I may not be traveling myself, but somehow, by the virtue of me receiving mementos of other peoples' travels, I feel like I'm there too, crisscrossing Europe and Israel and anywhere else. As corny as that sounds I do believe you can experience it to a much lesser degree by reading and getting descriptions from the actual visitor. Having said that - sorry about the cliche' - We present the travels of one of our very devoted readers to Eastern Europe, to where his
zeides and
elter zeides lived and died.
Lutzin, aka Luzda, may not sound like much to some of you, but it was a town with many illustrious
Rabbonim, not to mention
stam yidden yerei shomayim beTachlis. Some of the lucky ones left and went to lands of greater opportunity; the US, Canada, South Africa, Australia, and so on.
We Spoke about Lutzin way back when.Our traveler is descended from those who left and went to South Africa, like so many thousands of other
Litvishe/Letlandishe Yidden did. Now he went back there for the first time and chronicled what he saw. He
davened in the
shul - one of the
shuls, - and even found pre-war
siddurim and other
seforim, just sitting there, as well lots of pre-war furniture!
Here's what you see when you're approaching Lutzin
Ok, you drive into town with your guide's fancy car and you're transported back a 100+ years, much of it is still the same, despite the modern amenities like cable TV and internet that are available...
One shul...
another shul....
as if they left a few weeks ago and are about to come back and clean up...
Here's what YOU could've found there if you would've made the trip yourself...
You're done with shul, you drive out to the BesEylem, and this is what you find. At least here the matzeyves still stand tall, despite the overgrown brush.
The kever for Lutzin's last Rov, Reb Ben-Tzion DonYichyeh, HY"D - who was shot with the rest of his Kehilleh (maybe not with all of them, since that is the mokom HaKevuroh) in 1941...
R'Don Yichyeh was a Chabad, he has a grandson who ,I think, in Israel who is Mizrachi and a lawyer.
ReplyDeleteSchneour knows more about Don Yichyeh, who apparently were descended from Spanish Jews that fled the inquisition
Looks like much of Lita . . .
ReplyDeleteThanks for the write-up. I know you would have enjoyed the trip tremendously. Many mixed emotions. I wonder if it's possible to have memories of a place you have never visited?
ReplyDeletee SC,
ReplyDeleteDon't reveal the hidden secret of us Litvaks, that we come from Spain originally. (i theorize that is why we are so dark. Think about every Litivshe rov, and he has a dark complexion).
this RAV was a close relative of R' Yitzchak Zilber.In his biography,(To remain a Jew)the first 15 pages of the book is about this town and their Rabbonim.
ReplyDeleteThese very moving pictures have inspired me to ask an old familiar question: why can"t erliche yidden and their Rabbonim establish a day of mourning for the Holocaust? The standard answer has been that it is not in our power to do so. That may be true for a fast day but what is wrong with a day to learn Mishnayos,say Tehillim,and listen to the memories of the few survivors. It may not be well known but in Slonim the Nesivos Sholom did establish such a day at the beginning of chodesh MarCheshvan. In our own generation celebrations were established for Kislev21 [sakmer],Tamuz12-13[Lubavitch,and Shvat9 Belz. If that's the case why can't there be a day to remember Churban Europe?
ReplyDelete"Snagville said...
ReplyDeletee SC,
Don't reveal the hidden secret of us Litvaks, that we come from Spain originally. (i theorize that is why we are so dark. Think about every Litivshe rov, and he has a dark complexion).
Friday, July 30, 2010 2:14:00 PM"
What a crock of _____. I am of "Litvish" ancestry, (now chassidish) with even a touch of Sefardic blood, and am very light skinned with light hair. Most (real) Litvish I know are light skinned.
If anyone as a group is dark, it's the Satmars, many of whom are of very sephardic complexion.
Not that there's anything wrong with sephardic ancestry, as I mentioned I have some, but please don't sell your bubba maises here.
R Don Yichye was a grandfather of R Yischok Silber ztsal.
ReplyDeleteA lot of litvishe meshpoches come from sfardim- it is a fact. L'Moshel, Heifetz family, which i a m a einikle from, shtamen fin sfardim.
if you look in ohalei shem here http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=36602&hilite=5a64dc24-f42c-4aa2-aee0-b138801487d3&st=%d7%93%d7%95%d7%9f+%d7%99%d7%97%d7%99%d7%99%d7%90&pgnum=251 you see that that this family was renowned both in litfishe circles and chasidic for their sfardishe yichus. Another famous one is the epstein family (aruch hashulchan and son).
ReplyDeletep.s. How many victims of 'hitleristen' were zoche to kevuras yisroel?
1. Litvishe rabbonim dark complexions ? Man dekare shmeh!Reb Moshe was dark / Reb Ruderman was dark ? Reb David Lifshutz was dark ? The rayaatz was dark ? What I want to know is how you have all the red heads in greater Hungary ?
ReplyDelete2. Descendents from Sefardimin Lita along with many families in Galicia, Poland(There was even a family in Poland, Ukraine called Sefard) and Hamburg etc etc. Nothing special relates Litvishe Yiden to Sefardim. If you look at the map of east Europe you will see what I mean it and White Russia were the furthest east from Spain.If anything the discredited theories about Khazars adviocated by people like Arthur Koestler about Polsih Jewry have more credibility in Lita than desc from Sefardim.Of course like in all communities there were some families who could trace or claim to trace their yichus from the Golei Sefarad.
a national day of mourning.I say amen to everythignt herpevious writer wrote.
Shneur,
ReplyDeleteSfarad family from Ukrain (Kinyever Rebbes) were reb Yeiv"i einiklech, and their last did not come from sfardim.
I think Mermelstein says in "yahadus Lite' that some Litvishe originally came from Italy and had "shvartzhennevdike penimer" However this dark complexion thing sounds ridiculous.
ReplyDeletethe notorious kuzuri theory has only been recently disproved through DNA...the torah temmiah and lh r berel wein are partly sefardim...
ReplyDelete