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It is in the Shavel [Šiauliai] district. According to the monuments in the cemetery, one can derive that the Jewish community is about two hundred years old (counting from 1940). However, according to the 1738 of a local Jewish scholar (see further on), we must deduce that Jews already lived in Žeimelis during the last quarter of the 17^th century.

There was a time when Žeimelis belonged to Courland [an area of Western Latvia]. At that time, the town was called Zemlin or Zamelan.

An announcement in Hamagid from 1863 states that the first Beis Midrash was built there in 1862. It makes no sense that a Jewish community would have been without Beis Midrash for 150-175 years.

In 1854, in Paduby (near Šiluva) a Jewish colony was founded on free government-owned land. Seven Jewish families from Žeimelis, Linkava, and Bolnik [Balninkai] settled there.

Approximately five hundred Jews lived there prior to the First World War; 378 in 1923, and about 200 before the destruction. The sources of livelihood of the Jews included small business, shopkeeping, and trades. Almost every family had a home business as an auxiliary source of income.

Relations with the Lithuanians were generally positive. A Lechem Aniyim [organization for providing food for the poor] was set up in 1891. The city owner, Prince Liven, provided 35 pood of flour, 50 pounds of sugar, and 3 ½ kilograms of tea every ten weeks. The Lechem Aniyim was also helped by the Christian Dr. Sekter. The Jewish patrons were Reb Tzvi-Hirsch Abramovitch, and Reb Elia-Matityahu Chaies (the head of the community at that time). The activist was Reb Mordechai Eliashevitz.

A shocking event occurred that same year: A

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peasant broke into the Beis Midrash and desecrated all the Torah scrolls as revenge for losing a court case against Jews.

A pogrom trial took place in 1901. The prosecutor for the Jews was the Kovno lawyer Ozer Finkelstein.

One can find many Jews from Žeimelis in the lists of supporters of the upbuilding of the Land of Israel between 1900 and 1903.

Rabbis – The Kabbalist and Gaon Rabbi Shlomo served from 1824 until his death in 1864. He lived under very meager conditions. His grandson Rabbi Moshe-Yehuda Rabinovitch was the author of Misped Gadol Vekaved [A great, heavy mourning] about his grandfather.

Rabbi Binyamin the son of Rabbi Dov Dimand served from 1864. He later became the head of the rabbinical court of Posvol [Pasvalys] and Simferopol. His father was the head of the rabbinical court of Tovrik [Tauragė] and Zhidik [Židikai].

Rabbi Yitzchak-Meir the son of Rabi Avraham Yehuda Yoselson, born in 1851 in Janishok [Joniškis], served in Žeimelis from 1896, and later served as rabbi in Dublin, Ireland.

Rabbi Shalom-Elchanan HaLevi Yaffa, born in 1858 in Vabolnik [Vabalninkas]. In 1879, he was the rabbi in Upyna, from 1883 in Žeimelis, and later in Vabolnik, Saint Louis, and new York. His works include: Pri Eshel (Vilna, 5637 – 1877), Shoel Beinyan (Jerusalem, 5655 – 1895), Teshuva Kehalacha (Jerusalem, 5666 – 1906).

Rabbi Avraham-Yitzchak Kook, born in 1865, was the head of the rabbinical court here for three years from 1887. Then, he was in Boysk [Bauska], in Jaffa, in Jerusalem in 1918. From 1921, he was the Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel. He was one of the greatest influential rabbis of his generation. His influence continues to this day. He authored many works on halacha, religious thought, and nationalist themes. He died in 1935 in Jerusalem.

Rabbi Yaakov-Moshe Feinstein, born n 1862, served from 1890-1895. Later, he was a rabbi in Portland (America).

Rabbi Yaakov-Dov Rappaport, born in 1860 in Alita [Altyus]. He served for ten years as the rabbi in Rubinishok [Rubiniškė], in Zemel [Žeimelis] from 1896, and in Kfar Saba from 1926. He died there in 1927. He was the son-in-law of Rabbi Yosef-Zecharia Stern, the head of the rabbinical court of Shavel [Šiauliai], and father-in-law of Rabbi Asher-Nisan Levitan, a head of the Yeshiva in Shavel. He lived in Shavel as a Parush [ascetic]. In his book Choker Din (Odessa, 5647 – 1887), he is described as “from Shavel” (only the first half was published). Rabbi Yaakov Dov's son, Rabbi Aryeh, had a confectionary factory in Shavel, where he was born in 1888. He later made aliya to the Land of Israel.

Rabbi Chaim Zalman Krohn, who was also a rabbi in Pokroi [Pakruojus] and Pikeln [Pikeliai], may G-d avenge his blood; Rabbi Yisrael Krenitz, later a rabbi in Nemoksht [Nemakščiai], may G-d avenge his blood; Rabbi Leib Siger, may G-d avenge his blood; Rabbi Aryeh-Leib Schneider, may G-d avenge his blood, written in Knesset Yisrael (5700 – 1940).

Between 1898 and 1911, there were eleven prenumerators [subscribers] of rabbinical books from Žeimelis.

People who came from there – Shlomo-Zalkind Horowitz, born in 1738. During his youth, he left for Berlin. He studied

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with Moses Mendelsohn. He later settled in Paris. He was a fighter for Jewish rights, and a member of the “Sanhedrin” during the time of Napoleon. He was a cataloguer of original manuscripts in the national library of Paris. He published books bout philology. He died in Paris in 1812.

Rabbi Tzvi-Yehuda the son of Rabbi Avraham-Yitzchak Kook, born in 1891, one of the heads of the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He was the author of Lemitzvot Haaretz [The Commandments pertaining to the Land] (Jerusalem 5708 – 1948).

Bibliography – Hameilitz, 1862:50; Hamagid 1863: 1; Hameilitz 1885: 33; Knesset Yisrael by Sh. Y. Fin, Warsaw, 1886, page 333; Hameilitz 1891: 22; 1900: 68; 1903: 17; D. Tidhar, Encyclopedia of Pioneers and builders of the Settlement [in the Land of Israel] Tel Aviv, 5712 – 1952, page 157; Annals of the Jewish Settlement in Courland, pp. 33, 451; Book of the Prenumerators, 3286; Lithuanian Jewry III; Sages of Israel In America, page 678.

Recueil de Matériaux su la Situation economique des Israelites de Russie, II., p. 367; Black Book.

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