANSI character-set, used in Windows) Or‰l, Russia 302001 (ASCII character-set, used in DOS) I believe that Elye was Ida's YOUNGEST sibling. Therefore, he might still be alive. Someone should try to locate him, and any possible descendants (as well as Kalman's brother in Bobruisk, mentioned above) ... ------------------------------------------------------------------- Lewis Rubin's older brother is Seymour, and the oldest is Jackie. I found these 2 addresses for Seymour on the Internet. I don't know if either is correct. Rubin, Seymour 2085 Rkwy Pkwy Brooklyn, NY 11236 (718) 763-5419 Rubin, Seymour 4218 Bedford Ave Brooklyn, NY 11229 (718) 769-2444 I also found Jackie's address on the Internet. I KNOW that this address is correct, because I used to visit Ida there. Rubin, Jack 2896 W 8th St Brooklyn, NY 11224 (718) 373-2049 (718) 373-0230 Since Jackie Rubin is occupying his parents' apartment, and since he is the oldest son -- I would think that he might be in possession of old family photos and correspondence from pre-war Eastern Europe. (Similar situation to Bill and Eddy Scolnik, above) ------------------------------------------------------------------- ***** More About the Family ***** During the years 1953-1956 (when I first came to NYC from Maine to study in a yeshiva), I used to regularly visit cousin Ida Manpel-Rubin and her husband Israel (Tulie), and their three sons. They lived in the East New York section of Brooklyn, at 367 ? Miller Avenue. (Later, they moved to 2896 West 8th Street in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn.) After visiting with Ida, I would walk over to (129?) Miller Avenue, and visit with cousin Sadie (Mrs Jake) Friedland, and her daughter Pauline. (I was just 13 or 14 years old. Ida and then Sadie would both feed me well.) I believe that Sadie had a sister (Becky Williams?) maybe in Far Rockway,NY. Besides their daughter Pauline, Sadie and Jake had a son named Al Friedland. Al married his second-cousin Estelle (nee Gurewitz), from Ithaca, New York (more below). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- My grandfather Louis Sam (Eleshleyme) Gurewitz (changed from Zaludik) had these siblings (as far as I recall): 1. Mary (Maryasha), who married her first-cousin Kalman Scolnik. (They lived at 210 Ash Street in Lewiston, Maine, as mentioned above.) 2. David, of Lewiston, Maine. He never married. 3. Harry, of Ithaca, New York. [I recall now that Mary's husband Kalman couldn't stomach Mary's brother Dovid. Dovid would have to sneak over to 210 Ash St. for a meal when Kalman wasn't home. Maybe this is one of the reasons that cousin Ida Manpel-Rubin didn't like him. (As I mentioned above.) I never met Harry Gurewitz. According to my records, Harry's daughter Estelle married her second-cousin Al Friedland. They had three children: Rickie, Phillip, Jay Lee, and Lisa Sue. I don't remember if I ever met any of Estelle's children. I MAY have met Estelle and Al Friedland, possibly at Sadie's home on 129 Miller Avenue in Brooklyn. I don't remember.) I vaguely remember that family members would stay with Estelle, whenever they visited Florida. (Why pay for a hotel?) My records show her address as: Estelle Friedland 17521 N. E. 1st Court North Miami Beach, Florida 33162 But I couldn't find it on the Internet. I am fairly sure that her husband Al Friedland has passed away. I don't know about her. The children are probably alive. ------------------------------------------------------------------- A 3rd son of Kalman and Mary Scolnik is Sam Scolnik. Sam is married to the former Mary Abromson. He is a (retired?) lawyer. Here is their address: Samuel and Mary Scolnik 3700 Calvert Pl Kensington, Maryland 20895 301-949-0519 ------------------------------------------------------------------- ******** Re the surname "GUREWITZ" ******** Ida Manpel once told me that the family-name Gurewitz wasn't genuine. The name was really Zheludek (Ida even wrote Zheludek for me on a paper.) Also, As a child, I once questioned "Uncle Dovid" (as I used to fondly address him) as to why the family name had been changed from Zheludek to Gurewitz. His reply was something like: "Vos bin ich shul-dik vos der ta-te hot amol ge-ton?" -- which gave me the impression that he couldn't, or didn't want to, explain why his father Yosef (after whom I'm named), had changed the name. Well, this is confirmed by Dave Fessler's family-tree. Only there, the name is spelled Zaludik -- which is probably more correct. There is a Yizkor-book commemorating a TOWN named ZHELUDOK. See http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/zaludok/zheludok.html Many years ago I skimmed through this book. In it I found some cousins of mine (from a different side of the family, not related to the Scolniks and Zaludiks) named ALPEROWICZ (ALPEROVITCH) and SZYFMANOWICZ (SHIFMANOVITCH). (Lyuba SZYFMANOWICZ died in the Holocaust according to page 314 in this book.) It doesn't make sense for a family-name (surname) to be identical to a town name. Someone from Vilna might be named Vilner (not Vilna). Someone from ZHELUDOK might be named ZHELUDKER. That's why I think that Zaludik is correct. An alternate spelling might be Zaludok or Zaludek. ------------------------------------------------------------------- According to Lester Solnin (changed from Sosensky) and Marian Anderson, Dave Fessler of Houston, Texas, has a large amount of information. They sent me a paper copy of Dave's family-tree, which is entitled "Descendants of Eliyohu Zaludik. It is a masterpiece ... They also sent me a digitized image (Paperport .MAX file) of a 1-page Report, which is information extracted from Dave's family-tree (database). Dave's email address is dfessler@houston.rr.com. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Speaking of "Sosensky", I vaguely recall seeing a photo of an old bearded man. I think he was a cousin named Sosensky. And I very vaguely recall being told that he was referred to as "Der Feter" ("The Uncle"). ==================================== I know nothing about the following person: P Scolnik Lewiston, Maine 207-784-5573 ------------------------------------------------------------------- I know nothing about the following person (Helen Manpel). Perhaps she is Ida's sister-in-law or niece? Manpel, Helen 1071 Eglinton West Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tel. 416-782-6465 ------------------------------------ Same is true for the following couple: Manpel, Jack & Frida 569 Sheppard Avenue, West Toronto, Ontario, Canada Tel. 416-636-9640 ------------------------------------ This is Ida's brother (a wealthy merchant?). Manpel, Louis 989 Eglinton Avenue, Apt. #223 Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M6C2C6 ------------------------------------ ------------------------------------ On 10/13/1985 I (Jason I Alpert) attended a meeting of the KURENITZER FAREYN (Kurenitz Landsmanschaft or "Society"), held in New York City. There I unexpected ly met a man named Julius Scolnik, of the Bronx, NY. (This is NOT the Julius Scolnik of Lewiston, Maine.) Julius said that he is a cousin of Kalman Scolnik of Lewiston, Maine. Julius was born circa 1897. At that time, Julius's telephone was 933-1062 (now area-code 718). On 5/15/1986 I spoke with Julius by phone. He said that a meeting of the KURENITZER FAREYN had just been held on Sunday, 5/4/1986. ============= RESOURCES ============= *** Jewish Home for the Aged in in Portland, Maine ("Cedars Campus") *** My mother Dorothy (OBM) had a best friend. Her name was Ada (nee Meltzer) Abromson. Ada and her husband John retired to Phoenix Arizona. I believe that Mary (Mrs Samuel) Skolnik was a close relative of Ada or John. An Internet search that I just made for "Abromson AZ US" yielded no matches. But a search for Ada and John's son Joel yielded the following: I J and Linda Abromson 25 Fall Ln, Portland, ME 04103 207-797-4438 I believe that Linda is on the Board of Directors of the Jewish Home for the Aged in in Portland, Maine -- which is now called "Cedars Campus" http://www.thecedarscampus.com/ppf.html I mention this because the records of Cedars could possibly be a great source of info for people researching Jewish families in Maine. For example, I believe that a cousin from Auburn, Nochum Widrowitz (who was called Kop-Af-Kop) and possibly his wife Reyze ("Reize-Nochum's"), retired to this Home for the Aged. ------------------------------------ ******* Zalman Alpert ******* Zalman is librarian @ Yeshiva University's Mendel Gottesman Library. Zalman has published scholarly articles on Lubavitch history -- in the English section of the ALGEMEINER Journal. Zalman's father was born in Kurenitz, and Zalman is an expert on Kurenitz. He's from New Haven, Connecticut -- a city where many Jews from Vileyka, Kurenits, and Krasne area settled. Zalman's email address is alpert@ymail.yu.edu ------------------------------------ **** Websites **** Eilat Gordin-Levitan's Kurenitzer website is http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/kurenets.html JGFF (Jewish Genealogical Society Family Finder) website is: http://www.jewishgen.org/jgff/ Miscellaneous other genealogical websites: http://www.ajhs.org/genealog.htm http://www.avotaynu.com http://www.jgsny.org http://www.JewishGen.org http://www.jewishgen.org/ajgs http://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/database.html http://www.jewishgen.org/jgsgw/links.html http://www.lds.org/site_main_menu/frameset-global-bas_bel.html http://www.nara.gov/nara/nail.html http://members.aol.com/rechtman/yizkorbk.htm http://www.remember.org/children/tracing.html http://shamash.org/holocaust http://home.att.net/~JGSNYCem/WPAForm.htm http://www.yivoinstitute.org/archlib/genealog.htm#resources ------------------------------------ As cousin Steve Sosensky once wrote, I "have a lot of other things to take care of, and am putting genealogy on hold..." I will try to assist others in such research, by providing information that I have, and/or by translating from the Yiddish or Hebrew. But I cannot actively engage in the research myself ... maybe, later. So, please -- don't send me info -- just questions. Also, I am quite knowledable in Yiddish. I've spent vast amounts of time reading old Yiddish correspondence. If you have such correspondence, please mail same to me. ------------------------------------ For more info, please telephone me on 212-414-8738, or email me. -- Jason I Alpert (Yos'l ) ~~~~~~~~ END of Scolnik.txt FILE ~~~~~~~~ . - Friday, June 27, 2003 at 10:50:14 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi, I recently had some of the articles from the Zabludow Poland Yizkor Book translated to English. One of the articles has a reference to Volozhin. I put a link to your website. Here is a link to the article. It's about the Rabbi's of Zabludow Best regards, Tilford Bartman http://www.zabludow.com/chosenpagesleadershipmirsky.html click for the site - Saturday, June 21, 2003 at 10:31:20 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bronia (Breine) nee Kur Rabinovitz Story Breine is the daughter of Rivka, daughter of Alexander Volozhinski from Volozhin (Rivkas’ mother Mtya was from the Bunimovitz family of Volozhin). Breines’ father was Mordechai Kur who’s’ father was a well-respected scribe (writer of Torah books) in Vileyka; (Koor). Rabbi yakov Landu Z”L ABD bnai Brak wrote about Yehoshua Kur in the yizkor book for kurenets; ‘…Amongst the shoemakers I must tell about Moshe Kur the Shoemaker from Dolhinov Street. He was a spiritual Jew and would read with excitement from the Torah. He was also a Kadainov Hasid. His father was Reb Yeoshua, the writer from Vileyka. The son of Moshe, Shlomo Chaim studied Torah in our minyan, and when he arrived at the age where he would be taken to the army, he escaped and went to London. His last name was Koor and from what I heard he became a Hazan in one of the synagogues in London, where he later passed away…”* The parents of Breine came from very respected religious families and a matchmaker arranged their marriage as the custom of Jews in 1900. The relatives from the groom side said that Rivka did not come to the marriage with the appropriate dowry but she had other qualities to compensate for it. The oldest boy; Avraham was born in 1910, Eliezer was born in He was “Tamid Chacham” a Yeshiva “Bachur”. A distant cousin; Arie Shevach remembers that there was a time when Eliezer had to serve in the Polish army c 1937. He was station near Krasne and the rabbi of Krasne ordered the family to prepare Kosher food for Eliezer and he would deliver it to Eliezer everyday. Arie was about 12 years old and was getting ready for his Bar Mitzva and Eliezer helped him with some of his studies. Breine attended the TARBUT school in Horodok. All the subjects [other the mandatory class in the Polish language] were instructed in HEBREW. Breine also attended the tuition free Polish public school for a few years. . After the Soviets took control of the area in September of 1939 and instituted a communist rule in the area Breine.'s oldest sister; Leyka, who owned a coffee store in Horodok knew that she would be classified unfavorably as ‘capitalist” so she moved to Vileyka. Vileyka, one of the region's main towns, became an important place for the Soviet municipal authorities and She worked for them. When the German invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 The Soviet officers and official evacuated the area and crossed by trains the old border (the pre 1939 Poland/ Soviet union border) . Some of them insisted that Breine's sister, along with other Jews in the town who worked for the Soviets, left with them because they knew what the impending German invasion would mean for them. (in some cases the Soviet officials actually pushed Jews they encountered around town onto departing trains without leaving them a moment to return to their homes and families. One Jewish woman, Dora Rabinovitz told me that that she came to Vileyka to work that day wearing a light summer dress and, by chance, carrying a picture of her family in her pocket. She was pushed onto a train and sent to the cold of Russia for more then two years and was the only member of her family to survive E. D) Breine.'s brother Eliezer was studying in a yeshiva in Poland. In 1939, when the area was given to the Soviets the whole yeshiva received illegally acquired papers from the Japanese ambassador, or assistant to the Japanese ambassador in Lithuania. With these papers, the residents of the yeshiva were allowed to immigrate to China before the German invasion. In China, Breine.'s brother contacted their other brother back in the area of Horodok who subsequently traveled all the way to China so as to bring him back to Poland, where he would later perish in German hands. (He might have never left for China, his brother might have taken him from Lithuania back to Horodok the Soviets would never let anyone without papers go all the way to China and back the papers were very very hard to obtain) During the German occupation Breine and her family first went to a former Christian neighbor and asked him to hide them. However, because they had previously given him their possessions for safe keeping, he was loathe to the idea of saving those who may later ask for his newly acquired, albeit on loan, goods. So, when they asked to be let in, he threatened to kill them . Breine and the rest of the family escaped the killing in Horodok and came to the krasne ghetto. Most of the Jews in the krasne ghetto came from towns that were already annihilated. Every time before they annihilated a community, they chose a few Jews who could be useful and transferred them to Krasne. The place was chosen as a supply base for the Germans, where materiel was relayed to and from the front, including a large amount of weapons captured from the Soviets. Thousands of Jews worked in construction, in loading and unloading goods, and in other logistical support positions. Since the ghetto could not contain thousands of workers, the Germans established a labor camp, and they continuously brought Jews from neighboring towns after each action. As in other ghettoes and camps, there was a Jewish committee or Judenrat. At the head of the Krasne Judenrat was Shabtai Oryuk. During the First World War he had been a POW in Germany for a few years and learned to speak German fluently. Shaptai Olyuk and the brothers of the Kaplan house, Yitzhak and Moshe. . Breine and her family believed that working for the Germans will save them. She worked with other Jewish women and children to lay new train tracks. German soldiers routinely routed out and murdered Jews who were weaker or more feeble than the rest. The food given daily to the Jews who worked for the Germans consisted of one piece of bread with marmalade, and on occasion, a soup made from discarded potato peals. Often, the garbage of non-Jews was served to the Jews as food. Once, B. saw the German soldiers throw a live dog into the soup they were serving and then forced the Jews who had witnessed the event to eat the soup. At another time, a Jewish child returned to ask for an extra helping of soup. Instead of granting his request, the German soldiers put the child into the boiling soup. On one occasion, she spotted some moldy bread in the garbage and treasuring it, picked it out of the trash, eating a little and saving the rest for her family. Some German soldiers saw her and abused her for taking the bread. There was one Jew from Horodak who would tell the Germans which Jews were wealthy, in hopes of being spared by the soldiers. Nevertheless, the German soldiers later killed him Breine and her family thought that the Germans needed them as workers so they worked very hard because they thought it would be their ticket to survive. At one point they realized that they should go into hiding in a hidden ditch they had dug for that purpose. Many Jews resorted to living in ditches to escape the Germans. The ditches varied in size - some holding five, others ten, and still others, up to twenty people. Often ditches were designated for different age, and gender groups. While they were in hiding in the ditch and fearful of the German soldiers they knew were near, one of the young girls (about 10 years old) in the ditch with B. and her family started crying for water. A man in the ditch started choking her to silence her. B. Prevented him from killing the girl by pushing him away and placing her hands over the girl's mouth. The young girl is now a doctor in the U.S.. They had large amounts of gold and while hiding out in the ditch, they decided that the best thing to do would be to offer the wealth to the Germans in return for a promise of security. B was on her way to deliver the gold and solicit such a promise when Zemitre, a Christian from the village, came to her and challenged the logic of her mission. He said, "Are you crazy? Why are you going back to them? They're killing everyone." He then took Breine to his barn and hid her in the area used for storing hay, where she remained for a week. Breine's family didn't know what had happened to her after she left the ditch. Although everyone left the ditch while Breine was still missing, her family, because they were worried about her whereabouts returned to look for her. Tragically, her family was killed upon their return while the rest of the people who had left the ditch survived. A neighbor of the Christian who had saved Breine had also taken the risk of hiding a fugitive Jew. When the other neighbors found out they attacked and killed him, and burnt down his house. After this incident, Breine's host was afraid and forced her to leave. For a time she hid where she could, moving from place to place, and eating what she could find, including grass and garbage. One farmer who was out searching for eggs in his yard discovered Breine in hiding. He immediately knew who she must be. Terrified, she told him that she knew the location of a large quantity of gold and promised to lead him to it, should he chose to spare her from the Germans. The farmer told her to that he did not need her gold, he will help her but she must wait where she was and left since this occurred shortly after they sloutherred the Jews of Krasne many of the Jewish bodies were left in different areas were they were killed and the Germans were worried that disease would spread yet they did not want to touch the remains and all their Jewish slave workers were killed by them they ordered the local population to get rid of the budies and the man was ordered to do it. B. was certain that he had gone to fetch German soldiers. However, after ten minutes the farmer's wife appeared and offered B. a bowl of soup and a spoon. B. hadn't eaten in a long time, and ravished with hunger, drank the soup straight from the bowl. The farmer's wife cried to seeing her desperate condition. Breine stayed with the farmer and his wife, living exclusively in their barn for one week. She remained in hiding in the barn because there were many Germans in the area. She was never allowed in the house. Later, they made her a nanny to their children, although she continued to sleep in the barn. Most of the neighbors were never aware of her because of the lengths that B. and the family went to in keeping her presence a secret. Through rumors that had spread among the non-Jewish farming residents of the area, Isaac Noll, a Jewish member of the partisans, found out that there was a Jewish girl surviving alone in the area. (B. remarks that it was amazing that the residents had not yet turned her in). Isaac asked them where they could find her and they told her Maruska Kamarouski had her staying with him. The partisans Months before the German troops began slaughtering the Jews in KRASNE, many young Jewish men realized what was about to transpire and escaped deep into the surrounding forest where they joined forces with partisan groups already established by Soviets, and especially former Soviet prisoners of war who had been treated as badly as the Jews under the Germans. Together, they began ambushing and killing German soldiers. Much of the local population was afraid of the partisans because the partisans made it clear that anyone found collaborating with the Germans would be killed. When B. initially tried to join the partisans they would not accept her because she came empty handed. However, a younger first cousin of hers (his father was the brother of Breine's mother), Mayer Vol (previously known as Volojinski) ambushed a German and stole his weapon, which he then gave to B. so that she would be accepted in by the partisans. Now this cousin lives in Windsor, Canada. Breine. returned armed to the partisans, who let her in, and Breine became a member of the Atriad Staritsky. This group of partisans hid out in the forest between the towns of Baranovic and Volozhin, remaining closer to latter. Breine stayed in the forest for one and half years. After staying for awhile with the partisans she came to understand that the Germans were losing the war because, for the first time, she had access to radio broadcasting, and in 1944 they began seeing Allied planes fly overhead. Breine didn't fight with the partisans, but facilitated their goals in other ways, tending to the livestock and helping out with the cooking. After the war she received medals for her participation in the resistance, but hadn't killed anyone and so felt as though she didn't deserve them. Breine felt that Jews and Soviets alike were treated equally within the partisan ranks and generally, got along well. She does recall one instance, however, when a Jew by the name of Fole Parovsky went to town to find food with two Soviets, and never returned. The two Soviets claimed he had been killed by German soldiers. However, one partisan by the name of Jaunsh didn't believe their story and started investigating only to find that the Soviets had killed Fole. The partisans had a trial and found one of the Soviets guilty. He was subsequently killed. Breine can only speculate on his motivation, but believes it may have been anti-Semitism. However, this was a rare case. In the evenings, the partisans would make communal fires and sit around and sing together. They would sing so loudly and happily that Breine would be afraid that the German soldiers would find them. However, her cousin Isaac reassured her that they were too scared of the partisans to come to the forest that was controlled by the Russian partisans. Once the partisans caught a German soldier. This particular German soldier was a special target of their anger because he carried with him numerous photographs of Jews he had killed, (They used to send the pictures to Germany) They ordered everyone to watch while they killed him. Breine covered her face, refusing to watch. However, her cousin chided her, telling her she was crazy to feel any sympathy to Germans who mercilessly killed so many Jews. There was a woman named Yokha Rubenshik from Minsk who was a partisan member. When the Germans packed the Jews into train cars to be killed, she and her siblings where among those on the train. Yokha, realizing what their fate must be, pushed her younger brother out of the train. He eventually survived the war and became a dentist. She survived because she worked for the Germans and then escaped. Later, she joined the partisans and was sent by them back to Minsk where she recruited twelve more Jews. Together, this fugitive band removed their stars of David and escaped. However, while they were escaping a German soldier came by. Yokha approached him and spoke to him Russian, knowing that he would recognize her Yiddish accent if she spoke in German. She acted very self-assured and invited the German to eat with her. She emphasized that she had ham to eat and told him to meet her at a particular place and time later that evening. Meanwhile, the other Jews escaped. Towards the end of the war, when the Germans were clearly losing, a boy from Minsk named Moshe managed to round up thirty Germans who thought they were surrendering and would be made POWs. When the commanders told the partisans that the area was free of German troops, forty Jewish partisans decided to re-enter the city of Volozhin, the closest town. Upon returning they found that many homes and been burnt down and destroyed. Also, this town, previously famous for its large Jewish population had been repopulated by Christians. When the Christians saw that Jews were returning they began to weep and were afraid. However, the group of forty Jews were still scared to disband and live separately, and so they re-occupied only three houses in the town. Because there were so few Jews that had survived the war, this group of survivors became like family to one another. It was while staying in this house that Breine met her husband to be. He had spent the war as a soldier in the Red Army in Russia, although he was originally from Breine's hometown of Horodok. As soon as he heard that his home region had been freed by the Red Army, he boarded a train and returned. When he had left for Russia he left behind a wife and two children, who were to perish in the Holocaust. His first wife's name was Blumke, she was a beautiful woman (one of her brothers survived the war and lives iin Israel). Because of her beauty, the Germans wanted to take her to work for them and send her children to be killed, but she insisted on accompanying her children. Everyone knew this story about Blumke and her children and so were able to tell her husband what had happened when they eventually met up with him upon his return. Breine's future husband returned to find Christians living in his old house. As soon as they saw him, one of the Christians went to look for an axe with which to kill him. Understanding what they were about to do, Breine's future husband jumped out of a window in the house and went for the Soviet police. After this incident, he was too afraid to ask any Christians about what had happened to his family, and couldn't find any Jews in the town. However, he did eventually learn that there were a few Jews living in Volozhin. When he arrived in Volozhin and met Bronia, he immediately asked her to marry him. Since Bronia had come from a religious family she had never looked at another man before him. After getting married they stayed in Volozhin for one year and began selling things from a horse and carriage. Breine's first son was born there. However, like all the other Jews living in Volozhin, Bronia and her husband wanted to leave. All of a sudden, Breine's sister who had traveled on a train to Siberia before the German invasion, returned. Her sister had written a letter to a Christian neighbor named Yokobovsky inquiring about her family. Breine happened to return to Horodok with her husband to visit and was given the letter. She responded to her sister's letter from Kemarov, Siberia, writing that the rest of the family had died, but not to grieve because she was still alive. Upon getting the letter, her sister fainted and was taken to the hospital where she spent two months. After recovering, she returned to Volozhin with a Jewish man she had met in Siberia, and lived with Breine. and her husband. Shortly after they arrived in Volozhin they decided to leave for Germany. From Germany they believed they would be able to travel to other countries. They had terrible associations with the town of Volozhin and the surrounding area and couldn't wait to leave. However, when they arrived in Germany they found themselves marooned in refugee camps for a year and a half, which, compared to other fellow refugees, was a short time. As refugees, however, they were allowed to stay in real homes and apartments, which had previously been inhabited by members of the SS. Part of the problem was that no country wanted to accept them. Although they received free food and goods from the U.S., they were barred from emigrating there. B.'s husband said he didn't want to go to the U.S. anyway and preferred instead to move to Israel where he felt there would be more of an assurance that what had happened to them in Poland would not reoccur. Eventually they were able to travel on a ship named the Queen Anna Maria to Israel. In Israel they lived first in a refugee camp named Binyamina in very difficult conditions in tents. Later, they settled in Brandeis in Israel I received emails form other members of the family; Dear Eilat Wonderful to hear Breines story My grandfather - Shlomo Hayim, son of Moshe and cousin of Breine had family both in England and in Russia Shlomo Hayim had 4 children Marie - married name Coleman - Stephen's mother Henry- my father Hanna - married name Mather Lily/Leah- married name Broza I moved to Israel from England about 25 years ago. I live in Efrat about 20 minutes from Jerusalem but work in Jerusalem and commute every day. I have an elder brother Shlomo who lives in Petach Tikva near Tel Aviv and a younger brother Jonathan who lives with my mother in Netanya. My parents came to Israel in 1983 to retire. My father passed away in 1988. Danny Koor Eilat My cousin Danny Koor has been in contact with you, and has sent me all the details he has received from you so far. We share the same grandfather Shlomo Chayim, or Solomon Koor as he was known in England. My late mother Marie, and Danny's late father Henry were brother and sister, together with 2 surviving sisters Hannah and Lily. The family lived initially in the East End of London, moving to Notting Hill in the 1920's, where my grandfather eventually became minister of Notting Hill Synagogue until he died in May 1946. Stephen Coleman . . - Friday, June 20, 2003 at 09:10:57 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Belarus SIG members attending the 23rd IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington D.C. (July 20-25, 2003) So far, the following 85 people (or couples) have signed up Name Towns Surnames ATKINS, Harold Senno, Orsha, Upyna, Telsiai EITINGON, ATKINS, SEGAL BELINKOFF, Adar Gomel BELINKOFF BERG, Sandra Brest Litovski WANDER, ZILBERBERG, UNTERMAN BISHOW, Marlene Wolpa, Ivye, Grodno GOLDSTEIN, PETT, SINGER BOONIN, Harry Slutsk District ASSOFSKY, BERKOWITZ, TSIPALEYEV BOXER, Judy Grodno WEINSTEIN BRILL, David Usvyaty, Shklov BRIL\', LEVIN, ALEINIKOV BROWN, Janet Slonim, Smorgon, Minsk, Pinsk TRILNI(C)K, MOLCHOTSKY,SMARGON,FRIEDLANDER CARVER, Tina Soski, Minsk KAPLAN CAUGHLAN, Jenny Suwalki, Ciechanowiec, Budapest, Nagy Oroszi, Becshke, Berlin KAUFER, STEINER, SOLL/SOLE, PHILLIPS/FILIPOWSKI, HEKSCH, LENGYEL, HAAS COHEN, Jay Piaski, Volkovysk KAGAN, YEZERSKY, YERSZKI, JESIERSKI COHODAS, Alvin Naroch CHODASH DARDASHTI, Schelly Talalay Mogilev, All Belarus, All Russia, Worldwide TALALAY DESHUR, Penny Minsk FONDILLER D\'ALMEIDA, Franck Grodno, Vilnius ZOLTY EASTON, Glenn Minsk EPSTEIN EGAN, Shana Kobryn, Brest Litovsk, Kamenets, Divin, Bialystok RITZENBERG, DAITCH, KAPLAN, MESSYNG, SHAMES EPSTEIN, Ruth+moshe Pinsk,korelitch,mir SAUBERMAN,SCHIFFMAN,OBRINSKY FEARER, Mark Volozhin, Lyskava, Volkevysk, Ruzhany RAGOVIN, PINKAUSOVICH, CHERNICHOFF FELDMAN, Rose Mscibow, Ruzhany, Kosovo EPSTEIN, BYARSKY, ILLIVITSKY (ELIVITSKY), KAPLAN FIBEL, Harriet & Joseph Werenow, Radun OLKENITZKY FINE, Ernie Minsk BAKSTANSKY, SLONIMSKY FISHKIN, Jewel Bobruisk-Mintz-Volosyn-Olshony-Krasne FISHKIN-SKLUT-KAPLAN-WOLCHEK=MATLIN=BRUDNER FOX, David Minsk, Mogilev TSIVIN, FEITELSON, SHENDEROV, RABINOWITZ FOX, Judith KOENIG Korma, Bychov,Mogilev,Seletz GLICKLIN, KARASIK, BAEVSKY,WILENSKY,SCHNEERSON,PLOTKIN, YAMNITSKY FRANKL, Rhea Borisov, Zembin, Lahoisk FEITELSON, BACHRACH, KATZMAN GALLARD, Cindy Skrigalovo, Petrikov, Osovets,Romanovka LOBATCH GLICKSBERG, Ruth Miedzyrzec,Wegrow,Warsaw,Pultusk GLICKSBERG,GLUCKSBERG GOLDBERG, Nancy Minsk, Slutsk, Derbent ROSOVSKY, RUDEVITSKY, SCHAEFFER, GALENSON, LEVINE GOLDSMITH, Judith Nesvizh, Taraspol, Chisinau STOLIAR, MIRMOVITCH, YATZKEVICH, LEIVOV GOLDSMITH, Susan Novyy Sverzhen, Stolbtsy, Yasevich, Mir, Dolginovo TOBIAS, ROZANSKY, HOROWICZ, DROZNAN GORDON, Judith Motol, Minsk, Pinsk SOKOLOV. KAHN, COHEN, NACHMAN, LURIA, SHAPIRO GREENBERG, Roslyn Zirmuny, Lida, Voronovo, Divenishkes ROGATNICK, ZIRMUNSKY, KALMANOWITZ, MOLCHADSKY GREENMAN, Linda Antopol GREENMAN, RESNICK HANIT, Kevin Derechin, Baranovici, Ruzhany CHERVYATITSKY, ABELOVICH, KLETSKIN, LEVITT, GRACHUK HENKIN, Hilary Mogilev, Orsha, Kopys GENKIN, BELIITSKI, BERLIN HIRSCHHORN, Donald And Sandra Retchetsa, Berezeno PASSOV, RAFALCZECH HIRSCHHORN, Donald Retchitsa Gomel PASSOFF,ITZKOOWITZ HIRSCHHORN, Sandra Berezeno, Minsk, Igumen RAFALCHEK, KARPEI, PODOLNIK HOLDEN, Nancy Myadel, Kobylnik, Mscibow, GORDON, KRIVITSKY, HORWITZ, KALER HOLTZMAN, Alvin Pinsk, Galati, Dorohoi HOLTZMAN, PERLOW, GLOBERMAN, POLLACK, ZARITSKY, HOROVITZ, BRAUNSTEIN KAPLAN, Rochelle Kopyl, Slutsk (belarus); Sambor, Vinnytsa, Brailov (ukraine); Riga, Bauska (latvia); Kraziai (lithuania); Piesk; KAPLAN, BREGMAN, RAPOPORT (BELARUS); SCHRECKINGER, KARP, APFELZUS, RICHTER (SAMBOR); GERSON (LATVIA); ZAKS (LITHUANIA); LIPSON, LERNER (VINNYTSA); LEBOWSKY, LUBOV (PIESK) KARSEN, Mike Minsk Gubernia, Haradisht YNAKELOVICH, SHEPSOLOVICH KROM, Harold Slutsk / Gomel BUNIN / TITINSKY KRONGOLD, Judith Mir, Lubtch, Turets, Bielsk, Vladimir Volynsk WILENSKY, TREMBITSKY, BLOOM, KRONGOLD LEVINE, Michael Logoysk, Smolivichi, Minsk LEVINE, RELYUSHCHIN, SEGALOWITZ, GOLDFARB LEVY, Mike Slonim BUBLACKA, MINKOWICK MARKEL, Beatrice Vileyka, Dalhinov, Vilna KAGAN,KAHAN,ZAPODNIK MASLOV, Freya Blitstein Suchawolya, Grodno KRAMER, SOKOLSKY MENDELOW, Aubrey Tsuraki, Starosselje AXELROD, HOROWITZ, KATZENELSON, KAZENELENBOGEN, EISENSTADT MESHENBERG, Mike Nesvizh, Chomsk ZATURENSKY, TEVYANSKY, ELLMAN MUSIKAR, Barbara Slonim, Kobrin, Brest SAMSONOWITZ, KLEMPNER, NEMOY, Estelle Gomel GARELICK/GORELICK NEUBAUER, Selma Oshmyany HOROWITZ AND BOSH OKNER, Ben Borbruisk CHERTOV, RABKIN OLKEN, Deb Werenow OLKENITZKY PAULIN, Gladys Friedman Kalinkovichi, Bragin, Yurevichi, Tulgovichi, Mozyr MINEVICH, RAICHMAN, GUTMAN, RAZHEVSKY, LEVIK PEARLMAN, SUSAN Bialystok, Minsk, Porozowa, Szereszewo, Wolpa SZEJNMAN, JASKOLKA, MALETSKY, KOSLOVSKY, WISHNIATSKY, PEARLMAN POLLERO, Shelley Kobrin, Vitebsk TENENBAUM, KAGAN, LEKHERZAK POSNICK, Mike Budslavy, Dolginovo, Drogiczn, Kobrin, Kopyl, Minsk, Mir, Novyy Sverzhen, Timkovichi EHRLICH, FRIEDMAN, GOLOVENCHITS, KOSOWSKY, POZNIAK, ROZIN, SHERMAN, SHULKIN, SZTEYNBERG, ZELEVYANSKY REDLICH, Rita Svir SYKEN RHODE, Harold Dolginovo, Vileika Uyezd AXELROD, RUBIN, SHUMAN RILEY, Gayle Minsk, Timikovichi, Uslion LEVIN, GARFINKEL, COHEN,SAHAPIRO ROCK, Jeffrey Bereza, Bluden, Brest ROG, ROCK ROSENBAUM, Edward Lunna, Porozovo, Slonim, Sverzhen AGINSKI, BELLER, GRUNDFAST, GRUNDFEST, SILVERBLATT ROSOW, Emma Haradok, Rudnya MINKOFF, GUSINSKY RUBENSTEIN, Herbert Vitebsk LEVIT SALTMAN, Joanne Slonim, Kozlovshchina, Lida SALT(Z)MAN, MISHKIN, EPSTEIN, ZLOTNIK SANDLER, Michelle Borisov MEBEL, KLEBENOFF SASLAFSKY, Jennifer Slutsk, Barbruisk KOMISAR SCHNEIDER, Jerry Pinsk AIZENBERG, ELSTEIN SCHWARTZBERG, Jenny Antopol, Motol, Seletz, Drogichin, Baranovici, Turetz KAPLAN, KAMENETZKY, TELECHANSKY, ADLER, PLOTNITZKY, SHEDROVITZKY, SHERESHEVSKY, WALDMAN, KANTOROWITZ, MOSKOWITZ SHAPIRO, Sandra Garfinkel Divin, Kobryn, Kortylisy, Chernyany, Dobryanka, Podobryanka GARFINKEL, TENENBAUM,KLYN, LEVY, GOLDSMITH, KRASELSKY, LITVINSKI, SIMON, Andrea Volchin, Brest MIDLER, LEW SMITH, Lester Gudegai, Zhuprany, Oshmina, SHUMELISKY, DAVIDSON SPECTOR, Joel Chashniki, Lepel, Shklov ZEITLIN, BLACK, BLECHMAN, SKIBINSKI STEPAK, Ellen Pinsk BRENN, POSENITSKY, NIEMCOWIC SUBER, Gordon Bobruysk, Omelyna, Tchedrin ZUBER, ZILBERMAN TUERK, Janis Khomsk, Serniki Pervyye, Glussk SILBERKVEIT,TURKIENICH,KAGAN WEIN, Joseph Bialystok FINKELSTEIN WEIN WEINER, Stephanie Smorgon, Bobruisk CHODOSH, WEINER, LACOWITSKY WILNAI, Ruth Rakow, Wolma, Iventes LIFSHITZ, ROTHSTEIN WOLRAICH, Debra Motol, Ivanovo, Bobruisk, Pinsk RATNOWSKY, WARSHOVSKY, VALINSKY, ABRAMOWICZ, SLEPOY ZERDIN, Keith Minsk, Vilani, Preili, Varaklani, Dvinsk ZHERDIN, PRESMA, KODIS, KODISH, KAIDAN, MEDNICOV, ZAVADSKI, TOBOVITCH ZIESELMAN, Paula Kamenets, Verkholesye(?) WEISBERG, SPELKE ' USA - Friday, June 20, 2003 at 06:46:02 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I'm researching Meltzer or Melcer from Volozhin, Belarus formerly part of the Vilna Gubernia in Russia. Thank you for any help. Saul Meltzer, Delray Beach, FL . - Tuesday, June 17, 2003 at 21:02:51 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Haskara meeting. 61 years since the extermination of the Jewish community of Dolhinov. A memorial ( Haskara ) meeting for the Jews of Dolhinov who were massacred by the Nazis and their colleborators will be held in Tel-Aviv, Yehudit Ave. 30 at Beit Vilna on the 18.6.03 at 18.00 PM. The Dolhinov Committee in Israel <rubinlj@netvision.net.il> - Friday, June 13, 2003 at 07:16:32 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The economic conditions in Volozhin Prior to the First World War By Reuven Rogovin (written in 1968/9) Translated by M. Porat-Perlman, from VYB p. 345 There were three synagogues in Volozhin: The Beys Midresh near the Market place, The "Aroptsu" Shool on the left shore of the Volozhinka, and the "Klayzl" near Vilna Street. The caretaker of the Beys Midrash was Itshke der "Shamesh" with his assistant "Leybe der Shamesh" as a Torah Reader. Kopel Deretshinski served as caretaker and Reader at the Aroptsu Shul (Downhill Synagogue). Moyshe Lavit served as Shamesh at the Vilna Street Klayzl and Moyshe Shloyme der Melamed was the Torah Reader. Rabbi Refoel Shapiro, the Shochett Avreml Perski and all the Yeshiva students prayed at the Yeshiva. The "korobka" (money box), the yeast and candles were safeguarded by Leybe Eshke's (his daughter Gitl Eshke's lives in the States). Avreml Perski served as Shochett, Velvl Blokh was the Cantor. The town butchers were Yehuda Khayim, Khayim Itskhok Zoosie (his son Yoel lives in the States) and "Ore der Koltoon". Bread was supplied by: Zlotke di Bekerke (her son lives in the US), Elke di Bekerke, Sorke di Bekerke, Feytshe di Bekerke, Froome Leyzer's di Bekerke and Hirshl der Beker (His son Beniyomke Kleynbord came to Israel on the ill-fated ship Altalena. He was also a member at the Volozhin Committee}. Milk was supplied by: Reuven der Arendator (lesse), Golde di arendatorke and Der Arendator from Kapusgtshine. My uncle Yudl Mordkhai and Gershon Rogovin were involved In the fish trade. Yudl Mordkhai was a unique person. He was short in stature, stocky and possessed a low-pitched hoarse voice. At that time I write about he was in his sixties’. In spite of age he would often carry the heavy fish crates on his shoulders. Both of us prayed in the Klayzl Synagogue. Since he was a deeply religious Jew he abstained from smoking inside the Synagogue. He would not smoke cigar as soon as he would see its entrance, because a god fearing Jew should not smoke near a holy place, it's forbidden. He used to smoke expensive Havana made cigars. I assume that the entire income from his Fish enterprise vanished up in smoke… He was a guest in our home during every holiday. We honored and respected him tremendously. R' Yudl Mordkhai traveled to America numerous times. After spending a few weeks in the state he would yearn to be in Volozhin.. On the same token after returning to Volozhin he would long to be in the States – So, he became accustomed to taking his bundle and journeying to Volozhin. And a short time later he would gather the same bundle and return to the States. In his eyes Volozhin and America were like a chamber and its waiting room. He used to consider a back and forth journey from New York to Volozhin as a cart and horse trip from Volozhin to Minsk as Avrom Leyb would often take, or as 40 kilometers travel by foot from Volozhin to Rakov that Hayim Der Galentreyshtchik's would undertake. When he was still very much alive he arranged for burial garments for himself. Leah Yoel Ore's measured him for the shrouds. Reb Yudl Mordkhe paid her amply for it. Than he bought a burial place and paid for it to the "Khevre Kadishe" with good money. "I want to arrange and provide all that I am able to now in order to avoid any disputes or misunderstandings after I pass away" he would often tell me. Moyshe Shlomo der Rebe, Moyshe Fayve, Simkhe der Melamed from Greyevo and Reb Ele-Itshe Dveyre Elkes der Melamed served as "Melamedim"(in Hebrew/Yiddish it means teachers in Kheyder-religious teaching rooms) in Volozhin:. Volozhin teachers in the "modern Version" Hebrew language were: Avrom Gorelik (left Volozhin with his family to the States), Pesakh Yerosolimski and Kamenstein from Mizheyki. Mikhl-Gavriel with his son Hershl, Yudl der Stoler (Yudl the carpenter), Myshl Shimen's and Zalmen Shaybe's were engaged in the carpentry profession. The shoemaking in Volozhin was executed by Leyzer Itshe der Shooster, Itshe Getsl, Alter Dvoshke's, Hershl der Greysser, Avrom Itshe the cobbler, and Hershl Elke's (his son lives in Israel). The blacksmiths were the brothers Ruven der Shmid, Avrom, Zalmen Wolf, Sane der Zilaner (his son lives in Israel), Moyshe Yoyne and Avreml (his daughters lives in Israel). Tin smiths were Ben Ziyon der Blekher (tinker) and his sons. Leybe Kaganovitsh der Glezer was the sole Glazier in shtetl. Home builders were the brothers Fayve, Yehoshua and Matess der Muller (the stove mason) and also the family of the "pool-Zhidkes" (Half Jews). Pharmacies owners were Itshe Shriro (son and two daughters in Israel) and Avrom Berkovitsh (daughter Shoshana Nishri in Israel). Alter and Meyshke were the town barbers. There was no running water in Volozhin. Water was drawn from wells by a bucket on a rope and brought home in a pair of buckets suspended on a rod –"Koromislo", from the shoulders. But it was a possibility to buy the water on the door sill from Hirshl Der Wasser Feerer , Itshe Tane's and his son Ore who was called "Ore der zavoznik". Each one of them transported a barrel of water on a horse cart and sold it to house kipper women. Circumcising used to be executed by the town's Feldsher (paramedic) Avrom Tsart. There were no dental surgeon's in Volozhin; Dentists from Minsk visited from time to time the shtetl. The only grist mill owner in pre-war Volozhin was Michael Wand-Polak (passed away in Israel). Wine could be bought in two stores; one owned by Yoohanan Rodke's (The Rebetsin Haye Feyge Unterman's father), the second one by Moyshe Perlman (his grand son lives in Israel- now translating this article to English). Cloths merchants, providing materials for the shtetl inhabitants and for peasants in surrounding hamlets, were Avrom Shuker, Bashke Mendl's and Rela Levin. The brothers Mikhl and Moyshe Weisbord, Yankl Rudenski brothers and Levin were flax traders. Avrom Leyb Kooshke's and Avremke Oyzer's owned the Matses baking "factories" "Kushke der Amerikaniets" did manage the "Talmud Toyre" school. The single boarding house in town belonged to Velvl Zelig Pshtsholke. Beer was sold by Yosl-Yankl Skloot; Soda water- "Seltsn Wasser" has been produced by Yankev Shepetnitski (his son in Israel). Ele-Meyshe Goldes sold grain. Vodka was a monopoly product. It was sold in two stores only; one was situated at the market place, the second one that belonged to the Gendarme Bokshtanovitsh was placed "Aroptsoo". Each autumn, when young men were called to serve in the Tsar's army a scandal would break out near the vodka selling stores. The "prizivniki" (the called to report) from Baksht, Nalibok and Derevnie, on their way to Oshmena stopped in Volozhin. The authorities ordered immediately to close all the stores. The "Novobrantsi" (the freshly mobilized) intended to break into the liquor store, but the "pristav", the Ooriadnik (Police officers) and militia men defended the shtetl, its stores and population with drawn swords. Two Russian orthodox churches (tserkov) functioned at that time In Volozhin and a Polish Catholic church (Kostiol). The relations between the Jews, the "Pop" – the orthodox priest and the "Ksiondz" - the Polish one were friendly. The graph's estate was situated In the town center and in its middle sat the Palace. The count's children, the "Graphtshiks" lived near Vilna by their grand-mother. They spent their summer time vacations in Volozhin. The count's estate was surrounded by a magnificent orchards of fruit trees. Some families would lease the orchards in common. Only a few elected persons would be permitted by Zhoovirko, the orchards-guard, to enter inside this Volozhin Paradise. A group of Volozhin children once discovered a brand new, until that point never seen by them, red fruit growing inside the garden by the orchards. It was an unfamiliar plant to Russia, the tomato. Its color and beauty attracted the children. They chose a dark night to sneak inside the garden and quickly flee away with some fruit specimens. After successfully escaping they assembled to taste the fairy fruit. They cut the specimens and divided and tasted the trophies. And as great as their expectations were so immense were the disappointments. They foresaw a paradise of sweetness, but they encountered acidity and sharp taste. The tomato became known in Volozhin as the… "Khazershe Eppele"- "the piggish apple" (I heard The story told also by my father, he was one of the adventures children –translator's note). Yosef Yoozl Perski, the "Starosta" served as head of the Kehila. His son Shimon Perski (his son in Israel) has been the Volozhin Rabbi "on behalf of". Volozhin was situated on the intersection of the Vilna-Minsk road with the way to Novogrudek. The shtetl received an abundant number of visits of beggars and emissaries, so the Starosta's hands were full with work. The shtetl tailors to whom the profession passed by inheritance were Khayim der Shnayder, Yankev der Blinder (sightless), Beniyomke der Ainbinder amd Ayzik Minke's. The hatter was "Yankl Der Kirzhner". Shimon Di Bord was repairing the tile-roofs. Khayim Meyer Shaye's was engaged in rags dealing. There were two railway stations, Listopad and Polotshan, both situated some twenty kilometers from the town. The passengers were conveyed by Peretz the prodigious who originally came to Volozhin as Yeshiva student and by Itshe the Tsar's soldier "Nikolayevskiy Soldat" Despite of the fact that The distance from Volozhin to Minsk was 80 Km and to Vilna more than hundred. Anyway 98% of Volozhin trade and commerce was made through Vilna. The sole dealer who used to buy goods in Minsk and to supply it to the Volozhin shops was Avrom Leyb Shmuel's (Rogovin – his two sons are in Israel). Mr. Heler, the renowned forest trader, had bought huge forests from the count Tishkevitsh. It was an important source of bread winning for the town and its vicinity. Many Volozhin inhabitants worked in the woods as forest specialists, and in the Company's offices. Among the specialists were Menahem Yoel Potashnik (his grand children in Israel), Isroel Kaplan, Alter Bunimovitsh, Yosef Kaganovitsh, Moyshe Rogovin, Eyliyohu Brudno, Tsvi Elyashkevitsh, Meyir Levin, Hayim Shulman (his son in Israel) and Hirsh Yuzefovitsh (his daughter in Israel). As manager of the forest exploitation served Tsvi-Hirsh Malkin* (his son Osher Malkin* lives now in Israel). *Translator's note: Tsvi-Hirsh Malkin, the translator's Grand Father with his wife Haya-Riva were murdered by the Fascists in Volozhin on May 10, 1942. Osher Malkin the Tanslator's uncle (his mother's brother) made aliya to Israel in 1952.He served 15 years as Manager of Mikveh Israel, the famous agriculture school near Tel Aviv. Osher Malkin passed away during the fall 1973 Yom Kippur war in Holon, Israel. . - Saturday, June 07, 2003 at 13:17:10 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ....In every village a Jewish family or two remains. These are the people who have the keys to the Jewish cemetery and who show visitors the way to the buildings that were once yeshivos or homes of rabbonim. In Volozhin it is Moshe Alterman who performs this function. He, his wife, and his daughter live isolated among the gentiles. Their life is not easy in the material sense, and it is certainly not easy to live with the memories that stare them in the face. Opposite the Alterman home is the mass grave where the Jews of Volozhin were slaughtered. "Every morning when I open my eyes," says Mrs. Alterman in tears, "I see the spot where they murdered my mother." In Mir one Jew is left alive. Likewise in Radin. In Rakov, the hometown of R. Osher Katzman, where his uncle R. Avrohom Kalmanowitz zt"l served as rav, not a single Jew remains. All the local inhabitants know of Jews is the story of how the Nazis herded them all into the synagogues and burned them alive. In Kovno there are still Jews, not all of whom are aware of their history. Chatzkel Zak, the gabai who used to act as tour guide to Jewish visitors, emigrated to the United States a few months ago, so we find our way with the help of Yehudah Ronder, who speaks perfect Hebrew and is excited to meet us. Listening to the exchange between him and R. Leib Baron, we are impressed once again by R. Leib's acute memory.The first time had been when Moshe Alterman had come to unlock the gates of the Volozhin cemetery for us. R. Leib remembered that he had known a family called Alterman in his childhood hometown, Horodok. Soon the two of them were reminiscing about their youths and R. Leib was recalling various members of the Alterman family by name, wondering what had become of them.Now, as we meet Yehuda Ronder, we are just as astonished as R. Leib recalls that he and his friends from Yeshivas Mir had stayed with a family called Ronder during their escape from the Nazis. Our guide is almost struck speechless. To think that sixty years later he is face to face with one of the Mirrer bochurim that his family had taken in. "I never dreamed I would be zoche to such a miracle, to meet Jews like you and walk with you on Lithuanian ground," he says. On the way, Ronder reminds us repeatedly that the Nazis had plenty of help in their work from local citizenry. He sees it as one of his life's purposes to try to bring these criminals to justice.... click for the site - Wednesday, June 04, 2003 at 05:43:47 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hi, My name is Joshua Sklut. I am 32 and I live in Brooklyn, Ny. My father's name was Michael Sklut (1939-2001) and his father was Jack(Jacob)Sklut. His wife was Eva Sklut (Haberman) My uncle, who lives in Brandon, Florida is Jeff Sklut. I know we had a base in Willmington, Delaware but my clan was apparently a black sheep and I know nothing about our paritcular history. I am going to go through your site to see if I can trace my lineage...fell free to e-mail me and I can give anyone interested any info about me(us. Thanks Alot!! Josh Sklut Josh Sklut <jsklooter@yahoo.com> Brooklyn, NY USA - Tuesday, May 27, 2003 at 13:41:46 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ n a message dated 5/22/03 11:16:43 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Jewel writes: Thank You!!!! That is the right family. I have connected current Skklut families from Main e to California--Toronto to South Africa and ALL have come from Volosyn and are connected. Mostly to Shimon Sklut. My late Mother in law was a niece to Shimon and her father Leib C(K)aplan married two Sklut sisters . Many of the families are now in Hadera in Israel and I met Dvora Einhaber several times whiie visiting in Hadera. Where did YOU get the information? It is so exciting to know all that history and now to be able to perhaps add MORE people who are directly related. THANK YOU AGAIN and keep on. Jewel Rosenthal Fishkin Glenview, Illinois ' - Thursday, May 22, 2003 at 14:34:26 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I called Arie shevach (Szewach) in Omer, Israel.Arie was born in Krasne in 1925 to Miryam nee Sklut and Binyamin Shevach. Miryam was born c 1895 to Shimon and Raisel Rocha Sklut. The family originated in Volozhin or Vishnevo (in both places they had many relatives). Shimon and Raisel Rocha lived in Krasne. Shimon was a blacksmith who had a great talent for making gadgets and all his grandchildren enjoyed the great toys he made for them Other then Miryam Shimon and Reise Rocha had; 1. A daughter; Sarah who married Baruch Kaganovitz who had family in Volozhin and Horodok they had a son ; Motel who was born c 1930 and a daughter who was much younger. The family perished in Krasne. 2. A son; Yakov Sklut who was born in 1900. Yakov was a blacksmith. He had three children; Chaika was born in Krasne in 1924, Asher in 1925 and Motel in 1927. The family perished in Krasne. 3. A son Moishe Itzha; He had seven children and passed away in his sleep. Shortly after, his wife passed away. At that point of time there were no organized institutions to take care of Jewish orphans. To be an orphan most time was a "verdict" of desuetude. The grandfather; Shimon ordered his other children to divide the seven children amongst the three of them and raise them as their own. As it was the custom at the time to respect and obey the father, they did as they were told. The two who grew up with Arie were Hirshl and Asher. Hirshl was sent to the Volozhin yeshiva and would come home for the holidays. When he reached the age of service in the Polish army, everything was done to make him "undesirable" for service since he was religious and in the polish army you could not keep Kosher rules. The most common way was to be underweight for service. He took the usual route of barely eating and drinking strong tea. He would get up early in the morning and go by foot all the way to Molodetchno and back, a distance of about 32 km. And after a month he went to the draft board in hope that he would be found unfit and be discharged. Since the Polish authorities recognized that some young men purposely did such things, they gave him a postponement, and he had to do a similar routine to avoid service until he was finally, permanently discharged. There was another one, Motl, who Arie met in Vilna. He was studying to become a teacher there. Later on, they were able to escape the Nazis and join the partisans, and there they met again, but Motl Sklut was killed when the Germans started retreating in 1944, when he was guarding a partisan camp. The Germans, who wanted to clear the area so that they could retreat a little more easily, attacked the camp and he was killed. Aryes' mother; Miryam first married Shmuel Kelman and had a daughter, Dvora born in 1915. Dvora married and her last name became Einharver, which is now Ein Habbar in Hebrew. When Miryam was still pregnant with Dvora her husband passed away under tragic circumstances immediately after World War 1. At a late night hour, robbers came to the house. They broke in and killed Shmuel Kelman. This phenomenon was common at the time, as lawlessness was widespread. The area of Krasne was since the 1790's under Russian rule. Just about that time Katherine the great traveled from Moscow to her parent's mansion in Keningsburg. Traveling at that horse did time and carriage and deferent locations for changing horses and resting were designated for her ahead of time. The places were named for her mood when she arrived; Radoshkovichi (happinesss) and Krasne (to do with red blood). There were many other places named Krasne and this Krasne was also known as Krasne nu Uzsha (Krasne near Uzsha) In 1921 Poland took control of the area. Poland also took control of Vilna, the former capital of Lithuania, the rest of Lithuania became independent. Binyamin Shevach was born in Pieski to Arie Leib and Zlate Shevach in 1900. What was the origin of the name Shevach is unclear but family legend is that an ancestor who originated in France (and maybe before in Spain later came to Germany and eventually other ancestors came to the area of Lithuania/ Poland, Arie Leib and Zlate Shevach had Other then Binyamin… 2. Chanoch Shevach who had a business of alcohol which a Jew at that time was not allowed to own (1935 or 1936). When the authorities found out about his business and were about to arrest him he was able to escape and immigrate to South Africa. 3.Yosef Shevach lived in Vilna and was married before 1939. (perished in Vilna) 4.Shalom Shevach lived in Vilna and was a pharmacist he was single (perished in Vilna) 5. Sarah nee Shevach Las was married in Shtzotzin . She had a son ; Arie Leib they perished in Shhtzozin. Arie Leib died in 1924 or 1925, and in the 1930s his widow lived in Vilna. During the war Binyamin was taken to serve in the cavalry of the Polish Army. His brother Chanoch was a true entrepreneur with a lot of initiative, and succeeded in getting him discharged from the service. Then the family moved to Vilna. He married Miryam from Krasne. In 1930 Binyamin and Miryam Shevach had another son Dvora was a devout Zionist. She was a member of "HaChalutz" in Krasne and in the 1930s went to "HaChshara" Preparation for becoming Chalutz (pioneer ) in Eretz Israel. Young Jewish men and women would live together in communities in Eastern Europe and earn money by doing difficult manual labor in preparation for doing agricultural work in a Kibbutz in Israel. Dvora spent about eighteen months in the Hachshara and when she ended her training she went back to Krasne to await her certificate form the British to be able to immigrate to Israel, that was at the time under their control. The British gave very limited amounts of certificates, after a long wait Dvora decided to join "Bitar". "Bitar" was the most popular Zionist movement in Krasne in the 1930s. Unlike HaChalutz and hashomer Hatzair who had a Socialist Zionist core Bitar had no Socialist ideology and had a more "militaristic" dogma. Eventually Dvora as other members of "Bitar" used Aliah Stavski, which was illegal Aliah. Stavski was a businessman and a member of the Zionist Revisionist party that established a route of illegal immigration. They embarked on a Greek ship . The original boat they went on was sunk after a storm that pushed the boat near rocks by the Greek shore, but the second boat was able to make it. Arie spend six years in the Krasne "Tarbut" Schol. Every vacation Arie would visit his Shevach family in Vilna. He would go there with accompanied by a family member about three times a year. To go from Krasne to Vilna in the 1930s you would take a train. There was a train station in Krasne that was about 150 kilometers from Vilna. The trip took six hours. When Arie was about eleven years old his parents let him take the trip all by himself. When he arrived in the train station in Vilna he hired a horse and carriage to take him to his grandmothers' house. When Arie graduated from the Tarbut School the family decided to send him to a Gimnasia in Vilna. In order to attend the Gimnasia he needed to attend seven school grades. Since the Tarbut school only contained six grades the only choice in Krasne was the Polish public school which he attended for one year. Arie attended the Gimnasia in Vilna only for a short time. In September 1939, Germany invaded Poland. Polish forces were overwhelmed by the Germans' might, and there was great fear in Horodok, but shortly after the invasion, people found out that there was a secret pact with the Soviet Union, a non-aggression pact, and Poland was divided between the two countries. Shortly after, the Polish officials and army quickly retreated from the area. They were replaced by huge Soviet Army. A never-ending parade of tanks came into town. The first to be deported to Siberia for counter-Revolutionary activities were the asdoniks. They asdoniks were Polish veterans of war who because of their service to Poland, received land that was overwhelmingly settled by Belarussians. Also sent to Siberia were the wealthier Polish schlachtas. Arie was sent to a Russian school in Molodetchno. With him were three other guys from Horodok, amongst them Mendel Greenhouse. They lived together in the house of a Jewish woman in Molodetchno. The Soviet schools had no particular days for a day off, since there was no religion, the day off would arbitrarily be the seventh day depending on when the school year started. So Arie and his friends would stay in Molodetchno for six days, and on the seventh day they would take the train to Krasne, which only took half an hour. They lived at the Jewish home because the family wanted them to keep kosher. But about keeping the Shabbat, it wasn't possible. In the Polish schools, prior to this time, when they had to go to the Shabbat, they could sit in the class and not take notes. But in Soviet times this was clearly forbidden. June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union. The Jewish people of Krasne were in shock. Although there was a train station nearby in Krasne, no residents were allowed. They were filled with soldiers and officials of the USSR. Only one family, the Brudner family of Krasne, succeeded in getting on a military train that took them deep in the Soviet Union, and they survived. For three days, Arie and his family tried to cross the old Polish-Russian border. They arrived there on horse and carriage, and found thousands of people trying to cross, but the Red Army stood, armed, in different areas and prevented them from crossing. Arie's father thought he knew of a place to cross and they went there, but by the time they got there the Germans had reached the area. So they had no choice but to return to Krasne. As soon as they returend they locked themselves at home, in panic. It took a week and the Germans entered. They immediately put announcements on the buildings, telling all Jews that from now they were not allowed to walk on the sidewalk, that they had to wear a yellow Jewish star on their arms, that they had curfew hours, and one night at a very late hour they surrounded their homes and kicked everyone out and put them in certain designated homes, surrounding it with barbed wire. IT was a square that contained Radishkoviczi street to Horodok Street. As we later found out, the Germans planned long before conquering the area that Krasne would be designated a base for a large battalion of supply troops. It was used as a transit point for things coming from the west as well as the pillage that was coming from the front in the east. The Jews were told to establish a Judenrat, and Shabtai Orloch, a watchmaker who spoke German fluently since he had been a POW in Germany during WWI, became now the head of the Judenrat. Once in a while, the Germans would order the Judenrat to bring them cash, leather for boots, fabrics for clothing, and other supplies and if they wouldn't do it in time, they would kill or torture a few Jews. Arie was sent to cut trees with other Jews from Krasne. One time when he was out in the forest he found pamphlets dropped by Soviet planes calling for the local population to arm themselves and to fight the Germans. Strangely, none of these pamphlets reached the town. They were to be found only deep in the forest. Meanwhile they started bringing in other Jews from other towns to work in Krasne, and they established a labor camp there. The young people who came from Horodok and Volozhin and had already lost their families and wanted to fight the Germans. They dreamed of joining the partisans, and when they had the opportunity they started stealing rifles from the Germans and hiding them in the ghettoes and camps to prepare for the day they would escape and join the partisans. They were eventually able to gather 25 semi-automatic rifles, but the Judenrat found out about it and started torturing the young men and threatening to hurt their family members until they gave them some of the weapons. As it turns out they gave some of the weapons through their own fmily members, though the reason they gave for asking for the weapons was that the Germans would kill the entire Jewish community if they found out. At the same time, many Red Army soldiers who escaped when the area fell to Germany, and lived in the forest and worked in the villages, were starting an anti-German movement. In the beginning of 1942 the whole movement was very disorganized. There were no leaders, just armed bands . But slowly, the people from the Soviet Union started communicating with them and it became more and more organized. Yitzhak Rogovin from Horodok was able to establish a connection and escape and join the partisans . There were another ten or twelve people who were already with weapons. In order to join you needed to have weapons. Anyway, Yitzhak Rogovin sent a Christian by the name of Salvostrovich, a villager from a nearby hamlet, to the ghetto to take Arie out. He was able to help him escape and they went together by horse and buggy to the area of the partisans. As it turned out, Yithak Rogovin had to go on a mission and couldn't meet him there. Meanwhile, although Arie was able to establish connections with the partisans, he had to go back to the ghetto because the Judenrat found out he hsd escaped, so they threatened his parents and sent a Jewish person to look for him. When he found him, the person claimed the Judenrat would do something to his parents if he didn't return, and he added that if he didn't return th whole ghetto would be destroyed. So he returned, but he escaped two other times, but returned. Others escaped, but when they met with the partisans they would either be killed for their weapons, or their weapons would be taken from them and they were sent away. Eventually the last escape was in January of 1943. Although his father would get upset with him for escaping, thinking that he could cause the killing of the rest of the Jews and that if they worked hard for the Germans they would survive… At that point, the Krasne camp was the last place where Jews were still alive. All the other communities in the area had been annihilated. Yet he still had hope that they would be needed. His mother, on the other hand, was not so delusional, and she said to him, I support you in your decision, maybe you'll escape to the forest, and maybe you'll be the one remnant of our family who will survive. Anyway, he was able to establish communications with the Partisans, and it was a unit by the name of Andreyov, and also was called Sovietski Byelorussia. Storitzky and Layev were the leaders. His father worked for the Germans in the mill. Arie as well as the other Jewish partisans realized that soon time would come when the Nazis would annihilate the rest of the Jews in Krasne, and they got permission to bring the rest of the family to the forest. But in March of 1943, Krasne camp was annihilated. On the same day, the unit where Arie was, went to put explosives on the train tracks, and on their way they saw Christians with sleighs filled with their plunder from the ghetto. They wrote down the names of those who took all the pillage. As it turned out, the Jews were concentrated in two places, one group in the ghetto, one in the camp. They were ordered to unrobe, and there they were taken through the entire town, and were watched by the local population, who were cheering while they were walking naked. They were taken to a barn that once belonged to Strikoviczh, who was a very wealthy person. The Jews were locked in there and they put about 800 Jews in the barn, then the Germans spilled oil all around it and lit it on fire, and the Jews were burned alive. During his time as a partisan, Arie carried out many demolitions missions . At one point, Arie was wounded and was taken by plane into the Soviet Union to recover. He was questioned by the NKVD about who he was and the details of his service, and when he said that he served for the unit Andreyev, he realized that they looked at him as if he had said something very wrong. They said such a unity didn't exist. After further checks, they found his name in a unit called something like Belarussia for the Soviets. In 1994, when he was invited to Minsk to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their liberation, someone from there who served with him was able to give him his personal records and Arie realized that even in the forest they kept detailed personal records of everyone who took part in the fight, and there it did say that he served in the unit Andreyev. As it turned out, Andreyev was someone who fell out of favor with Stalin, and you couldn't name a heroic unit with such a name. Although the Russian partisans who were out of touch with the politics in the Soviet Union, when they needed to find a name they chose the name of an old hero.... . - Wednesday, May 21, 2003 at 12:20:25 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE I DON LAND HEREOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUGUMAN <GUYMAMAN@YAHOO.COM> LONDON, USA - Saturday, May 17, 2003 at 07:54:35 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shprintza nee Weisbord from Volozhin married a Persky from Volozhin. They had four children; Yitzhak Perski made aliyah to Israel before the war. Noach Perski was in Sovlak and survived the war. Gitel and Zila perished in Volozhin. Yisrael Garber lives in New York, his father was the Rabbi of Horodok Chyena the beautiful Daughter of the Rabbi of Horodok (Rabbi Garber) married a person by the last name Kossokovski. He was a good looking man and also very educated. They went to South Africa and later settled in the states. The granddaughter of the Shochet of Horodok is married to Dr. Avraham Mayevski of Bar – Ilan University, Brain Physiology Research Interests and Goals:The functioning brain in vivo; the effects of various pathological conditions on the metabolic, ionic and electrical activities of the brain Horodok - While visiting relatives in Horodok, a Polish shtetl between Minsk and Vilna, the American amateur filmmaker Joseph Shapiro recorded his ... Descendants ofSylvia Axelrad and Hoshea Lifshitz Sylvia2 Axelrad, b. in Volozyn +Hoshea2 Lifshitz, b. in Mizeich-Volozyn +-- Raske3 Lifshitz * +Issac3 Rapaport * +-- Aleck4 Rapaport * +-- Sylvia4 Rapaport * +-- Leizer4 Rapaport * +-- Rachel4 Rapaport +-- Jacob3 Lifshitz, b. in Horodok * +(Ida) Sarah3 Horowitz * +-- Samuel4 Lifshitz * +-- Alick4 Lifshitz, b. 06 Apr 1914 in Lewiston, d. 15 Mar 1986 * +-- Lewis4 Lifshitz +-- Sarah Anne3 Lifshitz, b. 16 Feb 1883 in Horodok, d. 12 Aug 1967 in Portland * +Issac3 Adelman, b. circa 1877, d. 14 Dec 1909 * +Isadore3 Targovnik, b. Oct 1884 in Miedzyrec, d. 24 May 1963 in Portland See Sarah (Lifshitz) Tarr +-- Joseph3 Lifshitz, b. 01 Apr 1890 in Horodok, d. Apr 1977 in Auburn * +Ethel3 Hoffman, d. in Auburn * +-- Shephard4 Lee, b. 1927 in Lewiston * +-- Dorothy4 Lifshitz * +-- Sylvia4 Lifshitz * +-- Harold4 Lee +-- Moishe3 Lifshitz * +Frida-Sarah3 (Liftshifz) * +-- Hoshea4 Lifshitz, b. circa 1912 * +-- Alter4 Lifshitz, b. circa 1915 * +-- Raza4 Lifshitz, b. circa 1918 +-- Issac3 Lifshitz, b. circa 1879 in Horodok +Chasia3 Berkman, b. 1881, d. 1935 +-- Lazer4 Lifshitz, b. 1905, d. 1945 in Berlin +-- Tryha4 Lifshitz, b. 1906 in Horodok, d. 1980 +-- Sarah4 Lifshitz, b. 1909, d. 1943 +-- Yankel4 Lifshitz, b. 1911 +-- Shoshana4 Lifshitz, b. 1915 in Horodok, d. 2000 +-- Hava4 Lifshitz, b. 1918, d. circa 1943 Last updated : 31 May 2002 Title Horodok Call Number DS 135 .B38 H67 1995 Summary Shows a meal served to a group of children and other scenes of daily life on Horodok. 90 min / Color / & BW / JHS+ / VHS This film recreates Jewish life in Poland from the late 19th Century through the 1930s, a unique and now vanished era. Through rare films, photographs, memorabilia, music, and interviews with survivors of the lost culture, the film brings to life the full range of the Jewish experience in the years before the disaster. Subject(s): Jewish Life in Poland Pre-World War II Vendor: Zenger Video HaRav Yechezkel Sarna was born in Horodok Russia, in 5650 (1890). His father was R' Yaakov Chaim, a maggid meishorim in Horodok and Slonim, who became famous for his outstanding rhetoric as the maggid of Slonim. His mother Eidel stemmed from the Buxenbaum family.Like all of the other children of the period, he began his education in the local cheder. His father, who recognized young Yechezkel's talents, sent him when he was still very young to various yeshivos in the area. Yechezkel wandered from yeshiva to yeshiva, until his older brother, Reb Leib finally brought him to Slabodke in Kovno, where he began to study in the Or HaChaim yeshiva ketana, known locally as Yeshivas Rebbe Herschel. The mashgiach at that time, Reb Eliyahu Laicrovits, planted mussar roots in young Yechezkel's heart.Yechezkel remained in Slabodke for only a year. In 5662 (1902), he journeyed to Maltshe, where he studied under one of the most famous Torah giants of the time, HaRav Zalman Sender Kahana-Shapiro, who also presided as the Chief Rabbi of Maltshe. Due to an inner conflict which occurred in the yeshiva, Reb Zalman Sender left Maltshe, and transferred to Kriniki. This was only a year after Yechezkel had arrived in Maltshe. However, without a mentor, he too left Maltshe and returned in 5663 to Slabodke, in order to study in Knesses Beis Yitzchok, headed by HaRav Chaim Rabinowitz, who later on became known as Rav Chaim of Telz. He was very fond of the youth, who became bar mitzvah that year, and recognized his brilliance of mind and swift grasp. When Rev Chaim was invited to deliver shiurim in Telz, at the end of 5664, he included the young Yechezkel in the group of well known Torah scholars who were schooled in halocho.In the beginning of the winter of 5666 (1906), the young Yechezkel once more returned to Maltshe, in order to study under HaRav Shimon Shkop.Another year passed, and Reb Shimon left Maltshe. Under the influence of the son of the Alter, HaRav Shmuel Finkel, the young Yechezkel, who was by then seventeen years old, decided to return to Slabodke.5667 (1907) was the most important year in the life of Reb Yechezkel. His searching and wandering had ended, and he decided to remain in Slabodke -- and he remained there until his final day.Slabodke itself wandered first to Eretz Yisroel in Chevron the city of the forefathers, and then to Geula in Yerushalayim, but he always remained in Slabodke. He never left it. Regarding this, he later said that he was very grateful to Reb Shmuel Finkel for having drawn him into the Slabodke life.End of Part I . - Thursday, May 15, 2003 at 20:31:53 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Allderdice sophomore Daniel Love will receive the Young Humanitarian of the Year Award at the annual conference of the Pennsylvania Association for Gifted Education (PAGE). Daniel is being recognized for his CAS Long Term Project, a video documentary on the Holocaust titled "A Look in the Eyes of Resistance: The Stories of Malka and Moshe Baran." Daniel interviewed Moshe Baran who fought in the Polish resistance and his wife, Malka, who survived living in a concentration camp. Daniel’s video has been presented at numerous state conferences dedicated to Holocaust awareness, and in the fall he will travel to Great Britain for another presentation. Daniel is expanding his video’s application to middle and high school students by preparing a teacher’s guide and supplement . - Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 21:46:34 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today I called Moshe Baran. Moshe was born in 1919 in Horodok to Ester nee Weisbord from Volozhin (born in 1902 and Yosef Baran who was so born in Horodok 1890 (His grandfather; Avraham Pinchas was born in Oshmina grandmother; Riva Risha). Moshe's parents met when his father attended the Volozhin Yeshiva and he had a "Keset" (room and board) at the house of of the Weisbord family in Volozhin. Ester nee Weisbord had four sisters; 1. ? Married a Persky in Volozhin and had two daughters; Gitel born c 1912 and Zila born c 1916. Gitel was married before the war. The family perished in Volozhin. 2. Shoshke married Yisrael Mayzel and lived in Horodok. At one point they immigrated to the U. S and some of their children were born there. The family returned to Horodok were the mother died. some of their children went to Cuba and in 1950 went to Luisiana.the rest of the family perished in Horodok. 3. Bela, a twin sister to Ester went to Louisiana (Shreveport) she had a family there. 4. Chana married a lampart and perished in Volozhin. Moshes' father; Yosef Baran had a brother; Hirshel Leib Baran who moved to Kurenets after his wife died. one of his sons also moved to Kurenets. Hirshel perished in Kurenets. His son escaped to the forest and was later killed. Moshe had twin sisters; Mina and Musha, they were born in 1928 his brother Yehoshua was born in 1922. In 1928 the family moved to Rakov. The father had a leather factory there. Yakov Lifshitz was Moshes' teacher in Rakov. Pruma nee Shulman lifshitz (Yakov's wife) was his teacher in Horodok. The family lived in Rakov until 1932 and then returned to Horodok. Moshes' father and one of his sisters perished in the holocaust. Moshe, his mother, his brother Yehoshua and the other sister were sent to the work camp in Krasne. One time when Moshe was working on the rail road for the Germans two Jews from Warsaw were working near by. They were ordred to put away some Russian weapon that the Germans found.Moshe and the guys were able to hide some of it and take it to the Ghetto. in January of 1943 a Jewish woman asked Moshe to help her to escape with her two children (7 and 9) she told him that she knew of a forest were other Jews from the area were hiding and she would take him there if he would help them. Moshe took his weapon and escaped with the woman and her children. They arrived in the area of Kramnitz near Ilja and found the Jews. Since Moshe had weapon he became a member of the partisan unit Hanokem (Masitel) the leader was Lunin and the Komisar was Patashkevitz. Moshe was able to help his mother, sister and brother escape from the Krasne camp on March 17,1943 two days before the camp was annihilated. Moshe served with the partisans until 1944. in the spring of 1944 when the Germans knew that they had lost the war in the East (Of Europe) they started a huge blockade against the partisans. Moshe and his unit were hiding in the marshes for many days. Moshes' Mother; Ester was the only Jewish mother in Horodok who survived the Holocaust. after the war ended the family was on the way to Israel when the family of Ester's sisters in Shreveport, Louisiana found out that they survived. They pleaded with them to join them in the U. S. They were well of and helped them to settle in America. Today Moshe lives in Pittsburgh next to his sister. Yehoshua lives in Los Angeles. Moshe told me that some years ago he visited Yisrael Garber the son of the Shochet of Hordok who now lives in New York. Yisrael had a movie that was made in Horodok in 1933 by Dov Shapira who was born in Horodok. Dov left Horodok when he was 13. He did well in America and in 1933 he and his wife came for a visit and Gave large sums of money to the Rabbi of Horodok for the community. They also gave five dollars to each person even to the little children. They also made a film of their visit. Moshe knew that the film must be for more then a personal use. He transferred it to a video and send copies to Horodok people in Israel and also gave copies to Jewish organizations. the video Horodok could be ordered for $30 at; http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/titlepricestart.html "Image Before My Eyes," is the name of a 90-minute film about Jewish life in the Pale of Settlement between the two World Wars. The video includes some, but not all, of the footage from the Horodok silent video, as well as some different footage of what was obviously the same visit. This excerpt also includes interviews, segments on other locations and on other topics, including the wooden synagogues, of which so very few remain. The modern parts are in color, and the entire 90-minutes is also available through The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis. http://www.brandeis.edu/jewishfilm/titlepricestart.html Moshe told me that there are other videos of Resistance and Stories of Jewish Partisans that he (and some other partisans from the area of Horodok and other areas ) detail their battle first for survival and then for revenge in the towns and forests of Poland, Lithuania, and Belarus between 1941 and 1945. . - Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 21:26:33 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Fart of the next post was erased, I am pasting it here again..... ...We post the translated to English articles and other available data to the Jewish Genealogy site at its Yizkor Books Translation section: http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/volozhin/volozhin.html We translate and publish articles from the Volozhin Region History Book which was issued by the Volozhin authorities in 1996. Some of them are set on line at: http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/volozhin1/volozhin1.html Click for the Volozhin Yizkor book - Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 11:22:40 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Irgun Yotsey Volozhin - The Volozhiners Organization in Israel C/o M. Porat, 10 Lord Byron St., Tel Aviv 63411, Israel Tel. 972-3-5230085, EM: >>poratm@netvision.net.il<< April, 2003 Dear Volozhin descendants' family, Sunday, May 25, 2003 coincides with the Jewish date of Iyar 23, day of the Volozhin Kehila extermination 61 (sixty one) years ago. In autumn 2003 two hundred years will pass since Rabbi Hayim Volozhiner founded the Ets Hayim Yeshiva. Since our Kehila Extermination Yorzayt that was commemorated at the Tel Aviv Grave yard in 2000, we did not reach a point to assemble enough people to organize the Yorzayt in public. For the same reason there will not be a public service also this year. Recently we were obliged to close our Organization's small bank account. From the five authorized representatives three passed away, and only me, the "young" one, I'm still able to function. It's sad, very sad. In some shtetls the memory organizations issue passed to the younger generations. Daughters, sons and grand children of the shtetl's descendants took over the memorializing functions. This is not our case. We did not arrive to pass this important duty to our heirs. This too is pitiful. But it's not so tragic as it might appear. Something has been done to guard our annihilated congregation's memory: A) We erected a Memorial to Volozhin in the Tel-Aviv, at the Kiryat Shaoul cemetery in 1980. B) A memorial Plaque was installed at the Yeshiva Entry in Volozhin on April 1999. It replaced the infamous "Kulinaria" signboard by which the renowned Jewish Academy was humiliated for fifty years. C) We erected the Volozhin Kehila Memorial in September 2000. The tombstone, with Hebrew, Russian & English inscriptions, located on top of the ancient graveyard is overlooking the common graves of our Kdoshim and the mass slaughter site where 2000 Jews were shot and burnt on May 10th 1942. But the most important has been done by the Volozhin Organization founders. They wrote, edited and published: "Volozhin, the Yizkor Book of the Town and its Ets Hayim Yeshiva" in 1970. It's a magnificent historical memorial for our Shtetl. At present we make every effort to translate and place on-line the Volozhin Yizkor Book and other data about the town and its Yeshiva. We believe that posting it in Internet sites on-line is the best way to commemorate our congregation. It's a big, important work and it is completely made by voluntaries. We appreciate the help of Eilat, Sandra, Judith, Joyce and Lance, in editing the translations and posing on-line. We post the translated to English articles and other available data to the Jewish Genealogy site at its Yizkor Books Translation section: < We translate and publish articles from the Volozhin Region History Book which was issued by the Volozhin authorities in 1996. Some of them are set on line at: <> We cooperate with Ms. Eilat Gordin-Levitan, by placing articles and announcements at Eilat's dynamic multi-shtetl site: >>http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/volozhin.html<< Attached to this letter (in hard copy only) is the Volozhin Yizkor Book Contents list in two parts. The first one (3 Pages) lists the translated articles and the actually posed on line at the Jewish-Gen site. The second part (2 pages) lists the articles, waiting to be translated. You're invited to visit those sites to read the articles, to look at the pictures and to translate to English some material from the waiting list. We are addressing this invitation to the younger generation, to children and grand children of the Volozhin descendants. Doing it you will learn the history of your family, your town and of your annihilated congregation. If you are interested in hard copies of articles in original language or translated to English, please feel free to ask. For details, Please refer at our address. Have a good, healthy and peaceful time, Sincerely, Moshe Porat (Monia Perlman) . - Wednesday, May 14, 2003 at 10:37:24 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Michaliskes Michaliskes Vilna Vilna Bazarnaia Street Skopovker MILEIKOVSKI, Movsha age 44 in 1897 son of Abram head of household Baker Born;Volozhin Registered in;Kreve lives in; Michaliskes LVIA 768 / 1 / 1 thru 8 MILEIKOVSKI, Roda 37 Movsha wife- Born;Michaliskes Registered in;Kreve lives in; Michaliskes . - Tuesday, May 13, 2003 at 20:45:04 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Manifest for Ryndam Sailing from Rotterdam June 02, 1908 Dolgow, Udel F 25y M Russia, Hebrew Jetsjin, Russia was in the U.S before (from 1905- 1907) with the two older children 0025. Dolgow, Gersch M 10 years S Russia, Hebrew from Jetsjin,or misspelled Volojin Russia 0026. Dolgow, Jozef M 6 years S Russia, Hebrew from Jetsjin,or misspelled Volojin Russia 0027. Dolgow, Molsche M 10 months S Russia, Hebrew from Jetsjin,or misspelled Volojin going to husband; Y. Dolgow in New York 516 E. 12th Street Manifest for California Sailing from Glasgow August 23, 1909; Dolgow, Schoul M 58y M Russia, Hebrew Woloskin (Volozhin), Russia 0016. Dolgow, Chane F 19y S Russia, Hebrew Woloskin, (Volozhin)Russia 0017. Dolgow, Reise F 17y S Russia, Hebrew (Volozhin) Woloskin going to son and brother; S. Dolgow 159 S. nd Street, New York Persky, Beile F 26y S Russia, Hebrew Woloskin,(Volozhin) Russia going to uncle; B.Rudinsky 98 Madison Street, New York Gitlitz, Sonie F 42y M Russia, Hebrew Delginowo, Russia going to husband; A. Gitlitz 136 Nonroe Street, New York nonJewish Dolgows; January 25, 1905 Dolgow, Alexy M 29 M Russian Kars 0006. Dolgow, Maria F 25 M Russian Kars 0007. Dolgow, Alexy M 3 S Russian Kars 0008. Dolgow, Maria F 9m S Russian Kars going to Los angeles Manifest for Finland Sailing from Antwerp July 15, 1913 Dolgow Chaim Male 37 years old married Russia, Hebrew Volozhin, Russia was in the U.S from 1904- 1908 going to Brooklyn to brother; Ben Dolgow 574 -redrick? Street Manifest for Zeeland Sailing from Antwerp August 01, 1921; 0017. Dolgow, Marjasia F 18y S Polish, Hebrew Wolczyn, Poland 0018. Dolgow, Osias M 7y S Polish, Hebrew Wolczyn, Poland 0019. Dolgow, Bejla F 9y S Polish, Hebrew Wolczyn, Poland 0020. Dolgow, Frania F 16y S Polish, Hebrew Wolczyn, Poland 0021. Dolgow, Aron M 15y S Polish, Hebrew Wolczyn going to husband and father; H. Dolgow 63 E. 3rd Street Manhattan, New York . - Sunday, May 11, 2003 at 15:28:41 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Subj: Dolgow Date: 5/11/03 9:39:43 AM Pacific Daylight Time From: AllanDolgow To: EilatGordn Making various searches. I came across this with Dolgow in the text. I am not sure it is of any value to you. I cannot read German. Regards, Allan Subj: Re: Dolgow (seems to be a place in Prussia in the 1700's) Date: 5/11/03 10:13:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time From: EilatGordn To: AllanDolgow I used; AltaVista's Babel Fish Translation Service http://world.altavista.com/ here is some of the text... ....When in the year 1756 the 88 jaehrige farmer's wife Emerentz school TZE from DOLGOW dies, Hennigs notes successors in the Wustrower church book: old widow.... Eilat click for Dolgow - Sunday, May 11, 2003 at 10:19:30 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Searching for the Kantorovich family from Slonim/Belarus and also for Keylman/Keilman family from Gorodki/Belarus.(near Volozhin) One of my great-great grandfathers, the head of department of the railway company ( St. Petersbourg to Warschau ) in Vilnius, Jakob David Kantorovich was born in Slonim ( b. ca. 1825/30, d. ca. 1903 in St. Petersbourg/Russia ). On 1860 in Riga/Latvia Jakob ben David Kantorovich was married with Henriette Wilhelmina Minne Mindel Isaakovna, nee Keilmann. Both had three children: Sophie Jakobovna Kantorovich b. 1863 in Vilnius/Lithuania, Alexander Jakobov Kantorovich b. 1866 in Vilnius/Lithuania and my greatgrandma Eugenie Jakobovna Kantorovich b. 1868 in Vilnius/Lithuania. I'm also searching for a great Jewish family named Key(j/I)lman(n) from Gorodki. Some of them went to Ulla near Witebsk, other went to Lithuania, Courlande and Latvia. I'm searching for all documents, photos of my jewish ancestors from Slonim, Vilnius, Riga rob.dup.@gmx.de . - Thursday, May 08, 2003 at 08:15:08 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Memories of Nachum Goldman, as written by Aron-Zvi Dudayi Dudman Memories of Vishnevo Translated by Eilat Gordin Levitan Like a long list of Jewish leaders, I belong to the last generation that lived and took part in a very special time in history, a period that molded the Jewish life during the last 50 years. I’m talking about the generation that had in its roots the essence of Jews of Eastern Europe, but was educated in Western Europe. Melded in our core is the culture and personality of Jews from both Eastern and Western Europe. Amongst the representatives of these sort of Jews clearly you can name Chaim Weitzman. It’s not a coincidence that the prominent figures from this generation later on became the leaders of modern Zionism, and we see that part of the distinct essence of modern Zionism is that it’s a synthesis between East and West(Europe), something unique with no brothers in the rest of the history of the nation of Israel. Since the community censuses were lost during the First World War in the area of Volozhin and there is no exact date that we can give, as much as we can deduct from municipal papers from Vishnevo during World War I, I was born in July 10, 1895. Despite the fact that I was only there for six years of my childhood, this period of my life left an indelible mark on my character. My spirituality and personality were deeply affected by the traditions of Eastern European Jewish life. The first six years of my life were spent at the house of my paternal grandparents. My parents left Russia to try their luck in Germany shortly after my birth. First my father studied at the universities in Konigsberg and Heidelberg, but when he realized he could not afford to finish his studies, his parents found him a home in Frankfurt on the Meine. This was the town where my mother brought me when I was six. My impressions from my earlier childhood that had such a big influence on my personality were of the warmth of my grandparents’ house and the cultural climate that was so special in the town of Vishnevo. My grandfather was the doctor of the town and the entire surrounding area. He had a farmer-like personality, very strong and natural in his habits, with a large amount of common sense. He was a real doer, not an idle dreamer. The villagers loved him with their entire soul. The people who were sick he had a special ability to communicate with them. He was very, very different from my maternal grandfather who was dayyan in Vilna, the most respected Jewish community in Russia. My maternal grandfather was a perfect example of the rabbinical tradition: all his days he only studied the Talmud and Talmudic literature while my grandmother, his wife, was managing a small store for their finances. There are many anecdotes that people told in the family about him where we could learn of his personality. As the head of the dayyan in Vilna, my grandfather was amongst the highest people in the community, particularly since when the Gaon of Vilna died, the Jewish community there refused to have anymore rabbis in Vilna as a gesture of respect for the greatness of the dead. So from then on the head dayyan became rabbi-like in status, earning the most special place in the synagogue during holy days. While the poor Jews, amongst them wandering Jews, beggars, etc. would come to the synagogue to take part in the prayers, my grandfather who could have gone to the best seat would join the poor so they would not feel themselves inferior. Symbolic to his personality was the way he died: for many, many years, day after day he would sit in his narrow room with the door closed, studying when finally it affected him and he became sick with pneumonia. The doctor suggested he should take a vacation in Crimea, but he refused to listen to him. Many days he was very stubborn about not going, explaining that the long voyage to Crimea, which he would have to ride on a train for days, would take time from his Talmud studies. And what kind of life would he have if he were denied the studies of the Torah? Finally he couldn’t take the begging of his wife and other family members and he went on his way. When the train arrived in Crimea, they found my grandfather lifeless. We never knew whether he died when arrived there or during the travels. I only met my maternal grandfather in the last years of his life when I stayed with him for a few weeks in Vilna on the way to Germany. In any case it is very clear to me that I inherited my intellectual base from him. From my paternal grandfather’s side, where I grew up and where I was educated in the first years of my life, I received other gifts that were no less important. My paternal grandfather was not an intellectual type but a very practical man. He had many children, most of them girls. The days when I was there they were not yet married so they took a large part in my education. I was the only grandson who lived at the house and this fact stood in direct correlation to the amount of spoiledness that I received. All the memories that I have from those days have not even a hint of unpleasantness and I believe that the tranquility and harmony of the first years of my life gave me the self-confidence that I was blessed with. That, more than any part of my personality, has aided me in my political activities later on. Already in my early childhood there were signs of my mature personality. I clearly remember many tricks that I pulled that might have been an _expression of my need to lead, and my need to organize and take charge of things. Those early deeds that I used my friends to help me carry out, many times today seem to me to not have been in the best taste. But I remember that then I used to make them a little less sharp since I would always take all responsibility on myself without a moment of hesitation, in all the things my friends and I would do. To be truthful, I must admit that in most cases it didn’t take a lot of bravery or self-sacrifice, as the grandson of a person who was the only doctor in town and for many years was the head of the Jewish community there. Already I received special treatment. I remember one Saturday when I created a huge mess in the synagogue when I entered the synagogue riding my big St. Bernard dog. It was huge and very scary although truly he had a very good nature. But the people praying must have thought it to be a horrible, wild dog who was coming to tear them apart. In the women’s quarters above, a few women fainted and some of the men ran outside screaming. But all this pandemonium didn’t make my dog change his stoic essence. He kept walking slowly and self-assuredly through the synagogue until we reached my grandfather’s seat in the first row. However, even that deed, which was absolutely blasphemous and so shocking that people talked about it for many years, I survived without much punishment. In town my reputation was of a boy who appeared older than his age. For some health reasons I missed many days of cheder studies, but this did not affect my education since I was very quick and clever. It was enough for me to have private lessons of an hour or two to catch up to my friends who studied eight to ten hours a day. So the basic Jewish education I received mostly from my grandfather and a few tutors, amongst them the rabbi of the town [ed: Rabbi Perlman Margolis]. This rabbi later on went to Eretz Israel and when I had my bar mitzvah he sent me a letter from there where he described an episode from my days in the cheder of Vishnevo. This episode is descriptive not only of the way I thought but also it is a perfect example of Talmudic thinking. As my former teacher wrote in his letter, while he was discussing with the class the dream of Yakov where there was a passage saying that the angels of god (this was when I was 4) go up and down, I could not in my logic let myself accept such a sentence and I argued that the angels of God are in heaven so how can they go up before they go down? They must first go down and only then go up. The rabbi said that this question bothered him for years and he investigated this passage in all the different sources hoping to find reasonable answers since illogic has no place in the logical Torah. Typical of religious people he could not accept the idea that it was just a phrase that people might say casually, without any real thought. Up and down. It was symbolic of a nation that for hundreds of years had been raised on the Talmudic analytical, logical basis in which no coincidences could occur. Without getting into a deep psychological study, it’s very clear for me today when I look back that all the signs of my character were already taking roots in me in those days would become extremely important in helping me decide what paths to take. When I think of it, everything I achieved was done without cries or yells, but through careful persuasion instead. As a child, for example, I received special permission that let me stay with the older people until late night hours. For many months, later on, I would argue against what I saw as the punishment that I had to go early to my bed. I grew up with adults and I loved listening to their conversations at evening time, and I hated, as all children do, to go to sleep hours before the adults. All the scenes that I created at that point didn’t change that rule, and at the end I realized that there was a more useful way to work this out. As a child who was traditionally educated, my duty was to do a kryatchma when I was going to bed. So I used this rule, saying that I would not pray this prayer before I felt a true need to sleep. This stubbornness brought my wished results, and from then on they let me stay until I was ready to say the prayer. This experience made it clear to me that what I couldn’t do with fighting and stubbornness I achieved with a little bit of “politics”. This incident also made me richer with another bit of knowledge: religious thoughts cannot be forced upon you, and even more important, that prayer only has meaning if it is said with free will. I was very lucky that my very first years, when the soul is still open to receive impressions from the environment, unlike other times in the life, passed in a house filled with pleasantness and warmth, surrounded by good natured and generous people. When I think today about my grandfather’s house I cannot decide who had the best nature among all the family members. All of them, my grandfather, grandmother, my aunts who took care of me with serenity and devotion, and never-ending pleasantness seemed to me to be true angels. I am very sure that the lack of suspicion and the need to help people, two character traits that were strong in me when I became an adult, were rooted in those first years. The feeling of confidence and safety that is so rooted in me might somehow be connected to the fact that my family then already thought that I would do great deeds in my life. They even asked the rabbi of the town to put special care in my education and development. After I left my dear ones to join my parents in Germany I never saw them again. The First World War and the Revolution in Russia brought separation to many families. All my family members died before I could meet them again. Still, their memory is deeply rooted in my heart and my soul and I am very thankful for all that they gave me. Those dear people created the soil where I could take root and receive happiness and warmth and safety no matter what the future would bring. I am absolutely sure if my parents had taken me to Germany as soon as they had left I would lack this treasure that only life in a shtetl could bring. And once again I will emphasize that the spiritual climate of the Lithuanian shtetl Vishnevo was a very important element of establishing my character..... I will post the entire article in Vishnevo stories. . - Wednesday, May 07, 2003 at 20:23:40 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .....Byelorussia's Jewish population numbered almost 1.1 million on the eve of the German invasion. In fact, many of Byelorussia's largest cities - Minsk, Vitebsk, Mogilev, Gomel, Bobruisk, Orsha - had Jewish majorities. The invading Germans began the murder of Byelorussian Jews soon after their arrival. Jews who were not killed during the initial operations were forced to move into ghettos. These ghettos were systematically liquidated from the fall of 1941 to the fall of 1943. German authorities a lso accused the Jews of being the driving force behind the Soviet partisan movement, whose members began to operate in growing numbers behind German lines in the spring of 1942. For example, Wilhelm Kube, the Commissar General for White Ruthenia, equated Jews with partisans in the same report in which he proudly told his superiors about the murder of 55,000 Byelorussian Jews during a ten-week period in the spring and summer of 1942. (3) Most Nazi crimes in Byelorussia, particularly the murder of Byelorussian Jewry, were committed by mobile forces. Units belonging to two of Heydrich's Einsatzgruppen - A and B - were operating in Byelorussia. They received assistance from regular German police battalions and Waffen-SS units. To be sure, some of the Einsatzgruppen headquarters became stationary at the end of 1941 for the purpose of establishing an SS/police structure in the occupied Soviet Union. Yet, the occupiers' killing opera tions never really lost their mobile character throughout the occupation owing to the expanse of the areas to which these forces were assigned. After the war, members of the Einsatzgruppen were the subjects of several trials, most notably that of Otto Oh lendorf and 20 other officers before a U.S. military tribunal from July 1947 to April 1948. (4) Beginning in 1950 West German courts also tried Einsatzgruppen men. (5) In addit ion to the courts, historians also began to investigate the Einsatzgruppen and publish their findings. (6) While the history of the Einsatzgruppen is by now well-documented, the same cannot be said for most of the indigenous units who assisted the Germans in the murder of Soviet Jews and gentiles. Some - like the Arjas Commando, the Kaminsky Brigade an d the SS unit "Druzhina" - have attained great notoriety. However, historians have paid little attention to the large numbers of lesser-known indigenous "security" forces without which the Germans would have encountered greater difficulty in liquidating entire ghettos and staging massive murder and pillage operations disguised as anti-partisan actions. The Germans established two types of local units: the Schutzmannschaft and the Ordnungsdienst. The forme r generally operated in areas under civilian administration and fell within the SS/police command structure; the latter was established in army and army group rear areas and placed under the authority of local and district military commanders. Historians have only recently begun to study the Schutzmannschaften and the Ordnungsdienst. (7) ..... From; Investigating Nazi Crimes in Byelorussia: Challenges and Lessons by Frank Buscher http://muweb.millersville.edu/~holo-con/buscher.html click to read the entire article - Monday, May 05, 2003 at 23:13:30 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.jct.co.il/shareholders.asp The Jewish Colonial Trust Ltd share holders; Wolosin; Podbersky Moses Wolosin; Rogowin Israel Wileika; Beilbinder S. Wileika; Dillon Jacob Wileika; Efron Dora Wileika; Freides - Wileika; Kopeliowitch Schmuel Wileika; Landa H Wileika; Lewin Abram Wileika; Perelmann Akiwa Wileika; Rudnicki Dawid Wileika; Rudnicki Schmuel Wileika; Scharlat S.I. Wichnew; Rubin Gamliel Wichnew; Duschitz Jacob Rodoschkowitsch; Rubin Salman Rodoschkowitsch; Axelrod Berka Rodoschkowitsch; Epschtein Wulf Rodoschkowitsch; Fanelisch Fanny Rodoschkowitsch; Gitlin Peretz Rodoschkowitsch; Houchstein Leib Rodoschkowitsch; Izigsohn Ewel Rodoschkowitsch; Leibmann Chana Rodoschkowitsch; Lewin Chaim Rodoschkowitsch; Lipmann Ewel Rodoschkowitsch; Michelson Aron Rodoschkowitsch; Michlin Zodik Rodoschkowitsch; Rubin Salman Rodoschkowitsch; Rudermann Leiser Rodoschkowitsch; Schulsky Srul Rodoschkowitsch; Silburg Iska Rodoschkowitsch; Spreirgen Chaim Rodoschkowitsch; Tanchilewicz Mandel Rodoschkowitsch; Thaler Salomon Rodoschkowitsch; Zwick Leiba I also found the name of my husbands' great grandfather; Shmuel Helberg from The Jewish Colonial Trust Ltd was the parent company of the Anglo Palestine Bank, the predecessor of Bank Leumi of Israel. It was founded in 1899 by Theodore Hertzl to serve as a financial instrument for the Zionist Movement. Early in the 20th century, the company issued approximately 250,000 shares at par value one pound Sterling. The company's activities in the diplomatic field focused on the purchase from the Ottoman Government of the right to settle in the Land of Israel, and in the financial field, to grant credit for the establishment of Zionist activities in the Land of Israel. The company established a number of subsidiaries which subsequently became well known, including the Anglo-Palestine Bank which later evolved into today's Bank Leumi of Israel. In the 1950s the company's activities were transferred to an Israeli corporation, The Jewish Colonial Trust Ltd., and most of its share rights were converted into interests in the Israeli company. Share holders or their descendants are entitled to contact the company and to receive a cash settlement or other benefit. The web site http://www.jct.co.il/contact.html has a form which can be filled in and sent via e-mail to the company to make such a claim. The home page where you can search for the names of relatives and find other information is at http://www.jct.co.il/shareholders.asp . I do recommend that you visit this page and search for your ancestors. The search name you use should be either the exact name of which you are aware, or the first syllable or two if you are uncertain of the exact spelling -- their search engine finds the exact text which you submit, but also finds other names which continue on with extensions of your text for the name, e.g., Ester and Esterson. Their search engine allows you to search for either an exact surname, forename, or city of residence, or some combination of these three items of information, or to input the first part of a person's name or city name in order to get variations of what you are looking for, and/or to get around a lack of knowledge of exactly how the name was spelled in the data base (no Soundex). The data base would also be useful for those seeking to collect a large number of the residents of a given European country (or non-European country, for that matter) or city, for genealogical purposes. The company can be contacted at: JCT - Jewish Colonial Trust, Ltd. 17 Kaplan Street Tel Aviv 64734, Israel E-mail: Tel: 03-691-4111/2 FAX: 03-691-4170 click to search the list - Sunday, May 04, 2003 at 22:49:06 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Central events of Holocaust Remembrance Day Monday, April 28 20:00 - Official opening ceremony, Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 20:00 - Lighting of torches and memorial ceremony, Massua amphitheater, Kibbutz Tel Yitzhak Tuesday, April 29 10:00 - Siren 10:02 - Wreath-laying ceremony, Warsaw Ghetto Square, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 10:30-12:30 - "Unto Every Person There is a Name" - recitation of names of Holocaust victims at Yad Vashem and at the Knesset; another ceremony of name recitation will begin at 9 A.M. and continue until nightfall at Beit Wohlin, Givatayim 13:00 - Main memorial ceremony, Hall of Remembrance, Yad Vashem, Jerusalem 19:30 - Closing ceremony, amphitheater of the Ghetto Fighters' House, Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot. Mourners march at Auschwitz, mark ghetto uprising By Reuters OSWIECIM, Poland - High school students joined Holocaust survivors from around the world in Poland on Tuesday to mourn Jews killed at the Auschwitz death camp and mark the Warsaw Ghetto uprising against Nazi rule 60 years ago. President Moshe Katsav and his Polish counterpart, Aleksander Kwasniewski, led 3,000 people in the "March of the Living" through Auschwitz's gate, bearing the infamous German inscription "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Makes You Free), to the nearby twin camp at Birkenau. "With the sun, birds singing and blue sky you can't really imagine that these heinous crimes happened here," said Avishai Nalka, 16, a high school student from Ashdod. "I only saw this place in black-and-white history films, now I see it in color." More than a million people, mostly Jews, died in the gas chambers or from disease and starvation at Auschwitz, the German name for Oswiecim, during World War Two. Six million Jews were killed in the Nazi Holocaust. Poland's pre-war Jewish community of 3.5 million was reduced to 300,000. Organizers of the march, which was part of Holocaust Remembrance Day, said there were fewer marchers than in recent years due to security concerns over the recent war in Iraq. The event also marked the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, which has become a symbol of Jewish resistance against rule by Nazi Germany. On April 19, 1943, Jewish fighters launched a desperate last stand against German occupying forces to resist looming deportations to death camps. They held off the Nazis for several weeks with homemade explosives. Also marching was Norman Frejman, 72, who as a child survived the Warsaw Ghetto, deportation to the Majdanek death camp and slave labor in Germany. "God wanted me to survive: All my family perished either in the Warsaw Ghetto or in the camps. I am getting old, so I had to come here to see it once again. This is hallowed ground, because the ashes of Jews are scattered here," he said. "I also wanted to attend the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This is very near to me," said Frejman, who left for the United States after the war and lives in Florida. Holocaust Remembrance Day is marked on a different day each year because it is linked to the 27th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, when the uprising began. In Israel, sirens brought the country to a standstill for a two-minute silence and flags were at half-mast for the memorial. . - Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 09:01:25 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://www.thejewishexchange.com/images/holidays/yomhashoah/sixmillion.html?source=tea Jewish Exchange Holocaust Presentation (IsraelNN.com) The Jewish Exchange offers Internet viewers a Holocaust Day presentation, a time for reflection click here for the Holocaust Presentation - Tuesday, April 29, 2003 at 08:21:39 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Who came from where? 1 Gorodok 54'09" 26'55" 16.2 mi. ENE of Volozhin 12.8 mi. W of Radoshkovici 35 mi. WNW of Minsk 150 mi. SE of Vilnius Usher Uberstine; Ethel, Louis, Hirschel, Hyman, and Israel Rubenstein; Morris, Esther Minnie, Henry, Jack, and Dora Rubenstein; and Shirley and Artie Karben. Lazar Uberstine; Udasha, Toby, Cherla, Ida, Harris, and Mayer Uberstine; and Israel Rubenstein; children of Toby Uberstine and Aaron Kahanovich: Lena, Barnet, Channa, Minnie, Meyer, Mollie and Eli Cohen; Rafael Millerkowski, husband of Lena Cohen. 2 Ekatarinoslav 48'27" 34'59" 524.9 mi. SE of Gorodok 494.1 mi. SE of Minsk 242.8 mi. ESE of Kiev Harry Varonok, husband of Ethel Rubenstein 3 Brest-Litovsk - they met through a matchmaker in NYC. Esther Simon, wife of Morris Rubenstein 4 Krasnoye 54'14" 27'05" 8.4 mi. NW of Radoshkovici Carl Karbenovich, husband of Dora Rubenstein 5 Radoshkovici 54'09" 27'14" 12.8 mi. E of Gorodok 28.7 mi. E of Volozhin Phil Karben, son of Carl and Dora 6 Tarnow - they met in NYC. Max Sollender, husband of Rose Varonok 7 Volozhin 54'05" 26'32"16.2 mi. WSW of Gorodok 28.7 mi. W of Radoshkovici 43.8 mi. WNW of Minsk 64.1 mi. SE of Vilnius Harris Farberman, husband of Ida Uberstine; Etta Meltzer, wife of Harris Uberstine; Moishe Gelman, husband of Udasha Uberstine, and their children: Rashka, Ike, and Lou Gelman, husband of Minnie Cohen; Ida Mary Gelman, daughter of Ike; Shimsel Kirshner, husband of Rashka Gelman, and their children, Esther, Faye, and Al Kirshner; and Nathan Kirschner-Glockner, husband of Cherla Uberstine, and their children, Dora and Aleck Glockner. 8 Vishnevo 54'08" 26'14" 12.6 mi. WNW Volozhin Sophie Ruchel Davidson, wife of Ike Gelman 9 Grodno 53'41" 23'50" 129.4 mi. WSW Gorodok Aaron Kahanovich, husband of Toby Uberstine 10 Zasliai 54'52" 24'36" 94.6 mi. NW of Volozhin Draishka Brenner, wife of Mayer Uberstine To the top - Monday, April 28, 2003 at 19:58:02 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Volozhin was part of Poland between 1921 and 1939; Poland emerged as a bourgeois republic under the influence of the great revolutionary movement which swept the whole of Eastern and Central Europe in the years 1917-19. Although the reborn state did not solve the basic economic and social questions, its legislation granted equal rights to all citizens irrespective of nationality and religious convictions. This was guaranteed by its constitution adopted by the Sejm in March 1921 . Thus were abolished the legal norms inherited from the partitioning powers, which gave different legal status to various groups of society. However some questions as laid down in the constitution lent themselves to various interpretations. In 1931 the Sejm passed a law which abrogated expressis verbis all regulations which were discriminatory on grounds of religion, nationality and race. In this respect independent Poland fulfilled the people's hopes. The matter was different in the field of economic relations. In the inter-war period Poland found herself in an extremely difficult situation. Leaving aside the fluctuations of economic development experienced by all capitalist countries (a particularly deep drop in production, employment and incomes was noted in the first half of the 1930's), the average increase in the number of places of work was far behind the population growth. Overpopulation of the countryside became more acute, which in turn brought about the shrinking of the internal market and the resultant impoverishment of petty tradesmen and craftsmen. Unemployment in towns took on catastrophic dimensions. In these circumstances, especially in the 1930's, the pauperization of those strata which earned their living from small shops increased. Economists spoke of the overcrowding of trade and crafts. According to the 1931 census of the nearly 32 million Polish citizens, 10 per cent (or some three million) were Jews. Of this figure 42 per cent worked in industry, mining and crafts and 36 per cent in trade and kindred branches. Other occupations played a lesser role in the Jews, occupational structure. In some branches of the economy Jews constituted a majority. This concerned above all the retail trade where 71 per cent of all tradesmen were Jewish. In the clothing and leather industry this percentage was almost 50. Typical Jewish occupations were tailoring and shoemaking. However in the conditions of massive unemployment, in spite of the over abundance of certain specialties in crafts, they had no chance of finding employment. At the same time there was a growth in the number of merchants and craftsmen of other nationalities. In the countryside, the expanding cooperative movement became a serious rival to the private merchants. It would be wrong to assume that the concentration of Jews in certain branches of the economy and their pauperization were the result of a deliberate policy on the part of the state. It is true that the administration was unfavorably disposed towards employing other than Polish nationals in state enterprises, especially those of military importance (for example railways and armaments factories) and therefore removed Jews from these establishments. However, the direct reason for anti-Jewish discrimination has to be sought in the past, in the relations which had been formed in the period of the partitions. The overcoming of the traditional occupational and social structure of the Jewish community could be accomplished only by the acceleration of the economic development of the country as a whole and also by the creation of conditions favoring the acquiring of new trades which had not been popular among the Jewish community. This problem was also perceived by some Jewish organizations which undertook actions aimed at training young people in various specialties. This was done most often by the Zionist organizations which in connection with their Palestinian plans attempted to prepare groups of settlers having definite trades. However the scope of this action was very modest indeed since it depended on winning financial means as well as those willing to go to Palestine. Similar undertakings could not be carried out on a mass scale without appropriate assistance from the state in a situation where the government found it difficult to acquire sufficient financial resources for the most urgent needs. What is more, even if money had been available, the specialists trained in this way would not have been able to find employment anyway. The same objective reasons made it impossible to overcome the concentration of Jewish laborers in small enterprises and workshops, while it should be borne in mind that over 70 per cent of the Jewish urban proletariat were employed in such small establishments. This adverse situation was also affected by some traditional customs and religion. Since Jews observed Sabbath, it was difficult to employ in one enterprise both Jewish and Christian workers without disorganizing the rhythm of production. Even Jewish entrepreneurs unwillingly employed a Jewish labor force. Of course not all of them were Orthodox Jews and not all of them refused to work on Saturdays. However those who wanted to work on Saturdays were treated with suspicion by their employers who feared lest they belonged to a socialist or communist organization and one day might organize the factory work force in struggle for their interests. In smaller establishments, in which the owner himself took part in both the production process and management, work on Saturdays was suspended. The Jewish question in inter-war Poland was above all a social problem. Without solving the problems which were common to all working people, there was no chance of changing the lot of the Polish Jews. And the capitalist system provided no prospect of a radical overcoming of backwardness and increasing the number of jobs, despite efforts on the part of the state undertaken in particular in the second half of the 1930's. Thus emigration continued. There are no exhaustive data on this subject. However, it is known that between 1927 and 1938 nearly 200,000 Polish Jews left Poland, of which number 74,000 went to Palestine, 34,000 to Argentina and 28,000 to the United States. The largest waves of emigration were recorded in the 1920's. Following the great slump, after 1929, those countries which up till then accepted immigrants, introduced new, ever more severe restrictions on immigration. This concerned, among other countries, the United States. For this reason in the 1930's overseas emigration limited in scope while the number of those going to Palestine increased. According to the most reliable calculations, between 1919 and 1942 almost 140,000 Polish Jews went to Palestine, that is, some 42 per cent of the total number of immigrants accepted by that country; the largest intensification of Palestine-bound emigration took place in the years 1933-36 when the number of emigrants amounted to 75,000. In the difficult economic situation and the changes in legal and political status of Jews after Poland had regained her independence, various programs of activity were formed. The traditional program of the Agudat Israel, which boiled down to the observance of religious prescriptions, loyalty towards the state and the expectation of the Kingdom of God, could not suffice. Although the position of this party among the petite bourgeoisie was maintained by the authority of the zaddikim (a particularly important role in the leadership of the Agudat Israel was played by the famous zaddik of Gora Kalwaria who was however criticized by many), its attempts at consolidating a specific kind of ideological ghetto (the isolation of the Jews from the goyim) resulted in a gradual decrease of its influence. Step by step the party moved towards the acceptance of the prospect of building a Jewish state in Palestine. On the other hand, the influence of the workers' parties continued to be strong. The most important role was still played by the Bund, some concepts of which were close to those of the radical left wing, though its members represented a whole variety of views. The Bund differed from the program put forward by the communists in that it demanded cultural and national autonomy for national minorities, especially for the Jews, and perceived the necessity of organizing the whole of the Jewish proletariat in one, separate national party. Many Bund leaders saw the need for dictatorship by the proletariat (the Bund program adopted in 1930 mentioned the possibility of such dictatorship). The party was decidedly opposed to the conservatives and discarded religion. It accused the Agudat Israel of defending the interests of the propertied classes to the detriment of the needs of the masses. The most outstanding leaders of the Bund were Victor Alter (1890-1941), Henryk Erlich (1882- 1941) and Samuel Zygelbojm (1895-1943). The Bund, like the illegal Communist Party of Poland to which many Jews also belonged and the Polish Socialist Party, saw the only chance of solving the Jewish question in Poland in building a socialist society without man's exploitation by man. It sought its allies among workers of all nationalities living in Poland. It opposed all concepts of emigration since it perceived the impracticability of the idea of organizing emigration of a several million strong nation. The socialist leaders considered the Palestinian campaign to be an element weakening the forces of the proletariat fighting for a change in social relations and as a solution which at best could constitute a chance for only few. A radical social program was also voiced by the left wing of the Po'alei Zion which saw prospects for the Jews in a socialist revolution and in introducing cultural and national autonomy. For the future, it accepted the idea of building a socialist Jewish state in Palestine and therefore it supported the Palestinian campaigns. Its leading members were Antoni Budhsbaum, Szachna Sagan and Jozef Witkin-Zerubavel (1876-1912). A much smaller following was enjoyed by the right wing of the Po'alei Zion which concentrated above all on Palestinian works, that is all activity aimed at forming. a future Jewish state, including education of qualified farmers, workers and soldiers. All the workers, organizations, irrespective of the differences that separated them, cooperated in many important issues. They undertook a common struggle against campaigns organized by the right wing of the National Democratic Party. In Warsaw they even formed an underground organization the task of which was to put up armed resistance to the nationalist militants. Both Jews and Poles connected with the workers, movement took part in its work. http://members.core.com/~mikerose/history2.htm Click for the rest - Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 15:59:42 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Slownik Geograficzny Entry Oszmiana powiat OSZMIANA PROVINCE (Powiat)- Lying within Wilno gubernia, it borders with Lida province on the west, on the northwest with Wilno, on the northeast with Swiecian province, to the east with Wilia province as well as Minsk gubernia, which borders it for equal distances on the southeast and east. The province contains 2,727 square miles (another count has it at 2,696 square miles) of which there are 1,742,800 acres in total; 69,550 acres (4%) in settlements, 490,460 arable acres (28.1%), 153,650 acres of (grazable) moors (8.8%), 194,400 acres pasturage and meadow (11.2%), 727,300 acres of forests (41.7%), and 107,400 acres barrens or water bodies (6.2%). In 1859, 385,290 acres belonged to the government (22.1%), 5,087 acres to towns (.3%), 6,720 acres to Orthodox and Catholic churches (.4%), with the remaining 1,345,500 acres in private hands (77.2%). In the northern part of the province, the topography is elevated and hilly, occasioned by the [ed.-- morainal] hill chain Awratyn. The highest locations are found near the villages Topiszki (1175 feet above sea level), Lojce (1049'), Donkni (766'), Widnopol estate (729' asl.) and the town of Jewie (610' asl.). The southern part in the Berezina river basin is lowlands, marshes and covered in forest. The central part consists of evenly rolling hills. Soils in the northern part are clayey or sandy; in the south marshy and humic. Bog-iron mines are found in the marshy lowlands, with especially rich deposits in the vicinity of Naliboki and Wisznew where deposits contain up to 50% iron. Oszmiana province, having the highest topography in the entire gubernia near Wilno, is very poorly endowed with lakes with none very large. Some of the most important are: Dub, Dubina, Kroman, and Reczuny, "The Swamp", as well as many small ones in the southern part of the province contributing to the notable Purwilski Marsh, out of which flows the Purvil river in turn contributing to the Olszanka River. The Wilia River flows from this same area to the northwestern border, and is the largest in Oszmiana province. The Nieman River flows along the southwestern border, fed by the Berezina, the Olszanka, the Wolozyn, and Isloch, Usze, and the Sutle tributaries. Towards the western border, the Zyzma flows into the Gawia which itself originates from the Klewa River (the Gawia emptying into the Nieman). In 1880, there were 162,285 inhabitants in the province [ed.-- unclear if the statistics include the town of Oszmiana which had special privileges], broken down as follows: 5,749 gentry, 287 clergy of all faiths, 69 honorary [ed.- major or titled?] landowners, 22,827 townspeople, 128,011 peasants, 5,084 military men, 220 foreigners, and 38 of uncertain status. By religion, there were 50,440 Orthodox, 891 Roskolnikovs (Old Believers), 99,020 Catholics, 162 Evangelicals (Protestants), 11,131 Jews, and 641 Moslems. In 1859 there were 128,666 inhabitants in the province (60,515 men and 63,547 women), counting 27,394 White Russian Orthodox, 20,650 Catholic Poles, 62,571 Catholic Lithuanians, and 2,527 Lithuanian Orthodox. In 1871, 142,688 inhabitants; in 1875, 152,261; and in 1878, 156,218. According to 1858 tax receipts, there were 15,425 horses [ed.--registered breeding horses?], 38,873 horned cattle, 18,911 common sheep, 8,974 specialty sheep, 7,980 plow or work horses, and 20,636 pigs, which comes to .19 animals per acre. The population is a mixture of Lithuanians and White Russians. The predominant language of the inhabitants is changing from Polish to White Russian, with additionally incorporated Lithuanian expressions. The most recent province administration consists of four (state) police districts: Zuprany, Smorgon, Dziewieniszki, and Wolozyn. There are 2 peacetime (civil) courts for peasant legal affairs at Oszmiana and Poloczany; 4 districts for performance of military obligations in Oszmiana, Smorgon, Subotniki, and Wolozyn; 3 District Inquiry Courts, with bureau offices in Oszmiana, (G)Holszany, and Smorgon, namely the 4th-tier District Circuit of Lida for 8 gminas, and three district review boards at Smorgon for the rest of the gminas. The province is further composed of 23 gminas: Polany, Soly, Holszany, Grauzyszki, Kucewicze (1st police district); Smorgon, Bienica, Krewo, Poloczany and Horodzki (2nd police district); Dziewieniszki, Subotniki, Lipniszki, Siedliszcze, Iwie, Lugomowicze, Traby, Juratiszki (3rd police district); and Wolozyn, Wiszniew, Naliboki, Derewno, and Bakszty (4th police district). Those gminas are broken down into 142 rural districts (sheriffs domains), 1,353 villages and other residential units, and 12,340 huts or cabins. The following are identified towns within the province: (1st police district) Slobodka, Zuprany, Soly, Holszany, Oszmiana Murowana, Boruny and Grauzyszki; (2nd police district) Zaskiewicze, Bienica, Smorgon, and Krewo; (3rd police district) Subotniki, Lipniszki, Konwaliszki, Gieranony, Hermaniszki, Dziewieniszki, Trobiele, Iwie, Mikolajow, Dudy, Lazduny, Traby, Surwiliszki, and Juratishki; (4th police district) Wolozyn, Wiszniew, Slowiensk, Zabrzez, Derewno, and Naliboki. The chief occupations of the inhabitants are mainly agriculture and lumbering with transportation down the Berezina. Industrial fabrication is poorly represented. Of the industrial facilities, the one notable exception is the iron foundry of Prince Witgenstein in Naliboki [ed.- Kletistche, destroyed in World War II], manufacturing various forged and cast iron products with an annual revenue of 44,025 rubles. Other factories worth mentioning: a pottery factory at Krewo, and wool products made at Holszany (belts, stockings, and socks). Regarding churches: Oszmiana province is divided into the two Orthodox deaconates of Oszmiana and Wolozyn, the first of which contains 14 parishes: Oszmiana, Smorgon (two-- the Transfiguration of Christ and St. Michael), Bienica, Krewo (two: Holy Trinity and St. Alexander Nevsky) Zalesie, Losk, Holszany, Traby, Cycyn, Juratiski, Sutkowo, and Michalowszczyzna. There are 14 Orthodox parish churches, 8 affiliates, 9 cemeteries, 4 chapels, and 23,392 parishioners (11,693 men and 11,699 women). The Wolozyn Orthodox deaconate has 12 parishes: Wolozyn (two: St. Joseph and St. Constance), Wiszniew, Zabrzezie, Mikolajow, Slowiensk, Dubina, Horodzilow, Hruzdow, Douwbeny, Bakszty and Horodzki, with 12 parish churches, 3 affiliates, 6 cemeteries, 3 chapels, and a count of 27,400 parishioners (13,515 men and 13,885 women). Within the borders of the province are 52 Orthodox churches and 7 chapels. Oszmiana province equally has two Catholic deaconates: Oszmiana and Wiszniew. The first contains 6 parishes: Oszmiana with chapels in Olany, Horodniky and Polany (8,040 parishioners), Holszany with an affiliate in Bohdanowie and a chapel in Holszany (8,457 faithful); Soly with an affiliate in Daukszyszke and a chapel in Soly; Slobodka, Raczuny, Proniuny, and Gudogaje (8,591 parishioners); Grauzyszki (3,013 parishioners); Zuprany also with a chapel there (5,030 faithful); and Oszmiana Murowany (4,309 parishioners). All told, there are 37,440 Catholic parishioners in this deaconate. Previously there were also parishes in Smorgon, Krewo and Bienica. The Wiszniew deaconate contains 12 parishes: Wiszniew with a chapel and cemetery (4,877 parishioners); Gieranony with an affiliate in Dziewieniszki and a chapel in Berkowszczyzna (7,421 faithful); Hruzdowo-Oborek with a chapel in Cholchlo, Czernowo and a burial cemetery (3,312 faithful); Derewna (4,842 par.); Iwie with an affiliate in Dudy and a chapel in Jatoltowicze and a burial cemetery (11,460 parishioners); Konwaliszki with a chapel in Stolki (2,525 faithful); Lipniszki with a chapel in Zygmunszczyske (5,900 par.); Naliboki (4,344 faithful); Subotniki with an affiliate in Lazduny and a chapel in Kwiatkowce (9,545 par.); Surwiliszki with a chapel in Klewica (3,041 faithful); Traby with a chapel in Jancewicze and a burial cemetery (3,592 parishioners); and Zabrzezie with a chapel in Rozeslawie (3,891 parishioners). In all there are 65,110 parishioners in the Wiszniew deaconate. Formerly, there were also parish churches in Losku, Wolozyn, and Horodzilowie. Concerning central communications linkages in the northern part of the province, there is the Lipawa [ed.- today Lith. Klaipeda]-Roniny rail line with stations at Soly, Smorgon, and Zalesie. Postal roads take one from Soly station through Oszmiana and Holszany to Subotniki; from Holszany station to Wolozyn; from the town of Smorgon to Wojstom station (in Swiecian province), as well as from Smorgon to the town of Krewo. Postal stations are at Oszmiana, Smorgon, Subotniki, Soly, Wolozyn, Holszany, Iwie, and Krewo. The Oszmiana provincial coat-of-arms, confirmed in the Ukaze of June 9, 1845, exhibits an escutcheon divided into two fields, on the higher the symbol of Wilno gubernia represented by a Lithuanian blazon on a black field, and in the lower a bear on a blue field. The provincial Marshals of Oszmiana before the Partitions were (in alphabetical order): Ludwig Jacob Chominski, h. Poraj (1717), Nicholas Chrapowicki, h. Gozdawa & Samuel Jerome Kociell, h. Pelikan (1683); Marcin Oskierko, h. Murdelio (1765); Nicholas Wladyslaw Przezdziecki (1672); Nicholas Kristof Szors, h. Mora (1637); Anthony Sulistrowski, h. Lubicz (1747); Kristof Stachowski, h. Oronczyk & Thoma s Wolan, h. Lis (1632); Alexander Wolan & Jan Zenowicz from Bratozyna Deszpot (1648); and Kristof Zenowicz, h. his own person (1697). After the Commonwealth Partitions, marshals were: N. Achmatowicz (1863); Brochocki, h. Osorya (1862); Casimir Czechowicz, h. Ostoja (1825); Aurelian Dmochowski, h. Pobog (1853); Casimir Feldman & Jan Lubanski, h. Poraj (1853); Francis Pozniak, h. Belty (1798); Adam Przeciszewski, h. Grzymala (1805); Wladyslaw Puslowski, h. Szeliga following a change & Joseph Sulistrowski, h. Lubicz (1846); Joseph Tyszkiewicz, h. Leliwa (1831); Alexander Tiufiajew (1871); Thomas and Jacob Umiastowski, h. Roch (1809); Konstanty Umiastowski (1858); Casimir Umiastowski & Marcin Skarbek Wazynski, h. Abdank (1820); Edward Wazynski (1840), Ignace Zaba, h. Kosciesza (1811); and Anthony Zaba (1812). Editor's Note: All Slownik longitudes in this article have been converted to modern coordinates which is based on the Greenwich zero meridian. All Polish measurement units (land areas, distances, height above sea level, etc.) were converted to American-English equivalents. Monetary units, where identified, were left in zlotys/zl. or rubles/rs. Source: Slownik Geograficzny Królestwa Polskiego - Warsaw [1886, vol. 7, pp. 753-754 translation by Mike Gansecki http://www.polishroots.org/slownik/oszmiana_powiat.htm Click for the site - Sunday, April 27, 2003 at 15:29:55 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Very sensitive Site. Be Bless with the Good and Beautiful of Life. Rev Edwin Goldberg <edwing oldberg@yahoo.com> NYC, NY USA - Thursday, April 24, 2003 at 19:04:59 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Solomon SEPSENWOL son; Sepsenwol, Nathan Noach Age: 54 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1830 Race: White Page: 2B State: Ohio ED: 16 County: Lorain Image: 0747 Township: Lorain Relationship: Head House $ 10,000 married at 29 Jewish, came to the country in 1902 proprietor Grocery and meat store Sepsenwol, Bessie nee GINSBURG Birth: AUG 1876 Age: 54 Year:1930 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T626_1830 Race: Page: 2B State: Ohio ED: 16 County: Lorain Image: 0747 Township: Lorain Relationship: Wife married at 29 Jewish, came to the country in 1905 Sepsenwol, Emma born; 15 JAN 1907 Age: 23 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Ohio Roll: T626_1830 Race: Page: 3A State: Ohio ED: 16 County: Lorain Image: 0748 nurse Township: Lorain Relationship: Daughter Death: 1 SEP 2001 in Sunrise,FL Burial: 5 SEP 2001 Temple Beth El Cemetary,Neptune,NJ Marriage 1 Isaac MELTZER (HYMAN) b: 5 FEB 1905 in New York City,New York Married: 19 OCT 1932Children Living HYMAN Living HYMAN Sepsenwol, Isadore Age: 18 Year: 1930 Birthplace: Ohio Roll: T626_1830 Race: Page: 3A State: Ohio ED: 16 County: Lorain Image: 0748 Township: Lorain Relationship: Son Marriage 1 Ruth MAYER 4 children, Death: JUL 2000 Sepsenwol, Anita Age: 16 Year:1930 Birthplace: Roll: T626_1830 Race: Page: 3A State: Ohio ED: 16 County: Lorain Image: 0748 Township: Lorain Relationship: Daughter Marriage 1 Henry BERGChildren Living BERG Living BERG Marriage 2 Charles GERENRAICH Rose SEPSENWOL Marriage 1 Leon LEVINSON Children Natalie LEVINSON Larry LEVINSON Death: 1999 HAAS MOLLIE nee SEPSENWOL FEMALE born;13 Jul 1901 Volozhin 8 Died Jun 1995 LOS ANGELES 558023795 mother maiden name; GINSBERG Marriage 1 Abel HAASChildren Lois Dean HAAS .click for the family tree - Saturday, April 19, 2003 at 23:34:28 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Boruch Ber Leibowitz (1866-1939) was a Lithuanian talmudic scholar and rosh Yeshivah. A child prodigy, he headed numerous yeshivot in Lithuania. In 1939, shortly before his death, he fled with his school to a suburb of Vilna. His students and family reopened his Kamenetz Yeshivah in Jerusalem in 1942 Born in Slutzk, at the age of 14 he delivered a discourse at the local synagogue, astounding his listeners with his erudition. A year later, when accepted to the Volozhin yeshivah he had already mastered two orders of the Talmud. Soon recognized as a prodigy, he was given special attention by his teacher, rabbi Hayyim Soloveitchik. He married the daughter of Rabbi Abraham Zimmerman, the rabbi of Halusk. Leibowitz later succeeded his father-in-law in this position, and many talented pupils soon gathered around him, making Halusk a new center for Talmudic study. In 1904 Leibowitz was appointed head of the Kneset Beit Yisrael Yeshivah in Slobodka. Under his tutelage, the new school gradually earned an outstanding reputation and attracted students from all over the world. Following the advent of World War I, he was compelled to leave Slobodka and moved his yeshivah to Minsk and afterward to Kremenchug. After the war it was relocated in Vilna, and in 1926 he transferred the school to Kamenetz, near Brest-Litovsk, where it continued to attract hundreds of students for the next 13 years. In 1939, shortly before his death, he fled with his school to a suburb of Vilna, in the hope of escaping from the Nazis and the communists. His students and family reopened the Kamenetz Yeshiva in Jerusalem in 1942. ------------- My husbands G G Grandfather; Zvi Hirsh Levitan was born in Kovno in 1840 and died in Jerusalem in 1915. He founded Yeshivat Slobodka "Musar" style Yeshiva (the original name was "Or Hachaim" later it became "Kneset Yisrael)" He came to israel in 1902 Eilat Click for picture and information in Hebrew - Friday, April 18, 2003 at 21:31:24 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Researchers for families who came from Volozhin; Seltzer Volozhin Belarus Derrek Issac Zelcer (#74249) dlzelcer@rahan.org.il Nahimovich Volozhin Belarus Aleksandr Margolin (#72712) a_margolin@bezeqint.net Freed Volozhin Belarus David Gregory Ebin (#69850) ebin@math.sunysb.edu Goldman Volozhin Adrienne Hemsley (#68733) adriennehemsley@aol.com Milan Volozhin Belarus 5 Mar 2002 Abramson Volozhin Potashnick Volozhin Stephanie Fabian (#65435) slfabian@msn.com Skloot Volozhin Goldberg Volozhin Belarus Donald Sutherland (#65301) donald.sutherland@attbi.com Rogovin Volozhin Belarus Helberg (#64443) Savion 3/3 Modi`in, 71700 Israel helberg@netvision.net.il Wolozin Volozhin Belarus Mark Wolozin (#64142) mtwolozin@attbi.com Persky Volozhin Belarus 25 Oct 2001 Persky Volozhin Belarus 19 Jun 2001 Eugene L. Meyer (#60374) meyergene@aol.com Dolgov Volozhin Belarus 10 Nov 2001 Stephen V. Dennehy (#60371) 209 S. Crystal St. Butte, MT 59701 United States svjd@yahoo.com Dolgow Volozhin Belarus 15 Jun 2001 Allan B. Dolgow (#60185) 3722 EWS Woods Blvd. Stockton, CA 95206-5246 United States allandolgow@aol.com Gordon Volozhin Belarus 4 Aug 2001 Manzer Volozhin Belarus 4 Aug 2001 Kalmanson Volozhin Belarus 30 Apr 2001 Kara (Kalmanson) Tenzer (#57844) mikabi@aol.com Meltzer Volozhin Belarus 17 May 2001 Michael Courlander (#58828) mcourlander@ussc.gov Persky Volozhin Belarus 20 Apr 2001 Merle Persky (#57324) 240 Old Farm Rd. Newton Ctr, MA 02459 United States fissy@rcn.com Meltzer Volozhin Belarus 12 Jan 2001 Jon Meltzer (#52865) jmeltzer@pobox Meltzer Volozhin Belarus 12 Jan 2001 Jon Meltzer (#52865) jmeltzer@pobox Rogovin Volozhin Belarus 21 Sep 1999 Jeffrey Rogovin (#33669) 1203 Hwy 31 #A1 Longview, TX 75604 United StatesBerezovski Volozhin Belarus 14 Jan 2001 Peter Hawtin (#32162) peter_hawtin@hotmail.com Gelman Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 2002 Joe Martin Erber (#30868) 200 East Washington P. O. Box 1235 Greenwood, MS 38935 United States joe_erber@hotmail.com Sklut Volozhin Belarus 11 Jul 1999 Julie I. Sklut (#30202) madpoett@ Dolgow Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 2002 Steven Jacobs (#28660) 4935 West Maple Rd West Bloomfield, MI 48322 United States noahben99@yahoo.com Clieon Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 2002 Lauri Roman (#27415) mamalau@aol.com Radowich Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 2002 Rogovin Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 2002 Gerson Volozhin Belarus 15 Aug 2000 Sidney H. Engel (#27311) 2021 Longcome Drive Wilmington, DE 19810 United States engelsh@udel.edu Steinman Volozhin Belarus 15 Aug 2000 Graver Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 2002 Laura Weinberg (#26787) lauraw@kindredcom.com Weisbord Volozhin Belarus 11 Mar 1999 Jeremy Ditelberg (#23239) jditelbe@caregroup.harvard.edu Berkman Volozhin Belarus 11 Mar 1999 Robinsohn Volozhin Lithuania 13 Mar 1999 Kenneth Robinson (#23341) Taxprep813@aol.com Wolozin Volozhin Belarus 26 Mar 1999 Ann L Goldman (#24008) johngold@adelphia.net Volozhin Volozhin Belarus 26 Mar 1999 Meltzer Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 1999 Deborah A. Brooks (#18569) 139 Summer Street Waterton, MA 02472 United States debrook@attbi.com Solow Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 1999 Persky Volozhin Belarus 22 Nov 1998 Sokolve Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 1999 Gordon Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 1999 Shapiro Volozhin Belarus 7 Jul 1999 Meyerson Volozhin Belarus 22 Nov 1998 Meltzer Volozhin Belarus 2 Apr 2000 Edward Meltzer (#15433) 8901 Washington Street Kansas City, MO 64114 United States edm@wornall.com Farberman Volozhin Belarus 28 Dec 2000 Susan M. Rogers (#13963) 345 Riverside Dr. New York, NY 10025 United States smrogers@CousinsPlus.com Rogowin Volozhin Belarus 22 Mar 1998 Mark Chertow (#11911) 1435 S. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60605 United StatesVainer Volozhin Belarus 15 Aug 2002 Mona Panitz (#10497) mgpanitz@gte.net Weiner Volozhin Belarus 5 Jul 2001 Vayner Volozhin Belarus 15 Aug 2002 Zirulnick Volozhin Belarus 21 Nov 1997 Warren Persky (#9246) 50 Winscombe Way Middlesex Stanmore, HA7 3AU United Kingdom warrenpersky@fsmail.net Persky Volozhin Belarus 21 Nov 1997 Lifshitz Volozhin Belarus 15 Apr 2002 Harris Gleckman (#9819) Gleckman@un.org Meltzer Volozhin Belarus 14 Jul 2002 Rose K. Tincher (#8903) tincher@attbi.com Sock Volozhin Belarus 2 Jun 2002 Diane L. Frankel (#8125) 20030 NE 22nd Avenue North Miami Beach, FL 33180-1803 United States dlfrankel@mindspring.com Zak Volozhin Belarus 2 Jun 2002 Persky Volozhin Belarus 6 May 2000 Zok Volozhin Belarus 2 Jun 2002 Zock Volozhin Belarus 2 Jun 2002 Rogovin Volozhin Belarus 27 Jan 2002 Barbara Berman (#8369) BBerman597@aol.com Rogoff Volozhin Belarus 27 Jan 2002 Persky Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Robert Shankman (#5953) 5411 Collingwood Cove Memphis, TN 38120 United States shankman@rhodes.edu Kavovich Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Vivian E. Shore Zelvin (#5689) 3 Douglas Place Eastchester, NY 10709 United States vivian.zelvin@verizon.net Kavovitz Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Rogovin Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Laurel Stolowy Rogovein (#3906) 10223 Knox Drive Overland Park, KS 66212 United States onknox@juno.com Rogovein Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Skloot Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Judith S. Weinberg (#3292) 32 Gramercy Park So. 1101 New York, NY 10003 United States Scloot Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Sklut Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Skluth Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Efron Volozhin Belarus 10 Apr 1997 Jim Yarin (#2979) jimyarin@attbi.com Halpern Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Gerald Sherman (#3008) 29 Murdock Court #3h Brooklyn, NYWeisberg Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Click HERE to contact Researcher #2458 Berkman Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Shapiro Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Stanley J. Robboy (#2753) P.O. Box 3712 Duke University Durham, NC 27710 United States ROBBO001@MC.DUKE.EDU Brudno Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Kalmanowitz Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Leonard Resnick (#1925) 4005 Nenana Drive Houston, TX 77025 United States Goldfarb Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Les Goldschmidt (#1994) 76 Bridge Road Islandia, NY 11722 United StatesGinsberg Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Sandra Robbins (#1850) 360 Central Park W #11l New York, NY 10025 United States Persky Volozhin Belarus Before Persky Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 William J. Feuerstein (#1809) 24710 Calle Altamira Calabasas, CA 91302-3004 United States billfe29@aol.com Bialik Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Rick Bialac (#1653) 3051 Edgewood Drive Milledgeville, GA 31061 United States rbialac@mail.gcsu.edu Scult Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Jewel Rosenthal Fishkin (#1248) 2640 N. Summit Drive Glenview, IL 60025 United States jewelnsh@aol.com Skloot Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Sklut Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Persky Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Bernard I. Margolis (#1436) 625 N. Van Buren Ave 412 Tucson, AZ 85711 United States Kalmanowitz Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 Stuart Solomon (#1535) 6806 Hathaway Street Springfield, VA 22152 United States stusolomon@earthlink.net Shulman Volozhin Belarus Before 1997 click to do a search - Saturday, April 12, 2003 at 08:45:02 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Volozhin Student; Isser Yehuda Unterman, the second Ashkenazi Chief Rabi of Israel, was born in 1886 in Brest-Litovsk (Brisk). His father was a teacher. Among Unterman's ancestors we find Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller (1579 - 1654), author of the Mishnah commentary Tosefot Yom Tov, and Rabbi Shaul Wahl Katzenellenbogen (1540 - 1616). About him the legend tells that he was elected King of Poland for one day. Already in a young age Unterman was known as the "Illui of Brisk". In 1898 he was invited to become one of the founding students of Yeshiva Anaf Etz Chaim in Maltsch. For some time he also studied at the Mir Yeshiva, but later returned to Maltsch. After his marriage Unterman continued his studies at the Kollel of the Volozhin Yeshiva where he was ordained. During his studies in Volozhin he opened a Yeshiva in the neighbouring town of Vishnevo. This yeshiva was very successful - even the Hafetz Chaim sent one of his nephews to study there. Unterman developed laryngitis which ended his regular teaching career. He chose the rabbinate. He was appointed rabbi in Mohilna near Minsk. Later he moved to Amstibova. In 1923 Unterman was chosen to be rabbi of Liverpool. He immediately learned fluent English and quickly became acclimated to his position. He worked with the youth of the community and united all the Jewish congregations of Liverpool under one umbrella organization. He strengthened the local yeshiva and brought students from Germany and other countries. He also established a Talmud Torah academy in Liverpool. During the air raids of World War II Unterman refused to abandon his post. But he paid regular visits to the members of his congregation which were dispersed among various villages and to Jewish internees of camps for foreigners. Unterman established a home for refugee children outside of Liverpool. In 1946 Unterman was elected Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Yafo. As in Liverpool Unterman strengthened Torah institutions and public services like rabbinical courts. He served as a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council. In 1956 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel. He took full advantage of his position and advocated various issues, especially for the understanding between the religious and the secular population. . - Friday, April 11, 2003 at 19:48:07 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Batiya Miryam nee Epstein Berlin, The spouse of Hanaziv By her son; Meir Berlin Translated by M. Porat from VYB p. 476 Batiya Miryam, the Rabbi's wife, named in Litvak Yiddish "The Rebetzin Bashe Mirl", was the second spouse of HANAZIV. She was a vital and powerful woman in her nature, character and energy. She stood by her husband's side and was of most significant assistance both in his private life as well as in the Rabbi's public activities, for more than twenty years. Long before her ascendance to the Volozhin Rabbinical sphere she was already a remarkable person. As a young girl she was very unusual and unlike most young women, she possessed an intense enthusiasm and devotion to the Torah, thoughtful outlook on life and extra ordinary energy. Bashe Mirl was born in Bobruysk to her father; Yekhiel Mikhael Haleyvi Epstein, the prodigious Rabbi. She was brought up in Novozikow, where her father became the town’s Rabbi. When she arrived to the age of matrimony, several young Jewish men from the wealthiest and most respected families asked for her hand in marriage. It was not surprising since she was good looking, intelligent, well educated and with good manners. She read and spoke Hebrew and knew in a certain measure the Russian language. It turned out that those men did not impress the young maiden. She told her parents that she does not want a groom who will bring her richness, pleasures, beauty or bravery. Her single desire is to marry a scholar who dedicates his life to the Torah and Holy Scriptures. Despite her pleas she became engaged and married a decent young man, son of a very well off family in the town of Tshernigov. He promised to dedicate all his time to Torah study according to his young wife's demands prior to their marriage. A short time passed since the wedding and Bashe Mirl realized that her husband was reading some times in the holy books, but he did not posses any real wisdom inside him, and he had little ambition, he did not wish and maybe was unable to become a erudite scholar. The young wife stood up and told her husband and her father in law, that she is not ready to pass her life in house of richness and honor, but where Torah is absent. So she has to ask for a divorce. She never wore the jewelry and she did not touch any of the beautiful dresses she received as gifts. When she was asked she perpetually claimed that she has nothing against her husband or his family, she was simply unable to live with an unlearned person. Her husband refused to grant her a divorce. Batiya – Mirl decided to leave his house and his town, and one day she did it. The Russian law at that time allowed the husband to find and bring home his runaway wife accompanied by police escort. The husband with his father used this law and the police began a search for the rebel wife. She did not return to her parents' home, and she was hiding out for months until she had obtained the divorce. The parents were looking at their daughter behavior as very abnormal. “Why are you leaving a fortune and a house full of worldly goods without a sufficient reason?” Her parents and relatives asked “What will your prospective be as a runaway bride?”, Her answer to them was; - “I would rather marry poor, undistinguished person or even an old man, but never someone who would neglect the Torah studies, because such a person, though he might be honored by some other people, I, Batia-Miryam, despise such people.” In those days HANAZIV’s first wife passed away. A Yeshiva emissary from Volozhin, rabbi Dov from Slutsk, happened to visit the region where Bashe Mirl’s family lived. He was acquainted with the parents of the now famous divorcee. Rabbi Dov from Slutsk heard the amazing story of the young woman whom despite her beauty, her youth and her intelligence, would prefer a life of poverty with Torah learned and God- fearing pauper instead of affluent and honored life with a Torah ignorant man. He immediately went to her parents' house to speak with them. He especially pleaded with her mother Mikhla who was the younger sister of the proposed groom, Hanaziv. He laid out his suggestion that their daughter should be married to the renowned Yeshiva head. Both of them, Mother and father became angry hearing the proposition of a match for their beautiful young daughter and an old man, thirty years older than the would be bride. However such a negative opinion on the subject was only expressed in discussions that her parents had. She had never seen her old uncle, but his knowledge and erudition was renowned over the entire Jewish World, so she knew about him. "I should be dust at his feet; I will be his daughter and servant, should he only spread his wings over me. There cannot be more happiness for me as to be wife of this prodigy. Old age and hard life would do no harm to me if I only had the chance to be this Giant of the Torah – partner in life". The emissary returned to Volozhin and suggested the marriage before the Rabbi. He did not finish to describe his proposition when he was interrupted by Hanaziv: Is it possible that a woman 30 years younger than I, and accustomed to the life of a big city, would consent to come to me?. I do not want to embark on fresh and altered way of life, and how could I do such evil did to the blood from my blood, to my sister's daughter? But the emissary was very tenacious; he didn't stop to travel from Volozhin to Novozikov back and forth until a meeting was held in Molodetshno. And that is how a wonderful woman became the wife of a Rabbi of Volozhin – the "Volozhiner Rebetzin", Hanatziv's spouse. As immense as her love for the Torah, equal became her love for charity work and justice. She was able to seat for many hours without a move hearing the voice and melody of the Torah study. She herself would persevere on the Holy Scriptures. Despite her continuous occupation with her house hold affairs and especially with the Yeshiva, she never subtracted her "day" of Psalms, and at the Shabbat days she would read two pages "Mikrah" and three "Unklos" Translations, also in Russian and German languages. The Rebetzin was aware of all the troubles that the Yeshiva students encountered. She would always search for solutions to their problems. And when they complained she would comfort the young men by telling them of the bright future that awaited them when they would be rich in spirits and in Torah knowledge. In case of serious illness, she would invite physicians' specialists from a big town and bring them into Volozhin to cure the sick Yeshiva students. So it's not a surprise that the young woman became renowned for her benevolence and energy. The affection for the Rabbi's wife was fully demonstrated during her malady. The alarmed doctors could not find a remedy for her ilness. Hundreds of Volozhin men and women mingled with the Yeshiva students in a gathering . They cried, prayed and asked the Almighty who possessed healing gifts to save the beloved woman. A new name was added to her birt name; she was now called Haya-Batia-miryam. The crisis passed during the same evening. Healed she rose up that night. Soon after their marriage Hanaziv asked her if she would consent to go with him to the Land of Israel. She agreed with enthusiasm, she would go not only to die there but to live in the Promised Land side by side with her great husband. She came to Erets Israel, but not with him. Bashe Mirl ascended to the Holy Land years after her husband passed away. She lived there surrounded by her children and grand children. . - Sunday, April 06, 2003 at 21:45:26 (PDT) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Dolgow, B. N., the catalysis in organic chemistry. (organically - praeparative methods, hrsg. v. W. Kirsten, volume 1). Berlin, 1963, XIV S., 1 sheet, 782 S. m. 72 fig., original linen with foil covered, for S. V/VI cleanly also, corner outline right down (minimum text loss), stamps on title page (stamp on titlepage).. Book No. of the dealer 0203711 price: EUR 35,79 (inclusive value added tax) (convert currency) . - Saturday, April 05, 2003 at 08:07:20 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Eilat, Just two lines to thank you for your great work in the shtetl pages. I am in contact several times a year with other Alperovich and variants in Argentina. Pedro, whose family is from Kurenets, and who has kept in contact with your page after I helped him reach it for the first time (and where he suddenly found his family pictures!) and Ben Ami, a member of an Alperovich family in our Tucuman province, whose father was from Vileyka. I have still not reached Kurenets... My own genealogical research is almost postponed because I am researching for other people and always several eMails behind schedule! - butI hope to uncover some day the link of my Alperoviches to Kurenetz - and to my fellow Alperovich. Warm regards, Carlos Buenos Aires . - Sunday, March 30, 2003 at 19:25:32 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pix/szyszko/31103_4_b.gif I would like to thank Nathan Sziszko for a picture he sent me from vishnevo or VOLOZHIN in the 1920s or 1930s. please look at the pictures and let me know if you recognize people CLICK FOR THE PICTURE - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 16:07:04 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Mrs. Eilat Levitan, I found your site on the Internet. You really do a great and outstanding work. Thanks to the information I found on your site I managed to contact a number of its visitors it is for sure that it will help these people to learn more information about small Belarusian towns where their roots are from. I am ready to offer my services for the realization of plans and wishes of people who are united by mutual interests presented on your site. First of all let me introduce myself. My name is Yuri Dorn. I’m the President of the Union of Religious Jewish Congregations of Belarus. This organization comprises more than 13 000 Jews from 19 Belarusian towns. About 12 years ago I started to research Jewish heritage which has preserved until today on the territory of Belarus. I have visited more than 70 towns and ‘stetls’ where Jews lived earlier. I have gathered the collection of pictures. I also managed to gather a number of memories of local citizens about Jewish life before the Holocaust. During my visits I noted every time that actually Jewish cemeteries, synagogues and places related to the Holocaust came to desolation. It is difficult to realize that Jewish Heritage of Belarus is fading away. However, lately people who are interested in the search of their roots and forefathers’ memory preservation have begun to visit our country in increasing frequency. Our organization does what one can to help these people in their work during their being in Belarus. We have a wide experience in the field of mutual work on the Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust places restoration. In connection with this I would like to apply with your help to everybody who is interested in work in Belarus with the proposal of cooperation. We hope that with mutual efforts we will be able to restore and to preserve our forefathers’ memory! Sincerely, (Mr) Yuri Dorn iro@open.by President of URJC of Belarus . - Monday, March 24, 2003 at 10:08:50 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My grandfather was Alexander Sklut who emigrated to South Africa. Emigrated from Volozhin with three brothers. Two of them went to South Africa, two of them to U.S.A. My great grandfather was Chaim of Volozhin Heather Kopp (Sklut) (She must be 120 years old) I am starting to research my ancestry- My grandfather was Jack Sklut died around 1952 from cancer.Lived in Brooklyn NY. Son Philip and Larry wife Frieda. Know that he had relatives in philadelphia possibly DE. Any information would be great. Thanks Meryl Sklut-Lettire My Father was Georges SKLUT born in Paris 1911 and grandfather was Isaac SKLUT , he came from MINSK arround 1905. Nicole SATARA-BARTKO Our grandfather was Isaac SKLUT, He came from Minsk to Paris arround 1905 his wife was Nakama LEVINE, his brother (I don't know his name) went to New York (Brooklyn) and he had a son nammed Mooris (I have a picture of him). Our grandmother Nackama LEVINE had family in Brooklyn nammed BLOCH). Do you know something about them? Many thanks to respond me. Nicole & Rosine SKLUT do not know of Isaac Sklut and his relationship to Jack Sklut my Grandfather. I am sure there is some sort of connection to all of the Skluts since it is such an unusual name. Where did Isaac settle? My grandfather settled in New York City- Brookyn too. I know there are lots of Skluts in Deleware. Thanks again for responding. Meryl Sklut, Michael Age: 48 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_200 Race: White Page: 15B State: Delaware ED: 2 County: Kent Image: 65 Township: Smyrna Sklut, Lonie Age: 34 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_202 Race: White Page: 4A State: Delaware ED: 110 County: New Castle Image: 355 Township: Wilmington Sklut, James Age: 32 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_201 Race: White Page: 14A State: Delaware ED: 22 County: New Castle Image: 586 Township: Wilmington Sklut, Joseph Age: 56 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_201 Race: White Page: 1A State: Delaware ED: 22 County: New Castle Image: 560 Township: Wilmington Sklut, Abraham Age: 47 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia;Poland Roll: T625_201 Race: White Page: 1A State: Delaware ED: 23 County: New Castle Image: 590 Township: Wilmington Sklut, Louis Age: 68 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_202 Race: White Page: 4B State: Delaware ED: 24 County: New Castle Image: 8 Township: Wilmington Sklut, Bernard Age: 25 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Lithuania Roll: T625_749 Race: White Page: 4A State: Massachusetts ED: 256 County: Worcester Image: 1026 Township: Worcester Sklut, Joseph Age: 35 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Lithuania Roll: T625_750 Race: White Page: 13A State: Massachusetts ED: 274 County: Worcester Image: 1107 Township: Worcester Sklut, Bennie Age: 24 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Lithuania Roll: T625_751 Race: White Page: 5A State: Massachusetts ED: 278 County: Worcester Image: 69 Township: Worcester Sklut, Lewis Age: 11 Year: 1920 Birthplace: New Jersey Roll: T625_1026 Race: White Page: 8B State: New Jersey ED: 152 County: Cumberland Image: 669 Township: Landis Sklut, Samuel Age: 65 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1041 Race: White Page: 5B State: New Jersey ED: 10 County: Hudson Image: 12 Township: Bayonne Sklut, Joseph Age: 25 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1181 Race: White Page: 5B State: New York ED: 1485 County: Kings Image: 1041 Township: Brooklyn Sklut, Sam Age: 39 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: t625_1145 Race: White Page: 5A State: New York ED: 81 County: Kings Image: 1036 Township: Brooklyn Sklut, Anna Age: 29 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1263 Race: White Page: 5A State: New York ED: 182 County: Schenectady Image: 325 Township: Schenectady City Sklut, William Age: 42 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Russia Roll: T625_1674 Race: White Page: 11A State: Rhode Island ED: 93 County: Providence Image: 401 Township: Cranston Sklut, Thomas Age: 41 Year: 1920 Birthplace: Croatia Roll: T625_1986 Race: White Page: 6B State: Wisconsin ED: 62 County: Fond du Lac Image: 1117 Township: Ripon Sklut in Ellis Island 1. Abraham Sklut Radeskowice 1900 27 Radoshkovich near Volozhin 2. Adam Sklut Reskanel, Russia 1909 19 3. Alter Sklut Walosis 1905 30 Volozhin 4. Batavia Sklut ... 1907 0 5. Berl Sklut Walosi, Russia 1910 7 Volozhin 6. Chane Sklut Denewizki 1905 7 7. Chiene Sklut Lebadow, Russia 1911 6 near Volozhin 8. D...al Sklut Radak 1907 25 9. David Sklut Radak 1907 5 10. David Sklut Wilns 1898 19 Vilna near Volozhin 11. Devera Sklut Uzde 1902 9 near Volozhin 12. Dobe Sklut Limst 1907 20 13. Dwoire Sklut Radiskewitz 1905 25 near Volozhin 14. Esau Sklut 1896 1 15. Esther Sklut Gorodok, Russia 1907 18 near Volozhin 16. Ettel Sklut Malozyn 1898 16 Volozhin 17. Faje Sosche Sklut Lebadow, Russia 1911 4 18. Felix Sklut Wilna 1905 25 near Volozhin 19. Freide Sklut Walosi, Russia 1910 30 Volozhin 20. Frume Sklut Denewizki 1905 4 21. Getze Sklut Radiskewitz 1905 2 near Volozhin 22. Ite Elke Sklut Lebadow, Russia 1911 30 near Volozhin 23. Iwan Sklut Bortyle 1907 20 24. Jan Sklut Opedamiczi, Russia 1909 28 25. Jankel Sklut ... 1906 6 26. Jankel Sklut Radiskewitz 1905 5 near Volozhin 27. Josef Sklut Minsk, 1905 21 near Volozhin 28. Josepha Sklut Naschkinski 1904 18 29. Jude Sklut Gorodok 1904 31 near Volozhin 30. Judel Sklut Minsk 1907 33 near Volozhin 31. Julian Sklut Nowodwor, Russia 1913 19 32. Kalmen Sklut Denewizki 1905 11 33. L. Feride Sklut Malozyn 1898 42 Volozhin 34. Leib Sklut Wishnewo, Russia 1911 33 near Volozhin 35. Leibe Sklut Denewizki 1905 9 36. Leic Sklut Uzde 1902 25 near Volozhin 37. Leiser Sklut Wolonyn, Russia 1909 33 Volozhin 38. Lorre Sklut Malozyn 1898 11 Volozhin 39. Louis Sklut 1896 3 40. Mariascha Sklut Denewizki 1905 39 41. Mariasche Sklut Malozyn 1898 3 Volozhin 42. Marjana Sklut Bartelej, Russia 1912 52 43. Mattes Sklut Radak 1907 1 44. Mayer Sklut Welna 1906 18 near Volozhin 45. Meier Abram Sklut Walosi, Russia 1910 5 46. Meyer Sklut Volosin 1898 14 Volozhin 47. Michal Sklut Poznanka, Austria 1909 26 48. Moische Sklut Walosi, Russia 1910 10 Volozhin 49. Moses Sklut Valosni 1903 25 Volozhin 50. Mottel Sklut Denewizki 1905 16 51. Neime Sklut Wisnievo 1907 18 near Volozhyn 52. Nissen Sklut Wilna 1904 19 near Volozhyn 53. Osip Sklut Wilna 1901 22 near Volozhyn 54. Ossif Sklut Wilna 1893 26 near Volozhyn 55. Piotr Sklut Bartschu 1905 20 56. Piotr Sklut Opedamiczi, Russia 1909 0 57. Rachel Sklut ... 1906 4 58. Ragina Sklut Opedamiczi, Russia 1909 25 59. Rasche Sklut Walosin, Russia 1910 3 Volozhin 60. Rischa Sklut Volosin 1898 30 Volozhyn 61. Rochel Sklut Kudonrwo, Minsk 1908 50 near Volozhin 62. Rochke Sklut Wilna 1904 19 near Volozhin 63. Scheine Sklut 1896 25 64. Scheine Sklut Walosin, Russia 1910 9 Volozhin 65. Schmaie Sklut Kowno 1902 19 66. Schoike Sklut Wolozyn 1905 19 Volozhin 67. Simon Sklut Oschmine 1906 29 near Volozhin 68. Ttske Sklut Deurmutoch 1902 28 69. Winzenti Sklut Wilna 1907 18 near Volozhin 70. Yong Sklut New York, NY 1924 52 1 Sklat,Berl Walone, Russia 1907 15 Volozhin 2 Sklat,Josef Wilna 1900 30 near Volozhin 3 Sklat,Moische Walone, Russia 1907 10 Volozhin 4 Sklat,Viktoria Wilna 1900 19 near Volozhin 5 Sklat,Wladyslaw Rytoray, Russia 1913 10 Sklutt,Salmen Radoszkowicny 1905 18 2 Sklutt,Vikenty Wilna 1903 30 1 Sklud,Abram Wilna 1904 20 2 Sklud,Chana Laslaw, Russia 1908 18 3 Sklud,Damasg Waezanki 1907 18 4 Sklud,Josef Wolozin, Russia 1911 18 5 Sklud,Schlojme Wilna, Russia 1907 24 Sklotas,Jona Wilna 1901 19 Sklutz,Hotel Volosyza, Russia 1907 56 4 Sklutz,Nochem Volosyza, Russia 1907 16 5 Sklutow...,Petronella Opidamajty 1902 6 Sklutowa,Petronella Opidamajty 1902 20 7 Skluty,Rassa Kowno 1905 19 8 Sklutt,Salmen radoszkowicny 1905 18 9 Sklutz,Schmul Woloryn 1903 18 10 Sklutt,Vikenty Wilna 1903 30 Have been connecting the many Skloot (Sclut) families from Volozhin and would be interested in any information you can supply. Know that Shimon--Sorrel-Esther and Basha were some of the immediate family names. Thank you Jewel Rosenthal Fishkin Glenview, Illinois . - Friday, March 21, 2003 at 01:34:10 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 19, 2003 Shalom Eilat, War is coming tomorrow! How did they debate in Volozhin 89 years ago? Please read : The strategy specialists' are debating the results of the oncoming war. Volozhin during the First World War By Reuven Rogovin Translated from VYB p. 343, by M. Porat Reuven Rogovin It's a pleasure to read Reuven's stories. His memory was phenomenal. His humor was the quintessential Yiddish humor of the Litvak Shtetl's. One could sense in every sentence his great love for his neighbors. Reuven was born in Volozhin in 1905. He recognized the danger that the Jews would be facing under German invasion and was one of the very few Volozhiners who escaped to Russia before the Nazis entered the Shtetl. He survived the war, together with his wife and children in Russia. Part of the time he served as an officer in the Red Army. He left USSR and made aliya through Poland in 1958. He contributed a great deal to the Volozhin Yizkor Book describing the Shtetl's every day life. Reuven, God bless his soul, passed away in Israel in 1972. The strategy specialists' are debating the results of the oncoming war. Page 343 When the Austro Hungarian crown prince was killed in Sarajevo, a group of Volozhin Balebatim sat inside the Klayzl-Syngogue discussing the future events. Among them were Fayve der Shnayder (tailor), Oyzer der Raznostshik (mailman), Meyer Peshe Yentes, Naftoli der Eynbinder (book binder). They came to the conclusion that the war would not reach our shtetl and therefore the Volozhin inhabitants should be relaxed. “ Russia is mighty and huge. She is entitled to behave as per the Tsar's desire. Russia might lead the war against the Germans in Siberia, against the Avstraks (Austrians) in Caucasus and if so would be her desire she could fight against all her enemies in the large steppes of the Ukraine or in the deserts of Mandjuria. All depends on decisions that would be made by the High Command of the Tsar's army” Such was the conclusion of Oyzer der Raznostshik, Volozhin’s most competent "Strategist". Nahumke Telzer, the Yeshiva man, who during the debate was reading a book, lifted his head abruptly and said: “Rabeyssay (my masters), Please let me tell you a true story.” The audience became attentive and Reb Nahumke initiate his tale: “A Jew, a very poor tenant farmer had six very ugly and loathsome daughters. Due to their homeliness it was impossible to find bridegrooms for them. One day a shadkhn (Matchmaker) arrived in the lessee's home with exiting news. “I have an “excellent party” for your eldest (Who was the ugliest) daughter, but I cannot reveal the bridegroom's name fearing very much your anger.” The Jew swore on his Peysses and beard that nothing evil would happen to the shadkhn after the name was told. The shadkhn became courageous and exposed the secret: “The suggested bridegroom is none other but the sole son of count Tishkevith, the Volozhin region's very rich land and forests owner.” The lessee became very angry hearing to whom his daughter was indicated to be a bride. “It could never be”. He said, “I would never let my daughter convert to Christianity.” The shadkhn left the lessee's house empty handed. But the proposed “Shiduch” began to settle in the lessee's head. His wife too was insisting, “maybe its worth accepting the proposition. We would become rich; it's not a joke to have a count as our daughter's father-in-law. It would greatly improve and probably totally alter our financial status.” The lessee called the shadkhn and told him: “After experiencing difficult internal conflicts I decided to give my daughter as a wife to the son of the count.” “Beautiful”, answered the shadkhn, “now we have to get to the next step, your agreement alone is not enough, now we should obtain the count's and his son's agreement.” “And the moral of this story is”, continued Reb Nokhemke, “You claim that as per her desire Russia would be able to lead the fights in Ukraine, in Mandjuria or wherever she would choose, but did you already obtain Germany's and Austria's approval? Are you sure that they would agree to lead the battles in those places, precisely?” . - Wednesday, March 19, 2003 at 12:34:48 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shneur Kivilevitsh By Reuven Rogovin Translated from VYB P. 498 by M. Porat I recall with much warmth the Kivilevitsh family. The family was renowned for their dedication and self-sacrificing nature during the First World War. And this was their story. At the outbreak of the war, two Yeshiva-students were stranded in Volozhin. They could not reach their home towns since their towns were already occupied by the Germans at that point. Even worse, they were at an age in which the Russian authorities could draft them for service in the war, but they refused to serve in the Tsar's army. The Kivilevitshes took an enormous risk and concealed the young men in the family's apartment for three years (from 1915 until 1918). They knew that hiding "deserters" greatly endangered them: if they were caught they would receive very severe punishment, possibly even capital punishment. The Yeshiva students returned home after war and told their parents about the kindness of the Kivilevitsh family. Their parents sent a thankful letter to Volozhin. The letter was very emotional and often brings its readers to tears. I've read this letter and I too, shed a tear while reading it. The family's mother, Sima Kivilevitsh (nee Shriro) was born in Molodetshno. She lived in Yatskevo after marriage. She had a generous heart. Her donations to poor people were distributed largely and secretly, so as not to shame the needy. Mother honoring was the cause of my first encounter with Shneur. The Volozhin Khevre Kadishe (Interment Society) would fix the burial place and its price on their own choice. When his mother died, Shneur went to the Khevre Kadishe and pronounced these words: "All of you know who my mother was, and the good deeds she has done, you also know. Therefore choose the best place to which she can be brought to eternal peace and I will pay full price for it." He would say Kadish not like a member of the enlightened circle, but as would be done by a simple Jew, at Shakharis (Morning Prayer), at Minkha (Midday Prayer) and Maariv (Evening Prayer), every day and without substrate. He did this without missing one single day during the Mourning Year. As it's written "the Fathers' is their sons' glory". Shneur had seen his glory and honor in the image of his mother. He might be an example in honoring mother and father for the children of our generation. We prayed with Shneur in the same Klayzl. Both of us had places at the Orient Wall (facing Jerusalem). He inherited this place from his father Moshe. His father, who was a sage scholar, had bought the place at the honored wall before the First World War. Prior to his demise he donated his extensive Judaic library to the Klayzl. I remember an event from Shneur's life that showed his national pride and readiness to passionately defend Jewish honor. The son of Vartman (the Volozhin district governor's (Starosta)) was a High school student in Warsaw. After lunch on Saturdays, Jewish families would take a walk in Count Tishkevitsh's park. The Gimnazist, who was an ardent anti-Semite, came back to Volozhin during his vacations and took a sadistic pleasure in taking his father's horse and bursting into peacefully walking groups to create dismay among them, on more than one occasion hurting or wounding someone. Vilna Street - Volozhin (Nineteen thirties) The first house at left is the Kivilevitsh's One day Shneur met me and said, "Reuven we must end this maltreatment of our Jewish inhabitants." We decided to put an end to the Volozhin Hooligan's mini-pogroms. And so it happened. Once when the Starosta's offspring entered the park on horseback, we stopped him, we pulled the rider from his horse and we beat him severely. When the gimnazist laid down, Shneur made movements as if he were photographing him and said, "If you complain to your father and tell him of this event, we'll send the pictures to your High School director in Warsaw to show him and your classmates how you were beaten by Jews and how you laid ashamed on the soil." Our exercise worked, and he never said a word to his father or anyone else. He never again attempted his horse riding escapades, to the great relief of the Volozhin Jews. Shneur reached the summit of his noble essence during the time of the Shoah. He loved his shtetl's cohabitants, and as the head of his local Judenrat, he did all that was conceivable to support them and to save their lives. Shneur had the opportunity to save his life. However, he could not and did not want to abandon his wife Rachel and their son Yigal whom he loved more than his own life. He also knew that his escape would have brought instantaneous catastrophe to the Jews imprisoned in Ghetto. Shneur was always encouraging the Ghetto captives to construct hideouts, the so-called "Malinas". He suggested that they hide there as much as they could since it was clear that the day of the massacre would soon arrive. Some Ghetto dwellers survived the mass slaughters inside Malinas, and when slaughter was over they ran out in the forest. One day Shneur was led away by the Ghetto Politsay and murdered en route to Molodetshno. Shneur bravely carried out his tragic duty until the very end. Hewent stoically to his death, knowing that he would not return from this trip. Shneur's death was the death of a saint and he was bestowed the crown of a good name. It is known that this crown is more important than the crown of Torah and than the crown of royalty. Shneur's wife Rachel Kivilevitsh (nee Melzer) was a born Volozhiner. She taught Hebrew and natural sciences at the Volozhin Tarbut School. Rachel spoke with her students only in Hebrew, avoiding Yiddish even during the breaks while the children in other classes spoke Yiddish. She was the sole Jewish teacher in the Polish High (Evening) School. Rachel graduated from a Russian high school and the Hebrew Seminar for teachers. Translator's note: Rachel with their little son Igael had been exterminated in Zabrezhe hamlet (ten Kilometers from Volozhin). Her name appears on the martyrs list of Zabrezhe in the "Pamiat - Memory" book (page 262), published by the Volozhin Region authorities (1996). Rachel Kivilevitsh, Moyshe Meltser's daughter - her name is written in the "Pamiat' book among the Zabrezhe victims of the Fascist terror, in the Belarus language, in Cyrillic characters. "Meltser Rakhilya Moyshawna, born 1909" http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/kivilovitz.html Click for pictures of the Kivilovitz family USA - Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 13:02:25 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bela Kramnik (Saliternik) sent me today an extract from a Russian Journal. It is mentioned that the Belarus authorites are planning to cast 5000 silver coins dedicated to the 200 Volozhin Yeshiva aniversairy. Moshe Porat . - Tuesday, March 18, 2003 at 11:24:49 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Returning Volozhin to its Former Glory by Eliezer Rauchberger "Within a year, be'ezras Hashem, we hope to hold a chanukas habayis for the reopening of Yeshivas Volozhin," announced Rosh Yeshivas Minsk Rav Sender Oritzky, formerly chief rabbi of Byelorussia. "Workers have already begun to repair the roof of the building and once all of the renovations are complete it will be possible to resume Torah study in the building of the celebrated Yeshivas Volozhin." The very name Volozhin warms the heart of every ben Torah. This small town in Byelorussia was the cradle of the entire yeshiva world. Once the sound of Torah issuing from Volozhin was heard from one end of the earth to the other. The illustrious yeshiva founded by HaRav Chaim Volozhiner produced all of the gedolei Torah and the great roshei yeshivos of previous generations whose Torah illuminates the path we walk and fills the wellsprings from which we drink. From this yeshiva emerged the Beis Halevi, Rav Shimon Shkop, Rav Boruch Ber, Rav Chaim of Brisk, the Netziv (who served as rosh yeshiva there for forty years), Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein, Rav Zundel of Salant, Rav Nochum of Horodena (the Chofetz Chaim's rebbe), Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rav Chaim Ozer and other Torah greats zt'l. Yeshivas Volozhin was set up 200 years ago, and at its height 500 talmidim studied there. In those days 500 bochurei yeshiva was a huge number and it was certainly unmatched anywhere in the Jewish world. Thousands of talmidim passed through the yeshiva over the years. About 110 years ago, the Netziv of Volozhin, then serving as rosh yeshiva, closed the yeshiva when the authorities tried to introduce secular studies. Five years later the yeshiva reopened in all of its former splendor until 5701 (1941), when the Nazis decimated the Jews of Volozhin, including the yeshiva's talmidim. All told, the sound of Torah issued forth from the yeshiva for over 130 years. The yeshiva building has stood desolate ever since the evil German ravager cast his dark shadow over Europe. Once a lighthouse of Torah sending its rays around the world, the building has even been vandalized since falling into disuse. When the gates of the former Soviet Union opened, some visitors who recalled the yeshiva in its past glory laid their eyes on the painful sight of the now dilapidated building. The outer walls are peeling, the roof leaks and is about to cave in, and the heichal now lies in ruins. The debasement of the heichal so tore at the hearts of the leaders of Byelorussia's Jewish community that they began a battle to regain control of the yeshiva building in order to renovate it and to restore it to at least a shadow of its former glory, for the sake of posterity. Heading the fight to bring the facility into the hands of the Jewish community are Rav Sender Oritzky and Union of Jewish Religious Congregations Chairman Uri Doran, who has invested much of his time and energy into efforts to ignite the sparks of Jewish life in Byelorussia. After four-and-a-half years the battle was finally won a few weeks ago. The cost of the renovation project has been estimated at $300,000. Congress for Strengthening Torah Rav Oritzky issued his enthusiastic announcement that renovations of the yeshiva building are under way, during the Congress of Lithuanian Yeshivos in former Soviet Countries held three weeks ago in Minsk, capital of Byelorussia. At the congress were representatives from yeshivos in Kiev and Riga and from Rav Oritzky's yeshiva in Minsk; representatives from a yeshiva in Moscow were also scheduled to participate, but did not arrive. The congress became a public event much talked of in Byelorussia. Even the local media took an interest and government officials took part. Dozens of talmidim and avreichim from the above yeshivas came to participate in the congress, proving that despite the destruction of European and Russian Jewry, the sound of Torah is still heard across these vast lands. Rabbonim and key activists dedicated to supporting Torah throughout these countries also took part, arriving from faraway locations such as Moscow. The congress opened with an impressive speech by Rav Oritzky, who expressed his delight that several Lithuanian yeshivas have been set up in the former Soviet Union in recent years. He made note of the dire financial difficulties the yeshivas face as they try to rekindle the embers of Torah and Yiddishkeit lying among the ruins of Judaism in the former Soviet Union. He also mentioned the glorious past of Byelorussia, once the capital of Torah-based Judaism worldwide. Lithuanian-born Rav Yehuda Gordon, who has been actively working to support yeshivas and to rejuvenate Jewish life in the former Soviet Union, arrived from his home in Israel to participate in the congress. Rav Mordechai Reichenstein, rosh yeshivas Aish Hatorah in Kiev, spoke of Torah life in the Ukrainian capital, of the many shiurim given at the yeshiva both for talmidim and also for Jews who come in the evening to study Chumash, gemora and mussar. Yet because of severe financial circumstances he was forced to curtail the yeshiva's activities. He says a dramatic change has taken place in recent years among the Jews of Kiev and that some 100 people now live their lives around the yeshiva. "There are half a million Jews living in the Ukraine. In Kiev alone there are 70,000 Jews, and our yeshiva is almost the only place where yeshiva- style shiurei Torah are held. Last Shavuos we were the only place in Kiev where there was learning all night and in the morning we davened with netz hachomo with over 100 men." . - Monday, March 17, 2003 at 22:42:06 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rav Yitzchok Eizek Sher, the son of Rav Yosef Chaim Sher, was born in 5635 in the Russian city of Halusk. As a child, he not only displayed unique talents, but also outstanding character traits.After completing cheder in Halusk, he joined a group of students in the city 's beis medrash and also attended shiurim given by Rav Boruch Ber Lebowitz, who was the rav of Halusk at that time. From Halusk, Yitzchok Eizek went on to study in Volozhin, which was then headed by the Netziv's son-in-law, Rav Refoel Shapira. In Volozhin, Yitzchok Eizek gained acclaim as an outstanding lamdan with unique middos. After being inspired by the Alter's speech in Halusk, Yitzchok Eizek joined Knesses Yisroel. There he studied b'chavrusa with Rav Avrohom Grodzinski, hy"d, one of the finest students of the yeshiva, who eventually became its menahel ruchani. Rav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, zt"l, who was a student in Slabodka at that time, remembered the young Yitzchok Eizek. "The kindly and brilliant Rav Yitzchok Eizek of Halusk was the yeshiva's best student," he once remarked. "The Alter would send many students to him for guidance, and appointed him head of the yeshiva's Vaad Hamussar." In 5663, Rav Yitzchok Eizek married the Alter's youngest daughter, Mariasha Guttel, and moved to Kelm where he continued to learn diligently. In Kelm, he became close with its baalei mussar, especially Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, who played a crucial role in shaping Rav Yitzchok Eizek's personality. He also studied for a brief period in the Mir, where his brother-in-law, Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, served as rosh yeshiva. A short while later, he returned to Slabodka, where he absorbed the Alter's teachings, in time becoming the prime advocate of the Alter's approach. In 5671, the Alter appointed Rav Yitzchok Eizek to the position of rebbi in the yeshiva. As a rebbi, Rav Yitzchok Eizek was beloved by his students. Despite his easygoing and amiable nature, he had no difficulty imposing discipline in the yeshiva. His students obeyed him out love for him, maintaining an appropriate distance from him even though he was so genial toward them. In terms of the yeshiva's policy, Rav Yitzchok Eizek's appointment as a rebbi was an innovation. It was the first time the very same person was charged with teaching Gemara and delivering mussar. The Alter made such an appointment in order uproot the notion that prevailed in certain circles that profound scholarship in Torah and an affinity for mussar do not go hand in hand. Rav Yitzchok Eizek was outstanding in both his Torah scholarship and his perception of mussar, demonstrating that these two areas are not separate divisions of Torah, but rather inseparable entities. It is said that he used the same niggun in his Gemara shiurim and his mussar shiurim in order to stress the inseparability of the two. He even entitled his monumental mussar work "Shiurei Mussar," and not "Sichos Mussar," in order to stress that point. Many of these mussar discourses involved in-depth analyses of the greatness of the Avos and other figures in Tanach. WORLD WAR I With the outbreak of World War I, the yeshiva, which was forced to leave Slabodka, moved to Minsk and Kremenchug. This was a very difficult period for the yeshiva, which suffered from both material want and persecution from the Bolsheviks.During this period, Rav Yitzchok Eizek boosted the morale of the students and strengthened their emuna and bitachon. KOLLEL BEIS YISROEL In 5680, after the yeshiva returned to Slabodka, Rav Yitzchok Eizek began to head the Beis Yisroel Kollel, founded by the Alter. This kollel was attended by some of the most outstanding graduates of the Slabodka Yeshiva. Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky staunchly supported this kollel. "A world in its entirety will be built from these avreichim," he wrote in a letter. "They will produce future generations of talmidei chachamim." During this period, Rav Yitzchok Eizek began to transcribe his chiddushim in halacha and mussar. Some of them appear in an anthology entitled Beis Yisroel, which he compiled. He also published special journals called Shiurei Mussar, which contained select mussar discussions of the Alter. In 5688, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel went to Eretz Yisroel, along with the majority of Slabodka's students, and settled in Chevron. At that point, Rav Yitzchok Eizek was appointed rosh yeshiva of Slabodka's European division, and together with its mashgiach, Rav Avrohom Grodzinski, continued to raise the spiritual level of the yeshiva. Due to the difficult circumstances, Rav Yitzchok Eizek also had to shoulder the yeshiva's financial burden. He traveled to America on several occasions to raise funds for the yeshiva. While in America, he made efforts to strengthen Yiddishkeit there, delivering mussar discourses in many communities. He also founded an association of Slabodka students for the purpose of strengthening Torah. After the Alter's petira, Rav Yitzchok Eizek and Rav Avrohom Grodzinski published part of the Alter's writings in journals called Or Hatzafon. TO ERETZ YISROEL A few weeks before the outbreak of World War II, Rav Yitzchok Eizek, who was in poor health, went to a spa in Switzerland, and was still there when the war began. As a result, he was spared from the fate which befell the rabbanim and students of the yeshiva in Lithuania, all of whom perished al kiddush Hashem. Rav Avrohom Grodzinski was among those kedoshim. After much wandering, Rav Yitzchok Eizek reached the shores of Eretz Yisroel. For a while, he lived in Yerushalayim, where he delivered mussar shiurim. Dozens of people attended these shiurim, which were renowned for their rich content and clarity. When the Nazi troops neared Eretz Yisroel's gates, Rav Yitzchok Eizek delivered one particularly stirring shiur in the Chevron Yeshiva. "During one wartime period," he began as he rose to the bima, "two people took a walk. Suddenly, they were accosted by a swarm of mosquitoes. One of the men raised his hand and chased the mosquitoes away in an instant. 'Our enemies,' he then told his companion, 'are even less important in the eyes of the Borei Olam than those mosquitoes.'" These words, uttered at such a time, had a tremendous impact on his listeners, and dispelled their feelings of despair. Rav Yitzchok Eizek continued to raise people's spirits with articles like this one, which appeared in the journal Knesses Yisroel: "During these days of calamity, when the earth and the seas are like sponges that absorb Jewish blood and tears, we must recite 'Hatov Vehameitiv' out of gratitude for Hashem's kindness to us. We must also acknowledge that Hashem Yisborach is here, with us, in the Valley of Tears." In Eretz Yisroel, he was also a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah, and would actively participate in its meetings, expressing his opinions on every issue on the agenda. A few days before his petira, he made great efforts to attend a Moetzes meeting held in Tel Aviv, despite his failing health. He had many plans for rekindling the spark of Slabodka and expanding mussar study in the yeshivos of Eretz Yisroel. However, his poor health prevented him from realizing all of them. One dream that he did fulfill in Eretz Yisroel was publishing a sefer called Avraham Avinu, distributed by Netzach Press. In this work, he presents figures such as Avrohom Avinu, Sara Imeinu, Eliezer, Rivka, Hagar and Lot from a deep mussar perspective. This work was to have been one of a series on figures in the Tanach. Sadly, he was unable to continue writing the series. In the sefer Avraham Avinu, Rav Yitzchok Eizek conveys his special approach to Torah study. One of his main points was that as far as the study of Tanach is concerned, yeshiva students never develop the concepts they acquired when they were small children in cheder. These concepts, he insisted, must be expanded as one matures, and the figures of Tanach must be viewed by the adult student from the perspective of gadlus hadam. PETIRA Rav Yitzchok Eizek was niftar on the 10th of Shevat, 5712, after suffering from a heart attack. His levaya was attended by thousands. Hespedim were delivered by some of the greatest Torah and mussar personalities of the time, among them the Ponevezer Rav, Rav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman and Rav Eliyahu Lopian. When Rav Yitzchok Eizek's mita passed the home of the Chazon Ish in Zichron Meir, Rav Yechezkel Levenstein delivered a hesped in his memory. Today, some 50 years later, the Slabodka Yeshiva on Rokach Hill continues to flourish, and the light Rav Yitzchok Eizek kindled decades ago continues to shine . - Monday, March 17, 2003 at 22:06:16 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ At approximately the turn of the century, the Russian government wanted to impose a rule that Russian subjects would have to be taught in the Volozhiner Yeshiva. The alternative was that the Yeshiva would be shut down. [I am not trying to draw any parallels to today. We are not talking about the pros or cons of secular education; I am merely trying to bring out a point. We cannot compare Russia circa 1900 to the United States circa 2000.] The Netziv was faced with the question: "Do I permit Russian subjects to be taught in the Volozhiner Yeshiva, or do I close the Yeshiva?" In order to understand the significance of that decision, we must remember that there were no other Yeshivos. Closing the Volozhiner Yeshiva did not mean that the students would switch to others. Volozhin, with its 400 students, was the only Yeshiva in Russia. The Netziv's dilemma was: should he allow Russian subjects to be taught for a couple of hours a day, or should he close the Yeshiva. What did the Netziv do? The Netziv closed the Yeshiva! But -- "what's going to be?" The Netziv responded, "that is G-d's issue. It is His Torah. He knows He wants it learned. It is His problem." The Netziv had to do what was right, despite the ramifications. So the Netziv closed the Yeshiva. At the time when the Netziv made his decision, he did not know what the result would be. In actuality, as a result of closing Volozhin, many other Yeshivos were started across Russia, Poland and beyond. Closing the Yeshiva in Volozhin caused Torah to be spread. The entire Yeshiva movement today can be traced back to that one Yeshiva in Volozhin! But the Netziv did not know what the outcome would be. He did not know "what's going to be," and he did not care. He only knew what was right. This was the approach of Avraham Avinu, and this was the approach of Gedolei Yisroel. I would like to tell over an incident which I recently heard from Rav Pam, shlit"a (and again I am not trying to bring any parallels to today). Reb Chaim Soloveichik had a son named Rav Velvel Soloveichik, who later became the famous Brisker Rav in Eretz Yisroel. A relative of Reb Chaim once came to him and suggested that Rav Velvel learn the Russian language. The relative said, "Today, to be a Rabbi, one has to know how to speak Russian. It is time for Rav Velvel to learn Russian." To which Reb Chaim responded "So, he won't be a Rabbi." The man persisted, "Well, to be a businessman, it is certainly necessary to know Russian." Reb Chaim responded, "So, he won't be a businessman." So the man said, "Even to be a Rosh Yeshiva today, one must know Russian -- to speak to the students and to the parents." Reb Chaim responded, "So, he won't be a Rosh Yeshiva." Finally the man inquired "If he won't be a Rav and he won't be a businessman and he won't be a Rosh Yeshiva, what will be with him?" Reb Chaim answered, "He will be a poor man who knows Shas by heart!" In other words, "What is going to be? I don't know what is going to be. But I know that I do not want my son Velvel learning Russian." Again, no parallels to today. But the lesson to be learned is that one must do what he feels is right, is in accordance with the Torah, and "let the chips fall where they may". The consequences are G-d's business. . - Monday, March 17, 2003 at 19:10:02 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Orthodox Union is honored to introduce the publication of a monumental two-volume work on the life and teachings of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik Z"L. The Soloveitchik family has been a major influence in the Torah world for over a century. In our time, the foremost representative of this family was Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik (1903-1993), who became popularly known as the "Rav." The first volume offers the details of the lives of the Rav and his forebears, including his travels and the many disciplines he mastered. While remaining faithful to the great traditions of Volozhin and Brisk, the Rav was totally at home in the Western world and forged a harmonious existence between tradition and contemporary culture. The insights culled from hundreds of audio recordings, lectures and publications of the Rav, have been arranged according to major topics, among them Lithuanian lore, Hasidism, the Volozhin Yeshiva, the Soloveitchik dynasty and many other Torah giants. These volumes are profusely illustrated with over 100 historic pictures of the Rav and his endeavors, many never previously published. The second volume views the Rav's world as he attains far-reaching recognition in the United States. The two momentous Jewish events of the twentieth century, the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel, are scrutinized through the Rav's insight. The impact of the Rav upon American Jewry is viewed through his experiences and reactions to the Boston and New York communities. The oral tradition and the teacher/disciple relationship come to the fore as the bedrock of the Rav's activities. The preeminence of Torah study, his relationship with Yeshiva University and the R.C.A., his vision compared to that of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, complete the portrait of the man and his achievements. These volumes, published by Ktav Publishing House, are accompanied by detailed bibliographies and scholarly apparatus. The Rav: The World of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik will become an essential source to the research and understanding of the foremost Torah thinker of the twentieth century. . - Monday, March 17, 2003 at 18:03:39 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ recently read a Torah Journal in which Rav Hershel Schachter reminisces about Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik, zt"l. Rav Schachter writes of an incident that Rav Soloveitchik related involving his grandfather, the famous Rav Chaim Soloveitchik. When Rav Chaim Solovteichik started saying shiurim (Torah discourses) in the Volozhin Yeshiva, the students complained that Rav Chaim was unworthy of teaching in that Yeshiva. Who is this "Rav Chaim", anyway? They believed that he only received the position because he married the granddaughter of the Rosh Yeshiva (Rav Naftali Tzvi Yehudah Berln, the Netziv). This was a classic case of "Who are today's leaders?" The end of the story is in itself a great ethical lesson. The resolution of this "complaint" was that the yeshiva brought in three "great men of the generation" to rule whether Rav Chaim was worthy to say a shiur in Volozhin. (Rav Schachter writes that he believes that one of these great men was Rav Yitzchak Elchanan). Rav Chaim began a shiur on the subject of Aylonis (an adult woman without the signs of maturity) in Tractate Yevomos and was in the middle of reconciling a difficult passage of Rambam in his Yad HaChazakah. Rav Chaim suddenly remembered that in the Rambam's commentary to the Mishneh, the Rambam advances a position that was inconsistent with the whole approach that Rav Chaim was trying to develop. In front of the three Gedolim, Rav Chaim gave a bang on his lectern and said, "The shiur that I had prepared is not True. My hypothesis was wrong, the Rambam says otherwise in his Mishneh Commentary." Rav Chaim then sat down. The three great rabbis concluded, "He is worthy to be a Rosh Yeshiva in Volozhin." Any person who cares about the truth so much that he is willing to suffer the embarrassment of having to admit his own mistake for the sake of truth, is definitely worthy to be a Rosh Yeshiva in Volozhin. . - Monday, March 17, 2003 at 18:00:36 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ On the Way to Volozhin From Minsk we travel to Volozhin, whose name alone awakens the heart of every ben Torah. Volozhin, the mother of all yeshivos. On the way to Volozhin we are thinking of how the foundation was laid there for all the famous yeshivos, how R' Chaim of Volozhin came to the Gra and enthusiastically presented his idea for a real yeshiva, a mokom Torah that would form a total environment for its talmidim instead of the study in a local kloiz or beis midrash that was customary until then. The Gra would not answer R' Chaim on that occasion. Only much later, when R' Chaim came again to ask for the Gaon's ruling on his idea, did the Gra finally approve it and explain why he had been unwilling to give an answer the first time. "When I heard you speaking so excitedly about your idea, I was afraid that your intentions were not lishma, that some personal desire from deep in your heart was involved. But when you came back and presented your idea in a calm, detached manner, I could see you were lesheim Shomayim. That is the only way to found a mokom Torah." We remember hearing about how R' Chaim's talmidim testified that when the cornerstone of the yeshiva was laid, he wept so much that no water was needed to moisten the mortar. The Chofetz Chaim concluded from this, "A yeshiva is built with tears." As the bus enters Volozhin our eyes widen in amazement. The town looks almost unchanged, as if time had stopped sixty years ago. (Later we would see that Radin and Mir too, still wear the same rustic look.) The peace and quiet of these little towns, free of the restless hunt for pleasure that characterizes modern urban life in the West, explains somewhat why gedolei Yisroel chose them as the location for the yeshivos. As R' Dov Eliach tells us in his book Avi Hayeshivos, it was this atmosphere (among other things) that led Rabbenu Chaim to turn down a tempting offer from Vilna's Jewish dignitaries: if he would move his yeshiva from Volozhin to Vilna, they would completely finance it, as well as make him rav of the city. "Not everything can be moved from one place to another without damage," R' Chaim explained to them. "A stone or a beam of wood for example, no matter how heavy it may be, can always be dislodged and reinstalled in a new location. You could do that with the beams and benches of the yeshiva, too. But you could never move the cobwebs from the yeshiva and reinstall them. A yeshiva is more like a cobweb than a beam of wood. If you try to move it, you are liable to destroy it." HaRav Zalman Sorotzkin, who heard this ma'aseh while he was a student at Volozhin, explained it this way: "A yeshiva's existence is purely miraculous; it is based on things as delicate as a cobweb -- mainly, the give-and- take relationship between the local people on the one hand and the spirit that has been cultivated within the yeshiva on the other hand. These things can't be uprooted and transplanted in another location." R' Zalman added that R' Chaim had another reason for preferring Volozhin to Vilna: "Conditions in a small town are more suitable and more advantageous for a yeshiva. We saw in later generations too, that the founders of yeshivos always tried to open them in small towns" (from HaDei'ah Vehadibur, p. 94). R' Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky ztvk"l expressed a similar view in a letter concerning R' Boruch Ber Leibowitz's yeshiva, which was located in Kaminetz: ". . . the administrators found that an urban location was bad for the yeshiva, and our geonim have always founded yeshivos in small communities, because there they will not be disturbed by the noise and crowds of the city" (Marbitzei Torah Umussar, R' A. Surasky, Part 2, p. 146). Similarly, R' Aharon Kotler wrote during World War II, "We are thinking of moving the yeshiva temporarily to Leonova, outside of Kovno, because a village is more suited to the ruchniyus of a yeshiva, as is well known" (Ibid., Part 3, p. 241). Desolation We all feel a thrill as we approach the site of the Volozhin Yeshiva. It is no small thing to enter this holy place, on which today's whole Torah world was built. But as great as our anticipation is our disappointment. We find a cafe instead of a yeshiva. The local population took the building over as soon as the Jews had been "removed," and the building that once rang with the sound of Torah is now full of young gentiles sitting around and drinking beer. Only when we walk around the building can we discern, from the outside, the outline of the aron kodesh. Near the roof is engraved the year the yeshiva was built: 1806 (5566). The members of our group go inside and stand around as if rooted to the spot. The woman behind the counter gawks at us. Before her very eyes are Jews, who haven't lived in Volozhin for the past sixty years, standing there uncannily silent, like ghosts, ignoring her wares of cakes and drinks and staring at the walls. Our eyes wander over the barren walls as we try to recreate the past, to see the young men walking among the benches with gemoras and Rambams in their hands, to hear the roar of voices battling in rischa de'Oraisa. The stark reality of the present, like the scenes that await us in Mir, Radin, and Baranovich, wakes us from our daydream. It hurts more than everything we've heard before about the churban. All the kedusha that we have conjured up from our imaginations is no more. The yeshivos are a desolation and foxes roam through the kodshei hakodoshim. When we leave the building our feelings pick up a little. Someone points out that despite what we've lost, the Jewish soul is not bound to buildings and benches, but to the spirit of Torah that these buildings absorbed. After all that has happened, is that spirit not still alive in our botei midrash? There Rava and Abaye live on, and we learn the Torah of Volozhin to this day. R' Leib Baron has an anecdote to tell us; everyone pricks up his ears. In his youth he once came to Volozhin with his brother to visit the yeshiva. They searched among the old seforim in the beis midrash hoping, as young boys will, to have the thrill of finding some famous names written in the flyleaves. In the first gemora that came to hand they found the name "Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky," and next they came upon a gemora signed "Chaim Nachman Bialik" -- a juxtaposition that concretized for them Chazal's saying, "For he who merits, [the Torah] becomes the elixir of life; for him who does not merit, it becomes the elixir of death." We might add that it also epitomizes the Gra's famous peirush on the verse, "Let my doctrine drop down like rain": Divrei Torah are like rain, which causes every seed and plant to grow according to its nature. Fruit trees blossom and bear fruit, whereas thorns and thistles also grow in response to rain -- becoming even thornier and pricklier. But R' Baron had a further message in mind for us, seeing our mood as we left the desolated building. Some time later, when he happened to tell this story of finding the gemoras to an antique dealer, the man yelled, "Why didn't you take them? You could have gotten a good price for them!" The dealer added, thoughtfully, that at any rate he could have taken a tidy sum for a book signed by the "poet laureate" of Israel, but he probably wouldn't have found many collectors who would pounce on R' Chaim Ozer's gemora. After all, people who can appreciate the Torah of the Achiezer are not the people who would spend a fortune to acquire his worn-out personal effects. That is the difference between them and us, R' Leib concluded. Those who are bound to an empty culture which is continually changing have nothing but inanimate objects to link them to the past, but we cling to the living Torah, which is still as fresh as if it had just now been given at Sinai. Why Rabbenu Chaim Wept Next we visit the old cemetery of Volozhin. The newly refurbished tombstone of Rabbenu Chaim of Volozhin stands out among the aged stones at the center of the cemetery. As we walk among them, we see familiar names: one member of our group points out the grave of the father of R' Michel Yehuda Lefkowitz ylct'a. At the edge of the cemetery we notice several matzeivos that have been given a coat of paint, and we go over to see who they belong to. They bear the name "Peresky." These are relatives of Shimon Peres, whose grandfather was among those who learned in Volozhin and who watched in horror as his children left the path of Torah. Apparently some local authority arranged this gesture in honor of Peres' visit a few years ago. After we pour out our hearts in tefilla at the grave of the Nefesh HaChaim, R' Leib Baron tells us how before his death, Rabbenu Chaim one day burst into tears. His talmidim asked him why he was crying, and he explained that the Torah had, through the centuries, gone into golus after golus, and the last golus, he said, would be in America. But why did he cry? R' Leib asks again. He offers this explanation: Today we can clearly see that R' Chaim was speaking out of ruach hakodesh. There were not many Jews in America at the time of his petirah, and most of those who were there had left their fathers' ways. The idea of founding yeshivos in the New World was like something you would see in a dream. Who could have imagined then that America would become the haven of Torah that it is today? But if R' Chaim knew all this through ruach hakodesh, he probably also knew of the circumstances under which it would come about. The Torah wandered with Am Yisroel from Eretz Yisroel to Bovel, to Spain, to North Africa, and to Europe. There were many reasons for these peregrinations, including persecution by our enemies, but never has there been such large-scale destruction of the Torah world as the churban that brought Torah to America. The survivors who straggled in gave everything they had to the task of rebuilding Torah. R' Aharon Kotler came to America with the words, "Bemakli ovarti es haYarden hazeh" (with nothing but my staff did I cross this Jordan River), and then founded the yeshiva of Lakewood. Just so were founded the rebuilt yeshivos of Mir, Telz, Kaminetz, and others. The Torah world was indeed rebuilt, but we do not forget what preceded the rebuilding -- and it was this that made Rabbenu Chaim cry. "And just as we have seen that everything that was revealed to R' Chaim min haShomayim came to pass, let us remember that he also said that the golus of Torah in America would be the final golus! So let us trust in those words and expect the geula," says R' Leib with tears in his eyes. On the Heights While we are trying to daven and afterwards listen to R' Leib's speech at the kever of Rabbenu Chaim, we are pestered by an old drunken goy who tugs at our jackets and demands that we take his picture as he poses in front of the kever. Another living proof of the churban, just in case we had needed one. As our bus heads out of town we get one last glimpse of the building that was once the Volozhin yeshiva, still standing proudly on its hill. It brings to mind what R' Eliahu Aharon Mielkovski wrote of his last moments there, before the yeshiva was closed (in protest at the government's order to include secular studies in the curriculum): "I passed by the yeshiva in the middle of the day and cast an eye for the last time on the beautiful building, standing tall on the heights of the city, where I had spent the best years of my life. The roar of the voices of five hundred talmidim emanated from it. Fortunate was he who saw all this. Did it occur to any of these people that soon they would be chased out of this beis mikdash with `anger, rage and great fury'?" On our way down we take the beginning of the path that the grieving talmidim of Volozhin took after the yeshiva was closed. As the chroniclers describe it, the police came and took the bochurim out of the beis midrash, whose doors were then locked with a government seal, while peasants gathered from the whole area with their wagons to take the exiles to the nearest train station at Molodechna. But we are going to Molodechna for a completely different purpose. A summer camp is in progress there for Jewish children from Belarus, Lithuania and Russia who are returning to their roots, and the roshei yeshiva have been asked to speak to the children. They seem fascinated as R' Baron tells them gently there is a mitzvah in the Torah to live for seven days in the succah, "so that your generations may know . . . " . - Sunday, March 16, 2003 at 20:28:43 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I note that you have information regardinging the Levitan family. I was hoping that I could find more information regarding my grandfather's family. Lewis Levitan (Aryeh Leib) son of Israel Philip Levitan and Ida Philipsky. Israel and Ida were from the Poland/Russia/Lithuania area, but I have no specific city, and moved to the USA. They had 4 other children: Sarah, Bessie, Abraham and Marty. Any help would be appreciated. Richard Richard Levitan <rlmh@optonline.net> Fair Lawn, NJ USA - Sunday, March 16, 2003 at 17:06:43 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [14 Sivan] Yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, 1821. 26 Sivan] Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yitzchak b. Chaim, head of the Volozhin Yeshiva, 1849 . - Saturday, March 15, 2003 at 20:13:38 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Making of a Godol: A Study of Episodes in the Lives of Great Torah Personalities, Volume 1 By Nathan Kamenetsky Mesorah, 1,398 pages (in two parts bound separately), $40. http://www.forward.com/issues/2003/03.03.14/arts1.html ....In this first of what is intended to be many volumes, the author uses the biography of his father through the spring of 1908, when Yakov Kamenetsky returned home from Slobodka for Passover vacation, as what he calls "a platform" to present a dazzling panorama of the "yeshiva world" from its origins in early 19th-century Volozhin. It is based on an impressive array of written sources emanating both from the yeshiva world and from academia, old newspapers and magazines, his father's taped reminiscences, and an astounding 357 interviews (the interviewees are listed in the bibliography). Be forewarned: The book is eccentrically arranged and difficult to read. What is called "The Text" is only 66 pages long and is followed by some 1,200 additional pages. On the top of each of these pages a section of that original text is reprinted, and underneath are found elucidating "Notes and Excurses," many of them pages long. Much like a talmudic discussion, these are often only tangentially related to the text and follow no chronological order, necessitating a "chronology of excurses" at the end of the book. But "Making of a Godol" is fascinating reading nonetheless. The book should destroy, once and for all, any lingering idyllic notion that pre-war Eastern European Jewry lived a religiously untroubled existence. Already at the turn of the 20th century the world of Jewish tradition was dissolving, as many Jews jettisoned ritual observances. We learn that Yakov Kamenetsky and a number of his fellow students at the yeshiva were the sole members of their families to retain Orthodox ties, and that even children of the most pious and learned among the rabbinical elite — the author names several of them — left the fold. The proximate cause of these defections was the reading of secular books, a pastime frowned upon by Orthodox tradition. Such reading was widespread even among those young yeshiva boys who, in the end, stayed Orthodox and became leading rabbis. Yakov Kamenetsky himself, for example, achieved the equivalent of a high-school diploma through private tutoring, and his classmate, the future charismatic leader of American Orthodoxy Rabbi Aaron Kotler, loved Russian literature, especially the works of Alexander Pushkin. The exposure that generation of yeshiva students had to the broader world of ideas helps explain the puzzling fact that those European-educated rabbis who taught in American yeshivas in the three decades after World War II were for the most part more open to secular knowledge (Kotler being the exception) than their American-born counterparts, who tended to justify college attendance only for the purpose of making a living. There is, indeed, a wonderful vignette of Rabbi Kamenetsky, in later years, mentioning "Anna Karenina" to his uncomprehending Torah Vodaath students in New York and expressing shock that they never heard of Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece. The bitter ideological ..... to read the entire article click here; - Saturday, March 15, 2003 at 19:22:47 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The speech of the Israeli born Dr Gideon Radushkovitz at the mass grave at Dolhinov Jewish Cemetery on the 1st of September 2002. Without asking for your permission, I have taken it upon myself to say a few words in the name of the younger generation –the generation that did not go through the Holocaust or experience any of its horrors, but lived, breathed and were raised in the shadow of its memories from the day we were born. We didn't have to come here to learn what had happened. We have read the books, seen the pictures, and more important, we have heard the stories at home from eye witnesses about the horrors that were perpetrated here to our families. We have come here to our own personal valley of death, to Dolhinov, so that you could show us for the first time, and maybe the last, those same places that we grew up hearing about throughout our childhood and from which we imbibed the true value of Zionism that we have all acquired, that same value that motivated and drove us to achieve excellence in various units in the army whether as ordinary soldiers, fighters or as commanders. Despite the fact that we are all past the age of army service, this journey is meant to add fuel to the flame that burns within each one of us in order to preserve it and pass on the torch to the next generation, so that they will be able to understand the meaning of our lives especially in Eretz Jisrael, with all the difficulties we face. I want to thank my uncle Shlomke Shamgar for the hair-raising stories he told while we stood at the mass graves, of the direct and indirect responsibility of the local population as to what happened here. I fully identify with him. In a few days time we will take off in a white plane with blue stripes painted on its body and the star of David on its tail, flown by an Israeli pilot, and, when its wheels are withdrawn from this cursed land, whose rivers are flowing with the blood of our dear ones, we will feel, at least some of us, a certain satisfaction at leaving behind us the murderers and their offspring, steeped in their own miserable lives. And we will return to the only place on earth which is our real home. I cannot conclude these words without thanking Leon Rubin and whoever helped him for voluntarily taking upon himself the organization of this difficult and complicated project, the climax of which was our visit to Dolhinov. Thanks go to him for his willingness to help, his skilled organization and manner, and especially for his amiable, likeable personality which made this trip exceed all expectations. Thank you. Gideon Radushkovitz (Translated from Hebrew) Click for a picture of Dolhinov taken in 1942 - Thursday, March 13, 2003 at 17:31:20 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ David Ben Naeh, Director General of the World Zionist Organization’s World Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora, returned from a ten-day visit to Belarus, took with him suitcases full of urgently needed ritual objects for use during the holidays: shofars, kittels, talitot, and kippahs. Ben Naeh traveled to Belarus to take part in a pre-holiday seminar sponsored by the Union of Religious Jewish Congregations in the Republic of Belarus. Representatives of 18 communities that make up the Union took part in the seminar, designed to teach how to conduct the forthcoming holiday services. The World Center for Religious Affairs in the Diaspora, headed by Eliezer Sheffer, together with the Jewish Agency’s Former Soviet Union Department, headed by Amos Lahat, play a vital role in disseminating religious objects to spiritually starved communities in the FSU. Two thousand Shabbat kits with candlesticks, a kiddush cup, a challah cover, kippot, and a detailed explanatory brochure in Hebrew and Russian were recently distributed. Ben Naeh visited the communities that comprise the Union, many of which were once important centers of Jewish religious and cultural life, among them Volozhyn, Ivenets, Mir, Stolptsy, Bobruisk, and Mogilev. «It was a bittersweet experience,» says Ben Naeh. «A community like Bobruisk which was 82% Jewish before the war – with a Jewish population of 82,000 and 42 synagogues – today has one thousand Jews and a single synagogue that meets in an apartment. Volozhyn was home of the legendary Volozhyn Yeshiva, which during the almost 200 years of its existence exercised a profound influence on the cultural life of Russian Jewry. It was the prototype for important Talmud centres in Europe, Israel, and the US. Many of the important rabbis of Russia and Poland as well as many Hebrew writers studied there. Today Volozhyn has two or three Jewish families, a decaying synagogue, and the dilapidated yeshiva building that until recently was used as a food shop dispensing sandwiches, drinks and baked goods.» Ben Naeh reports that the Union of Religious Congregations, under the leadership of the Chief Rabbi of Belarus, Rav Sender Uritsky and President Yuri Dorn – himself a leading expert in Jewish history and particularly of Jewish sites -- has begun preliminary work to restore the building. It is currently seeking funds to turn it into an educational and cultural center. Ben Naeh also visited the remains of Rakov, a town originally settled by Jews in 1,465. In 1942, 950 of the town’s Jews – close to 90% of the town’s Jewish population -- were rounded up in the synagogue and burned alive. . - Sunday, March 09, 2003 at 23:18:48 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shlomo Elishkevich, was a partisan. He fought in the forests and survived the Holocaust. He arrived in Eretz Israel in 1946. The following is his own story. At dawn on Sunday, June 22nd, 1941 the war broke out between the Germans and the Russians. At 11:00 AM I was already in my Red Army uniform. I was a reservist in the Russian military at that time. In 1940 following the Russian take over of our area, I was drafted for two- month military duty in the Russian army reserves. I served in the communications branch in Gomel near the big city of Minsk. I was scouting the enemy's air force activities. One day German planes bombarded our region. Our regiment withdrew towards Volozhin where we camped for a few hours. When the German army advanced toward us we fled to Rakov. Then we had to flee Rakov. While trying to cross the bridge on the Berezina River under heavy shelling, one half of our unit managed to cross over before the bridge collapsed. The other half of the unit, myself included, was captured by the Germans. Near Minsk, we were chased into a field that was fenced with barbed wire. Thousands of POW's were herded into this field like cattle. While in captivity, I noticed that every now and then another group of POW's was loaded on a truck and driven away. None of them returned. I concluded the conclusions and escaped after three days. The Escape I escaped with two Jewish POW's. We took advantage of a dark, foggy and rainy night. The German guards entered their "Budkes" (guarding booths). We crossed the fences and ran into a field of very tall rye where we could hide. Then we split. I started toward Vishnive. It took me a whole week to walk there. I walked at night and hid in the forest in the daytime. Sometimes I could find food and sometimes I could not. Initially I was dressed in my Russian Army uniform. When I passed near Rakov, I stopped at the home of one of my Gentile acquaintances. I told him, "Save me, give me Alte Zachen (used clothing) and take away my uniform and shoes." He did what I asked. He gave me clothing and a loaf of bread. After a week I arrived in Vishnive. click here to read the rest - Saturday, March 08, 2003 at 15:38:20 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rakov - Jewish Martyrs Murdered by the Nazi Germans & local bandits "Memory to Volozhin Region" published by Volozhin Region Authorities, 1996 in Belaruss language page: 270 Rewritten in English letters by M. Porat Aberazhinski Khaya with family Alperovitsh Kalmen with family Alperovitsh Mikhael with family Alperovitsh Shmera with family Alperovitsh Sholem with family Arluk Aron with family Arluk Mavina with family Ayola Avrom with family Batshte Yankel with family Berkovitsh Leybe with Family Bernshteyn Fayvl with Family Bershtshan Berka with family Beshmovitsh Hirsh with Family Birma Leybe with Family Botvinik Aba with family Botvinik Avrom with family Botvinik Dair with family Botvinik Elka with family Botvinik Hendel with family Botvinik Isaak with family Botvinik Khayim with family Botvinik Leybe with family Botvinik Samuyil with family Botvinik Shmakla with family Botvinik Tsema with family Botvinik Yakov with family Botvinik Yidel with family Brunder Khayim with Family Brunder Shloyme with Family Darski Khayim with family Darski rita with family Dereviashka Levin Etka with family Dikshteyn Mates with family Dohin Sora with family Evenantshik Maysey with family Evyntshik Maysey with family Evyntshik Nevykh with family Fayn Guta with family Feldman Noyma with family Finkel David with family Finkel Dolid with family Finkel Fayva with family Finkel Issak with family Finkel Mordukh with family Finkel Pesia with family Fishboym Gershon with family Gadalevitsh Shmuel with Family Galdeshveyt Klos with Family Gintsburg Khaya with Family Gintsburg Shloyme with Family Gintsburg Yosif with Family Glezer Yankl Gondes Siemyon with family Grinholz Henia Grinholz Isroel Grinholz Maysey Grinholz Moyshe with family Grinholz Mula with family Grinholz Shota Grinholz Yankel Gurvitsh Avrom with family Gustshe Feya Halperin Isroel with Family Harbuz Leyzer with Family Harbuz Yankl with Family Hatlibovits Zorakh with Family Henia with family Hertsovits with Family Itskhayim Aba with family Izlanor Riya with family K(S)hneyder with family Kagan Mikhl with family Kagan Moyshe with family Kagan Riva with family Kaganovitsh Beysha with family Kagyn Wolf with family Kalibatski Riva with family Kantorovitsh Khayim Hirsh with family Kantorovitsh Moysey with family Kantorovitsh Nakhama with family Kantorovitsh Rubin with family Kantorovitsh Ruven with family Kantorovitsh Shmera with family Kantorovitsh Tevl with family Kantorovitsh Yankl with family Kapalitski Ela with family Kaplan Hirsh with family Kaplan Israel with family Kaplan Maysey with family Kaplan Moysha with family Kaplan Sholam with family Kaplan Toyba with family Khlit Aba with family Kikritovitsh Avram with family Kikritovitsh Sioma with family Kissiel Borukh with family Krasnoselski Wolf with family Kukus Audin with family Kurtshenkh with family Kuznitsov Kafyel with family Kvartal Mota with family Latareytshik Zalmen with family Levin Ester with family Leybovitsh Sioma with family Linkevitsh Vossip with family Lirshin Berka with family Lirshin Sara with family Mael Avrom with family Matshnow Khayim with family Matshnow Lazar with family Merin Samuil with family Metalitski Hirsh with family Metalitski Sara with family Milakowski Avram with family Misevey Estera with family Perelman Fania with family Perelman Fruma with family Perelman Leyba with family Pertski Raya with family Pogulanski Moyshe with family Pogulanski Yossif with family Pozniak Samuil with family Pozniak Vossip with family Pupkin Khana with family Pupkin Mikhl with family Pupkin Sassif with family Pupko Sira with family Purman Maysey with family Rabinitsh Khaya with family Rakowshtshik Raina with family Rashkem Moysha with family Raykhilson Samuil with family Reyer Mendl with family Riskin Avram with family Rozow Rufa with family Rozow Yankel with family Rubilnik Hirsh with family Rubilnik Samuil with family Rubilnik Shmerka with family Rubilnik Tevel with family Rubinshteyn Lea with family Sagalovitsh Fayva with family Sagalovitsh Hirsh with family Sagalovitsh Khayim with family Sagalovitsh Shaya with family Shabshinski Maysey with family Shabskevitsh Khana with family Shapiro David with family Shepshayevitsh Leya with family Shfeyn Yankl with family Shneller Minia with family Shneyder Israel with family Shnitman Khana with family Shreynhlts Mordukh with family Shteyn Khayim with family Shurman Hirsh with family Sulski Maks with family Sulski Sonia with family Sulski Vosip with family Taler Ela with family Teyer Lea with family Trotski Leyzer with family Trotski Yakov with family Tsharnow Fania with family Tsukerman Khana with family Turman D. with son Turman Hirsh with family Turman Yankl with family Voynov Yudl with Family Yakhis Yankel with family Zalman Raya with family The fascists had set on fire and burnt to death in Rakow: 179 families, 928 persons Mikhalova hamlet near Rakov Ginzburg, born 1874 Ginzburg Leyze Berkavitsh, born 1911 Ginzburg Sheyne Berkavna, born 1904 Palatshanka hamlet near Rakov Goldberg Yerukham Zelik's son, b. 1870 Goldberg Zelda, b. 1919 Goldberg Liba, Yeruhim's daugh., b. 1912 Goldberg Tsila, Meyir's daugh., b. 1941 Goldberg Yuda, born 1875 Rolnik Marka, Leyzer's daug. B., 1930 Rolnik Esia, Yerukhim's daug. B., 1903 The destruction of Rakov Jews Report written in August 1945 Translated From "MEMORY" Volozhin Region's Book in Belarussian language The committee head: Svitko I.T. - Committee members: Yatskaviets I.D., Kirzov P.M., Nissinov M.F., Garshkov, Lavrishkov, Batalin submitted this report about the crimes done by the Fascist occupants in the Radushkovits Region. Witnesses: Rutkovska Leonida B., Gerasimovitsh, Grinholtz Vosip, Isakovitzh, Grinholtz Aron, Davidovitsh. The witnesses reported that on June 14 th , 1942, the Germans had assembled forty-five Jews in Rakov, as if to work. They were led to Baruzints two kilometers from Rakov. The Germans gave them shovels and ordered to dig pits. After the pits were ready, the Germans placed the forty-five captives facing the pits and shot them with machine guns. The same year on August 29 th the Germans assembled all the Rakov-Ghetto Jews, forced them to dig pits, afterwards they counted hundred and five persons and ordered them to lie in those pits. All of them were shot at the gendarme Drobel's command. The Jews who survived were led to Rakov. On the way they were ordered to sing and to dance. Satisfied by the concert, the murderers forced all the captives to lie down with their faces to the soil. At the gendarme Ferverg's command they were shot, each according to the killers' choice. One of the bandits cut the physician's head off with his axe because he was not satisfied with the victim's song. Also in this Action, one hundred and five persons were killed. On, February 4 th , 1942, the Politsay commander Mikhal Ziankevitsh ordered all the Jews to assemble on the synagogue courtyard with their belongings for departure to Minsk. When the Jews assembled they were ordered to put all the valuables aside and to enter the synagogue. Some of them tried to go back, but they were beaten to death with rifle shafts. Crying children were pierced by rifle bayonets and thrown over the crowded heads. The synagogue doors and windows were blocked with nailed planks. The murderers spilled gasoline on the walls and set the building on fire. Nine hundred twenty eight Jews were burnt to death on that winter day in the Rakov synagogue. . - Friday, March 07, 2003 at 11:33:26 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ As promised I rewrote in English characters the names of RAKOV Martyrs from the PAMIAT book, published by Volozhin Region Authorities (1996). When working on it I came up on a translated German report. It confirms Fruma's words about the VLASSOW bandits as she wrote in her article: "The Germans organized the Vlassov army, named after the infamous Russian traitor General Vlassov. Those units were composed of Belarus, Kazaks, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and other anti-Semites, all of them Hooligan-murderers. Their first mission was destruction of hamlets and farms near the forests. The fate of the peasants in those hamlets was not much better than of the Jews". We found in "PAMYAT' "– "MEMORY" (published by Volozhin Region Authorities (1996), page 272, a German-SS officer reporting to his headquarters: General Commissar Office of the Minsk City Department No 1 – Politics Translated from German to Russian language, The City of Minsk, May 31st 1943. To the head of Department No 1: I'm reporting to your knowledge about the events as follows. Dr. Valkovitsh, head of the Belarus Self-Help Organization notified me that on May 27th 14:00 Ukrainian units of the SS had gathered all the inhabitants of Krivsk hamlet into two houses. They set fire the houses. The gathered people had been burned to death. A similar event took place in Krazhino on May 21st. Both hamlets are positioned in Volozhin region of the Vileyka district. Signed: Langer I'm sending also the attached Rakov Martyrs list. Have a nice week Moshe . - Friday, March 07, 2003 at 11:16:02 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a message dated 3/6/03 9:28:12 AM Pacific Standard Time, Nathan.Szyszko@dcaa.mil writes: SZYSZKO is SHISHKO. The z in polish is an h and the y in polish is the letter I and that is why I can never find anything because I do not know how to input it.It was very interesting to see the passport of my cousin Binyamin Szyszko -Shishko A"H on the list of passports If I have a group picture from vishnevo circa 1930-1935 ,how do I send it to you.After you get it maybe we can figure out who is there. I know my grandfather A"h is there but the rest of the people is a mystery to me. Shalom Nathan, You could either scan the picture (gif or Jpeg) and send it as an email attachment or or at kinko or other copy place you could make lazer copies or other good quality copy on the spot and send it to; Eilat Levitan 3895 Eureka Drive, Studio City, Ca 91604 I will post the picture on the Vishnevo and Volozhin sites. I will also post it at a new page for; SZYSZKO/ SHISHKO.. . - Thursday, March 06, 2003 at 10:02:58 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pages about the Volozhin Holocaust, By Fruma nee Shulman Lifshitz (Gapanovitsh). Extracts from Yiz.Vol.Book p. 554, translated by M. Porat After the Soviets occupied Volozhin, I returned to town from Ivianits to teach Yiddish in the Hebrew School which was turned into a Yiddish Primary School. In 1940/41 it changed to a Russian School, the Polish School to a Belorussian and the Polish Gymnasia to a Russian High School. In June 1941, before the German occupation, our family lived in Leybe Berman's house. Our girls, Shoshanele and Hayele, both born in Volozhin, we sent to my parents Alter and Fayga Shulman in Radoshkovitsh to pass there the summer vacation. When the Nazis invaded our country, most of the Soviet citizens who lived in Western Belarus ran away towards the old border (Poland/ Soviet Union pre 1939). It was located right in the outskirts of Radoshkovitsh, so we decided, my husband Yakov Lifshitz and I, to follow their way. We took the way to Radoshkovitsh by foot to join my parents and our daughters. We walked the entire night. Yakov became totally exhausted. He stopped near the shtetl. I entered Radoshkovitsh alone. I only met there my father.. My mother, sisters Bracha Shulman and Heina Berman and her family, brother Israel Shulman and both my daughters had run away to the hamlet Ordanka, which in normal days served as a summer resting place. Radoshkovitsh was overcrowded by refugees from Poland and Lithuania. Meanwhile, my husband recovered and arrived in town. We went to Ordanka, from where we took our daughters, and continued with them on our way, this time to Horodok, where Kheyne my elder sister lived. I went twice to Volozhin. I took some of the clothing we left there to exchange for food for the girls. I had the opportunity to enter the well guarded ghetto through Pinches the smith's workshop, which stood near the Ghetto fence. I met there Sonia nee Dubinski Berkovitsh the daughter-in-law of my aunt Keyle nee Shulman Berkovitsh. (sister of my father Alter). They were astonished to see me. They were told that our entire family had been killed. I returned to Horodok, where mass-slaughter survivors from Volozhin and Molodetshno arrived. The Germans established a small concentration work camp in Krasne, a crossroad junction midway between Molodetshno and Radoshkovitsh, where able Jews from Volozhin, Mir, Lida, Novogrudok, Horodok and other places were brought to maintain the railroad. My husband was among them. When we separated I told him "Our fate, mine and the girls is determined, but you will survive because you are regarded as an efficient Jew" - so was our naïve opinion. Every week some workers were allowed to go and bring food from Horodok into the Krasne camp. My little six year old daughter caught a heavy scurvy gums illness. Mr Ratskin the Judenrat head pitied me and arranged for Yakov a permission to visit us. The bitter end arrived at the Shabbat that Yakov spent with us, on July 11th 1942. The Horodok and vicinity Jews did not sense the oncoming danger. Their last sleep had been a sleep of the just. In the morning at day break the Gestapo and its local assistants intruded the Ghetto to take out the Jews. At our home five persons lodged. There were three hiding places. The hideout in which I concealed myself with my little girls was discovered by the local politsays [what is this word?] after the action had passed. Mr. Ratskin, who was an elderly man, could not support the strangling atmosphere and was obliged to go outside. His going out had provoked our hiding disclosure. They shot at Yakov and killed him. The murderers gathered all the Jews into the square to be selected. Those they found able to work were transferred to the Krasne camp. The old ones, invalids and children were sent to death. Among the sentenced to die was also Fruma, Tsivya Tsart's mother. She had been beat bestially, until she was covered with blood. The Germans enclosed all of them inside a barn, shot them and burned it. translator's note: (as Fruma told me this evening) In this barn, 900 Horodok Jews found their tragic fate, along with Fruma Lifshits's mother and her five grand kids, among them Shoshanele and Hayele Lifshits. Yakov had been shot by one of their Horodok gentile neighbors. Fruma witnessed her husband's death and had seen the bestial murderers throw away his body. [Horodok Memorial - scanned picture This memorial tombstone was erected in the 1990s near the site where 900 Horodok Jews were slaughtered. The plate on the left side (written in Hebrew) is dedicated to Yakov Lifshitz and to his daughters Shoshanele and Hayele.] I was expelled to Krasne. Heyne my older sister was enclosed in the Krasne Concentration camp, and my younger sister was placed with me in the Krasne Ghetto. There I met people from Volozhin, among them Yosef Tabakhovitsh and his wife Elke (born Shaker). Tsviya Tsart dwelled beside me and my sister on the same planks. It was impossible to safeguard any hygienic conditions, and a typhus epidemic broke out. As a result, the three of us were hospitalized in a house outside the Ghetto. and we were privileged to be inspected by the Gestapo physician. He used to oversee the patients and determined by his cane movement which people to carry out to the "bath house" i.e. for execution. After typhus I was very feeble, so Father would endanger himself by infiltrating from the camp into the ghetto to bring some grains to fortify my body. We were brought into the "bath house". The Germans examined our withered bodies, but in some way our fate was not decided. Thanks to my poor health status I was released from work for a few days. I used this time to seek food for my hungry friends in the Krasne Ghetto. Once I went with my brother in law and with Ester Rogovin from Horodok. We went into a hamlet to gather bread. On the way back we came up against guards from the German Police. When they passed near us we distinguished red bands on the Germans’ forearms, but they were actually Russian partisans who had fought a German unit the day before. They had won the battle, took the German uniforms and wore them. We talked to them and they agreed to take Jews who would carry arms and escape from the Krasne camp. We returned to the Krasne camp and told everyone the exciting news. We found ways to secretly buy rifles. One day a group of us was able to cross the rails and join the partisans. They accepted us thanks to efforts made by Eliezer Rogovin from Volozhin who was already with them.. A new unit was founded by the name of "Staritski" within the Tshkalov brigade. We met some Volozhiners in the forest, among them Feygele Perski, Hirshl Rogovin, Ishayahu Lieberman and Pashe Perski wife of Simha Perski. I was transferred into a partisans’ arms repair workshop after a little time, where I worked until liberation on July 1944. From time to time bitter fights occurred between German forces and partisan units. The hardest German attacks broke out in July 1943. During this period many partisan garrisons existed in the forests of Belarus. In order to fight them, the Germans organized the Vlassov army, named after the famous Russian traitor General Vlassov. Those units were composed of Belarus, Kazakhs, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and other anti-Semites, all of them Hooligan-murderers. Their first mission was the destruction of hamlets and farms near the forests. The fate of the peasants in those hamlets was not much better than that of the Jews. Many Christians ran to the forest. The Germans opened an offensive on the forest, by heavy shooting, shelling and setting fires. We were obliged to disperse. Kopl Kagan, Peshka Potashnik, her brothers Yehuda and Yosef, my brother-in-law Berman, and I found a hideout from which we got out just in time to meet the liberating Red Army. Together with Peshka Potashnik we went through Krasne and Horodok into Volozhin. I decided to leave the shtetl where each stone was impregnated with blood of our dearest. The Soviet authorities proposed to me that I teach in a Belarussian school. I refused as I was not ready to teach youngsters who willingly assisted the Nazis in murdering Jews. I crossed the border to Bialostock in Poland. But here in the Land of the Jews’ extermination camps, where the A.K.(Armiya Krayova), blood thirsty anti-Semites awaited us, I could not stay. I continued my wandering. From Bialostock I went to Lublin, and then with a Zionist refugee organization, I went through Czechoslovakia to Hungary and Romania. After the victory in 1945 we did not want to remain in a Communist-ruled country behind the Iron Curtain. With the assistance of the Zionist Organization, we crossed the border to Austria and then went on to Italy. We passed a Hakhshara near Barry, and then we waited to go to the Land of Israel. The British Government had refused to deliver the certificates permitting our entry into our Land, so we went to Israel with the Illegal Aliya. Along with 170 other Jews, we boarded a small boat. I arrived in Eretz Israel on September of 1945. Shulman, Alter and his wife; Fayga - FRUMA'S PARENTS their daughters:Heina (Berman) and Bracha - FRUMA'S SISTERS their sons: Hanoch (killed serving in the Polish army) and Israel Shulman, - FRUMA'S BROTHERS all perished in the holocaust Fruma had a brother ITSKHOK. He was in the States during the war. I talked with Fruma nee Shulman a holocaust survivor (now Fruma Lifshitz Gafnovitz in Tel Aviv #36057481 from the U.S you dial 011 972 and then the number) who was born in Radoshkovichi about 93 years ago. She told me that when she was growing up in Radoshkovichi there were three Shulman families in Radoshkovichi and she is related to two of them as both her mother and her father were born Shulmans. Her father was Alper or Alter Shulman and her mother was the daughter of Shaya Shulman. Her mother had uncles and brothers in Pennsylvania. There were two brothers and two sisters of her mother, one that she met in New York was RASHA FIDELHARP (?). She also said she had relatives in Miami. . USA - Wednesday, March 05, 2003 at 13:38:01 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ If you want to get a birth certificate from vishnevo or volozhin,where do you write to?The birth is between 1895 and 1900 and the death certificate is between 1920 and 1924. Nathan Szyszko . - Wednesday, March 05, 2003 at 07:07:03 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nice page jan USA - Wednesday, March 05, 2003 at 03:06:12 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ YAKOV LIFSHITZ By Binyamin Shafir (Shishko) Translated from Vol.Y.Book page 486, by M. Porat Yakov Lifshitz was born in Rakov on April of 1907. His father had past away, when Yakov was only ten years old. Despite the family financial difficulties Yakovs' mother was able to send him to study in a Yeshiva. Yakov studied the Torah very proficiently but preferred general secular studies. He left the Yeshiva after studying there for a couple of years and continued his education at a Russian School in Rakov. In 1925 Yakov was admitted at the Vilna Technical School. Since early childhood he was attracted to Mathematics and the exact sciences. Is great interest in the science field helped him to do well in the Technical High School. After 2 years of study in Vilna he transfered to the teachers Seminary that was directed by Shmuel Tsharno. After graduating Yakov was nominated as the head of the Rakov Tarbut School. After one year of work there he left for Volozhin, where he was received to head the town Tarbut Primary School (1931)., together with school managing he taught Mathematics and physics, he taught both subjects in Hebrew. Translator's note: Each Friday Yakov would gather all the students and read before them chapters from Sholom Aleykhem in Yiddish (Sholom Aleykhem nee Sholem Rabinovitsh is famous for many works such as the Tevye stories-on which Fiddler on the Roof was Based-a novel Stempenyu about a Jewish klezmer) I mostly remember "Yossi peysi dem Khazn's" - the wonderful story about the Russian Jews exodus to the New World. We were enchanted by the Yiddish writer's stories read by our teacher in our mother language. In Tarbut Schools' we did not learn Yiddish at all. Another event I remember is that with my ten years old classmates, we were invited to our teachers apartment on Vilna Street in Volozhin to hear some classic music. The young couple Lifshits achieved great honor in the childrens' eyes since they were able to buy a real, one of the first gramophone's in the Shtetl with selection of Yiddish, Hebrew and classical records. At this very memorable event for me, event that took place some seventy years ago, we heard the famous Chaikovski 's "Nut cracker". Yakov since his youth was a devout Brit Tumpeldor ;"Beytar" member (a Zionist revisionist movement), . Consistent in his opinions Yakov defended ardently his revisionist points of view. In Volozhin he found a wide scope to his public activities, since the majority of the young and older people of Volozhin were at that point of time Jabotinsky's supporters (Zev Jabotinsky 1880-1940 established the Revisionist Zionists in 1925 and sponsored a more assertive and non-socialist approach to the rebuilding of the Jewish homeland.) His political opponents, as few as they were, made his public life difficult. But we don't need to recall the long forgotten rivalries, as the sagest of all did say "as you loved and hated, so also passed your jealousy". Yakov did manage the School with talent and skill. during the first year he established a four grades School, at the end in the 1938/39 year he was managing a standard for that time primary school of seven grades. For eight years Yakov stood as guard of the Hebrew education in Volozhin until the Soviets came on September 1939. The new rulers took out his creatve spirit. Yakov became deeply depressed. One day the Soviet Inspector invited him for a meeting and instructed him to change the system from the Hebrew language education for all subjects to a old style "Yiddish school" "per the parents demand" they claimed. They appointed a new head of the school, a Jewish woman from the Soviet Union. The education was stricktly programmed by the communist regime. During the Soviet rule (1939- 1941)Yakov's spirit was burnt out. The Germans invaded the area in 1941 and burnt out his soul and body. http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_images/20101_3_b.gif click for pictures - Tuesday, March 04, 2003 at 09:24:02 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thank you for the information. David Leizer* is my first cousin. His mother and my father were siblings. I am glad to have the story. I have not heard from you for a while. How are things going? Leonard ROBBINS** LRROBBINS@aol.com The family tree; Kiva (Akiva) RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1875, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Spouse: Leia Raisa PODBERESKY Born: 1876, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Apr 1918, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: 1. Leon ROBBINS Born: 19 Sep 1893, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: 8 Nov 1925, Houston, Harris, Texas. Died: 11 Sep 1998, Houston, Harris, Texas.Spouse: Celia FREEDMAN Children: **Leonard Roy ROBBINS, Living 2. Bela RABINOVICH Born: 1899, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Joseph ZUSSMAN Born: Abt 1899, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Children: -----------------Chiena ZUSSMAN Born: 1925, Vishnevo, Vilna, Poland. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. ---------------------Leah ZUSSMAN Born: 1928, Vishnevo, Vilna, Poland. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. 3. Sarah Shiena RABINOVICH Born: 1900, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Perished in 1942 in Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Spouse: Shimon Isaac MELTZER Born: Abt 1895, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Perished in 1942, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: -------------David Leizer MELTCER*, Living in Israel. born in Volozhin in 1923 ---------------Dov MELTCER Born: 1925, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland. Perished in 1942, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. ---------------Leah Rose MELTCER Born: 1928, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland. perished in 1942, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. 4. Moshe RABINOVICH Born: 1903, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. perished: Abt 1941, Lejamoz, Lithuania. Spouse: Libe RABINOVICH perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Children: ---------------------------RABINOVICH Born: Vishnevo, Vilna, Poland. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. ----------------------Leah Rose RABINOVICH Born: 1932, Vishnevo, Vilna, Poland. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. 4. Joseph RABINOVICH Born: 1905, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: Abt 1943, In The Woods Nea. Died: 1945, Bogdanova, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Cheina RABINOVICH Born: Vishnevo, Vilna, RussiaMarried: Abt 1943, In The Woods Nea Died: 1995, Israel Children: Shulamit RABINOVICH, Living 5. RABINOVICH Born: 1908, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: Abt 1913, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. 6. RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1909, Vishnevo, Vilno, Russia. Died: Abt 1915, Vishnevo, Vilno, Russia. 7. Fruma Basha RABINOVICH Born: 1911, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. 8. Rachel RABINOVICH Born: Oct 1917, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. perished: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. . - Monday, March 03, 2003 at 21:30:39 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To: davefox73@earthlink.net, belarus@lyris.jewishgen.org (Dear Dave, I would like the note to be posted in the Belarus sig- it contains valuable information) In a message dated 3/2/03 3:33:05 PM Pacific Standard Time, davefox73@earthlink.net writes: Jewish cemetery in Volozhin and in Rakov (read next post for entire note) A few days ago I spoke with Zila Zilburg in Rishon Lezion (phone # 03-9647532). Zila was born in Radoshkovichi about 80 years ago and she was there during the holocaust. She escaped from the Ghetto in Radoshkovichi and joined the Russian and Jewish Partisans from the area in the forests near Plashntzitz. Today she is the head of the memorial meeting for shtetls in the area; Radoshkovichi, Rakov, Horodok and Krasne. This year's meeting will take place on March 25th at Beit Vitzo in Tel Aviv. Zila told me that they received money to video tape the meeting professionally and they would like to send it to descendants who would not be able to join them in Israel. She would also like to receive addresses of people who had families in those places who live in Israel that she could invite them to join. Zila told me about Aharon Gringoltz from Rakov who heads the Rakov Society in Israel. Aharon Gringoltz; phone # 036042605. Aharon was born in Rakov in 1927. Aharon's mother was from the Botwinik family, Aharon and his father were the only survivors from the family, the rest perished in Rakov. Aharon told me that a few years ago he, with others, (mostly form the Horovitz family who left Rakov for South Africa in the 1930s) collected $12,000 to build a fence around the large Jewish cemetery in Rakov. Yuri Dorn took charge of the project. (Yuri takes Jewish visitors from Minsk to Rakov, less then an hour drive) Zila also gave me the phone number of Shimon Greenhose (#039226130 ) the head of the Krasne Society in Israel. He was born in Krasne about 72 years ago. Shimon told me that he and his mother Rosa (from the Kopilovitz family of Dockshitz) were the sole survivors from his family. The Jews in ghetto/camp in Krasne were amongst the very last to be annihilated. Survivors from other ghettos massacres were taken or escaped to the Krasne ghetto/ camp. Some Jews from the Camp, including children, were able to obtain arms. They escaped and joined the Russian partisans. After the war, Shimon Greenhuse came with his mother to Israel. He was a math teacher. A few years ago he took a group of students from "Camera abscura school of Tel Aviv" to Belarus and they filmed a movie in Krasne. I received a note from The head of the Volozhin Society; Moshe Porat poratm@netvision.net.il ...As I wrote you , I spoke with Zila . She invited us (from Volozhin) to be present at the next Radoshkovitsh reunion. I'll be there with Lea Shif (Nahshon) and with Fruma nee Sholman Lifshitz Gafnovitz (Fruma paid for the restoration of the Horodok Cemetery). The Volozhin Region Book that I received from the district chairman contained a list of Rakov martyrs in Belarus language. I will rewrite it into latin characters. When ready I'll send it to you. Kol tuv - Moshe Moshe Porat (a descendant of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin) has almost single handily translated the Volozhin Yizkor book (written in Hebrew and Yiddish) and other books about the area that were written in Russian and he also posted many pictures (old and recent) from the area. You could find it at http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/volozhin1/volozhin1.html Moshe also wrote me in his note; Next autumn two hundred years will pass from the day that Rabbi Hayim Volozhiner founded the Volozhin Yeshivah "Eyts Hayim - Tree of Life". It Should be a day to unite and devote our thoughts, prayers and memories to Volozhin, its Yeshiva "Tree of Life" and its congregation that was annihilated sixty years ago. Could the representatives of prominent Jewish congregations in the States organize such a celebration this year in Volozhin? To understand the importance of the Volozhin Yeshiva for the Jewish people read "The Yeshiva in its first days" Extracts translated from Volozhin Yizkor Book at www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/volozhin/vol077.html Kol tuv - Moshe. Ruth Wilnai (nee Lifshitz family of Rakow) and I would like to create a site for Rakov. You could find other sites that I created at http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/ The sites are for: Dolhinov, Krasne, Krivichi, kurenets, Radoshkovichi, Vileyka, Vishnevo, Volozhin all in Belarus (and Vashki in Lithuania) We would welcome all family pictures and information from families who came from those shtetls. Eilat Gordin Levitan Los Angeles Phone # 818 506- 4136 click here to read about the Yeshiva; - Monday, March 03, 2003 at 09:14:11 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a message dated 3/2/03 3:33:05 PM Pacific Standard Time, davefox73@earthlink.net writes: There are 20 people listed in the JewishGen Family Finder who are researching the shtetl of Rakow. While I have no know connection to Rakow (Rakov), I did visit there in 1999 and walked through the cemetery, taking my photographs. While I did not see any overt vandalism, the cemetery was not adequately protected by a fence and young children were playing soccer in the cemetery. There were many readable stones, but there were also stones that had fallen over face down and others that had sunken below ground level that were not readable. As will most cemeteries in Belarus, overgrown vegetation made it difficult to reach certain parts of the cemetery. About three years ago, the Union of Religious Jewish Congregations of the Republic of Belarus with the financial help of sponsors from South Africa and Israel built a new fence around the Jewish cemetery in Rakov. There are more then 100 tombstones in the cemetery and the Union would like to carry out a restoration of the tombstones. If you have any interest in seeing this cemetery restored, please contact Yuri Dorn at . For a little more information about Rakov, please read . Rakov is on the road to nearby Volozhin, the site of a very famous yeshiva which has been returned to the Jewish community of of Belarus. I also visited Volozhin in 1999 and walked through the old yeshiva which had not get been restored. I also saw the Jewish cemetery in Volozhin, which like most of the remaining Jewish cemeteries in Belarus need major restoration. Unfortunately, there are no Jews living near these cemeteries and there is no one to care for them and no funds to restore them. Dave -- David Fox Mail to: davefox@jewishgen.org Belarus SIG Coordinator Arnold, MD USA http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus . - Monday, March 03, 2003 at 09:03:54 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The picture attached presents the Lifshits children. Both were born in Volozhin, Shoshanele on July 7, 1933; Hayele on April 24, 1936. Both of them were shot and burnt in Horodok on July 9, 1942. Moshe Porat . - Sunday, March 02, 2003 at 15:07:00 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalom Eilat, Re: Polish Aliyah Passports; From Volozhin; SZYSZKO** Benjamin Wolozyn 1905 kawaler uczen Warszawa It's written in Polish. To read in English suitable characters it might be written SHISHKO Benyamin. He made Aliya in 1930. His name was changed to SHAPHIR. He was the Volozhin Tarbut School manager in the nineteen twenties. In the seventies he was head of the Volozhin Descendants Organization in Israel, and very active in the Committee of the Volozhin Yizkor Book. I counted more than twenty articles written by Benyamin Shaphir (Shishko). Our teacher and congregation leader Benyamin Shishko demised in Karkur Israel, would He rest in peace. M.Porat Tel Aviv, - Saturday, March 01, 2003 at 10:50:40 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a message dated 2/28/2003 11:04:33 PM Pacific Standard Time, poratm@netvision.net.il writes: << Rabbi Harold S. White is posing some questions: "Could you or anyone who reads this email please offer information about how to get to Volozhin, where to stay while there, etc." I'm sending you my "elaborate" answer: My family - My spouse, our two sons, my sister, her daughter and I, we visited Volozhin five years ago. We stayed in Minsk, "Planeta" hotel from 18th to the 23rd September 1998. We went from minsk to Volozhin twice, each time for an entire day. Our stay there and the arrangement were arranged through Minsk: We had offers from: 1) Mr. Youri Dorn president of the Belarus Jewish Religious Congregation Union Tel: xx-375 172 343360/345612 2) Belarustourist, E-Mail: root@beltour.minsk.by , Fax: xx-375-172-26 94 21 Planeta is a decent hotel at the city center of Minsk. Minsk is a big clean city. The prices at that time were: Hotel "Planeta" in Minsk: double rooms, Business level, 2 persons in each room, 70 USD per room. Air port to Hotel transfer: A 6 person car, from Minsk Intl. Airport to "Planeta" Hotel= 40 USD (Car with driver awaited us at the Airport) Minibus: A 6 persons car with driver for a whole day, price = 13 USD per hour. The distance from Minsk to Volozhin is 80 Km. one and a half hour by car. There is information about Volozhin before the Shoa, during the Shoah and in the nineteen nineteen's is presented on Eilat Gordon Web Site www.eilatgordinlevitan/ Volozhin/stories, as on the Jewishgen Volozhin Yizkor Book Translations site- Table of Contents www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/volozhin/volozhin.html As for Rabbi white's family connections with the Volozhin Beys Horav I would consult him to look the partial (mostly Itskhaykin family) diagrammatic presentation of the Volozhin Beys Horav gen-chain on "Beys Harav Genealogy Chain" at the site: www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/volozhin/vol152.html A family anecdote: My uncle Osher Malkin, my mother's brother (not from Beys Harav, it's my mother who married to the "dynasty") would claim that every Jew with the family name Itskhaykin is quite sure that he belongs to the family. Osher was acquainted in Paris with a gentleman named Zeydke Itskhaykin. Osher called him "Der Korev". Zeydke was so influenced by Osher's "Itskhaykin" story, that when he heard about my marriage he sent me forty nine years ago from Paris to Tel Aviv a beautiful present, a set of table knives, we guard them until now (My father's mother Malka Perlman born Itskhaykin was Reb Itsele's great grand daughter). >> click for the family three - Saturday, March 01, 2003 at 09:00:51 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Polish Aliyah Passports; From Volozhin; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living SZYSZKO Dwosza Wolozyn 1906 zamezna przy mezu Wolozyn Rachel córka BUNIMOWICZ Eljasz Wolozyn 1881 zonaty handlarz Wilejka PERSKA Gala Wiszniew 1886 wdowa-------------- Wolozyn SZYSZKO** Benjamin Wolozyn 1905 kawaler uczen Warszawa Wiszniew; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living PERSKA Gala Wiszniew 1886 wdowa Wolozyn Wilejka; BUNIMOWICZ Eljasz Wolozyn 1881 zonaty handlarz Wilejka ENTIN Szloma------- Wilejka 1914 kawaler robotnik Wilno ORLIK Mera----------- Wilejka 1909.XI.10 zamezna bez zajecia Wilejka PlAWNIK Marjasia Wilejka 1870 wdowa gos. domowa Wilejka From Radoszkowicze; REZNIK Rachmiel Radoszkowicze 1906 zonaty krawiec Radoszkowicze ROZENHAUZ Daniel Radoszkowicze 1871 zonaty budowniczy Wilno From Dolhinov; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living DIMENSZTEJN Rachmiel Dolhinów 1913 niezonaty rolnik Dolhinów KUPERSZTOCH Szloma Dolhinów 1917 kawaler uczen Glebokie LEWIN Ajzik-------------- Dolhinów 1908 zonaty rolnik Dolhinów LIFSZYC Josel - Chaim Dolhinów 1911 niezonaty handlarz Dolhinów REZNIK Sonia------------- Dolhinów 1917.26.05 zamezna krawcowa Dolhinów SZRAJBMAN Lejzer Dolhinów 1916 niezonaty nauczyciel Dolhinów ZULAR Fiszel---------- Klesów 1910.IV.2 zonaty nauczyciel Dolhinów From Kurenets; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living ALPEROWICZ Nochem Kurzeniec 1912 niezonaty czapnik Kurzeniec BOTWINIK Fryda ------- Kurzeniec 1912 zamezna krawcowa Kurzeniec GWINT Izrael--------------- Kurzeniec 1912 zonaty robotnik Kurzeniec LIMON Samuel ----------Kurzeniec 1910 zonaty handel Kurzeniec Rakow; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living BOTWINIK Aba------ Raków 1908 zonaty uczen Raków 422 LEWIN Szolom------- Raków 1916 niezonaty bez zawodu Smorgonie ROLNIK Dwejra---- Raków 1910 zamezna bez zajecia Raków ROLNIK Szmerel Minsk 1910 zonaty krawiec------ Raków SZAPIRO Szloma---- Raków 1894 zonaty urzednik---- Tel-Aviv Krasne; ZILBERGLEIT Eljasz Krasne 1914 niezonaty bez zajecia Krasne Gródek; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living BORER Dawid Gródek 1911 niezonaty Warszawa EJDELMAN Noson Gródek 1913 niezonaty bez zajecia Gródek FRYDMAN Rachil Gródek 1920 niezamezna bez zajecia Michalów KRYWIECKA Chaja - Sara Gródek 1905 zamezna szwaczka Gródek SAPIRSZTEJN Mejta Gródek 1913 niezamezna krawczyni Gródek SHTEJNBERG Boruch-Lejb Baranowicze 1917 niezonaty urzednik prywatny Gródek TAUB Abram Gródek 1909 zonaty Bialystok ZAKHEJM Rebeka Gródek 1887 zamezna kupcowa Warszawa Ilja; Surname Givenname Townborn Born Status Occupation Living Comments RUBINSZTEJN Chajka Ilja 1908 zamezna przy mezu Warszawa Chaim i Ita - Henia The 'Passports' collection in the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland (Warsaw) consists of 3,754 Polish passports issued primarily during the 1930s to Polish citizens going to what was then British Mandate Palestine. The data in this passport file has been added to the Jewish Records Indexing-Poland database and is searchable by surname. We want to thank the contributors to JRI-Poland's Aliyah Passport Project for helping the project become fully funded. We also especially want to thank Michael Tobias and Howard Fink of JRI-Poland, as well as Yale Reisner and Ania Przybyszewska of the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw, as well as the Jewish Genealogical Society Inc. (New York) for their important roles in this historic project. For further information, please contact Polish Passport Project Coordinator Judy Baston JRBaston@aol.com . USA - Thursday, February 27, 2003 at 09:38:12 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am planning a visist to Volozhin in July 2003. I would like to reply to Mr. Arthur Coleman's recent posting. I too am a decendant of the Persky family of Volozhin and am a relation of Shimon Peres. My family settled in New Haven, Meriden and Hartford, Conn., in the early 1890s. My grandfather died in Volozhin. His name was Meir Yitzchak. My father told me that we were descendants of Rebbe Chaim of Volozhin, founder of Volozhin Yeshiva. Does your family tree indicate a relationship to us? Could you or anyone who reads this email please offer information about how to get to Volozhin, where to stay while there, etc. Thank you, Rabbi Harold S. White Rabbi Harold S. White <whitehs@georgetown.edu> Washington, DC USA - Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at 15:00:13 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am planning a visist to Volozhin in July 2003. I would like to reply to Mr. Arthur Coleman's recent posting. I too am a decendant of the Persky family of Volozhin and am a relation of Shimon Peres. My family settled in New Haven, Meriden and Hartford, Conn., in the early 1890s. My grandfather died in Volozhin. His name was Meir Yitzchak. My father told me that we were descendants of Rebbe Chaim of Volozhin, founder of Volozhin Yeshiva. Does your family tree indicate a relationship to us? Could you or anyone who reads this email please offer information about how to get to Volozhin, where to stay while there, etc. Thank you, Rabbi Harold S. White Rabbi Harold S. White <whitehs@georgetown.edu> Washington, DC USA - Tuesday, February 25, 2003 at 14:36:17 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Please contact me immediately! We are your Persky family from New Haven. We are having a Persky family reunion in August in Connecticut - we know we are related to you because we are also related to Shimon Peres. Plus we are from Valozhin. My grandfather was Israel Persky out of Velozhin - and I have a family tree all the way back to his father. I want to complete the circle and learn more. Arthur Arthur L. Coleman President r:eThought, Inc.http://www.rethought.net r:eThought, Inc USA - Monday, February 24, 2003 at 18:56:01 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ LIFSHITZ family name : Are we connected ? Progress Report : August 20, 2002 Website : benchpost.com/famtree/lifshitz At the moment there are numerous Lifshitz family groups that do not have a documented connection with each other. In response to some general queries to JewishGen Lifshitz researchers, a quick look at other family websites and information sent in to this website, some 90 separate Lifshitz family groups have been identified. In last few months, ten new entries were added, three family groups have been linked together, and the site moved to benchpost.com/famtree/lifshitz to have more space. Researchers on the Lifshitz and all its variations are invited to explore this site. The site really has four entry points: · The short family histories sent in by other Lifshitz researchers and a first name index to the oldest members of these families. · a geographic listing of Lifshitz shtetls and a series of connected tables for grouping the various shtetls in sub-regions . · various Lifshitz related extracts from the Ellis Island database, the Polish Jewish Indexing Project, and the JewishGen Family Finder index ; and · a yahoo Lifshitz family listserver at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Lifshitz/ established by Anthony Jackson The Lifshitz family website now also has · An expanded set of notes on alternative versions of the origin of the name of Lifshitz. · Two Lifshitz related coats of arms · An extract of the Polish Jewish Records files on the Lifshitz family names by gubernia [ shtetl name and (appx distribution of Lifshitz names by gubernia) Galicia 37%; Grodno 11% ; Lomza 10% ; Warszawa 9% ; Kalisz 8% ; Plock 8% ; Keilce 4% ; Radom 4%; Lublin 3%; Suwalki 3%; Siedlce 2% · An extract from the Ellis Island database on the Lifshitz family name sorted by shtetl · An extract from the Slutzk, Belarus burials sites database on the Lifshitz family name in chronological order .and · An initial collection of some of the famous and infamous Lifshitz personalities in history, based on Michael Lipschutz’s efforts Please email your additions and corrections to gleckman@un.org Harris Gleckman, great grandson of Hoshea Lifshitz of Horodok and Iveniec, Poland (now Belarus) . - Monday, February 24, 2003 at 17:48:34 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Hoshea (&Sylvia Axelrad) Lifshitz Hoshea Lifshitz, b. at Mizeich-Volozyn +Sylvia Axelrad, b. at Volozyn +-- Raske Lifshitz (might be a sister of Hoshea, rather than a daughter) * * +Issac Rapaport +-- Jacob Lifshitz, b. at Horodok * +(Ida) Sarah Horowitz +-- Sarah Anne Lifshitz, b. 16 Feb 1883 at Horodok, d. 12 Aug 1967 at Portland, ME * +Issac Adelman, b. circa 1877, d. 14 Dec 1909 at ME +-- Joseph Lifshitz, b. 01 Apr 1890 at Horodok, d.Apr 1977 at Auburn, ME * +Ethel Hoffman, d. at Auburn, ME +-- Moishe Lifshitz * +Frida-Sarah(Liftshifz) +-- Issac Lifshitz, b. circa 1879 at Horodok +Chasia Berkman, b. 1881, d. 1935 +-- Lazer Lifshitz, b. 1905, d. 1945 at Berlin +-- Tryha Lifshitz, b. 1906 at Horodok, d. 1980 at Tel Josef +-- Sarah Lifshitz, b. 1909, d. 1943 +-- Yankel Lifshitz, b. 1911 * +Sima Rabinovitz/Rabinoviez +-- Shoshana Lifshitz, b. 1915 at Horodok, d. 2000 * +Yehuda Shatel, b. 1916 at Rove, d. circa 1999 +-- Hava Lifshitz, b. 1918, d. circa 1943 +-- (HosheaBrother) Lifshitz +(MayerGrdMother) (Liftshifz) +-- Yacob Lifshitz Harris Gleckman : gleckman@un.org United Nations, New York . - Monday, February 24, 2003 at 17:23:41 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Ben Lipschutz (added 20 June 2002) I believe that my family came from Horodok, a small shtetl about 40 miles north west of Minsk in Vilna Gubernya. The family name was Marschak or possibly Shepsenvol. Some of the family lived in Voloshyn. I have an uncle, Abraham Poland, whose mother was a Shepsenvol but who also had a step nephew named Ben Lipschutz who lived in Manayunk, PA. Do you see any connection between these families? What do you know about Horodok and where can I find more information. Bette Greenfield Dayton, NJ Bgreenfield7@comcast.net . - Monday, February 24, 2003 at 16:38:24 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Lifshitz family information given by Fruma nee Shulman Lifshitz Gafnovitz; My husbasnd Yakov Lifshitz was born in Rakov in 1907 his father died when he was 10 years old, his mother didn't remarry Brother Berl Lifshitz had one adopted daughter Sister ( or cousin?) Rivka Rolnik lived in Ivanitz with her family and another sister who was hunchback. Cousin Meir Lifshitz in Bayonne, New Jersey originally from Horodak A female cousin in kibbutz Ein Hashofet There were three uncles in Ivanitz one of them had nine children. Fruma nee Shulman was born in Radoshkovichi about 93 years ago. She told me that when she was growing up in Radoshkovichi there were three Shulman families in Radoshkovichi and she is related to two of them as both her mother and her father were born Shulmans.Her father was Alper or Alter Shulman and her mother was the daughter of Shaya Shulman. Her mother had uncles and brothers in Pennsylvania, there were two brothers and two sisters of her mother, one that she met in New York was RASHA FIDELHARP ? she also said she had relatives in Miami. In a message dated 2/24/03 11:05:24 AM Pacific Standard Time, loumau@mindspring.com writes: Hannah Schulman was born in Radoshkovichi on Oct 30,1859. She arrived in NYC in August, 1888 on the SS Viola with her two oldest daughters, Nechame and Fegele. She died in NYC April 2, 1942 in NYC. Her father was Hirsch Schulman, her mother Perla Taub. By family report, Hannah had many brothers and sisters, but only one who is known to have come to NYC, Hode (Huddie, or Ida). She was born 1871 in Radoshkovichi, and married Isidor Klein of Vilna there. By family report, a brother, Samuel, emigrated to Canada, but I've been unable to trace him. There is a vague family report about attempts to rescue a niece from Vilna during the 1930, who ended up as a dentist in Israel, but I have no real facts about Samuel or the niece. . - Monday, February 24, 2003 at 16:25:48 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I am pasting here the original email I received from Ruth Wilanai, the response from Moshe Porat and also the last email I received from Ruth; Dear Eilat! I saw your websites and found the names of Yakov Lifshitz his wife and two daughters. Do you have more information about Yakov Lifshitz. Who were his parents, brothers and sisters? My Lifshitz family is from Rakow, Belarus. My grandfather David Lifshitz had a step brother Yakov and I have no information about this brother. Since the two small towns are so close by there might be a relation between my grandfather and Yakov Lifshitz. I hope to hear from you. Ruthie Shalom Ruthie, I received an email from Moshe Porat; Eilat shalom, Thank you for the message as above. Sorry for imprecision's in Childhood - Volozhyn 1924 - 1940, I wrote it from memory. 1) Yakov was born in Rakov (1907). 2) Taller came from Moltshad' near Lida. As for the information Ruthie Vilnai asks about Yakov Lifshits and his parents, brothers and sisters. Although, Yakov and his spouse Fruma were my teachers during 7 years of my learning the time of their teaching at the Volozhin Tarbut School. I did find nothing about his parents, brothers and sisters. What I know for sure is that 1) both were born outside Volozhin, Fruma in Radoshkowitsh, a district town 50 Km North East of Volozhin, Yakov in Rakov a shtetl in Volozhin district 30 Km South West of Volozhin 2) Yakov lost his father in Rakov when he was ten years old, it means during the first world war, in Rakov. I called Fruma by phone yesterday. She was alone at her home in Tel Aviv. She confirmed the written above. She told me also some details about the Horodok mass slaughter. Yakov has been killed before her eyes by one of their gentile neighbors. Both girls, Shoshanele the senior 6 years old and Hayele had been separated from Fruma. They joined Fruma's mother and three of her sister's children. Grand Mother with her five grand kids were killed and burnt together in Horodok mass slaughter on 11th July 1942. Attached, pls receive Shishko's article about Yakov Lifshits. Binyamin finished managing the Volozhin Tarbut School after Yakov arrived to teach there. Fruma Lifshits's describing her family's horrible story during the holocaust Horodok memorial, erected by Fruma assisted by some Horodok survivors - Picture of Yakov Lifshits Picture scanned from Vol.Y.Book, page 486 ----------------- Subj: Re: Yakov was born in Rakov (1907) Date: 2/23/03 10:02:14 PM Pacific Standard Time From: ruth@wilnai.com To: EilatGordn@aol.com Dear Eilat! Thanks for your email. I got very excited. I am quite sure that Yakov is my relative. I will be in Tel Aviv next month and I would like to meet Fruma as soon as possible. I beleive that all the Lifshitz in Rakov were relatives. Are you living in Israel? How can I meet Fruma? I have a picture of Yakov when he was a very young boy. Please email me your phone number I will call you. Thanks Ruthie . - Monday, February 24, 2003 at 10:05:44 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday, February 24, 2003 Shalom Eilat', It's me again with another "imprecision" always regarding Rakov. This time it's unsupportable, so I'm in rush to correct it: Rakov's geographical situation is south-EAST of Volozhin and not south-west, as I wrote it. So, I ask you and potential readers to excuse me. Sorry, Moshe Moshe Porat T-Aviv, Israel - Sunday, February 23, 2003 at 21:52:22 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalom Ruthie, I received an email from Moshe; Eilat shalom, Thank you for the message as above. Sorry for imprecision's in Childhood - Volozhyn 1924 - 1940, I wrote it from memory. 1) Yakov was born in Rakov (1907). 2) Taller came from Moltshad' near Lida. As for the information Ruthie Vilnai asks about Yakov Lifshits and his parents, brothers and sisters. Although, Yakov and his spouse Fruma were my teachers during 7 years of my learning the time of their teaching at the Volozhin Tarbut School. I did find nothing about his parents, brothers and sisters. What I know for sure is that 1) both were born outside Volozhin, Fruma in Radoshkowitsh, a district town 50 Km North East of Volozhin, Yakov in Rakov a shtetl in Volozhin district 30 Km South West of Volozhin 2) Yakov lost his father in Rakov when he was ten years old, it means during the first world war, in Rakov. I called Fruma by phone yesterday. She was alone at her home in Tel Aviv. She confirmed the written above. She told me also some details about the Horodok mass slaughter. Yakov has been killed before her eyes by one of their gentile neighbors. Both girls, Shoshanele the senior 6 years old and Hayele had been separated from Fruma. They joined Fruma's mother and three of her sister's children. Grand Mother with her five grand kids were killed and burnt together in Horodok mass slaughter on 11th July 1942. Attached, pls receive Shishko's article about Yakov Lifshits. Binyamin finished managing the Volozhin Tarbut School after Yakov arrived to teach there. Fruma Lifshits's describing her family's horrible story during the holocaust Horodok memorial, erected by Fruma assisted by some Horodok survivors - Picture of Yakov Lifshits Picture scanned from Vol.Y.Book, page 486 . - Sunday, February 23, 2003 at 17:01:02 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shalom Ruthie, I received an email from Moshe; Eilat shalom, Thank you for the message as above. Sorry for imprecision's in Childhood - Volozhyn 1924 - 1940, I wrote it from memory. 1) Yakov was born in Rakov (1907). 2) Taller came from Moltshad' near Lida. As for the information Ruthie Vilnai asks about Yakov Lifshits and his parents, brothers and sisters. Although, Yakov and his spouse Fruma were my teachers during 7 years of my learning the time of their teaching at the Volozhin Tarbut School. I did find nothing about his parents, brothers and sisters. What I know for sure is that 1) both were born outside Volozhin, Fruma in Radoshkowitsh, a district town 50 Km North East of Volozhin, Yakov in Rakov a shtetl in Volozhin district 30 Km South West of Volozhin 2) Yakov lost his father in Rakov when he was ten years old, it means during the first world war, in Rakov. I called Fruma by phone yesterday. She was alone at her home in Tel Aviv. She confirmed the written above. She told me also some details about the Horodok mass slaughter. Yakov has been killed before her eyes by one of their gentile neighbors. Both girls, Shoshanele the senior 6 years old and Hayele had been separated from Fruma. They joined Fruma's mother and three of her sister's children. Grand Mother with her five grand kids were killed and burnt together in Horodok mass slaughter on 11th July 1942. Attached, pls receive Shishko's article about Yakov Lifshits. Binyamin finished managing the Volozhin Tarbut School after Yakov arrived to teach there. Fruma Lifshits's describing her family's horrible story during the holocaust Horodok memorial, erected by Fruma assisted by some Horodok survivors - Picture of Yakov Lifshits Picture scanned from Vol.Y.Book, page 486 . - Sunday, February 23, 2003 at 17:00:50 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rabbi Isroel Lunin By Shulamit Goloventshits Translated by M. Porat. - Vol.Y. Book, page 493 Isroel Lunin arrived in Volozhin in the year 1910. He came to study at the Yeshiva Eyts Hayim that was headed at that time by Rabbi Refoel Shapiro. He married a native girl; Sheyne Berger, daughter of Feytshe and Tsvi-Hirsh. After their marriage he established a commerce of leathers and linen in partnership with Itshe Meyer Berman and Lipe Levin. The linen was transported by railroad to Vilna. The business flourished after a short time. R' Isroel adopted himself to the social life of Volozhin. He was elected as gabay manager of the Klayzl Small synagogue. He devoted much of his time to aid and assistance of the poor and to the economic development of the town. He was amongst the founders of the public Bank; Yiddish Folks Bank. He became its first director. The bank assisted Volozhin craftsmen-and businessmen. Isroel was also among the founders of the self-defense group during the First World War and was an active participant in its activities. R' Isroel was concerned about the Yeshiva building. He examined and rebuild it after the war caused much damages to the building. He became very busy with writing letters to Volozhin descendants in the States in which he asked for their assistance in the rebuilding of the Yeshiva. The founds soon arrived and the Yeshiva was reconditioned. He worried also about other dwelling conditions and economical aid for the Yeshiva students. Reb Isroel Lunin was much honored by the Volozhin inhabitants. It may be demonstrated by the following event. Volozhin had a dozen of horse-harnessed-cart drivers (Baleygoles). Their main work consisted of driving passengers from the town to the rail station. One day Hayim Meyer Yeshaye bought a bus to transport the passengers. The cart drivers worried for their Parnosse bread yearning, they turned to Reb Isroel for help. Isroel had a strong desire that he must assist the Baleygoles immediately. He suggested to Hayim Meyer to organize cooperation with the cart drivers. Hayim Meyer adopted Reb Isroel Lunin's suggestion. The poor cart drivers Parnosse was saved. Isroel Lunin was elected as head of the Volozhin Kehila (congregation) soon after the Polish rule was established (early 1920s). He adopted himself to the new spirits of the more modern times. He assisted in the founding of the Hebrew Tarbut School. Lunin became an ardent Zionist. I remember Grabovski's arriving from Vilna to collect donations for Keren Hayisod. He called an assembly in the Klayzl. The response was very weak. Lunin decided to make another effort to reach the Volozhiners. Together with Shlomo Hayim Brudno and Yani Garber they did a lot of Zionist publicity. The effect was big. At the following visit of Mr. Grabovski a considerable amount of money and valuebale objects were collected for Keren Hayessod. The final fate of the Volozhin Jews was also Isroel Lunin's and his family fate. They were murdered and burnt with his beloved shtetl congregation on May 1942 Volozhin. Picture scanned from Vol.Y.Book, page 494 The family of Isroel Lunin We did not succed to obtain R' Isroel Lunin's picture. We present there a picture of his family: Standing from right to left: Alter Shimshelevitsh (Isroel's brother in law) the first victim during Volozhin holocaust, was shot immediately with the Germans arrival. Haya Lea Shimshelevitsh Berger, Sheyne Lunin (Isroel's spouse). Seating: Shlomo Berger (Isroel's brother in law, deceased in Israel). Tsvi Hirshl Lunin By Hessl Perski Translated by M. Porat - Vol.Y. Book, page 590 Hessl Perski a renowned partisan is describing Volozhin born Partisans who fell on their weapon, among them Tsvi (Hirshke) Lunin, R' Isroel Lunin's elder son, Tsvi was born in Volozhin in 1921, son of Isroel and Sheyna Lunin. He ran away from the Volozhin Ghetto. But was caught by the Germans and brought to Ghetto Krasne. There he worked some time and succeeded to seacretly buy a rifle. He ran away once more, this time to the partisans. Hirshl joined the unit named Staritski. He was entrusted with the dangerous duty to follow German movements and to mine their vehicles. Hirshl with other members of his Partisan unit penetrated into Ivianits. He fought a bloody battle against the garrison and drove the Germans away from the shtetl. Once he was sent with a partisan group to accomplish sabotage acts in the Nalibok forest near Volozhin. The detachment stumbled across a German ambush. During the fight all the partisans were killed. Hirsh was the sole surviver. He defended himself until the last bullet. In his last fight he was severly wounded. Tsvi-Hirsh Lunin passed away on March 8, 1943. . - Friday, February 14, 2003 at 13:38:37 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, February 14, 2003 Shalom Eilat, You asked about Lunin, I knew his family. I was some time their neighbor. Our house stood on Vilna street, on the opposite side of the street was the Lunin's. I entered their home, when playing with Gershon who was my age. See his picture- http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_images/1230_12_b.gif . He's staying, beside our teacher in the Tarbut mandolin band). But I'm doubtful if it's the same people Rima Lunin Schultz is looking for. I gathered some descriptions about the Volozhin Lunins' from our Yizkor book. Attached to this message Word file "Lunin" contains: " Rabbi Isroel Lunin" By Shulamit Goloventshits, Translated by M. Porat. Vol.Y. Book, page 493 2. Picture of Lunins family, offered for the Yizkor Book by the author Shulamit Goloventhitz (page494),. The description was written by her (author). "Tsvi – Hirshl Lunin", By Hessl Perski, Translated by M. Porat - Vol.Y. Book, page 590 4. "The Destruction of Volozhin" (sections), By Mendel Volkovitsh, English printed in Volozhin Yizkor Book (page 30 from left side)- Dear Eylat , If you find the material suitable, please, pose it on your site. We shall read it and reread, especially the genuine blood and fire story of Volozhin destruction. Thank you Moshe Porat. . - Friday, February 14, 2003 at 11:40:51 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I received a note...My name is Rima Lunin Schultz. I am the granddaughter of Carl Lunin whose date of birth and death date you list. I never knew his exact birthdate but he did die in February of 1965 in New York, actually Brooklyn, New York. I am so surprised to have found out about your web site. It happened by accident -- my son, Carl Moses Schultz, named for his great grandfather Carl, used a google search with the name "Lunin." Could you tell me more about your project and how I may be of assistance with it? I am a professional historian..... I created the family site to find relatives of the lunin family who perished in Volozhin. Rabbi Israel Lunin perished with his wife and children; Nechama, Zvia and Zvi. http://eilatgordinlevitan.com/volozhin/vol_images/13001_5_b.gif I would like to dedicate the Lunin site to their memory and I welcome any pictures and information of all Lunins in any location. click for picture of the Lunin children. - Wednesday, February 12, 2003 at 11:06:48 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Belarus SIG members attending the 23rd IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Washington D.C. (July 20-25, 2003) FEARER, Mark Volozhin, Lyskava, Volkevysk, Ruzhany RAGOVIN, PINKAUSOVICH, CHERNICHOFF MARKEL, Beatrice Vileyka, Dalhinov, Vilna KAGAN,KAHAN,ZAPODNIK POSNICK, Mike Budslavy, Dolginovo, Drogiczn, Kobrin, Kopyl, Minsk, Mir, Novyy Sverzhen, Timkovichi EHRLICH, FRIEDMAN, GOLOVENCHITS, KOSOWSKY, POZNIAK, ROZIN, SHERMAN, SHULKIN, SZTEYNBERG, ZELEVYANSKY RHODE, Harold Dolginovo, Vileika Uyezd AXELROD, RUBIN, SHUMAN SMITH, Lester Oshmyany, Gudegai, Zhuprany, Vishnevo SHUMELISKY, DAVIDSON . - Tuesday, February 11, 2003 at 19:00:23 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Menachem Zundel SHAPIRO Born: Of Eivanitz. Children: Aryey Leib SHAPIRO Born: 1789. Died: 1853 Spouse:Granddaughter Of Arye SHAPIRO Children: 1. Miriam KALWARIA 2. Menachem Zundel SHAPIRO Born: Of Ilia. Children: -----------------Chaim Jacob SHAPIRO Born: 1832, Of Jerusalem. Children: =============================Sheina Malka RALBAG ===========================David SHAPIRO (1854-1937) Children: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////FRANK ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////LEVIN 3. Solomon RABINOWITZ Died: 1884 Children: ---------------------------Samuel RABINOWITZ --------------------------Esther RABINOWITZ --------------------------Leib Hirsch RABINOWITZ ------------------------------Mordecai RABINOWITZ ---------------------------Zundel RABINOWITZ Born: 1845. Died: 1941. 4. Noach Haim Abraham SHAPIRO Died: 1886. Children: ----------------------Nechama Spouse: Menashe Joseph GUNZBERG Children: ==============================Isser GINSBERG Born: 1885. Died: 1970 ---------------------------MEIR ---------------------------Rivke Spouse: Tanchen Gershon Ben BILITZKY Born: 1858 Died: 1941====================Children: =====================Channah KARLINSKY Born: 1881. Died: 1952. ======================Haim Abraham BIALIK Born: 1887. Died: 1965. =======================Isaac Aryey BILITZKY Born: 1887. Died: 1933. ======================Nathan Nata BILITZKY Born: 1898. Died: 1982 5. Sarah GUNZBERG Spouse: Moses Solomon GUNZBERG Children: -----------------------Menashe Joseph GUNZBERG Children: =====================Isser GINSBERG Born: 1885. Died: 1970. 6. Levi SHAPIRO Died: 1880. 7. Rephael SHAPIRO Born: 1837, Of Volozhin. Died: 1921.Spouse: Sarah Rasha SHAPIRO Children: -------------Lifsche SOLOVEITCHIK ------------------Mirl RIFF --------------------Menachem Zundel SHAPIRO Died: 1907. -------------------Aryey Leib SHAPIRO -----------------Isaac SHAPIRO Born: Of Lida. --------------------Jacob SHAPIRO Born: 1873. Died: 1936. 8. Samuel Moses SHAPIRO Born: 1843. Died: 1908.Children: ----------------Haim Zvi Hirsch SHAPIRO Died: 1934. ----------------------Reuben SHAPIRO Born: Of Dvinsk. -----------------Abraham Leib SHAPIRO Born: 1862. Died: 1915. . - Tuesday, February 04, 2003 at 08:30:56 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ In a message dated 2/4/03 7:25:31 AM Pacific Standard Time, poratm@netvision.net.il writes: I found there (in the guest book) the name of my good friend Leyzer (Leyshke) Meltser His father Shimen-Itshe (Shimon Isaak Meltser) and mother Sore Sheyne, both of them perished in 1942, May 10 at the second action and not on Sept 13 1941 as it's written in the New guest book. That's the information Leyshke had past , when I called him today. here is the family tree; Zvi MELTZER (grandfathjer of Shimon Peres) Born: Abt 1865, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Spouse: ELTE Children: Shimon Isaac MELTZER Born: Abt 1895, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 1942, May 10 , Volozhin, Vilna, Russia.Spouse: Sarah Shiena nee RABINOVICH Born: 1900, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia PERISHED: 1942, May 10 , Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: David Leizer MELTCER, Living. Spouse: Sophia MILIKOVSCAR, Living to check family trees click here; - Tuesday, February 04, 2003 at 07:54:39 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Greetings from San Diego,CA. My name is Rob..Let me thank you for such an informative sitecopenhagen hotels brugge hotels luxemburg hotels Excelent graphic photoshop designed and easy to navigate. porto hotelsinterlaken hotelsinnsbruck hotelssalzburg hotels berne hotels antwerp hotels ibiza hotels rome hotels paris hotels Your site is indeed a wonderful and i bookmarked it in a Internet Cafe. london hotels madrid hotelscordoba hotels athens hotelsbarcelona hotels istanbul hotels I have closed more time explained around me with the contents of your home page from each other now.oslo hotelscasablanca hotelshelsinki hotels gothenburg hotels lucerne hotels birmingham hotels pisa hotels Unfortunately, there are little good sites. Your site is very good.Thank you for the opportunity to sign your guest book.lyon hotels nice hotels manchester hotels antalya hotels ankara hotels cairo hotels Your site is very good. I will recommend and come back. I found it very interesting to read other peoples comments about your site. Rob from San Diego, CA Rob USA - Monday, February 03, 2003 at 10:00:03 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Today I talked to my brother Joe, I asked him to get the photos of moms family (of blessed memory) . Please contact him. He was actually born in volozhin probably one of the last Jewish children to be born there. His email address is Jrogo3006. Please contact him .He is married and has 2 boys His wife is Rochelle and his kids are Adam and Larry. On shabbos I was visiting my aunt (My fathers' sister) house; She is Cheyna Rogovin who is 90 years old and of crystal clear speech and thought. with my fondest and best Mark Rogowin Mrogowind . - Sunday, February 02, 2003 at 18:24:08 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ HaRav Yitzchok Isaac Halevi Rabinowitz, zt'l, Author Of Doros Horishonim by Moshe Musman and Yated Ne'eman Staff .... ......As a young child, Yitzchok Isaac's purity of heart and sterling character were already apparent. He began learning gemora when he was five and a half years old. When he was thirteen he entered the yeshiva of Volozhin, his mother's father providing him with a modest stipend for his personal needs. Because he was so young, the family entrusted the money to the owner of the home where Yitzchok Isaac lodged, to be given to him as and when necessary. Unfortunately, this man betrayed his trust and regularly took part of the money for himself, leaving his young charge to suffer hunger and want. If he judged that Yitzchok Isaac would remain silent rather than cause him embarrassment, he was correct. Not only did the latter refrain from so much as hinting to him that he knew what he was doing, he also avoided giving others any suspicions. He would leave half a cheese out on his table all week, so that his roommates would think that he was well off. When a friend once asked him why he never ate meat during the week, he replied that in the Rambam's opinion, meat was hard to digest and it was good to minimize its consumption. In later years, this landlord was a frequent visitor at Rav Halevi's home in Vilna. Rav Halevi always honored him and addressed him respectfully. Growth and Development From the day he arrived in Volozhin, he struck up a friendship with the Beis Halevi, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt'l (who was then rosh yeshiva), whose close talmid he became. Their relationship strengthened the bond between the two families that had existed since the yeshiva's first days. A great-great-grandfather, Rav Isaac Ivenitzer, after whom Yitzchok Isaac was named, had supported Rav Chaim of Volozhin and donated the money that enabled the yeshiva to open. Yitzchok Isaac's broad knowledge and sharp intellect endeared him to Rav Yosef Dov, whose door and heart were always open to him. Writing to his talmid as a grown man in later years, Rav Yosef Dov opened his letter with the greeting, "Sholom to the friend of Hashem, the friend of my soul and the friend of every man." This period also saw the beginning of a lifelong friendship with Rav Chaim Halevi Soloveitchik zt'l. Of his bond with Reb Chaim he wrote years later, "It was known in Russia, that we were literally as close as two brothers. I was also responsible for his being appointed as a rosh mesivta in Volozhin during its heyday. Each year, he stayed in my home for several months." After a year in Volozhin he returned to Vilna and continued learning there, together with the city's great talmidei chachomim. Prior to his departure from the yeshiva, he delivered a lengthy discourse in the presence of his teachers and the bnei hayeshiva, astounding them with his broad knowledge, sharpness and clarity of thought. At eighteen, he married his cousin, a daughter of his mother's brother Rav Sho'ul Kovner. He was immediately offered a rabbinic position in a town near Minsk, apparently on the recommendation of his paternal grandfather Rav Nochum Chaim who realized that such a position would afford his gifted grandson the opportunity to sit and learn in peace and attain his full potential.... Click to read the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 18:25:51 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My grandfather was Alexander Sklut who emigrated to South Africa. Emigrated from Volozhin with his three brothers. Two went to South Africa, two of them to U.S.A. My great great great grandfather was Chaim of Volozhin Heather Kopp (Sklut) hkopp@osler.com . - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 18:19:24 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "As a child, I grew up in my grandfather's home, Rabbi Tzvi Meltzer. I was educated by him. The grandfather of my grandfather was Rabbi Haim M'Volozhin. My grandfather taught me Talmud. It was not as easy as it sounds. My home was not an observant one. My parents were not Orthodox but I was hareidi. At one point, I heard my parents listening to the radio on the Sabbath and I smashed it. I must add here however that in my father's merit, as a child, I received a blessing from the Chofetz Haim in Radin. My father took me to him." Former Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, in a recent interview with the Israeli magazine Mishpacha. www.israelwire.com 2/21/00 . - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 18:18:10 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rabbi Kreiswirth's daughter Penina is married to Rabbi Pincus Zelivansky of Jerusalem, whose lineage is traced back to Joseph Treves, ABD of Paris, born about 1300 (in "The Unbroken Chain"). His grandfather was Rabbi Aryeh Shapiro from Bialystok who was the son of Rabbi Refoel of Volozhin who was the son in law of the Netziv of Volozhin. Click for the rest of the family tree - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 18:09:00 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BIALIK, HAYYIM NAHMAN (1873-1934), the greatest Hebrew poet of modern times, essayist, storywriter, translator, and editor, who exercised a profound influence on modern Jewish culture.... ....Convinced by a journalistic report that the yeshivah of Volozhin in Lithuania would offer him an introduction to the humanities, as well as a continuation of his talmudic studies, Bialik persuaded his grandfather to permit him to study there. In Volozhin, a center of Mitnaggedim, his hopes for a secular academic training were not fulfilled since the yeshivah concentrated only on the scholarly virtues of talmudic dialectic and erudition. For a short time Bialik immersed himself in the traditional disciplines. In some of his poems the image of his stern grandfather merges with the image of the uncompromising rosh yeshivah, becoming a symbol of the burning imperatives of traditional Judaism. In the end, however, modernist doubts triumphed over traditionalist certainties. Bialik began to withdraw from the life of the school and lived in the world of poetry. At this time, he read Russian poetry and started his acquaintance with European literature. During the following year in Volozhin and later in Odessa, he was deeply moved by Shimon Shemuel Frug's Jewish poems, written in Russian, and many of Bialik's early motifs echo him. His first published poem "El ha-Zippor" ("To the Bird") was written in Volozhin. In the yeshivah Bialik joined a secret Orthodox Zionist student society, Nezah Israel, which attempted to synthesize Jewish nationalism and enlightenment with a firm adherence to tradition. Bialik's first published work (in Ha-Meliz, 1891) is an exposition of the principles of the society and reflects the teachings of Ahad Ha-Am's spiritual Zionism. click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 18:04:09 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jenny Rogovin (B 1867 d 1943) Married Max Berman (B 1862 died 1957) in Volozhin. Max's father was Velvel Berman and his mother was Sara. Jenny's father was Joseph Rogovin (B 5/25/1839 died 1/23/1919) her mother was Rose Genesha (Shusha) Farberman (B 1836 D 11/17/1917); Joseph's father was Leon (Eliezer) Rogovin (B circa 1819), his mother was Florence Farberman (B circa 1816); Leon's father was Ellya Rogovin (B circa 1791). Thanks! Barbara Berman <BBerman597@aol.com> - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 17:52:42 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zvi MELTZER (grandfathjer of Shimon Peres) Born: Abt 1865, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Spouse: ELTE Children: Shimon Isaac MELTZER Born: Abt 1895, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia.Spouse: Sarah Shiena RABINOVICH Born: 1900, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: David Leizer MELTCER, Living. Spouse: Sophia MILIKOVSCAR, Living Children: Khasya MELTCER Born: 1950, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Died: 1981. Shimon MELTCER, Living. Spouse: Mincis NAHAN, Living Children: Daniel NAHAN, Living. Dov MELTCER Born: 1925, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland. PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Leah Rose MELTCER Born: 1928, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland. PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Polina RODOVA, Living Children: Yaakov MELTCER, Living. Khasya MELTCER, Living. MELTZER Sarah MELTZER Spouse: Yitzhak PERSKY Born: 1896, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: 1962, , , Israel Children: Shimon PERES, Living. Gershon PERSKY Living. MELTZER MELTZER MELTZER MELTZER Itka MELTZER Joseph MELTZER Paternal Grandfather: Leiba RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1835, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Abt 1893, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Paternal Grandmother: Rokha RABINOVICH Born: 1839, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Maternal Grandfather: Mayer PODBERESKY Born: 1844, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: 1921, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Maternal Grandmother: Rivka PODBERESKY Born: 1842, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Abt 1925, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Father: Kiva (Akiva) RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1875, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Mother: Leia Raisa PODBERESKY Born: 1876, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Apr 1918, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Sarah Shiena RABINOVICH Born: 1900, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Spouse: Shimon Isaac MELTZER Born: Abt 1895, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: David Leizer MELTCER, Living. Dov MELTCER Born: 1925, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland. PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Leah Rose MELTCER Born: 1928, Volozhin, Vilna, Poland. PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Paternal Grandfather: Kiva RABINOVICH Born: 1776 Died: 1841 Paternal Grandmother: KHENA Born: 1779, Wolayka, Vilna, Russia Maternal Grandfather: Maternal Grandmother: Father: Isaac RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1810, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Mother: Sheina Born: Abt 1810, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Leiba RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1835, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Abt 1893, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Spouse: Rokha RABINOVICH Born: 1839, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Children: Dvora RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1855, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 1917, Minsk, Minsk, Russia. Spouse: Herschel DELATITSKY Born: Abt 1850, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: 1917, Minsk, Minsk, Russia Children: DELATITSKY DELATITSKY DELATITSKY DELATITSKY DELATITSKY DELATITSKY DELATITSKY DELATITSKY Lazar DELATITSKY Born: Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 1942, Ivye, Vilna, Russia. Sophie DAILY Born: Abt 1872, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 24 May 1941, Houston, Harris, Texas. Benjamin Harrison DAILY Born: 7 Dec 1873, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 20 Feb 1949, Houston, Harris, Texas. Hyman DAILY Born: 1874, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 15 Sep 1910, Denver, Jefferson, Colorado. Joseph DAILY Born: 15 Apr 1874, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 31 Dec 1953, Houston, Harris, Texas. Louis DAILY Born: 17 Jul 1882, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 29 Jan 1952, Houston, Harris, Texas. Abe DAILY Born: 15 Dec 1889, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: 17 Jan 1915. Died: 29 May 1955, Houston, Harris, Texas. Gladys DAILY Born: 15 Oct 1902, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 18 Apr 1973. Leonard DAILY Born: 22 Oct 1906, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 9 Feb 1980, Houston, Harris, Texas. Miriam RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1860, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: Aft 1934, Vishnevo, Vilna, Poland. Rachel Minnie RABINOVICH Born: 1864, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: Abt 1886. Died: 3 Dec 1932, Houston, Harris, Texas. Spouse: Phillip ROBINOWITZ Born: 1862, Iyve, Vilna, Russia Married: Abt 1886 Died: Aft 22 Feb 1934, Vishnevo, Vilna, Poland Children: Sophie ROBINOWITZ Born: 16 Sep 1885, Russia. Died: 12 Nov 1975, Houston, Harris, Texas. Isador (Izzie) ROBINOWITZ Born: 25 Dec 1889, Russia. Died: 7 Feb 1974, Houston, Harris, Texas. Nathan ROBINOWITZ Born: 10 Jan 1890, Russia. Died: 5 Feb 1960, Houston, Harris, Texas. Lena ROBINOWITZ Born: 25 Sep 1891, Russia. Died: 27 Dec 1980, Houston, Harris, Texas. Joe ROBINOWITZ Born: 15 Sep 1894, Russia. Died: 11 Sep 1967, Houston, Harris, Texas. Esther ROBINOWITZ Born: 28 Feb 1896, Russia. Died: 31 Oct 1940, Houston, Harris, Texas. Libbie ROBINOWITZ Born: 31 May 1902, Russia. Died: 19 May 1987, Houston, Harris, Texas. Benjamin Isaac RABINOVICH Born: 1856, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 1941, Volozhin, Minsk, Russia. Children: Baruch RABINOVICH Born: Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Shimon Moshe RABINOVICH Born: Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Kiva (Akiva) RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1875, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Rachel Married: 1923, Visnevo, Vilna, Russia PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Spouse: Leia Raisa PODBERESKY Born: 1876, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: Apr 1918, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: Leon ROBBINS Born: 19 Sep 1893, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: 8 Nov 1925, Houston, Harris, Texas. Died: 11 Sep 1998, Houston, Harris, Texas. Bela RABINOVICH Born: 1899, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Sarah Shiena RABINOVICH Born: 1900, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 13 Sep 1941, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Moshe RABINOVICH Born: 1903, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: Abt 1941, Lejamoz, Lithuania. Joseph RABINOVICH Born: 1905, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: Abt 1943, In The Woods Nea. Died: 1945, Bogdanova, Vilna, Russia. RABINOVICH Born: 1908, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: Abt 1913, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1909, Vishnevo, Vilno, Russia. Died: Abt 1915, Vishnevo, Vilno, Russia. Fruma Basha RABINOVICH Born: 1911, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Rachel RABINOVICH Born: Oct 1917, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Israel Eliahu RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1872, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Rachel PERISHED: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Children: Leibe RABINOVICH Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Mina RABINOVICH Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Sora RABINOVICH Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Luba RABINOVICH Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Shana Gittel RABINOVICH Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Mordachai RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1875, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Mollie Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Children: RABINOVICH RABINOVICH RABINOVICH RABINOVICH Zalman RABINOVICH Born: Abt 1880, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Rachel Leah Born: Abt 1885, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia Died: 22 Oct 1942, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia . - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 17:48:36 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Jacob PERSKY Born: Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Spouse: Chava SARA Born: Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Children: 1. Faygel PERSKY Born: 1861, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Married: Abt 1879, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Died: Volozhin, Vilna, Russia. Spouse: Julius BERMAN Born: 1848, Vishnevo, Vilna, RussiaMarried: Abt 1879, Volozhin, Vilna, Russia Died: 1928 Children: -----------Michael BERMAN -----------Raye BERMAN Spouse: Max RABINOWITZ Children: ================Lou RABINOWITZ ===============Hyman RABINOWITZ ===============Vera RABINOWITZ ==================RABINOWITZ ====================RABINOWITZ ----------Charles BERMAN -------------Maximillian BERMAN Born: Abt 1888, Vishnevo, Vilna, Russia. Married: 26 May 1918, Brooklyn, , New York. Died: 10 Jan 1971, Baltimore, , Maryland. Spouse: Sophie LEVITSKY Born: 21 Dec 1898, Kiev, Ukraine, Russia Married: 26 May 1918, Brooklyn, , New York Died: 20 Dec 1976, , Howard, Maryland Children: ==============Evelyn BERMAN, Living. Spouse: Jack GITECK, Living Children: ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Anita GITECK, Living. Spouse #1: Roger STRASNER Children: ///////////////////////////////Larry STRASNER Born: Los Angeles, Angeles, California. /////////////////////////////////Michael STRASNER Born: Los Angeles, Angeles, California. Spouse#2: Robert DRUJON, Living Children: //////////////////////////////////Danielle DRUJON, Living. //////////////////////////////////Candide DRUJON, Living. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Janice GITECK, Living. Spouse: John DUYKERS Children: /////////////////////////////////////Max DUYKERS, Living. '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Sharon GITECK, Living. Spouse: Richard DRUJON, Living Children: //////////////////////////////////////////Jesse DRUJON, Living. /////////////////////////////////////////Jillian DRUJON, Living. ===============Florence BERMAN, Living. Spouse: Seymour BARONDES, Living Children: '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Vivian BARONDES, Living. Spouse: Robert Garland PHILLIPS, Living Children: ///////////////////////////////////////////Aaron PHILLIPS, Living. ////////////////////////////////////////Benjamin PHILLIPS, Living. ////////////////////////////////////////Dara PHILLIPS, Living. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Anita BARONDES, Living. ===============Arthur S. BERMAN, Living. Spouse: Selma SINROD, Living Children: '''''''''''''''''''''''''''Joel Alan BERMAN, Living. Spouse #1: SHERI Children: Rachel BERMAN Spouse #2: MARY Children: Jeffrey BERMAN '''''''''''''''''''''''''''Susan BERMAN Born: , , New York. Spouse: Joseph COPERSITO Children: /////////////////////////////Jason COPERSITO /////////////////////////////Ethan COPERSITO '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Larry BERMAN Born: Hicksville, Li, New York. Spouse: JULIE Children: //////////////////////////////////////BERMAN //////////////////////////////////////Matthew BERMAN ///////////////////////////////////////Eric BERMAN ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Caryn BERMAN Born: Hicksville, Li, New York. Spouse: Joe BRITTAIN Children: ///////////////////////////////////Sarah BRITTAIN ////////////////////////////////////Alex BRITTAIN ////////////////////////////////Jay BRITTAIN '''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Michael BERMAN Born: Hicksville, Li, New York. Spouse: KIM ===========Bernard BERMAN, Living Spouse: June SINGER Born: 15 Oct 1931, Brooklyn, , New York Died: 4 Feb 1997, Orlando, Orange, Florida Children: '''''''''''''''''''''''''Steve BERMAN, Living. ''''''''''''''''''''''Brad BERMAN, Living. ''''''''''''''''''''''''''''Jeralyn BERMAN, Living. ''''''''''''''''''''Terry BERMAN, Living. Spouse: MELINDA, Living Children: //////////////////////////////////////Cliff BERMAN /////////////////////////////////////Geneva BERMAN ''''''''''''''''''''''Lynda BERMAN, Living. ''''''''''''''''''''''''Gayle BERMAN, Living. 2. Razel PERSKY 3. Mordechai PERSKY 4. Abraham PERSKY DUDMAN Aharon son of Abram was born in 1818 married Henia (sister of Ytzhak who lived in Germany) DUDMAN Benjamin son of Aharon born in 1836 DUDMAN Keyla daughter of Yankel Benjamin's wife some of their children; 1.Meir Dudman 2. Mordechai Dudman 3. Ester Reisa the mother of Shalom, Blumka, Chaim, Chanoch (and other) Abramson 4. DUDMAN Rasia was born in 1856 to Keyla and Benjamin Dudman other grandchildren; Aharon Zvi Dudman and Gdalyahu Dudman (Nachum Goldman?) Benjamin was a "country doctor" DUDMAN Yankel Moshe son of Aharon born in 1842 father to Mordechai was a shoe maker. brother of Aharon; DUDMAN Yankel son of Abram born in 1814 His sons 1. DUDMAN Hatskel Conscripted to the army in 1852 at age 17. was born in 1835 2. DUDMAN Chaim was born in 1840 his wife ; DUDMAN Rasia daughter of Hatskel was born in 1839. . - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 17:36:42 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Polish Aliyah Passports from WISNIOWA or WOLOZYN; ELISZKIEWICZ/ELJASZKIEWICZ ABRAMSON, BUNIMOWICZ , RABINOWICZ, SALMAN ,BERMAN, KAGAN http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/jhi/jri-jhi-aliyah-passport.htm In the 1930s as the shadow of history was lengthening over the Jews of Europe, several thousand Polish Jews managed to emigrate to what was then British Mandate Palestine. The 'Passports' collection in the Archives of the Jewish Historical Institute of Poland (Warsaw) consists of 3,754 Polish passports issued primarily during the 1930s to Polish citizens going to what was then British Mandate Palestine. The vast majority were one-time-only passports for Jews emigrating to Palestine ("making aliyah"). These were issued in Poland or by Polish consulates abroad. A very small number are tourist or non-emigrant passports (e.g. for an author on a speaking tour or a nun on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land). LAST NAME BORN IN =========================== PERSKA Wiszniew, Wolozyn ALPEROWICZ Kurzeniec GWINT (Yisrael) Kurzeniec BOTWINIK Kurzeniec, Raków LIMON Kurzeniec, Wasiliszki, Bojary gm. Szczuczyn BUNIMOWICZ Wolozyn, Wilejka PLAWNIK Wilejka ENTIN Rosja, Wilno, Wilejka CHODOS Maiadziol, Warszawa LIFSZYC Dolhinów DIMENSZTEJN Dolhinów KUPERSZTOCH Dolhinów, Glebokie, drohicki pow SZRAJBMAN Dolhinów ZULAR Klesów, Dolhinów REZNIK Radoszkowicze, Kostopol, Warszawa, Lysków, Dolhinów DOBKIN Swir ELISZKIEWICZ Wilno, Oszmiana ELJASZKIEWICZ Molodeczno FINKIEL Troki, Mir, Bialystok, Nowa Wilejka, Wilno, Warszawa LEWIN Jedrzejów, Warszawa, Dolhinów, Ejszyszki, Wilno, Rudomino, Wieden, Haifa, Dywin, Kobryn, Sompolno, Kolo, Sompolno, Lódz ui. Leszno 41, Pinsk, Konskowola, Raków, Smorgonie, Suchowola, Baranowicze, Goniadz, Bialystok, Stryj, Sokólka, Grodno ROBINZON Molodeczno, Tel - Aviv, Swieciany ROZENHAUZ Radoszkowicze, Wilno RUBIN Sobienie Jeziory, Warszawa, Nowy Sacz, Jaroslaw, Lubien Wielki, Jerozolima, Wloclawek, Jaworzno, Tarnów RUBINSZTEJN Warszawa, Tomaszów Maz., Ilja, Wloclawek, Rypin, Jerozolima, Lenin, Pinsk, Zalutycze, Baranowicze, Janów, Ryki RUDNIK Oszmiana, Wilno, Traby, Smorgonie SOKHABENZON Krewo, Lebiedziew SZYSZKO Wolozyn, Warszawa TAUBES Postawy, Lwów, Bóbrka, Tel - Aviv TEWIELEWICZ Soly ZILBERGLEIT Krasne ZUSMAN Wilno, Warszawa ABEL Smorgonie, Wilno, Hoduriszki CHEJFEC Lachwa, Radun, Warszawa, Dolhinów pow. Wilejka, Wilno ABEL Smorgonie, Wilno, Hoduriszki CEPELOWICZ Postawy CUKIERMAN Sokolów, Waszawa, Bedzin, pow.Wilejki lub Wilenski, Wilno, Nowy Korczyn CZUCHMAN Dunilowicze, Dokszyce CYGIEL Saratów, Smorgonie ISURIN Glebokie GIRSZOWICZ Iwje k/Lidy ORLIK Nasielsk, Warszawa, Wilejka HELBORD Piaski, Molodeczno PEREWOZNIK Smorgonie, Wilno, Hoduciszki http://www.jewishgen.org/jri-pl/jhi/jri-jhi-aliyah-passport.htm click for the site - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 17:35:41 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the passing (1993)of Harav Soloveitchik zz"l I wanted to give a short biographical sketch for those not familar with his career. I am sure that in the near future someone (not artscroll) will come out with a book on his life and works. I have also heard that a few years ago Rabbi Rakefet (Rothkoff) gave a talk in Rehovot about R. Soloveitchik's life. If anyone has notes on that or other aspects I would be interested in receiving them. What I write is based on various stories that I have heard and I cannot vouch for all of them. Rav Soloveitchik was born on Febuary 27, 1903 (30th shevat) in Pruzhan, Poland. His father was R. Moshe Soloveitchik the eldest son of Rav Chaim Soloveitchik who was famous for introducing a new method into the learning of Gemara. Other ancestors were R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (Beis - Halevi, after whom he was named) and R. Berlin (Netziv) both of whom headed the yeshiva of Voloshin at various times. Though they eventually split up, R. Chaim Soloveitchik married the grandaughter of the Netziv. R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik was also a descendent of R. Chaim Volozhin. On his maternal side R. Soloveitchik's grandfather was R. Elijah Feinstein and hence he was cousins with both R. Moshe Feinstein and R. Michal Feinstein of Bnei Brak. In his youth R. Soloveitchik studied mainly with his father. There is a story that as a young child he had a tutor who was a chabadnik. R. Moshe Soloveitchik complained to his father that the young boy didn't know any Gemara and didn't seem to have a head for studies. On a visit, R. Chaim Soloveitchik tested his grandson and saw that indeed he understood nothing in the Gemara. He then tested him on Tanya (the sefer of the first Lubavitcher rebbe) and the grandson knew pages by heart. He then advised that they change tutors. In any case R. Soloveitchik flourished and for his bar Mitzva speech was giving original pieces of Torah. At the age of 22, already a known scholar, he moved to Berlin and attended the university there first majoring in math and physics eventually changing to philosophy and received his Ph.D. in philosophy 6 years later. Again rumor has it, that he chose as his Ph.D. topic the Morah Nevukhim of Maimonides but he know more than all the professors and no one could judge itand so instead he wrote a thesis about Hermann Cohen. He also met together with other religious boys in Berlin at the time. His mentor was R. Chaim Heller and his comrades were R. Hutner (later Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin) and R. Sheneerson (present Lubavitcher Rebbe). There is also a story that he was introduced to Nechama Lebowitz but could not find her in the library because she was hidden behind a stack of books that she was studying. He received his Ph.D. in 1931 and a year later moved to Boston where he later helped found the Maimonides school. About the same time his father moved to the U.S. and became the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva University. In 1940 his father passed away and a year later his son took over as Rosh Yeshiva. He remained as Rosh Yeshiva for over 40 years. He ordained about 2,000 students. In 1936 he came to Israel (his only visit) to apply for the position of chief rabbi of Tel Aviv but lost the contest to R. Amiel. It is said that at it his derasha in Tel Aviv that Chaim Nachman Bialik was in attendance. As a youngster Bialik had learned in Volozhin in the days of R. Soloveitchik's great-great- grandfather, the Netziv. (It is immortalized in the poem Ha-matmid). Bialik is reported to have been astounded at the difference between the two and very impressed with the Rav. There have been numerous rumors as to why he never returned to Israel even though a daughter and her family live in Israel and his son studied in Israel and has spent many years in Israel. The two major reasons that I have heard was either that he felt that one should not visit Israel and then leave or that he felt he would have to visit Heichal Shlomo to see the chief rabbis but on the other hand his uncle (Rav Velvele) had pronounced a Herem against entering Heichal Shlomo. After R. Herzog passed away R. Soloveitchik was requested to become chief rabbi of Israel but refused and R. Unterman was then chosen. Again two reasons are offered about his refusal to accept the position of chief rabbi either because he didn't wish to mix religion and politics or else because of opposition from the Israeli branch of the Soloveitchik family. In spite of differences of opinions the Rav was a very family oriented individual. Though his father was active in Mizrachi (and ostracized by the rest of the family) R. Soloveitchik joined Agudah when he came to the U.S. He was a member of the Moetzet Gedolei HaTorah of America. I have seen a picture of him delivering the main speech at the first annual dinner for the Lakewood Yeshiva. They claim that R. Aharon Kotler was crying and trying to stop R. Soloveitchik because of R. Soloveitchik's praises of R. Kotler. After the holocaust, R. Soloveitchik decided that the only future lay with the establishment of a state of Israel and he left Agudah and became the spiritual head of Mizrachi (1946). In the book "chamesh derashot" are five lectures he gave (in yiddish) to the Mizrachi on how he struggled with the decision to back Israel knowing full well his family's position. The book has since been translated to English (see also his Kol Dodi dofek). In the 50's he also became head of the Halacha committee for the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). He continued to live in Boston and flew every week to NY for 2-3 days to give shiurim. When I went to YU (mid 1960s) he gave 2 shiurim a day one to the semicha students and one the the college students each one lasting 2-3 hours. The college shiur had about 70 students packed in the room. By the end of the 60's he gave up the college shiur and only taught the semicha shiur. During his stay in NY he also gave a weekly shiur in Moriah on masekhet Berakhot which went for many years and had a steady audience. During the summers he was in Cape Cod where he continued giving shiurim to those students who came out special to be with him. He also gave a yahrzeit shiur (in yiddish) in honor of his father and there were about 2,000 people attending (For those familar with YU, the entire main auditorium with an overflow crowd and speakers in the Bet Medrash - in those days no remote TV just sound). These shiurim lasted for several hours and combined Halakha and aggadata. The Halakha portion of many of these shiurim have been published in two volumes "Shiurim Le-Zecher Abba Mori". In addition to his other great talents R. Soloveitchik was a great lecturer which is rather unusual .He also gave an annual shiur on Teshuva between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur for the RCA also with several hundred attendees. His public derashot were usually in Yiddish but his Gemara shiurim were in English. He explained that he was more comfortable in yiddish but that the highest priority was that the students completely undertand the Gemara and not miss out on some thought because they didn't understand the yiddish. He met his wife, Tonya Lewit, in Berlin were she was studying. She had a doctorate in eductaion from Jena University. Rumor has it that when someone called the house asking for Dr. Soloveitchik she would answer "which one?" (can't verify the story). His wife passed away in 1967 and thereafter R. Soloveitchik gave a yahrzeit shiur in her honor, in English. Many women attended these shiurim. A little later his mother passed away and was included in this special shiur. In the early 1980's R. Soloveitchik became ill and stopped giving public shiurim and his place as Rosh Yeshiva at YU was taken by his brother R. Aaron Soloveitchik. He is survived by a son Chaim Soloveitchik who has a Ph.D. from Hebrew University in Jewish history. At times he has given shiurim and lectures in both YU and Hebrew University. The papers say that R. Chaim Solveitchik is presently a rabbi in Riverdale. He is a faculty member (and past dean) of Revel Graduate Scool at YU. The Rav's oldest daughter is married to Prof. Twersky in the department of Jewish History at Harvard and the younger daughter is married to R. Aharaon Lichtenstein Rosh Yeshiva of Har Etzion in Alon Shvut (who also has a Ph.D. in English literature from Harvard). His daughter, Tova, was also one of the founders of the political party, Meimad. R. Soloveitchik wrote only a few extended articles, e.g. Confrontation, Lonely Man of Faith (English), "Ish Haemuna" (Hebrew - translated into English as Halakhic Man) and Kol Dodi Dofek, U-bekashtem me-sham (Hebrew). In 1986 there also appeared a book "Halakhic Mind" which he wrote in the 1940's but never published. However, many of his lectures and shiurim have been published by students and I own 15 books of his works and there are probably others. Most of the works are available in both English and Hebrew. Rav Soloveitchik was unusual in that he was a giant in both Talmudic learning and in Jewish Philosophy. His shiurim and his Yahrzeit shiurim in particular were classics in terms of "Brisker Torah". On the other nand he was one of a handful of gedolim who was comfortable in western culture in general and in philosophy in particular. His article "Lonely Man of Faith" was dedicated to his wife (interestingly, the Hebrew translation left out this dedication). There are stories of love letters that he wrote to Tonya. This article in particular addresses the conflicts of being both a scientist and a religious Jew and I would highly recommend it to readers of this mailing list. I am also constantly amazed at the quality of the English that the Rav uses in spite of the fact that he learned English relatively late in life. As distinct from Maimonides in Moreh Nevukhim , R. Soloveitchik bases his philosophy on Halakha, see for example the last chapter of Halakhic Mind. In many ways R. Soloveitchik was the greatest person to combine all these diverse fields since Maimonides. I consider myself as very fortunate in being able to have attended his shiurim for several years. I know he made a tremendous impact on the lives of those who attended his shiurim. I would be grateful for any additions or correction to the above information. Rick Turkel , - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 17:07:48 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ When my father reached the age of fourteen or fifteen, he heard the unseen horizon’s call, and felt an urge to seek greater goals. The small business of his parents, probably a little shop, deteriorated; and it happened once that a creditor slapped the face of my father’s elder sister. This episode made a fierce impression on the young man, and he decided to strike out on his own and achieve a position in life through study. Study meant Hebrew study of the Law. In Mstislav there were great talmudists, but no yeshiva or academy of learning. My father conceived a plan to go away secretly to the famous center of Jewish learning—the yeshiva of Volojin. Very possibly his father would not have opposed his going to a yeshiva had he asked; but the reading of a book, I believe by Mendel Moher Seforim, made him emulate the way of leaving the paternal home, and even the letter of parting he wrote partly copying it from that book. click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:57:25 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rabbi Hayyim and the Great Yeshivah of Volozhin In 1803, Rabbi Hayyim ben Isaac of Volozhin (1749-1821) established what was to become the classic model of Lithuanian yeshiva, a central institution that was designed not merely to educate local youths, but primarily to serve as a focus for the finest students throughout the Jewish world. At the "Etz Hayyim" ("Tree of Life") yeshivah the students would be exposed to a demanding schedule, extending for six days a week. Studies often continued from 3:00 a.m. to midnight, with brief interruptions for prayer and meals. The content of the curriculum emphasized a rigorously logical analysis of the Talmud. The graduates were not usually expected to become professional Rabbis (students who were suspected of studying the Rabbinic curriculum were frequently looked down upon), but to return to their communities and apply their strong grounding in Judaism to daily pursuits. Rabbi Hayyim's approach exerted a decisive influence on the curriculum of the Lithuanian Yeshivot. After 1879 the yeshivah was in a constant struggle with the Czarist government, who closed the institution several times on account of its refusal to include secular subjects in its curriculum. The institution that was refounded in 1899 did not retain its earlier preeminence. Rabbi Naphtali Zvi Judah Berlin (1817-11893) Rabbi Naphtali was known by his acronym as the "Netziv" of Volozhin. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Isaac, son and successor to Rabbi Hayyim of Volozhin, and he became the head of the yeshivah in 1854. He remained at the head of that institution for some forty years, strengthening it and expanding its student body. While sharing the yeshivah's tradition of precise logical analysis, he made a special contribution in his broadening of the curriculum to include the entire Babylonian Talmud, and in his commentaries to early Rabbinic texts like the Sifré and the She'iltot. Rabbi Hayyim Soloveitchik of Brisk (1853-1918) Rabbi Hayyim "Brisker" was born in Volozhin and spent much of his life studying there. Developed an analytical approach to Talmud study, emphasizing its logical and conceptual features, and demonstrating how disputes in the Talmud and its commentators derive from these conceptual distinctions. The "Brisker" mode of study rejected the extreme logical hairsplitting that was cultivated in many yeshivahs. In 1892, following the closing of the Volozhin yeshivah, Rabbi Hayyim moved to Brisk (Brest-Litovsk) where he soon succeeded his father as the community Rabbi, devoting his energies unselfishly to communal concerns. Rabbi Chaim BerlinRabbi Chaim Berlin was born in Volozhin in 1832. He was a son of famous Volozhin rosh-Yeshiva (1854-92) Naftali Tsvi Ieguda Berlin (known as Natsiv). His father gave Chaim a rabbinic education. Since 1865 Chaim Berlin was a Moscow rabbi. After this, since 1889 he lived in Volozhin, and worked as the head of rabbinic court, since 1892 till 1897 he was rabbi in Kobrin, since 1897 - in Elizavetgrad (today, Kirovograd). In 1906 he left Russia Empire. He went to Jerusalem. In 1909 he was elected a chief rabbi of Askenasi community of Jerusalem. Rabbi Chaim Berlin died in 1912, in Jerusalem. Source: Universal Jewish Encyclopedia inc., New-York, 1946, Vol.10 . - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:50:59 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 1999; E. Gabets was missed. The entire village was subjected to cruel persecution. For example, the citizens of the village Zanurje of the Volozin region. In this village during the year 2000 4 people were killed, one woman was among them. The relatives of these people and the citizens are exposed the powerful persecution. G. Revjako was illegally deprived freedom. June 17, 2000 the employees of the right guard bealed the 15-th year old Nadja Koslovskaja and the 17-th year old D. Litvin click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:42:47 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ RABBI MOSHE BERMAN, 0. B. M.(volozhin Yeshiva Student) Rabbi Moshe Berman was born in 1864 in Razinoi, White Russia, where his father - Reb Feitl - had been Rosh-Yeshiva for many years. Both his parents having died when he was still a boy, young Moshe grew up at the house of the famous charitable woman Hodeske, who was related to him through her husband. This wonderful woman had an enormous influence on the boy, and contributed immensely to the formation of his moral and personal character. He learned at the Razinoi Yeshiva, and later at Volozin Yeshiva and Minsk. Finally he came to Antopol, where he studied under the guidance of Rabbi Pinchas Michael O.B. click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:39:48 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Peter Bagration: The Best Georgian General of the Napoleonic Wars By Alexander Mikaberidze, Chairman of the Napoleonic Society of Georgia"There are no good generals In Russia. The exception is Bagration." Napoleon, 1812. .....Bagration issued following orders: ....To the 27th Infantry Division: concentrate in Novogrudok and to expect arrival there of the main forces of the 2nd Western Army; To the Chief-of-Engineers: send sappers to the Niemen with a task to find a place across the river at Kryvichy, Nikolaev and Delyatichy and to construct by June 21, a ferry in the elected place; find a way for the army to move to Vishnev and Volozin. The order was given that very day. The Army would retreat in two columns, each about a day's march from the other and both covered by the Cavalry and infantry rear guards. Special attention was paid to the necessity of informing everyone the objective of the retreat, including the soldiers.Moving in a new direction, the 2nd Western Army concentrated at Slonym by June 19. On the next day it made a 40 kilometer forced march and reached Dvorets. In an effort to speed up the march, all excess baggage was abandoned. All transports, not stipulated by the staff, was directed from Dvorets to Stvolytchy and Nesvij to following on to Minsk or Bobruisk. . - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:36:38 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ the Netziv of Volozin wrote in his opening comments to Sefer Beraishis. "This was the praiseworthiness of the avos. Besides the fact that they were righteous and saintly, and they loved Hashem to the extent humanly possible, they were also 'yesharim' (upright and humane toward all people). This means that they behaved toward the gentiles, even despicable idolaters, with love, and they were concerned for their welfare, since this attitude is crucial for the continuance of the universe. This is like what we see, how much effort Avraham expended to daven for Sedom, EVEN THOUGH HE DESPISED THEM AND THEIR KING WITH THE UTMOST HATRED BECAUSE OF THEIR WICKEDNESS. Even so, he desired that they continue to exist. And this is literally like (Avraham's name, which means) a father of a multitude of nations; even though the son does not go in the proper path, he (the loving father) seeks his welfare." click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:21:44 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rabbi Kalatsky graduated from Yeshivas Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, where he was a close Talmid of the late Rosh Hayeshiva Rabbi Yaakov I. Ruderman zt'l, founder of Ner Yisroel. Rabbi Kalatsky founded the Yad Avraham Institute in 1984 with two students; today, it serves a membership of nearly 5000 throughout the New York metropolitan area and beyond....Rabbi Yosef Kalatsky wrote.... ...Reb. Chaim of Volozin z'tl in the Nefesh HaChaim explains that the word Chillul comes from the word Challal that means "void or vacuum". He explains that a Chillul Hashem is when we behave as if Hashem is absent from this existence. When one publicly violates Hashem's Will it is considered a Chillul Hashem because the person is conducting himself as if Hashem did not exist (G-d forbid). We see that the Torah uses the word Chillul regarding violating one's vow - "he shall not desecrate (chillul) his word". It is possible that the Torah means that when one violates his vow it is also as if G-d does not exist for that person because violating his word is not recognizing that his power of speech emanates from his spirituality. If a person would only understand the value of speech he would be more cognizant regarding its expenditure. One would pray differently and express himself in a more responsible manner...... click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:17:32 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ VOLOZHIN: By : Herman Rosenthal Julius Gottlieb from; JewishEncyclopedia.com - VOLOZHIN: Russian town in the government of Wilna; at the present time (1905) it belongs to Prince Tishkewitz. As in most other Lithuanian towns, the Jews constitute the greater part of the population. Jews settled there about the middle of the sixteenth century. Volozhin is celebrated for the rabbinical school which existed there until 1892. This school, or yeshibah, which was founded in 1803 by ?ayyim b. Solomon, a pupil of the renowned Elijah, Gaon of Wilna, was in direct opposition to the ?asidic movement that spread through Lithuania in the second half of the eighteenth century. At the head of this conservative opposition, the members of which were styled "Mitnaggedim" (opponents), stood the Gaon of Wilna. He recognized that, in order to combat successfully the ?asidic movement, the love of Talmudic study must be aroused and strengthened. One way of doing this was to establish a great Talmudic academy, where the letter of the Law would be studied systematically. Death, however, removed him before his cherished plan could be carried out, and the task was left to his pupil Chayyim b. Solomon The Yeshibah. Wilna already had two yeshibot, and there was no room for a third; so Volozhin was chosen, where had lived a number of such men as the author of "Sha'agat Aryeh" and Zalman Volozhiner. In order to attract scholars to the institution two wise rules were laid down: (1) only those should be admitted who had distinguished themselves in Talmudic study, and (2) the medieval custom of assigning yeshibah students each day to a different family, in which they received their meals free, should be abolished; the students to be either self-supporting, or maintained by the institution. Thus scholars, both rich and poor, flocked to Volozhinfrom all parts of Russia and the rest of Europe. For nearly a century it held its reputation as a place of the highest Talmudic learning, until finally, in 1892, to the regret of all lovers of Judaism, the doors of the school were shut by order of the Russian government.The very spirit in which the institution was founded was the cause of its downfall. It was, as stated before, ultraconservative, tolerating nothing that looked like an innovation, and strongly opposing all exoteric studies. For a long time it withstood the great wave of progress that swept over Russia in the middle of the nineteenth century. In 1887 Count Pahlen, who devoted a great deal of his time to the Jewish question, called together thirteen representative Jewish scholars of Russia in order to confer with them about the yeshibot. The conference drew up a set of regulations for the management of such institutions, the most important of which were: that each day not less than three hours should be devoted to the teaching of the Russian language and literature and to other secular studies; that the teachers in these branches should be appointed with the sanction of the government; that not more than twelve hours each day should be consumed in study; and that the chief rabbi should be responsible for the conduct of his pupils.The chiefs of the yeshibot, fearing that secular studies would "poison the minds of the students and turn them away from the study of the Talmud," stubbornly refused to introduce these innovations; they feared also that Orthodox Jews would withhold their contributions from the school. In 1891 Count Delianov, then minister of education, submitted a similar plan to the authorities of the school in Volozhin; but, seeing that his instructions were not carried out, he closed its doors on Jan. 22, 1892.Bibliography: Ha-Kerem and Ha-Meli?, 1892; Entziklopedicheski Slovar, vol. vii.H. R. J. Go. click for the rest; - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:12:42 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Pavel Sladek introduces us both an interesting person Rabbi Chaim of Volozin and his pivotal work Nefesh ha-chaim. Rabbi Chaim of Volozin (1749-1821) was the closest pupil of the Gaon of Vilna. Even more than by his work, he chalked himself for the history by founding and leading of his yeshiva _ an exceptional academy of Volozin. His work Nefesh ha-chaim is a complete description of a structure of the universe built upon a cabbalistic concepts. By its character of systematic digest, it is a fruit of the new era born in a context of mind of the modern West. The need of an interreligious dialogue is a new important topic of these days... click for the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 16:11:01 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Rogoff, Louis Rogovin Parents: Father: Rogovin, Joseph Mother: Farberman, Rose Genesha Family: Spouse: Farberman, Rivka Rebecca Birth : Volozin, Vilna goberniya Death : USA Parents: Father: Farberman, Shiah HaLevi Children: Rogoff, Hymie Rogoff, Willie Rogoff, Fanny Rogoff, Rose Rogoff, Max Rogoff, Julius Click here for the rest of the family tree - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 15:45:40 (PST) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE RABBI AARON RABINOWITZ By Henia Rabinowitz (the Rabbi’s sister) translated from Yiddish by Roslyn Sherman Greenberg, from a Yiddish article originally on page 100 Our parents lived off the land, in a forest. Their business was buying woods and selling logs. My father understood little of the business. He liked to sit and learn, surrounded by big piles of books. Our mother was the woman of valor. She ran the business. At that time my brother Aaron was twenty years old. He was very handsome, tall, lean, full of life and energy. He learned in the Volozin Yeshiva and used to come home only for the Holidays. His homecoming was the greatest joy for our dear mother and the other children as he was a very devoted son and like a father to us. IN THE VOLOZIN YESHIVA I remember that there was a room in our house that was called, “Aaron’s Room”. No one slept in that room except for Aaron. When he came home he used to sit there and learn. He was very happy to come home, first to see the family, and second he loved nature, the forest where he used to walk night and day. He was very brave, had no fear of anyone, and with him we children felt very secure. Our beloved mother used to prepare for him all the things he loved -- nuts which were gathered in the woods, dried in the oven, and all sorts of fruits, etc. She also always prepared for him wash and clean clothes to give to all his friends who needed them. Those were the luckiest years of his youth. Once, when my brother came home from Volozin for Yom Tov a Jew from the shtetl of Molchad came to see him. He brought with him his 13-year old son, who was small and pale but who had deep black eyes. This was POLIATCHEK. The father asked my brother to listen to him. My brother listened and was very awed by the youngster’s aptitude. He took him to Volozin, led him in to the Head of the Yeshiva, under his coat so no one should see him, since in Volozin only big young men learned. The Head of the Yeshiva seeing the small boy, said to my brother: “Soon you’ll bring Yunkim here.” My brother answered: “Rabbi, listen to him.” The Rosh Yeshiva (head of the Yeshiva) posed a hard question to him and told him to go into the next room to think it over. The boy went toward the door and turned back – he already knew the answer. From then on began the closeness, the deep friendship between my brother and Rabbi SHLOMO POLIATCHEK, the well known Molchad genius and gaon (eminent Rabbi). In later years my brother brought him to Lida as the Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbi REINES Yeshiva. After the first World War Rabbi SHLOMO POLIATCHEK became the Rosh Yeshiva of the Yeshiva of Rav Yitchak Elchanan in New York (now Yeshiva University). Click here to read the rest - Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 15:38:44 (PST)