Shidleve (Siluva, Lithuania)

“Shidleve” - Jewish Cities,
Towns and Villages in Lithuania until 1918
(Siluva, Lithuania)

55°32' / 23°14'

Translation of “Shidleve” chapter from
Yidishe Shtet, shtetlekh un dorfishe yishuvim in Lite: biz 1918

Edited by: Berl Kagan,

Published in New York, 1991

Acknowledgments

Project Coordinator and Translator

Jonathan Levitow

Our sincere appreciation to Miriam Kagan Lieber
for permission to put this material on the JewishGen web site.

This is a translation from: Yidishe Shtet, shtetlekh un dorfishe yishuvim in Lite: biz 1918;
Jewish Cities, Towns and Villages in Lithuania until 1918:
Historical-Biographical Sketches. Edited by Berl Kagan, New York, 1991 (Y).

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[Pages 621-622]

Jews first settled in Shidleve, in the Raseynay district, in the 18th century. They engaged in commerce, shopkeeping, general light labor, and agriculture. Shidleve was a holy place for Catholics, and one week every year scores of pilgrims assembled there, providing a welcome “injection” for the Jewish economy.

In the 1850's several Jewish colonies were founded nearby, having received free land from the Tsarist government, and some Jewish families from Shidleve also settled in them. In 1847 245 Jews lived in Shidleve, in 1897 there were 506, 365 in 1923, and right before the Holocaust, about 250. In 1915, as occurred throughout Lithuania, many inhabitants of the shtetl were evacuated to Russia.

Between 1842 and 1913, 36 persons in town subscribed to editions of Rabbinical books. In 1899 a Zionist union was formed. Shidlevers appear on three lists of contributors to the building of Eretz-Yisroel in 1899, 1900, and 1903. The representatives were Elyezer-Arye Kaplan, Yakov Mayrovitz, Moyshe Movshovitz, and Nuta Sheyn.

The tombstone of Rabbi Shmuel son of R. Barukh of Shidleve (dated 1878/5638) is located in an old cemetery in Jerusalem. R. Tsvi Yehuda was Rov in Shidleve in the years 1840-1850 and passed away in 1856. His father was R. Avraham Avli Rozanus, author of the “Zikhron Avraham,” a commentary on the Hagada, himself a grandson of Avraham Avli, a Khosid from Krozh. The sons of R. Tsvi were R. Barukh Menakhem and R. Moshe Avraham from Raseynay. Rabbi Yosef Pagramanski, who became Rov in Pushalat after Shidleve, was killed in 1941. (HY“D: May the Lord avenge his blood.) R. Ben-Tsion Yakov son of R. Yisroel Levitan was born in 1865 and was Rov in Tsitevyan after 1899 and then for 36 years after 1903 was Rov in Shidleve, where he passed away on 12 Kislev 1939. He gave his approval to the book, “Shem HaGedolim HaShlishi” (“Name of the Great Ones Number Three”) by Moyshe Markovitz (Vilna 1910/5670).

Among the town natives was Ahron Frank, born in 1889, who lived for the most part in Shavl, wrote stories and essays in Hebrew and Yiddish and plays for children and also translated books for the “Shtibl Association.” He was killed in 1945 in Dachau.

R. Menakhem Mendel Yosef Zaks, son of R. Yakov Mordekhay, born in 1989, became a son-in-law of the “Khofets Khayim”¹ and served as dean and president of the “Kollel of the Holy Ones of the Khofets Khayim.” In 1941 he escaped to America and founded the Yeshiva of the Khofets Khayim of Radin. After 1946 he was one of the leaders of the Yeshiva of R. Yitzhok Elkhanan in NY.

The name Noson-Yosef Zaks from Shidleve appears on a list of contributors to aid for cholera victims in Russian towns in 1891.

Moyshe Berman of Shidleve wrote a piece of commentary on the Torah in the Slabodka, “K'nesset Yisroel” (1939)².

Bibliography

“HaMeylitz” (“The Defender”) 1899: 137, 1900: 35, 1903: 60.
“Yor Ayn Yor Oys” (“From Year to Year”) Kovne: 1939
Gotlieb, “Ohaley Shem” (“Tents of Shem”) 204
“Toledot Anshey Shem” (“Histories of Great Men”) 46, 111.
“Khelkat M'Khokek” (“The Portion of the Lawgiver”) in “B'Mish'oley HaKhinukh” (“Ways of Education”) 9, p. 35, Kovne.
“The Book of Subscribers” 8534
“Yehadut Lita” (“The Jews of Lithuania”) 3
“Receuil de Materiaux sur la Situation Economique des Israelites de Russie” (“Material on the Economic Situation of the Jews of Russia”) Paris: 1906, 2, p. 367
Black Book

Translator's notes:

The “Khofetz Khayim” (“He Who Desires Life”) is the pseudonym of one of the leading “Litvish” or non-Khasidic Rabbis of the nineteenth century, R. Yisroel Meir Kagan, author of the “Mishna B'rura.” I'm using the word “dean” here to translate “reysh metivta,” or “head of the Yeshiva,” which seems to refer to someone who works mostly as an administrator rather than as a classroom teacher. Affiliated with Yeshiva University, the Yeshiva of R. Yitzhak Elkhanan remains one of the leading “modern” orthodox yeshivas in America today. Return

Slabodka Yeshiva was one of the leading “Litvish” Yeshivas in the nineteenth and early twentieth century but eventually broke up to form two institutions, one of which was, “K'nesset Yisroel” (“The Assembly of Yisroel”). Return

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