[Page 511]

Avrohom and Khaike Maizel

If they would distribute medals for good work in the New York committee for the benefit of the Yizkor Book, then Avrohom and Khaike would certainly earn them.

They [the Maizels] were of the first to whom the idea of publishing such a book had such appeal. Right after my first appearance at a memorial gathering of the United Slutsker Aide Committee, that took place on February 27, 1955, in room 504 of the Forwards building, Avrohom and Khaike approached me and greeted me warmly for speaking about this, and they really helped from the beginning until the end of the project. The first meeting was held in their home…

Moishe Maizel (Avrohom Maizel's father)

Avrohom Maizel was born in Slutsk, on Shabbath of the Torah portion “Vayeitzei” [“And he went out” Book of Exodus], 13th of Kislev (November 30, 1895), to his parents Moishe Leyb and Khava Maizel. His father was known as Moishe the smithy on Ostrower Street. Avrohom studied in kheder until he was twelve years old, under the teacher Avremel the yellow one [blond], and after that in the “Hebrew School.” When he was sixteen, he began to work for this father in Koznie. But his heart pulled him into the big world.

In 1916, he left for Yekaterinoslav, and worked in a government metal factory.

In 1918, in the heat of the Russian civil war, he returned to Slutsk and became one of the main directors of the Poalei Tzion party in Slutsk.

His dear wife Khaike, is also a Slutsker from birth, born to her parents Meyer Velvel and Alte Rawycz. Her father was a “talented” Jew with “golden hands.” A carpenter by trade, everyone knew that whatever Meyer Velvel would make would be a piece of art. He made a few arks for Torah scrolls which everyone ran to see, and his name was reputed everywhere.

But from a holy ark to earning a living is a long distance, so he had an idea to try and “blow the shofar [ram's horn blown in synagogues on Rosh Hashanah] for the Christians.” So he left and became a contractor for construction, to differentiate, for churches for the Christians, in which he also excelled. His skill in this district acquired a great reputation, and many churches in the Slutsker area actually rang with Velvel Rawycz's work.

They lived far away in Wygoda, and since the entire family had an intellectual curiosity of the free national wing, there would be many Zionist gatherings secretly held in their home, when it was still forbidden in Slutsk.

Avrohom and Khaike married in Slutsk in 1918, and three years later they came to New York, where a part of their family had already come earlier.

Even in New York, the Maizels belonged to the intellectual workers' circles, and in their house there were always all kinds of meetings for cultural and benevolent activities.

The Maizels have a son Moishe Leyb and a daughter Etel. Both married children are raising intellectual, Jewish families in the footsteps of their beloved parents.

[Page 512]

Yitzkhok and Rokhel Mishelow

Yitzkhok received a sound Hebrew education from Reb Lipe, as well as a love for the Land of Israel.

From Lipe, Yitzkhok went to study with Beryl, the Rosh Yeshiva [head of the religious school].

In 1921, Yitzkhok came to New York. After several years of hard work and simultaneously perfecting himself in world knowledge, Yitzkhok went to Jerusalem, and there he married Rokhel Segal, who was also a Wiezner. Very soon, Yitzkhok and his wife Rokhel returned to Brooklyn and quickly settled in.

Yitzkhok Mishelow – specialized in the construction industry, and when the opportunity presented itself, he threw himself into his work with great energy and success. Now he is tied to large building projects that take up a significant place in the Brooklyn area. For this entire time, Yitzkhok and Rokhel Mishelow remained close to all the national–culture circles. Both daughters, Elke, the wife of Mr. Sam Gordon, and the younger daughter Gitel, received a worldly and Jewish education.

As active friends of the Poalei Tzion association, the Mishelows own a summer house in the association colony of “Rannana” in New York, where intellectual and cultural friends gather, and there they plan and create all types of projects for benevolent activities.

[Page 513]

R. Moshe Reuben and Shimka Pissetski (Poses-Perry)

Prepared for online presentation by Genia Hollander

The young Moshe Reuben greatly excelled in these studies and became famous as a young scholar. It must be remembered that the Jewish community of Slutzk was known for centuries as profusely filled with Torah-learning and Lithuanian-Jewish wisdom. Indeed, there were no ignorant Jews in Slutzk. Even the small shopkeepers and the poor craftsmen were well versed in Jewish studies. All the groups of artisans according to their professions had their own Beth Midrash where they gathered daily and pored over their Mishnayoth and big volumes of the Babylonian Talmud from dusk to midnight. Hence, to achieve a reputation of scholarship, there was quite an accomplishment.

His fame and standing among the scholars of the community gained for him the love of the beautiful and energetic Shimka Rivin, a daughter of a prominent and scholarly family from the nearby town of Starobin. In order to provide for their material needs, the newly-married Pissetskis entered into a partnership with the reputable Isaac Feinberg in his established windmill which ground flour for the entire vicinity. As was customary in those days, the wife, in addition to bearing children and keeping house, was also the main provider of the family. So Shimka too managed the business while her husband spent there only a few hours daily, devoting the rest of the day to furthering his Talmudic studies.

Though he was never officially ordained for the Rabbinate, he was recognized as one of the leading scholars of the community. R. Maier Pehmer, a renowned Gaon who was the Rabbi of the city, visited him almost daily and together they spent hours in Talmudic discourse. Whenever the Rabbi had to be absent from the city, he advised his congregants to turn to Reb. Moshe Reuben for Rabbinic decisions. His word and opinion were highly regarded by Jew and Gentile alike. Even the local White Russia peasants, who had to grind their flour at the Feinberg mill, would always manage to come during those hours that he was there. They were wont to say: “Whatever Pan Pissetski says is as holy as the word of the Bible”.

At the turn of the century when Chaim Michel Goodside opened the first steam-driven mill, the Feinberg establishment was completely ruined. This put the Pissetskis, who were by this time quite a large family, in a most difficult situation. They then took over the management of the Hotel Europa which was the largest hotel in the city. This venture did not last very long because of the demise of Moshe Reuben.

By this time, the older children had gone to the United States. Because of the instability of the political atmosphere in Russia and the ever-increasing limitations imposed upon the Jewish population, Shimka took her family and migrated to America. Despite the many hardships encountered in establishing themselves, their traits of love for learning and intellectual faculties inherited from their father and the warm encouragement and wise guidance given them by their devoted mother, enabled them to pursue their education and attain a fine position in society.

[Page 514]

Shimka Poses lived to a ripe old age and was greatly loved and respected by all members of her family. In August 1945, she passed away with a feeling of satisfaction of the place her family occupied in New York circles. The descendants of Moshe Reuben and Shimka continue their traditional family prominence of intellectuality and benevolence. They are well represented among many educational and philanthropic organizations in American Jewry.

The Smelkinson brothers, well known for their communal activities in Baltimore, Md., stem from a family which originated in Starobin-Slutzk in the beginning of the 19^th century. Aaron Smelkinson, later known as “Areh Der Desyatnik” (Aaron the police officer), was a Slutzk youngster who was drafted into the Russian army during the reign of Czar Nicholas I and, as was customary in those days, served for a period of twenty-five years, from 1840 to 1865. Throughout that long period of service he did not lose his Jewish identity nor did he forsake his religious principles.

Aaron Smelkinson

Of those who remained in Slutzk, Yitzchak Isaac married Rebeca Epstein and they bore nine children. Six of them: Morris, Henie, Teibel, Shifra, Joseph and Benjamin came to the United States shortly after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and joined their relatives in Baltimore. Although they came to the American shores with very meagre material means, they brought along with them a strong and rich spiritual heritage.

The portrait of their ancestor, Aaron Smelkinson, as he appears above with his beautiful white beard and a traditional Yarmulke, together with the adornments of the Czarist army medals upon his breast, signifying his steadfastness and strong adherence to his tradition despite the great hardship that he encountered in his life, always stood before the eyes of his descendants and his memory was like a beacon to them throughout the years. The Smelkinson brothers, Benjamin in particular, are highly prominent in the business world and Jewish cultural and social circles of Baltimore. They have also succeeded to transmit the same spirit to their own children who were born and raised in the United States.

Upon the departure of Morris Smelkinson in 1948, all the Smelkinson descendants formed a Family Circle in his honour, of which his son, Ralph is the president. Through their occasional meetings, the entire family is trying to preserve the tradition and spirit which they brought along from Slutzk and which is so precious to all of them.

[Page 515]

Zalman and Fania Parton

Uncaptioned. Zalman and Fania Praton.

At the end of 1910, Zalman took on a new position in a factory that produced paper production wheels in the city of Lowell, near Boston.

This business appealed to him, and for the nine years that he worked there he learned all the details of the business, through and through. And in 1919, he opened his own factory of the same type.

The business was very successful and grew greatly, with factory units in other cities, along with the production of many other products that were developed over time. Today, the “Middlesex Paper Tube Company” in Lowell, Massachusetts, with all its branches, is one of the largest in the country, and Zalman Itche Gittes is the president.

On Tuesday, Adar 23, 5672 (March 12, 1912), Zalman married Fania Ricz, daughter of Yakov Ricz of Portland, who was also a Romanower, his father “Leybke the shokhet [ritual slaughterer]” was a prominent name in Romanowa. In Romanowa he was the shokhet and the chazzan [cantor] and when the Rav [city's rabbi] would leave the city he would say that if anyone had any questions involving decisions to be made according to Jewish law, then he should go to Leybke, even though they always used to pair up and “argue when they learned together.”

Leybke also possessed a beautiful voice that used to shake the walls of the Beis Medrash [Study Hall] when he prayed musaf [the late morning prayers] there, and his “neilah” [closing prayer on Yom Kippur] and his musical undertones would elicit such emotion, which Romanower Jews would remember all year.

Zalman Itche Gittes and Fania, the grandson of Leybke the shokhet, have a son and two daughters who are of the prominent families in their region.

Since 1920, Zalman is the annual treasurer of the “United Jewish Appeal” in Lowell and is greatly loved by young and old. Even though the Jewish community in Lowell is only around 400 Jewish families, thanks to the energetic activities of Zalman Parton, in time he raised more than a million dollars for Israel causes.

The love of Torah that Zalman inherited from his father the Gemara [Talmud] teacher in Romanow, did not

[Page 516]

disappear with him. When you come to the Lowell “Jewish Center,” which Zalman greatly helped build in 1955 for a sum of $600,000 (six hundred thousand dollars), you see the names of Zalman and Fania Parton displayed in the library, which was dedicated to them.

But his Romanower “Yetzer Harah” [“deep desire”] does not leave him even in his old age, and his khazaka [“fixed deed” after doing it several times] is “maftir Yonah” [the final portion read after reading the Book of Jonah during the Yom Kippur evening services, very prestigious position for reader], a task that everyone in Lowell knew belonged to Zalman Parton, and for him this is as important as his factory of paper – tubes, and maybe even more…

About the great Tanna [knowledgeable, wise teacher during Midrashic times, 10–22 CE], his Rebbi Reb Yokhanan ben Zakkai said: “Praised is the one who gave birth to him” (Ethics of Our Fathers chapter 2, Mishna]. Rashi [commentary], according to the Jerusalem Talmud, explains: that the mother of Reb Yehoshua held his cradle in the Beis Medrash so that his childish ears, right from the start, could hear only words of Torah and wisdom, and this would have an effect on his whole life.

In a certain sense, the same can be said of Shmuel Rokhlyn. From his fresh youth, his mother, may she rest in peace, brought him into the warmth of the Beis Medrash and implanted in him a love for Torah and Torah scholars. This love accompanied him his entire life, despite his many travels and spiritual fluctuations that obscured his vision in various camps and streams [ebbs and flows]. The person who came a little closer to him, a little deeper, a little more fundamentally, would soon recognize the warmth that flows out of his boiling soul that is always searching for a rectification for his errors.

Shmuel Rokhlyn was born in 1897 in Slutsk. His father, Hirshel the furrier died at the age of 38, leaving behind a wife and six tiny children, among whom was Shmuel, three years old, and a sister of three months. There was only one route left for this woman – to gird her loins and search for a livelihood to provide for her children.

Khaya Rokhlyn began to bake bread and the people were very sympathetic to her, so “Khaike the baker” with time became a well–known name, an institution in Slutsk, someone everyone knew and respected. Since she lived and managed her business in the synagogue courtyard, her bakery became almost like a part of the community Jewish life that centered around the Slutsker synagogue courtyard. During World War One, many of the first refugees arrived, they were Jewish families that fled warzones in Poland and Galicia. Khaike's bakery was always filled with people who got their daily bread ration regardless whether they had payment for this or not. Khaike was also the official seller of bread to the yeshiva and all the yeshiva students felt at home with her just as they did in their own homes.

A special closeness was felt between Khaike's family and the house of Reb Isser Zalman. First because they were neighbors, and also because of her constant business dealings of bread for the yeshiva. So her children were always in the Rav's house. Especially when her son Shmuel and his brother Dovid had grown up, studied in the yeshiva, and became well–known as being very talented [smart], then the Rav's home became their spiritual home, and the Rav, understanding how difficult it was for the mother to raise them, would give them special attention and paternal closeness.

At the outbreak of World War One, Shmuel Rokhlyn obeyed Rav Meltzer, and left to Radzyn because of the conscription, and went to the Khofetz Khaim's yeshiva. [*trans. note: Israel Meir Kagan (1838–1933), Talmudic and rabbinic scholar, ethical and religious teacher, authority in Jewish law, universally known by the title of his first book “Khofetz Chaim”]. But as soon as the war's front reached closer there, the yeshiva had to move more deeply into Russia, and Shmuel left to Vilna and after that to Kovno that was already occupied by the Germans. There, he studied for three years in the Slabodka yeshiva, and at the same time delivered lectures in “Ein Yakov” [“The Eye of Yakov,” compilation of ethical and inspiration teaching of the Talmud] in the Slabodka “great Beis Medrash” where the elite of the city prayed.

In Kovno, Shmuel also became acquainted with the other streams of thought that conflicted with their worldliness and Jewish lifestyles.

After several reincarnations [deep soul changes], Shmuel returned from Russia. His cousin Sonia Seperowyc later became his life's companion.

Sonia also came from a prominent family in Slutsk. Her father was a Torah scholar whose skill was writing Torah scrolls and scrolls for tefillin [phylacteries]. Everyone in Slutsk knew him as Khaim the Sofer [scribe]. His wife Itel Wieder was well known in her own right because they lived on the main road near Ostrag. Itel took to helping the Jewish arrestees or their families with their needs.

Other than having a sound Jewish education, Sonia also completed the Slutsker gymnasium [high school] and studied for two years in the medical faculty of the university in the distant Woroniez. But because of the Russian Civil War and its aftereffects, she had to

[Page 517]

end her studies and came to Vilna. In Vilna, the famous Rav Yitzkhok Rubenstayn, a great personal friend of theirs, performed the marriage ceremony for Shmuel and Sonia Rokhlyn, and a short while later, they left for America, in 1923.

In America, Shmuel tried to conduct his life in Torah and study circles, but the former Slutsker–Radziner and Slabodker Torah scholar did not to fit in with the modifying and watering down that these professions required according to the circumstances in America. He was too serious and spent too many years at the wells of Torah to be able to follow the compromising of religious life in Jewish America. So, he threw himself into the business world. His skills served him well here too, and he was successful economically as well. At the same time, he helped out greatly in the New York Jewish school situation, where he holds a very esteemed place, as well as in other cultural circles. For that, he is blessed with a healthy logic, and with an exceptional analytical skill.

Sonia Rokhlyn is also active in her own circles, and by nature is very refined and compassionate. Her father, Khaim the scribe, in the year 1932, was sent to Siberia and died there. Her mother Itel was killed by the Nazis in Slutsk.

The Rokhlyns have a son Hirshel and a daughter Laya, both educated, married, and run a cultured Jewish life.

As a child, Eliyahu studied with Slutsker teachers such as Reb Itche Note's and others, but when his father died at the age of 41, he had to take on the responsibility of helping his mother to support the family.

Despite all this, that Matle (Osowski) Rajkhman became a young widow with small children, she maintained the standards in her home as before. She would invite several yeshiva boys and a guest to her home each Shabbath.

In 1915, in the heat of World War One, Eliyahu left Slutsk, and after great difficulties and long wanderings in Siberia, Croatia, and Japan, he finally worked his way to Chicago in 1916, and later came to New York and married Khana Perel (Enny Orman), a Bialystoker.

Khaim Rajkhman

[Page 518]

Over the years, Alex Rajkhman brought over his brother Khaim from Tel Aviv to America. Khaim died in New York (19 Nisan, 5702 – 1942).

Alex and Khana Perel are very active and support many benevolent institutions. Recently, they have become active in selling Israel bonds, and Mrs. Rajkhman directs the activities of the Pioneer Women of the Labor Union campaign.

A few years ago, when the Rajkhmans returned from a trip to Israel, they were the first to join the book committee and have helped realize this project.

Aron Rolnik, son of Lipman and Slova, born in Slutsk. Studied in the schools of Reb Lipe Szinjowker and with the scholar of the Tanakh, Sh. A. Rabinowyc, later with Reb Beryl Grybenstik and for a few years at the great yeshiva.

From his young years, he was caught up in national thinking and was very active in the groups of “Tzeirei Tzion”[“Youth of Zion”]. He was also in the administration of the Slutsker library.

In 1921, he and a group of Slutsker went to Israel. There he worked along with all the other khalutzim [pioneers], built houses, pounded rocks, planted orchards for seven years straight. But sadly, for all kinds of reasons, he had to leave the country and go back to America.

Here too, he did not give up his idealistic past but he remained loyal to his former ideals. His wife is Yentel Epstajn, a Slutsker friend from youth. Their children are Avrohom Tzvi and Esther. Aron was of the first to register in the Slutsker committee for the Yizkor Book and served all the time as the recording secretary.

At a committee meeting in New York From right to left: Eliyahu Altman, Rav Nisen Waksman, Dovid Juzdon (standing), and Avrohom Maizel

[Page 519]

Protocol

From the First meeting of the Slutsker “Yizkor Book Committee” in New York, October 14, 1956

Sunday, October 14, 1956, in the home of Avrohom and Khaike Maizel, in New York, there was a meeting held with a group of compatriots from Slutsk and the surrounding area, about publishing a Yizkor Book to perpetuate the memory and the name of the martyrs who were killed by the Nazis, may their name be erased.

The following people participated: Avrohom and Khaike Maizel, HaRav Nisen Waksman, Eliyahu and Sarah Altman, Shmuel and Sonia Rokhlyn, Alexander Rajkhman and his wife, Sam Goldberg and his wife, Dovid Post and his wife, Aron Rolnik and his wife, Meyer Badkhan and his wife, Meyer Grinwald and his wife, Mina Klotz, Lewis Goren.

The meeting was opened by Lewis Goren, discussion was of the goals and the tasks involved with the job.

The chairman, Avrohom Maizel, said that he had just been in Israel where he met Nakhum Khinic and other compatriots who expressed their support for the need to publish a Yizkor Book. They gave him a lot of material that they had and they are awaiting a sponsor. They asked for help and asked to create a fund for this.

With heartfelt, warm words, HaRav Nisen Waksman explained the importance that Slutsk and the surrounding towns played in Jewish life and in Jewish history for the last hundred years, and how important it is for the future to eternalize their memory in the form of a book. It is a great merit for us to assist in and to realize this project.

With his request, a sum of $350 was raised immediately, to which all those who were present contributed, and promised to provide further assistance.

A discussion followed, with the participation of A. Altman, L. Goren, Mrs. Post, Khaike Maizel, A. Rolnik, and Shmuel Rokhlyn. All those present were all excited about the project, and are sure that the work will be very worthwhile. Shmuel Rokhlyn explained in a short, informative speech the enormity of the project and how the Jewish world will be so grateful for this.

At a suggestion made by HaRav Waksman, the issue of electing officials for a committee is postponed until later. Instead, he suggests that all those present who belong to different landsleit [compatriot] organizations, should talk about this project at their meetings and ask

At a meeting of the New York Book Committee, in Eliyahu Altman's house, February 1958 Seated from right to left: Shmuel Rokhlyn, Sarah and Nisen Waksman, Avrohom Maizel Standing from right to left: Mishelow, Khaike Maizel, Mr. and Mrs. Alex Rajkhman, Mr. and Mrs. Eliyahu Altman, Mr. and Mrs. Aron Rolnik

[Page 520]

that they select representatives for our organization and help with the work. Only after that will we elect officials with the participation of all the organizations.

But for now, a temporary executive of six people is formed: Avrohom Maizel, HaRav Waksman, A. Altman, Shmuel Rokhlyn, Alexander Rajkhman, and Mrs. Mina Klotz, to take care of the work in the interim. It was decided that the committee meet in the office of Friend Altman for future discussions, and that the next large meeting should be held in the Hotel Martinique.

With that, the business part of the meeting is closed.

Mrs. Khaike Maizel invited all those present into another room to a lovely, filled table, Everyone spent a wonderful time and recounted memories of childhood years in Slutsk and the surrounding town.

At the end, Eliyahu Altman expressed heartfelt thanks to Avrohom and Khaike Maizel, in the name of all those present, for their wonderful welcome.

At the end of December 1954, when I received a letter from our dear friend Nakhum Khinic, in which he asked that I participate in the publishing of a book about our region, the idea that I had been carrying with me for several years came to life.

In the early forties, in the middle of the fire of World War Two, when the first tragic news of the destruction and devastation reached us, I thought about doing something in writing for the memory of my hometown. Finally, no one has found a better means to preserve the past then with the written word.

As a beginning, I printed in the New York “Morgen Zhurnal” [“Morning Journal” Yiddish newspaper, founded 1901] a short summary about my place of birth, for which I won a literary prize. But this was not my point. I was not looking for any prizes from this destruction. But I felt, or better said that I was taken over by a voice that often rang in my ears: Good brother, give a helping hand

Seated from right to left: HaRav N. Waksman, the pedagogue Y.N. Adler, Dr. Meyer Waksman, and the Hebrew author Dr. Aron Domnyc

[Page 521]

and assist, so that a short 500 years of active Jewish life and creation should not be forgotten. Help at least to set up a gravestone, good brother, help!

This feeling flowed together with the words of about 60 letters (read 60!) that I received over the last six years from the same Reb Nokhum Khinyc, and each time I read one of his letters I thought this was from the “Other World.” Through him, all those “fortunate ones” who died one generation after the other, spoke to me – those who were buried in the Jewish cemeteries of our cities and towns, but “only” their graves and tombstones were wiped out and no memory of them is left, and also the tens of thousands of recent martyrs who wanted only to be buried in Jewish cemeteries, but tragically, did not have this privilege.

The cries of the tens of funerals that I attended in my youth were refreshed in my mind, when a person's life still had value, and these funerals evoked a sadness. But the deadened voices of the deceased themselves cried louder than the others and pressed and ate away even more strongly and deeply. Oh how terribly do these unheard voices cry out!

These sounds awoke me and hurried me to the work of this book. With their echo I gave many speeches about the importance of this book, to all kinds of landsleit gatherings, even though at the time those who listened received this coldly, and even sometimes hotly attacked the speaker and his ideas.

These voices inspired me to write and speak to individual people, both to receive their financial help that now reached a nice few thousand dollars to print the book, but also to receive the appropriate printing material from competent people. This second objective was not easier to receive than the first. The majority of the writers had to be spoken to personally and then afterwards I had to call them tens of times within a few months, and in some cases, even for years, with great tact and patience, until they agreed to discuss memories and feelings that were hidden and dormant inside for many years and were waiting to be awoken and uncovered. The same was to get the many pictures that were to be put into the book. For all these years, I was busy as a bee, running from one to the other searching for and collecting whatever little piece there was for the book, to realize and to enhance it, to complete and improve the gravestone for all the destroyed gravestones and for those who were left without.

But it should be mentioned here that the best intentions and efforts these goals would never have been realized without the devoted help of several other idealistic, persistent people who did not pay attention to the apathy of the official naysayers, but actually paid heed to the unheard calls of the souls of those who died and disappeared, and to the moans of the few ordinary people who raised themselves over the heads of their leaders and presented themselves warmly for the situations.

Just as in Israel where only a few “fanatics” came forward to this, and did not anticipate the ground rules of the “bigshots” and the great challenges that stood in their way, similarly, in New York the few people on the committee worked for the goal with a devotion, not considering any challenges, but went on with the work until the last few years, until the book was completed.

To the closing of our work and for the book itself, I feel it is appropriate to express a heartfelt thanks to the few rare individual compatriots and friends who made it possible to realize this book. For everyone, first the friends in Israel: Friend Nakhum Khynic, Sh. Nakhmani, my relative Tzvi Assaf, Aryeh Shapiro, Tzvi Hagivati, who, other than doing unlimited personal work, after that awoke and inspired others to the task. After that, to our compatriot, well–known writer Y.D. Berkowycz, thank you to him for his assistance.

Great recognition must be given to our friends on the New York committee: the president Avrohom Maizel and his dear wife Khaike, the secretary Eliyahu Altman and his wife, the treasurer Shmuel Rokhlyn and his wife, the vice–president Alex Rajkhman and his wife, and the recording secretary Aron Rolnik and his wife.

Of the larger financial supporters, it is important to mention the very esteemed Mr. Dovid Juzdon, who with great amicability, contributed the paper for this book, and we should also mention, for good things, the beautiful and warm assistance of my brother–in–law Dr. Yehoshua Yosef Szwarc, the famous director of Joint, of the United Appeal, and of Israel Bonds in New York, and also the Israel finance minister, Sr. Levi Eshkol, for his wonderful actions toward the book. We must also not forget the great financial help that the compatriot and philanthropist Mr. Harry Lafrok and his wife and son Shmule contributed – may all these be blessed and be eternally remembered for the good, for their assistance and support to perpetuate the holy memory of Slutsk and the region.

[Page 522]

Family name	First name(s)	Father	Remarks	Yarzheit
UZDENSKI	Nesoniel Tsvi	Dovid		26 Iyar 5686
UZDENSKI	Dveyra Basha	Chaim		15 Tamuz 5707
ALTMAN	Yehuda Leyb	Reuven		12 Shvat 5677
ALTMAN	Rivka	Yeshayahu
BADCHAN	Simkha Leyb
BADCHAN	Elke Dveyra
BUNIN	Lipman	Chaim
BUNIN	Chaya	Avrohom
BUNIN	Sora	Lipman		19 Tevet 5718
BUSSEL	Yitzhok	Lipman		25 Iyar 5681
BUSSEL	Rokhl	Binyomin		18 Tevet 5694
GALLINSON	Yakov		and Sora
GOLDBLUM	Feivel	Elkana		1 Shevat 5719
GWOSDOFF	Shmuel Yosef	Aryey Zev		10 Menachem Av 5720
GWOSDOFF	Rishe Henye	Tsvi Hirsch		12 Iyar 5688
GOREN	Meir	Pesach	Rabbi	15 Adar 5657
GOREN	Tzeshe	Zev Wolf		18 Cheshvan 5671
GREENWALD	Yosef	Leizer Mordekhai		26 Adar 5705
GREENWALD	Svetla	Moshe Zalmen		23 Elul
DOMNITZ	Asher	Chaim		26 Tishrei 5712
DOMNITZ	Chaya	Yirmiyahu		23 MarCheshvan 5696
HOLLAND	Borukh	Yitzhok	haKohen	7 Sivan 5696
HOLLAND	Fale	Reuven		7 Elul 5719
WAXMAN	Reuven	Tsvi Hirsch		15 Shevat 5720
WEINSTOCK	Tsvi Hirsch		and Gitel
ZEIDES	Shimon Leyb	Chaim		9 Tishrei 5704
ZEIDES	Leah	Shlomo		25 Shevat 5663
CHINITZ	Feivel	Isser		7 Nisan 5684
CHIPCHIN	Dov Ber	Menahem Mendl	haKohen
CHIPCHIN	Mordekhai	Menahem Mendl	haKohen
MILKOWITZ	Zelig	Yeheyshua		29 Adar 5688
MILKOWITZ	Golde	Mendil		15 Marcheshvan 5691

[Page 523]

Family name	First name(s)	Father	Remarks	Yarzheit
MECHANIK	Blume	Chaim		15 Nisan 5720
MECHANIK	Yosef	Tuvia		Erev Sukkot 5692
MAIZES	Chaim-Dov	Mordekhai Eliezer		6 Nisan 5672
MAIZES	Rivka Rokhl	Yakov		25 Elul 5695
NOZICK	Dveyra	Moshe Getzel		7 Adar 5717
SIROTOWITZ	Ahron	Yoyna		1 Kislev 5708
SIROTOWITZ	Shlomo	Ahron		9 Tishrei 5718
SAGALOWITZ	Chaya Braina	Mendl		27 Tevet
SAGALOWITZ	Eliezer	Yitzhok		1 Nisan
SEGAL	Yerukham		and Rivka	12 Shevat
FEIVISHOWITZ	Moshe	Yomtov Leyb	haLevi	2 Adar 5668
FEIVISHOWITZ	Elka	Binyomin		2 Marcheshvan 5693
POSTOW	Borukh	Eliyohu		unknown
POSTOW	Golde	Eliyohu		21 Kislev
FIALKO	Chaim Hertz	Avrohom		Killed in the war
FIALKO	Etil Itke	Meir		Killed in the war
FEISS	Boris			Killed in the war
FEISS	Hinde			Killed in the war
FORTMAN	Shimshon Zelig	Shimon	Rabbi	27 Shevat 5711
FORTMAN	Khvale	Moshe Getzel		2 Tamuz 5721
ZIRKEL	Rokhl			19 Adar I 5719
KASBERG	Alte Leah	Shlomo Yosef		21 Tamuz 5694
KASBERG	Tsvi Yoyna	Yakov Dov		28 Adar 5720
KAMINSKY	Chaim	Yakov
KAMINSKY	Hana	Menashe
KAMINSKY	Yakov			10 Nisan 5672
KANTOR	Moshe Yitzhok	Yehuda Leyb		12 Cheshvan 5676
KANTOR	Malka	Mordekhai		5691
KANTOR	Shlomo	Shmuel Shimon		3 Nisan 5696
KANTOR	Riva Leah	Yeheyshua		7 Nisan 5677
KANTOR	Yosef	Moshe Yitzhok		27 Tamuz 5721
KANTOROWITZ	Lipa	Mendel		20 Tamuz 5720
KATCHENENOVSKY	Lipa	Gershon		27 Shevat 5683
KATCHENENOVSKY	Batsheva	Menahem Mendl		27 Tevet 5684
KAPCHITZ	Moshe Chaim	Yehuda Leyb	Rabbi	15 Sivan 5690
KAPCHITZ	Sora Rivka	Moshe Dovid		9 Tevet 5694
KAPLAN	Yosef Leyb	Moshe Chaim	Rabbi; father a Rabbi	1 Elul 5712
KAPLAN	Chaya Miriam	Chaim		21 Nisan 5685
KRANITZ	Heschil	Tsvi Hirsch		8 Tishrei 5691
KRANITZ	Chaike	Yehuda		5 Shevat 5677
KUSTANOWITZ	Yakov Moshe	Pesach	haKohen	10 Menachem Av 5701
KUSTANOWITZ	Rivka	Aharon		8 Tamuz 5696
KUSTANOWITZ	Mordekhai	Yakov		unknown
KOOSMAN	Yehuda		his wife Sora Leah

[Page 524]

Family name	First name(s)	Father	Remarks	Yarzheit
KRIVITZKY	Chaim	Avrohom		5 Cheshvan 5722
RAVITCH	Meir Zev	Zelig		12 Marcheshvan 5705
RAVITCH	Alte	Mordekhai		27 Iyar 5701
RAVITCH	Etke	Meir Zev		Erev Sukkot 5680
RAVITCH	Simkha	Meir Zev		17 Tishrei 5680
RAVITCH	Nisan	Meir Zev		Purim 5681
RAVITCH	Eliahu	Meir Zev		Yom Kippur 5718
RAVITCH	Yekhiel	Meir Zev		9 Elul 5717
RESNICK	Avrohom Ahron	Yakov		12 Tevet
RESNICK	Henye	Yeheyshua		10 Iyar
ROLNICK	Yomtov Lipman	Mordekhai		3 Adar
ROLNICK	Esther Slawe	Moshe		23 Elul
RUBINSTEIN	Moshe			8 Menachem Av 5686
RUBNITZ	Henye	Tsvi		27 Tishrei 5699
RUBINSTEIN	Yitzhok	Avrohom Reuven		8 Cheshvan 5702
RIVIN	Avrohom Ahron	Dov Ber		2 Tamuz 5715
RIVIN	Golya	Aryey Leyb		3 Av 5714
SHIFFMAN (WIZNE)	Yakov Shlomo	Moshe Ahron		28 Cheshvan 5664
SHIFFMAN (WIZNE)	Shulye	Avrohom		10 Kislev 5664
SHWARTZ	Rafael	Tsvi	haLevi	1 Tamuz 5710
SHWARTZ	Rakhel	Moshe	haLevi	26 Iyar 5708
SHWARTZ	Elke	Yisrael		14 Tevet 5693
SHWAIDELSON	Sora	Tzadok		3 Adar 5703
SHWAIDELSON	Chaim	Yakov		29 Adar 5677
SCHWEDOCK	Shayne Dveyra	Yosef Mendl		26 Nisan 5688
SCHWEDOCK	Yitzhok	Chaim		22 Cheshvan
SHKOLNICK	Zelig	Nete		12 Shevat
SHKOLNICK	Zlate	Dov		Shushan Purim

Natan Nota the son of Reb Tzvi Yoel, 15 Iyar 5671 – 25 Kislev 5704 NORMAN EPSTEIN University of Louisville, Kentucky, School of Medicine 1938. Interned at the Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri and a resident in the Jewish Hospital, Brooklyn, N.Y. Commissioned a first Lieutenant in the Medical Corps. Army of the United States, June 9, 1942 and later promoted to Captain. Killed in action in New Britain, Southwest Pacific, Dec. 2, 1943.

[Page 525]

Family name	First name(s)	Remarks
DOROSHINSKY	Borukh	Died 4 Aug 1931
DOROSHINSKY	Leah	Died 4 Jul 1927
DORIS	Beni	Died 4 Feb 1958
TABACHNICK	Reuven	Died 4 Jan 1941
TABACHNICK	Rokhl	Died 19 Jul 1954
TABACHNICK	Silya	Died 7 Apr 1958
FINKELSTEIN	Mordekhai	Died 23 Av
FINKELSTEIN	Zelig	Died 1 Adar
GIVENTER	Itka	7 Tevet
NESHIN	Tzira
NEWMAN	Hillel	Died 7 Apr 1947
NEWMAN	Beile	Died 10 Aug 1936
NEWMAN	Dov	Died 7 May 1956
GRAUER	Sadie	Died 9 May 1947
SKLAR	Shmuel	Died 31 May 1948
TIKTINSKY	Yosef	Died 26 Dec 1920
FEINBERG	Feygel	Died 8 Sep 1959
MAISEL	Shalom	Died 1936
MAISEL	Sora Rivka	Died 1901
MAISEL	Moshe Leyb	Died 21 Feb 1920
MAISEL	Chava	Died 24 Nisan
MAISEL	Michel	Died 5 Nov 1953
MAISEL	Shmuel Chaim	Died Jan 1937
MAISEL	Shmuel and Eidle	Died 8 Tevet
MAISEL	Fridman	Died in Russia, 1941
MAISEL	Shalom	Killed in WWII
MAISEL	Shmuel	Died 20 Jul 1954
MAISEL	Sofia	Died 5 May 1952
MAISEL	Hertzil	Died 13 Sep 1932
MAISEL	Chaim	Died 4 Nov 1955
MLOTOK	Liowa and Grisha	Twins; killed in WWII
GRANOFF	Dov	Died 9 Apr 1952
RAPPAPORT	Yitzhok	Died 22 Jun 1933
RAPPAPORT	Yehudit	Died 1940
RAPPAPORT	Reuven	Died April 1942
RAPPAPORT	Beile	Died Jun 1932
WEINBERG	Eliahu	Died 28 Jun 1959

[Page 526]

Left: Chasia Zeides, burnt alive in Slutsk. Her daughter Musia – died of hunger. Right: Her son Yitzchak, fell in the war. Left: Yisrael, a partisan, remains an invalid.		The Mendelevich family (Reb Rafael-Yosel's grandchildren) From right to left: the mother Dina Tzipa, the father Reb Leib. Standing from right to left: Rivka, Gershon, Eidele. Murdered in the ghetto.
Leibel Riklin and his wife Riva-Dina, from among the active members of the Slutsk Bund. Murdered in the ghetto.		Reb Yaakov Meir Poliak

[Page 527]

Rabbi Hershel Malinski with his wife. (He was the son of Reb Berl the Yeshiva head). Murdered in the ghetto.		Esther Kazberg
Right: The mother Chaya Rivka Meizel. The daughter Golka (Standing), Neske (sitting), the father Mordechai (left).
Reb Pesach Rubnich with his family (the Gemara teacher in Starobin) Sitting from right to left: his son Reb Aharyon Yaakov with his wife, Reb Pesach with his wife, his son-in-law and daughter Itka. Standing: Moshe Baruch with his wife, Yosef Elya with his wife, Noach with his wife. All the sons with their families perished in Russia, except for the family of his eldest son Reb Aharon Yaakov and Sheinka, and their children in New York.

[Page 528]

  Slutsk, Belarus     Yizkor Book Project     JewishGen Home Page

Copyright © 1999-2024 by JewishGen, Inc.
Updated 17 Sep 2024 by LA