In the year 1794, Grodno, as mentioned, was transferred to Russian rule. The fate of the city Jews and their history is now interwoven with that of the Russian kingdom for many generations.

After the transfer of power, Catherine II, published a proclamation which permitted property owners who had taken part in the Kosciuszko revolt and had escaped from Lithuania to Poland, to return to their properties on condition that they pledge an oath of loyalty to the Russian state. The author of ‘The City of Heroes’, mentions that the Grodno community which had not run away from the place, did not see any reason to appear and pledge in Pinsk, which contained the two estates, that the court had allowed to the community from the Tyzenhauz possessions – more so since the community representatives had sworn the oath before the Russian governor in Grodno. However, since the community representatives did not appear in Pinsk to pledge the oath, the Russian government expropriated the two estates and the Grodno community lost the little it had received in consideration of the considerable sums extracted from it by the magnate.

Catherine II appointed prince Rafnin governor of Lithuania with his seat in Grodno. Rafnin, who was sympathetic to the Jews, promised to return the two estates to them. But he did not keep his promise or failed to achieve it. In 1797 the community sued the government for a return of the estates. After lengthy procedures it lost the case The ancient debts of the community were not wiped out and it bore them on its back for many generations.

Citizens scheming against Jewish rights in Grodno

There is information from the beginning of the nineteenth century of the struggle between the Grodno Christian citizens and the Jews – this time about the representation in the city council. After the publication in 1802, at the beginning of the reign of Tsar Alexander I, of the governmental order to include Jews in the elections to city councils, the Grodno Christian citizens protested, arguing that the Jews were not cultured and that the Jewish people who had settled in Lithuania a few hundred years earlier, were still without education, they were ignorant of the laws of the land and would therefore cause harm. Should the Jews, who don't know how to deal with issues, fill positions together with the Christians, the Christians would then be under the Jewish thumb. In addition, the Christians argued, the Jews should not be granted any official position in the municipality as documents have been preserved from the past years concerning the struggle over the right of the Jews to practice trade and craft. In 1804, the privilege of the Lithuanian Jews to elect representatives to municipal positions was about to be withdrawn, but the Grodno Jews succeeded in influencing the local administration to demand, despite Christian protests, to place at the Jewish disposal half of the positions in the municipality and in its law courts. The Christians refused to accept their positions under these conditions and succeeded in excluding the Jews from participation in the municipality.

The Grodno Jews again suffered in 1812, together with all other inhabitants, from the French invasion during the Napoleonic war against Russia when the population was forced to provide supplies for the soldiers and other imposts. When the Russian partisans returned and took the city of Grodno again – their leader, the well–known commander Denis Davydov, appointed the head of the local Jewish community, to be the police chief and to be responsible for security and order in the city, and published this in a special order to the population. Davydov recounts in his memoirs that when he reached the outskirts of Grodno, he was received by the whole Jewish community of the city and was led under the Jewish Chupa to the city center where he issued his proclamation to the inhabitants who had assembled there.

In 1813 a threat of rioting spread in the Grodno district when the Polish aristocracy spread the rumor that the Poles would slaughter the Russians and the Jews, as these had assisted the Russians.

Blood Libel in 1816

A blood libel again made its rounds in 1816, in Grodno. Just before the Passover festival that year, the dead body of a Christian girl was found and a rumor immediately spread among the Christians that she was killed by the Jews in order to use her blood for the festival. The blame was placed on the community intermediary, her parent's neighbor, Rabbi Shalom Lapin (Shalom the Intermediary). The only evidence provided for his crime was iron tools found in his house, a hammer and a gimlet. Since no evidence was found as to his guilt, the committee of inquiry proceeded to a ‘secret investigation and search’, and then an apostate and informer appeared, a non commissioned officer, and disclosed that the Jews needed, it seemed, Christian blood for their religious ceremony. The results of the investigation were sent to the authorities in St. Petersburg and there the pleaders led by the Leaders of the Jewish Nation and Rabbi Zundel Zonnenberg, a Grodno resident, laid their case. They submitted a protest against the blood libel to the Minister of Religion, Prince Gallitzin.

In 1817, an official order was issued in the name of the Tsar to ‘dismiss the investigation and to find the murderer’, in other words, to deal with the matter itself without giving it a religious coloring. As the investigators did not succeed in finding the murderer the search was dropped. In 1826, the case was reopened through the initiative of the prosecutor. But it was finally closed. The attempts to cast blood libels on the Grodno Jewry, particularly before the Passover, continued to appear on occasion in the following generations.

Communal activities and pleadings of Zundel Zonnenberg

The Grodno community or its leadership, were very active in the relations between the Jews and the new administration at the beginning of the 19th century. Reb Zundel Zonnenberg, son of Moshe Zonnenberg, (Reb Zundel the Great), stood out among them, and already in the war between Russia and Napoleon, 1812–1813, he is to be found, together with Leizer Dilon from Neswizh, filling the role of suppliers and entrepreneurs attached to the headquarters of the Tsar I, bearing the title ‘Representatives of the Jewish Nation at the Headquarters’.

Reb Zundel Zonnenberg was born in 1785 in Volkovysk to rich parents, owners of an inn and a distillery. His mother was very popular with their visitors. Local Polish estate owners and officials succeeded in finding ways to assist the local Jews in their moments of need when they fell into disfavour and had to pacify the authorities. Zundel learned from one of the visitors the Polish language and began to write appeals to the law courts on behalf of the needy. His mother assisted him in his various useful pleas.

In 1903 he married into a rich Grodno family. His father in law was one of the leaders of the Grodno community, and at home he devoted himself to learning the Russian language and to defend Jews in the courts of law. He became known to the authorities as a vigorous intercessor and Jews from the vicinity began to approach him to plead for them. He responded favorably and successfully.

During the war against Napoleon, Zundel, together with the above mentioned Dillon, accompanied the Tsar in his war travels, and they were tasked, as the ‘Representatives of the Jewish nation’ with various functions relating to the army. At the same time they acted as informal agents for Jews and connected between the authorities and the communities. In 1813, Reb Zundel used his close connection to the Tsar and placed before him a memorandum in which he asked for the right of Jews to trade everywhere and to distil alcohol, to allow them the same rights given to all the other residents in the municipal institutions, in matters of status etc. The Tsar looked favorably at the pleas. In a meeting with the ‘two representatives’ in 1814, in the Bruchsal in the State of Baden, he agreed to receive a delegation of his Jewish subjects and to listen to their requests for improvement in their situation.

In the meantime, until the election of the delegation, Zundel together with Dillon, continued their activity of interceding with the authorities in St. Petersburg in connection with the expulsion of Jews from the capitol city, blood libels, the payment of compensation to Jewish lenders by estate owners who had evaded repayment, and the preventing of founding primary non religious Jewish schools, etc.

In 1816 Minsk saw a meeting of the Rabbinic Emissaries in the Va'ad Hamedina (Council of the Four Lands ) with the inclusion of Rabbi Haim of Volozhin in the matter of choosing members of the delegation, and most important, the raising of the necessary funds for their travel costs and expenses in the capital city. Representing the Grodno community at the meeting was, in addition to Zundel – Haim the son of the Grodno rabbi, Benjamin Broida.

A conference took place in Vilna in1818 under the leadership of Rabbi Tanchum of Grodno (the rival to the previous Grodno rabbi, Rabbi Benjamin Broida), with the participation of delegates from 12 districts. Reb Zundel was elected one of the three representatives to intercede for the Jews with the authorities and to settle in St. Petersburg. At his request, he received permission to take with him an assistant to help him, at public expense, and he chose a Grodno worthy, Rabbi Itzkhak Ben Rabbi Arieh Leyb Sasson (the author of the book Shemen Sasson, commentaries on difficult passages in the Talmud). He was famous as a scholar, had a wide knowledge of non religious subjects, knew a number of European languages and later filled the function of a notary in Grodno for some 30 years and also served as an authorized translator from Polish to Russian. In the above book, Sasson's reminiscences of the journey of the delegates to St. Petersburg led by Zundel, their visit to Rabbi Haim of Volozhin and the rapturous reception received in every place they passed on their road.

Zundel was most successful in his endeavors and continued until he resigned in 1822 because of a tragedy in his family.

He was also active in internal Grodno Jewish matters and his name is mentioned over the years (from 1806) as one of the heads of the local Bikur Holim. Reb Zundel died in Grodno in the year 1853.

The deputation called ‘The Delegation of the Jewish Nation’ was abolished in 1825. In 1827 the Grodno and Mohilev (Mogilev) communities asked to send representatives to the capital but the government did not accede to the request and suggested that the communities send their comments in writing. In 1827, an order was issued, as an experiment, to banish the Jews from the villages in the Grodno district and had it succeeded, then the Jews would have been banished from the villages in nearby districts. The banishment was carried out in part only. As on previous occasions, no place was found tosettle the exiles in cities and towns nor provide any source of income for them.

Military Service Decree

That same year, 1827, Tsar Nikolai I published an order obliging Jews to provide soldiers for service in the army, (previously they were excused service upon payment of a tax), and now they had to meet a quota larger than that of the Christians, in addition to other awful decrees hardly known to Russian Jewry even under the previous Tsarist regimes. This was the opening of the Jewish ‘Cantonist’ period and the kidnappings which continued for many decades.

The recruit to the army, aged 18, was obliged to serve for 25 years, far from any Jewish community. The quota, imposed on each community separately, could be filled by the community with boys aged 12 or older, (at times children younger yet were handed to the authorities for service), these were taken for training until the age of 18 without considering these early years on account of the 25 years service demanded. These children, kidnapped from their parents' homes, were cruelly transported like beasts to the slaughter in carts and many died on the way of cold and hunger on the long road to Siberia and the barracks. They were also maltreated to force them to abjure their religion. Both the ‘reduced numbers’ of the Jewish recruits and the religious oppression lay behind the institutional basis for the army service order.

Exempted from the force of the service law were merchants registered in their associations (guilds with high membership fees for their certificates, – very few could meet that cost), artisan members of craft organizations, mechanics in factories, farmers, rabbis and a handful of graduates from Russian schools. But only rabbis and merchants as mentioned above were not included in the quota of recruits which the community was expected to supply and its fulfillment in time and quantity was the responsibility of the leadership under the threat of fines or even having the leaders themselves drafted into the army.

The harshness of the service law fell first and foremost on the poor public. In other matters also the community leaders did their best to transfer whatever evil or hardship that befell the public onto the shoulders of the hapless folk. The Grodno community council fulfilled, therefore, the service order in full according to its understanding, as its representatives stated; they handed over to the government as recruits; “idle Jews who don't pay taxes and such like, and who are insufferable to the community”.

For the mobilization of the recruits to the army in 1828, the government ordered the community council to prepare a detailed registry of all the members of the community. In this case, the council complained to the head of the ministry of the interior that the organization of such a registry would require a great deal of work and much time. It requested the governmental agreement – contrary to the demands of the provincial authorities,– that it should accept for service in the army the idle who don't pay taxes and are not suffered by the community. They further argued that it is unjust that the sons of the respectable Jews who pay taxes and carry the burden of the community should have their sons impressed into the army whereas those who are idle and don't pay taxes should be free of compulsory service and other duties just because they are registered as Jews.

The above was but the beginning of the spate of horrors to which the Jewish communities in Russia were exposed and in which the army service laws also played a role. These became more and more severe as time passed and the arbitrary behavior of the communal heads was part of the scene. The horrors came to a head during the Crimean war in the years 1853–1856, a time when mobilization took place again and again throughout the land. An order was posted for the forceful enrolling into the army of anyone owing money to the state. Permission was given to arrest for this purpose Jewish passers–by caught without a passport (even if it was stolen from him or that he was robbed of same). The lawlessness which ruled at that time in the Jewish areas caused the halting of trade and economic distress spread among the population. The shameful memories of the calamities is carved into the folk stories of the Grodno inhabitants – tales told and retold by succeeding generations, including echoes of resistance against the atrocities and individual heroism to save Jewish lives.

Our people, understandably, searched for ways and means to escape the atrocities mentioned above, and when Tsar Nikolai confirmed a program, in 1835, for Jewish settlement in Siberia, (until that time the place served only for exiled robbers, criminals and outlaws), promise was made to those who registered to move there, that they would receive a parcel of land and most important, be free of army service. Jews accepted the opportunity en mass, Grodno as well, and 45 families submitted their requests to move to the far off and unknown land in the hope of finding there their salvation. In no time they were disappointed as at the beginning of 1837 the Tsar ordered “stop the emigration of Jews to Siberia”.

Opposition to the Education Legislation

Grodno Jewry played an active role in the struggle against the Russian government, particularly during the 40's and 50's of the 19^th century concerning the education of their infants. They opposed, (except for some individuals) the setting up of official state schools for Jewish children. Besides the fear of an ‘atheistic education’ they suspected the government also of carrying out missionary work and converting. In the beginning, when the first school was opened in Grodno, not a single pupil was registered. A year later, 82 youngsters were enrolled under the rule that they must be registered at the school if it cannot be proven that the youth is studying Russian and arithmetic etc, under a private teacher. The school did not survive as students did not attend and the government was forced to close it. This took place while in the province of Vilna, many schools already existed. It was only after the passage of time and internal changes within Grodno society of ambition and movement in the direction of education – as will be shown later– that a radical shift took place in the attitude to education in sections of the population.

The ‘educational’ attitude of the Russian government during the middle of the 19^th century towards the Jews, also found its expression in Grodno in matters of army and education. In December 1852 the provincial government issued an order absolutely forbidding Jewish women to cut off their hair upon marriage. It would appear that this order did not achieve its purpose, as the provincial governor repeated the order twice in 1856 complaining that the Jews are ignoring the regulation regarding “changes in dress and cutting the hair” and most of them continue to wear long ‘kapotes’ and to grow ‘peyot’–and their women –cut their hair and cover the head with a scarf.

Grodno Jewry during and after the Polish Rebellion

Despite the disappointment and bitterness at the policy of the Russian government towards them, little is known of Grodno Jews participating in the Polish rebellions. The Grodno inhabitants were active outside the city in the revolt of 1831, as the headquarters of general Dibitch, commander of the Russian army, was located in the city. He had been sent to suppress the rebellion. The city's inhabitants, including the Jews, suffered because of their duty to supply food to the Russian army camps and carts to carry the supplies. In addition, the soldiers who were billeted upon the inhabitants brought the plague of cholera to Grodno (the first Stench) and it struck the city again in 1856 and again in 1871–2. The plague cost the lives of many and also threatened the city in 1893.

Grodno took a considerable part in the revolt of 1863, where the planning took place and was the seat of the revolutionary Temporary National Government. It was ruled under military law once again, which paralyzed life and development. It transpires that the Jews preferred to keep silent as to their part in the revolt fearing the revenge the authorities would take, while the Poles did not wish to acknowledge the assistance.

After the revolt and the prohibition of the use of the Polish language in public, the authorities began to search for ways to Russify the Lithuanian province. “The Polish rebellion”–recalls A. S. Friedberg, a Grodno resident, (Memoirs, pp3–7), – “– was suppressed with an iron hand – and the government searched for stratagems – to impose its spirit upon this land (namely, Lithuania), to make the use of its language the rule. It began with the Jews, the owners of shops who were obliged to carry on trade in Russian. Besides that, the rulers and their underlings called on the high society of the city to join them in the dance hall – to be of advantage to each other and become a united league, and as the old theater hall had been restored and renewed for plays in the ruling language coming from the north– and entertain also the Hebrew soul– sent them–––– policemen with tickets in hand for numbered seats (in the theater), at a regular price––––.”

In those years, in the first liberal period of the rule of Tsar Alexander II and later, when the gates were opened to Jews to culture and educational institutions, and even to the highest offices in the government, the tendency was felt also among the highest officials in Grodno to show a friendlier attitude towards the Jews and to come into closer contact with them. This tendency found expression in cooperation in taking care of the first non religious public library founded in Grodno by cultured Jews. More on that subject later on.

Never the less, and in spite of the above, anti Semitic articles were published in the 60's in the Grodno publications of the provincial authorities.

Period of Riots in Russia, 1881

The outbreak of pogroms in Southern Russia in the spring of 1881, brought in its wake fear among the Jews of the same happening in Grodno, in particular with regard to the young (Russians) who had recently come to the city. In April of that year, rumors were current in Grodno that the Jews would attack the Christians on the eve of Passover and kill them all. They, the Jews had dug a tunnel – it was said – to the Orthodox Church from their nearby courtyards. Policemen and an architect were sent to check and investigate the Jewish courtyards and houses. They, naturally, did not discover anything. Later, further rumors were bruited about, which were endlessly repeated, of dates when the Jews were about to be attacked. An air of depression and panic spread among the Jews – as is relayed in a letter of July 7, 1881, by the Polish authoress Elisa Orzeszkowa, (a Righteous Among the Nations), a resident of Grodno. After the peaceful passage of the dates, as mentioned above, further rumors had it that the city is about to be burnt down. The government appointed guards to watch during the nights. On the initiative of the community leader, Benjamin Ashkenazi, Jewish volunteers were organized, but nothing transpired in the end.

During the years 1886–1887 further attempts were made in Grodno to revive the blood libels against the Jews, but these were quickly refuted.

2) The Economic decline of Grodno and Jewish Livelihood

Backwardness of the city economy and the situation of the Jews

The Jewish population of Grodno expanded and in 1816 reached the number of 8,422, being 85.3% of a total of 9873 residents in the city. Compared to the estimated population in Grodno of about 4000 souls, mostly Jews in 1793, this was an almost a 2.5 fold growth, mainly Jewish. Further on in the century, there occurred a relative reduction in the Jewish population as in 1856–7 it fell to 63.3% –10,230 out of a total of 16,162 souls in the city.

Many obstacles stood in the way of the city's economic development and of its Jews in the first third of the 19th century. At the time of its subjection to Russian rule, it slid from the position of a Lithuanian capital city and classed as a center second only to Vilna in size, to a provincial city lying near the Prussian border. The whole region west of the Neman River and southerly to Bialystok was sundered from it, (this region including Bialystok were annexed to Prussia in the third division of Poland and was transferred to Russian rule only after the year 1807, when Prussia was defeated by the Napoleonic army).

While the Grodno inhabitants, including the Jews, had not yet recovered from the economic suffering caused them in the days of the Russo French war, the livelihood of the Jews was impaired by more calamities visited upon them, in particular the duty of army service. This brought about a further tax burden upon the Jews, as non payment or delay in payment became an excuse for handing over the offender to the army authorities. As it was not possible to collect the taxes in 1829 from the Jews in the Grodno province, in spite of the sum being broken up into a number of payments, the authorities raised the demand for the community to pay it by handing over recruits for the army The crises suffered by Grodno through the war, the Polish rebellion of 1831, and because of the Cholera plague, destroyed the last of its industries set up in the days of Antony Tyzenhauz.(6).

Just when the Grodno star began to rise in the enlarged administrative provincial authority, after the Bialystok region full of economic possibilities was annexed to it, the city did not succeed in becoming part of the industrial development taking place in the vicinity, particularly as its young neighbor Bialystok and its surroundings. Traditional commerce, mostly in Jewish hands, and carried on by using the Neman water way, suffered from the laying down of the Warsaw –St.Petersburg railway line in the early 60s', and more so after the completion of the Baranowich –Bialystok railway line through the Grodno peripheral agricultural land in the southern basin of the upper Neman. The grains and the agricultural produce, previously brought from a wide sweep of the countryside using the Neman, beginning in Stobezi in the east, and stored up in the granaries in the Grodno suburbs, and then carried to the port of Danzig in Prussia – were now transported by the railways directly to the places intended. Many of the great merchants who had dealt in the ‘Shipping Business’ left Grodno and moved to Königsberg and other towns, taken there by their shipping affairs.

Whereas in 1859, 15.8% of all the provincial merchants were concentrated in Grodno, by 1886 only 12.3% of these remained, and the financial turnover amounted to 11% of the total in the province, as a consequence of the diminished trading of the Grodno merchants compared to the other cities in the province. In the years 1868–1886 the number of Grodno merchants rose by 27%, while it rose by 51% in the whole province and in Bialystok by 120%.

The Grodno inhabitants, more so the Jewish, suffered badly in the great conflagrations which occurred again and again and burnt down complete suburbs, built of wood.

A fire broke out in a suburb across the Neman at the lower end of the river and the fire destroyed, in addition to 8 houses belonging to Jews, 12 silos filled with grain ready for shipping to Prussia. A fire in 1863 consumed the greater part of the Slobodka suburb. At the same time, a fire raged throughout the Jewish section, Trojcy, in the heart of the city, destroyed 26 houses and over 150 poor residents were left bereft of all.

The Grodno inhabitants suffered a great disaster in 1885, in the fire which began in the midst of the Jewish area neighboring Trojce Street. It spread rapidly among the wooden houses in the direction of the ‘Shulhoyf’ and spread to the city center to the Dominikanska, the Brigidska, and the Police Street and went as far as the railway line. In this fire, 22 streets and alleys were burnt down, with over 2000 houses and all their possessions, including 7 prayer and study houses, and a home for orphans. Thousands of unfortunate families were left homeless (they were housed in the military barracks. These stood empty while the soldiers were in summer camps). A few persons also fell victim to the fire. Hunger spread in the city despite the urgent assistance – bread brought from neighboring towns – and money sent from distant communities, Lublin, and Warsaw among them.

The mix of the above coupled with the disasters mentioned devastated Jewish trade and pauperised them, to quote the reporter from Grodno for the Ha'tzfira.

In spite of the above, and the relatively slow progress, Grodno nevertheless grew larger, and so too did the number of Jews in it. The economic development which came after the freeing of the surfs, the expanding growth in trade of the Bialystok region and the subsequent rapidity of industrialization, as well as the development of the surrounding region as a whole, which was recently connected to the vast Russian interior, – north to St. Petersburg, east to Moscow, now served as a connecting link between the empire and Poland with Warsaw its capital. All the above lent importance to Grodno the capitol, and added to the administrative officialdom; in addition it became a military center with huge army camps, particularly in the summer – using local labor and supplies for its needs.

The Jewish population in the city received considerable ‘reinforcements’ as a result of the Jewish inhabitants being forced out from the villages and landed estates on the Prussian border. This was most notable after the tragic expulsion orders of 1882, and the abandonment by the Jews of the local towns where they faced an intolerable existence. In the period under consideration, industry began to develop in Grodno, mostly in Jewish hands.

The Jewish population reached the number of 27,343 in 1887, constituting 68.7% of the 39,286 souls in the city. From this time on, the numbers grew slightly, were reduced and then grew again until a huge increase was seen before the First World War; while the number of Jews within the general population increased and decreased as well, it did not exceed that of 1887.

In the year 1886, Grodno Jewry held 1076 of the 1641 properties in Grodno, 65.16% of the total (in those days Jews held only 45.5% of all the immovable property in Vilna), and in an estimate (as determined by the municipality), the value of the properties constituted 70% of the total value in the city, excluding state, army and church property.

Jewish livelihood and their economic situation

Traditionally, the Income of Grodno Jewry during the 19^th century was derived from trade and craft work. Before the Russian government issued its restrictive orders against Jews, Grodno Jewry had a considerable part in agriculture, particularly in leasing local estates.

In 1805, two hundred Grodno Jews requested the government, to allocate them land for farming, in the vicinity, but in its desire to rid the province of White Russia of Jews, the government replied that there was no vacant land available. The interested parties dropped their plans.. In the middle of the 19^th century, there were three Jewish families in Grodno among the 15 families actually engaged in agriculture. A government source mentioned that Grodno Jews worked in agriculture in the years 1861–1862. After 1862 Jews were found to be still active in fruit orchards and vegetable gardening. Many of the leaseholders in these branches were Jewish and they supplied the produce from the Grodno station to the northern capital of Russia, St. Petersburg.

Grodno's foreign trade was mainly in Jewish hands from the beginning of the 19^th century. Jewish wholesale merchants bought grains, timber, flax and pig bristles intended for Prussia and shipped via the Neman River. Its wharves in Grodno during the fifties and sixties, before the laying of the railway, employed over 5000 dockers. The wholesalers also imported foreign goods to Grodno and held in their hands the foreign trade of the large cities in the Russian interior.

Among the 40 merchants in Grodno in 1825, 37 were Jews . Their number increased to 103 out of a total of 129 merchants in 1856, though their relative number decreased. By 1887 the Jewish merchants had no serious competitors left among the Gentiles, first and foremost the Germans, but also Russians. (One of those, Murayev, gathered around him customers from among the army and administrative officials – in the district centers as well). The trade of the city now spread along the railway lines and included Moscow, St. Petersburg, Riga, Kaunas, Koenigsberg, Danzig on the one hand and Bialystok and Warsaw on the other. In 1886, 88% of business premises in Grodno belonged to Jews out of a total of 1665, but these were in the main, small shops. More on that subject below

During the 19^th century, a new kind appeared among the wealthy Jews; contractor–supplier to the army (Zundel Zonnenberg) who first of all based their activities in the city or in the summer camps across the river. (Shalom Soloveichik, who also sailed his ships to Prussia). Contractors who paved roads and housed soldiers, (the brothers Frumkin, who paved the road from Grodno to Minsk); the building of railway lines, (R. Fischel Lapin, Eliezer Bergman), bankers, (Ya'akov Frumkin) and also industrialists (Shereshevski).

Industry

Industry in Grodno began, as shown above, with the Tyzenhauz plants. A few of those still existed in the first quarter of the century, among them 2 weaving mills.. When the Russian government set up, in 1809, a weaving mill in Kremenchug in the Ukraine, intended for training Jewish workers who were about to be forced out of the villages – 2 experts were brought in to work there from Grodno – Avraham Letichevski and Zusman his son . A small weaving plant having only 3 looms, belonging to a Jew, (Gesler), still existed in Grodno in 1815.

Jews owned the following plants in Grodno in 1825: a tannery, belonging to Yunas and Benjamin Izablinski: a hat factory, belonging to Michael Burda: a brickyard (opened in 1820): a lime kiln and roof tile factory belonging to Yona Rosenfeld, Israel Butkovski, Arieh Gershuni and the above mentioned Shlomo Yunas Izablinski and in 1828 a small textile plant was opened by Yehoshua Menes (Manos). Generally, these were small plants due to the small amounts of capital invested. In the 40's the textile industry began to move over to successful Bialystok, and the few plants in the 50's in Grodno– as mentioned above– became associated with the city in the future – a tobacco plant, brickyards, distilleries, candle makers, soap (started in 1854 and lasted until the Holocaust), flour mills.

After the laying of the railway line between Warsaw – St. Petersburg via Grodno, new industries sprang up. Some in the same year – a tobacco factory (later, one belonging to Shereshevski, the tobacco was now brought by train from the south). In 1865 a distillery for Passover belonging to Dov–Ber Yoffe (the father of Betzalel and Leib Yoffe). In 1886 the Shereshevski plant already employed some 847 laborers; of these 550 were women and youngsters.(generally, Jews were employed there). In addition, Jews owned 2 out of the five beer breweries in the city in that year.

Besides the above, there existed in the city smaller plants; pencil making, soap manufacture, a fermentation plant for mead and wine (in addition), as well as many workshops. Some 75%–80% of all industry was in Jewish hands, though the tobacco industry produced more value than all the others put together.

Jewish manifold craft work which had existed in Grodno from olden times was mostly in Jewish hands by 1825 according to a report issued by the municipality at that time. The gentiles held on in that sphere, thanks to the monopolist rights they enjoyed in the branches of metal, timber, building, leather strap work, pottery and sewing.

By 1859 Grodno had 367 Jewish artisans out of a total 545 in the city, (67.34%.). Their percentage continued to climb until the twenties of the present century. In 1887 the Jewish craftsmen in Grodno numbered 3413.

The study houses in the city bore witness to the importance of craft work in the city– tailors, cobblers, carpenters, hatters, bakers, builders of wooden houses, glaziers, street paving layers, potters, carriage owners, (these also monopolized transport between cities before the advent of the railways), butchers, fishermen, water carriers, porters, etc, (being a member of a craft – was evidenced by belonging to a synagogue which acted as its center – this was also written into government regulations).

75–80% of all industry and workshops in Grodno were owned by Jews, this situation did not change appreciably until the First World War.

In addition to the craftsmen and proletarians many Grodno Jews worked as stevedores, chimney sweepers and day laborers doing various ‘dirty’ jobs.

The main occupation of a great part of the Jewish population lay in retail trade, in petty business, peddling and simple agency. On market days, they bought agricultural produce from the peasants and paid in various goods, e.g. salt, kerosene, sugar, ironware etc. There were also Jews whose income was derived from visiting markets and fairs in towns in the district with manufactured goods. Generally, shops stood alongside shops, mostly doing petty business selling household needs – their owners standing in the entrance competing for customers, sometimes coming in conflict.

And when they lacked income, they needed any possible profit to be obtained from acting as agents or messengers for governmental officials or army personal or simply passers–by who found themselves in Grodno on official business.

The standard of living of those Jews in Grodno compared to that of their compatriots in other large towns in the area was very modest – at least in matters of food, clothing and housing. The other people – during the period dealt with – and in particular the seventies and eighties of the 19^th century – lived in poverty and dire need . Disease was prevalent, in particular T.B. and the death rate high.

The situation became worse at the end of that period. After the temporary improvement which happened after the great fire when new houses were now constructed of bricks, but now the government began to boycott Jewish workshops and laborers and closed the gates to its labor market.

Beginnings of the emigration to America

With the expansion of poverty and inactivity in Grodno, and without a glimmer of better days ahead, the Jewish emigration movement out of the city began. While there were those who went out to seek their fortunes in other developing centers within Russia itself – Bialystok, Vilna, Warsaw, Lodz or even Odessa– a few constituted the van of the first to emigrate to the land of freedom across the sea, America.

In the lists of 1869–1870 the names of two Grodno Jews are to be found among the immigrants to America, and they were assisted by the Jewish Relief Committee in Koenigsberg. At the end of the seventies, Jewish artisans from Grodno are to be found in Berlin, on their way to the distant opportunity.

The rising wave of emigration from Grodno overseas begins in the years 1881–1882, in view of the situation and the deteriorating economic condition. ‘Many set their hearts and eyes on the far corner of the world across the Atlantic sea’, wrote the Grodno correspondent of the Ha'tzfira in 1887. “When the eagle glides, not only the young will fly there”. Adults and soldiers released from service, also followed in their brethren's' footsteps. They exchanged family treasures for money, and with a cane and bag left for wherever their feet took them, to find honest work, peace for their souls, and to fill their empty bellies with food.

From the very beginning the difficult condition of Grodno Jewry propelled them into the going to America: it grew in volume, and with it came the inducement of relatives in America and later assistance from America, and finally the expectation of going there.

3. A City of Torah

A People Occupied with the Torah

In the 19^th century, and to a great extent in the present century too, Grodno continued to safeguard its traditional character in the Mitnagdim version. Hassidism, even in its Lithuanian Habad interpretation, did not take root in the city. Among the dozens of synagogues there only one was Hassidic and it had but a few dozen worshipers.

Title page of the records of the Hevrat Sha's in the suburbs

Title page of book Nezer Aaron by Rabbi Aaaron Miadler

The famous preacher, Rabbi Yehoshua son of Rabbi Aaron Heller, served as a rabbi in the study house ‘The Great Khayei Adam’. He was one of the great rabbis of his time and the author of many homiletics and commentaries. Later, he served in Palongen and Telsiai. A preacher and Halakhic adjudicator in Vilna; he initiated the founding of artisans study groups in the vicinity for the study of Khayei Adam. In that same study house, the famous preacher from Kelm, Rabbi Moshe Yitzchak Darshan, who lived in Grodno for some time, would deliver his stirring sermons. In the study house ‘Khayei Adam Hechadash’, Rabbi Aaron David Malishkevitz , otherwise known as Rabbi Aaron Miadler lectured before an audience of laborers for 52 years on subjects of Torah and morality. He was the author of Nezer Aaron (Aaron's Crown), a commentary on Ecclesiastes, (edited and published by the Grodno–born Rabbi Aryeh Leyb Miller, in Piotrkow in 1913, a short while after the death of the author). A devoted lover of Zion all his life, Rabbi Aaron left behind many adherents.

The head of the Alsheikh study house was the Kabbalist Rabbi Menachem–Manchen Halprin, author and editor, among the first of the Hovevei Zion in Grodno, who worked tirelessly among the youths of the city for the settlement of Eretz Yisrael. More about him later.

There were many learned men who were well–known in Grodno during that period, some of whom will be mentioned later on – Morei Tzedek (preachers), heads of yeshivot, as well as Torah scholars who were greatly respected although they did not have any formal rabbinical position.

Rabbis and Scholars

Among the Morei Tzedek who served in Grodno during the 19th century we should mention:

Rabbi Tanchum son of the head of the Beth Din of Horodna – Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Zvi Hirsh – who was appointed head of the Beth Din when his father was appointed the city rabbi. He wrote a biblical commentary ‘Menorat Emet’ in the spirit of the Kabbalah, Halakhic innovations ‘Menukhat Shalom’, and notes on the Talmud ‘Nekhamat Zion’. He was active in public affairs, and as mentioned earlier, was chairman in Vilna in 1818 in the committee of the arbitrators on behalf of the communities of 12 districts within the Jewish Pale, which elected the representatives to plead for the Jews in the capital city. Rabbi Tanchum was born in 1746 and died in Grodno on 12 January 1819 .

Rabbi Simcha Ben Rabbi Mordechai Fried (Rapoport), descendent of the head of the Beth Din. Rabbi Simkha son of Nachman Hakohen Rapoport and the in–law of Rabbi Haim of Volozhin, who also officiated as head of the Metivta of Horodna, (died there in1812).

Rabbi Moshe Ze'ev son of Rabbi Eliezer Margaliot also known as ‘Rabbi Velvele Mar'ot Hatzva'ot’, one of the great rabbis in Lithuania in that period (born 1768, died in Bialystok 1830). He officiated as a Moreh Tsedek and as head of the Metivta in Grodno in the period 1797 – 1812. After that, he took the rabbinical office in Tiktin and later moved on to take the office of the rabbi of Bialystok. He printed his first work, ‘Mar'ot Hatzva'ot’, which deals with the problem of Agunot in Grodno in 1809.

Rabbi Benjamin, son of Rabbi Leyb Diskin (born 1798 in Slonim, died in 1844 in Łomża). He served initially in Grodno, in ‘Across the River’ (a suburb across the Neman river) and then in Volkovysk. Later he was appointed head of the Beth Din of Horodna and from there was moved to Łomżha where he officiated until his last day. He was a great scholar and had a great many students, among them was Rabbi Yitzchak Elchanan Spector, the rabbi of Kaunas. His commentaries on the Torah are to be found in the responsa of the great rabbis of his time.

Rabbi Zvi Hirsh – son of Rabbi Tanchum and the grandson of the head of the Beth Din Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Zvi Hirsh – served as a preacher in Grodno. He died there at an early age in 1830. He prepared an explanation of the Passover Haggadah ‘Zera Gad’ (printed in Vilna in 1852).

Rabbi Hillel, son of Rabbi Simkha Fried son in law of Rabbi Haim of Volozhin. He used to teach the lessons in the Yeshiva even while the founder was still alive. After his father's death in 1812, he officiated as preacher in Grodno until his death in 1832. His son, Rabbi Eliezer Yitzchak, was the head of a Metivta in Volozhin.

Rabbi Benjamin son of Rabbi Shabtai Koirngold (”Reb Binyominke”) was a senior teacher in Grodno and a leader of its community. A great authority, he sanctioned the Vilna Talmud in 1835.

Rabbi Eliezer son of Rabbi Yechezkel Halevi (”Rabbi Leyzer”). After the death of his father in law, Rabbi Hillel Fried, in 1832, he served as preacher in Grodno until his death there in 1852. He lived a most observant life all his days.

Rabbi Nachum, son of Rabbi Benjamin Michael Yoffe. He was the author of the responsa regarding the passage Orech Haim in the Shulchan Aruch. Held the office of preacher in his final days in Grodno; was one of the leaders of the community and was active in representing the needs of the religious community. (Born in the year 1823, died in 1874).

Rabbi Yehuda Leyb, son of Rabbi Yechutiel Zalman Rabinovitz (”Reb Leyb Zalman's”) was the chief preacher in Grodno for 45 years and died in 1895. He was known in the city as the “Choshen Hamishpat Aleyn” (K H Himself) for his intimate knowledge of the section “Choshen Hamishpat” in the Shulchan Aruch. Due to his great knowledge, He left behind written rulings in the whole field of Halacha relating to the Torah.

Rabbis who officiated in the suburb 'across the river' in the 19^th and 20^th centuries

Rabbi Meir Kimchi–at the beginning of the 19^th century.

Rabbi Benjamin son of Rabbi Leyb Diskin, who later held office as the preacher in the city of Grodno, was initially a rabbi in ‘Across the River’ (his son, Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Yehuda Leyb was born there in 1818. He would serve later as rabbi of Brisk,(also known as Brest, Brzesc, Brest Litovsk) and will be mentioned later. Rabbi Leyb Diskin was later invited to join the Rabbanut at Volkovisk.

Rabbi Shmuel Avigdor “Tosaph'a” (born 1805, died 1865), a student and son–in–law of Rabbi Benjamin Diskin. He was appointed rabbi in “Across the River” in 1825. Later, he became the head of the Beth Din in Shishlevitz and finally in Karlin. He wrote rabbinic books, among them “Tana Tosaphta” dealing with all the Talmud's Tosaphot, as well as a book of responsa called “She'elot Shmuel” (Samuel's Questions), published in Johannesburg in 1858, and also an exegesis on the Pesach Haggada.

Rabbi Alexander Moshe Lapidot

Rabbi Zerach Ben Rabbi Benjamin Diskin was born 1820 and died in Grodno 1913. He served as a rabbi ‘Across the River’ from the year 1866 until his death. Earlier, before his appointment he published in Koenigsberg the four sections f the Shulchan Aruch, in a luxury edition, which he personally proofread and added commentaries providing new thoughts on the Talmud.

Among the Grodno Dayanim, the best known is Rabbi Asher Ben Rabbi Mordechai Volkovisk (born 1740 died in Grodno 1925, officiated before the preacher Rabbi Daniel, author of Chamudei Daniel) He is a signatory to the acceptance by the sages of the Beth Dina D'Khila Kdusha Horodna (the Beth Din of the Grodno community) of the ‘Shulkhan Aruch Yore De'ah’ by the GRA (the Gaon Eliyahu of Vilna) in the year 1805. (born 1841 died 1926).

Among the writers in Grodno on Torah topics, the following are remembered: Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel Ben Rabbi Leyb Katz, known as Rabbi Heschel Reines. A student of Rabbi Alexander Ziskind author of Yesod Veshoresh Ha'avoda, a study of the exegesis by the GRA of Mishnayot in the chapter on Zraim. He also wrote an exegesis on the book by the GRA , ‘Tzurat Ha'aretz Vetavnit Habayit’. He clarified ‘the limits in the Joshua’ –and the building in Kings and Yikhezkel; He left, in his will, to the Bikur Holim in Grodno, income from the Tishel Shops, which are in the city shopping center. He died in Grodno in 1812.

Rabbi Chaim Ben Rabbi Benjamin Broida (the last head of the Beth Din in Grodno), author of Torah Or and Derech Haim dealing with the rules of Shechita (Horodna 1822). He was active, as mentioned, in Jewish public affairs, in the Minsk conference in 1816, together with Rabbi Zundel Zonnenberg. He died in Grodno in 1812.

Rabbi Abraham Yona Ben Rabbi Yeshayahu Yavnin. (Born in Parich, Minsk gubernia in 1813, died in Grodno 1848). Authored annotations and original interpretations of the Pesach Haggadah and of the Sefer Hamitzvot by the Rambam. He was the father of Rabbi Netta Yavnin, author of Netaei Or, dealing with the Talmud; Rabbi Shmuel Yavnin author of Nachalat Olamim (inscriptions on gravestones in Warsaw cemetery) published in 1882; Rabbi Betzalel Yavnin, a Talmud scholar and author in the United States.

Rabbi Heschel Ben Rabbi Meshulam Ashkenazi, a great famous scholar and a descendent of Rabbi Zvi Hirsh Ashkenazi (the Wise Zvi), and son in law of Rabbi Benjamin Broida He was the last head of the Grodno Beth Din, during the years 1817–1852 before being invited to head the Beth Din in Lublin and its surroundings, until his death in 1866. Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel was a leading active member of the Grodno community. He left some 10 manuscripts of Hallachic content in the hands of his son, Benjamin Ashkenazi, a Grodno community leader, and these caught fire. His answers were collected in the work ‘Noda Besha'arim’ of his relative, Rabbi Dov Brosh Ben Rabbi Moshe Ashkenazi.(22).

Rabbi Ze'ev Wolf Ben Rabbi Yisrael Einhorn, a distinguished member of the Grodno community. A Torah scholar well versed in the Midrash. He wrote; commentary on Psikata D'Rabati (Breslau 1830); interpretation of sections of Midrash Tenaim by Rabbi Eliezer; exegesis of Midrash Raba under the name Perush M'harz , printed as an addendum to the Vilna Midrash (1852). He died in Vilna in the year 1861. He had settled towards the city at the end of his life in order to publish his works.

Rabbi Eliezer Ben Rabbi Shmuel Landa, (born in Vilna in 1824, died in Grodno in 1882), a descendent of Rabbi Yikhezkel Landa author of the volume of Responsa ‘Hanoda Bi'ihuda’ –composed the book Dameshek Eliezer, a commentary on the comments by the GRA on the Shulchan Aruch, the section ‘Orekh Haim’ (Vilna, 1867). In addition to his intellectual grasp of Torah, he was also a representative of the Grodno community, a public activist and one of its richest. (A descendent from a family of financiers and bankers in the city). He was on the committee of the ‘Fund Meir Ba'al Haness’.(President of Eretz Hakdusha).

Among the heads of Yeshivot in the period dealt with above, excluding the preachers already mentioned, the best known was Rabbi Abraham Moshe Yitzchak Ben Rabbi Aryeh Aver (Avril). He was born in 1803 and died in Grodno in 1870. He taught for 43 years in the yeshiva and was its head for many years until his death. He dealt fairly as a leading member of the community and ‘spread most of his money in charity’ as witnessed by the author of ‘Ir Hagiborim’.

Popular figures in Grodno in the nearby and distant areas in the middle and the second half of the 19^th century.

Rabbi Nachum Ben Rabbi Uziel Kaplan, Rabbi Nachumke as he was popularly known. Rabbi Nachum Shemesh, Rabbi Nachum of Horodna as he was called outside Grodno, (born in 1812, died in 1879). He served in the Sha's study group, preached, scholar and sage. He was modest and refused an official rabbinic post to retain his independence in deed and opinion from those of the influential rich men. He spent his days in popular teaching a Shiur (lesson) during the day and between Minche and Ma'ariv in various study houses in the city, but principally, and for that purpose he devoted most of his energy, he collected donations for the needy and those who were about to go under, he devoted himself to assisting the oppressed and suffering – while he himself lived in penury and illness. He assisted in secret. Many are the stories told of his selfless readiness to sacrifice himself without limit for others in difficulty and his kindness. (His life stories were written up by Rabbi David Miller in ‘Toldot Menachem’, Pietrkov, 1912. there are many other books devoted to him). More details of his life and good deeds will be especially dealt with below.

Title page of the book Toldot Menakhem

The liquidation of the Hebrew printing shop in Grodno

The transfer of the first two Hebrew printing shops to Vilna in 1799 did not bring to an end the printing of Hebrew books in Grodno at that time. From 1801 onwards, Rabbi Simcha Zimmel continued to print Hebrew books in the city. The son of Rabbi Nachum the Type Founder, mentioned above. Among the books printed was Sefer Refuah (medical book, 1812), Shevet Yehuda (1808) and Kitzvei Eretz (1812), etc.

Rabbi Simcha Zimmel signed an agreement with Rabbi Menachem of Vilna the son of Rabbi Baruch M'M, in 1815, the head of the Romm family already mentioned before. They printed, in partnership, a number of books noting the place as being Vilna and Horodna or Horodna and Vilna depending on where the author lived and where the printing took place. This was also done with part of the Talmud Bavli…

Amongst the proofreaders in the Romm print shop were men who were expert in Hebrew grammar, mainly in Torah studies, as well as authors of books, among them was a Grodno man, Rabbi Ya'akov Ben Rabbi I'L Horodner, who had published a grammar book ‘Tzohar Hateiva’ (Vilna 1819), by Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Hene. This book was followed by a commentary and explanation to the book with a rejoinder to critics.

Rabbi Benjamin Ben Rabbi Ya'akov Bishka. He too was among the publishers mentioned in Grodno. He founded a print shop in 1809 and printed a number of Hebrew books.

A new print shop was opened in Grodno in 1836 by Rabbi Ya'akov Yechezkel Ben Rabbi Abraham Tzvi Tipograf. This print shop managed to print a number of Hebrew Books, but was forced to close the same year, when the government ordered the closure of all the print shops outside of Vilna and Kiev (but actually Zhitomir). All the other print shops in Grodno closed as well as a result of the above order.

Among the books appearing in Grodno in the year mentioned, 1836, was ‘Moreh Derech’ by Rabbi Aaron Ben Rabbi Haim dealing with the journey of the Israelites in Egypt through the desert and the partitioning of the land among the tribes. He lived in Grodno in the period above mentioned. In a few of the books, in separate edition, which appeared in Warsaw, a colored map appears, printed in the year 1879. It should be mentioned that the printing was edited by the brother of the author, Isaac Ben Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh Bayarski. In the year 1881 the map appears in a different edition, edited by the scholar, the surveyor of the land Meir Ben Rabbi Yekutial Galgor, the father of the photographer and public figure in Grodno, Eliezer Galgor who had the map hung on the east wall in his house, much to his pride.

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