Ilya, Belarus

The Community of Il’ya;
Chapters of Life and Destruction
(Il’ya, Belarus)

54°25' / 27°18'

Translation of
Kehilat Il'ya; pirkei hayim ve-hashmada

Edited by A. Kopilevitz

Published in Tel Aviv, 1962

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator

This is a translation from: Kehilat Il'ya; pirkei hayim ve-hashmada
(The Community of Il'ya; Chapters of Life and Destruction),
ed. A. Kopilevitz, Tel Aviv, Association of former residents of Il'ya in Israel, 1962 (466 pages, H, Y)

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With the generous contribution by the Shapira brothers in Mexico
and Il’ya natives in America, Argentina and Israel

Translated by Eilat Gordin Levitan

Forward	The Editor	9
For her reflection and recollection	Arie Kopilovitz	15

Part 1 – The History of Il’ya, a Town Named for Eliyahu

Her origin and chronicles	Arie Avi Avihud	21
The “Ger Zedek” (Prince Potozki converts to Judaism)	Arie Avi Aviva	23
Reb Menashe from Il'ya 1767- 1831	Tuvia Ben-Chefetz	35
Reb Menashe (Ben Porat) from Il'ya	based on the article by S. Rosenfeld	37
Il'ya as an inn off the Torah		69
The renowned Il'ya Yeshiva	A. B. AK	71
The genius Rabbi Reuven from Dinburg (Dwinsk)	A. B. AK	74
The genius Rabbi Moshe Shlomo Khary	A. B. AK	74
The genius Rabbi Shmuel ben Yehoshua Zelig	M. Z.	77
The genius Rabbi Wolf Broide	M. Z.	78
The genius Rabbi Moshe Yisrael Shapira the head of the Il'ya Yeshiva	from a “Yovel” book	79
Rabbi Yakov- Efraim son of Naftali Nachmin	Chaim Levin	81
Our Rabbi Avraham Eli Remez	Moshe Shlomo Belkas	82

Part 2 – The Period between the two World Wars

The Period between the two World Wars	Yosef Winetzki (Mexico)	89
My Shtetl Il'ya	by Eliezer Shapira (Mexico)	91
The Ties between Ilya and Eretz Yisrael	by Arye Kopelowicz	145
The Zionist Movement	Arye Bar Droma	211
Hachalutz in Elja	Ahuva née Salominski Taitelboim	226
The Revisionist movement / The new Zionists		229
Remnants; my Shtetl Il'ya (from the 5-2-1994 meeting)	Tuvia ben Chefetz Z”L	223
My Il'ya	Dvora Sherman	233
A poem “My Il'ya”	Aryeh - Miriam's Husband	267
From the Remembrance Notebook	Eliezer Dinerstein (USA)	269
With the Hebrew Jewish Brigade to Eretz Israel in the First World War		271
Poems in Hebrew (written in New York)	Yehuda Lichterman	272
	Leibe Gitles	277

Part 3 – The Holocaust

Words from the editors		303
Yizkor		307
The names of the martyrs		308
A tale of struggling, toil and tears	David Rubin	317
During the Slaughter, in the Ghetto and in the Forests	Bat Sheva née Brunstein Riar	339
The struggle for survival	Shraga Soliminski	373
During that day	Zushka Gitlitz (America)	403
The Holocaust	Yona Riar	421
A memorial for perished friends, sister and parents	Arye Arye Kopilovitz (Kopelowicz)	441
A memorial for perished friends, sister and parents	Yaakov Lapidot ( Lapidus) (Yankole)	442
A memorial for perished friends, sister and parents	Brunstein (Brunsztejn)	443
Reuven Kopelowicz and his mother Beila Malka		444
Mordechai Rogozinski		445
Shlomo Zalman Sherman		446
Eliyahu Avril ( Eberil)		447
My sister, Malka Kopilovitz ( Kopelowicz)		448
A memorial to my parents, Abba and Gitle Kopilovitz ( Kopelowicz)		450

Part 4 – Natives of Il'ya around the world

The immigration to America by Il'ya immigrants in New York		455
The immigration to Argentina with a list of families		459
Il'ya natives in Argentina	Solomon Kopilovitz	462
The Shapiro Family in Mexico		464
A list of names of Il'ya natives in New York		466

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With the generous contribution by the Shapira brothers in Mexico and Il’ya natives in America, Argentina and Israel

Translated by Eilat Gordin Levitan

With the generous contribution by the Shapira brothers in Mexico
and Il’ya natives in America, Argentina and Israel