Nadene Goldfoot
The most famous rabbi from Lithuania was the Gaon of Vilna. His name was Elijah ben Solomon Zalman and he was born in 1720 and died in 1797. He was an expert in the Talmud and was famous very early on for his scholarship.
What was the world like that he had been born into? His parents were Rabbi Shlomo-Zalman d: 1758 and Treina. His mother came from the town of Seltz (today's Selets) near Grodno. His father came from a prominent Vilna family. The known male line started with Rabbi David Ashkenazy d: 1645. He was known as the Rosh Yeshiva in Lemberg, Poland. This could have been the same man known as Rabbi David, son of Mordekhai Ashkenazy . David's son was Rabbi Moshe Kremer who died in 1688, who held the position of the chief rabbi of Vilna. Moshe Kremer's son was Rabbi Eliyahu who died in 1710, known as Hassid due to his piety. I was just doing some genealogy on one of the Gaon's descendants, a Kramer. This may be the connection directly to this famous rabbi. .
How were Lithuanian Jews different from other Jews in other countries? My grandmother, Zlata Jermulowske, was born in Lazdijai which was on the border between Poland and Lithuania, but she wanted her children to know that she was a Litvak; and proud of it. In 1855 Lazdey had 1,546 Jews. That was 60% of the population for that town. My poor bobba could not read or write in any language, but she produced 2 grandchildren who were American PhDs and 3 teachers of elementary schools, and one of those PhDs taught in college as well. She produced a master's degree. Zlata was proud of her Litvak heritage and their reputation. A ggrandson is a veterinarian. A ggrandson is a classical pianist.
Our grandfather Nathan Goldfus couldn't read or write English, that I know when he came to the states in 1900. His town of Telzh had 3,209 Jews in 1855, 61% Jewish. By the time he immigrated in 1897 there were 3,088 Jews there which had dropped to 51% of the town's pop
ulation. Jews were leaving. .
Lithuanian Jews did have a reputation. They were known for their intellectual and rational attitudes. They were also called the Cross Headsa, suggesting that they would be ready to strike out vertically and horizontally in order to achieve his goal, or to cross check his findings in order to reach THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. This was seen not only in their daily life but in other times in the social-cultural strata, such as not falling for any FALSE MESSIAHS. It's known they were against the Chassidism, and can probably thank the Gaon of Vilna for that, since he fought against it pretty hard.
They studied the Torah with diligence in the synagogues as well in the Yeshivoth Ketanoth and in the Great Yeshivoth. Jewish Lithuania was famous for its great Yeshivoth of Slabodka in Telsiai (Telzh) where my grandfather lived. They also had Yeshivote in Poniezh and Kelem where hundreds of foreign students also studied.
The Salant community was also well known because it was from here that the MUSAR (ETHICS) movement began an spread by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter whose principals were based on the idea of intellectual activity and knowledge in order to correct and improve the behavior of the individual.
Lithuanian Jewry was also known for fostering the HIBATH ZION MOVEMENT, and later by practially adopting the Zionist idea, and at the same time an almost simultaneous openness to the challenge of the HASKALAH or (ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT.) It didn't matter if it was in Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian or German.
Jews had developed impressive attributes and achievements as well as a special character within the Jewish world, developed alongside the prolonged struggles for their economic and civil rights among the ethnic Lithuanian population where they were born in those days in spite of the frequent changes of rulers.
By the time our Gaon of Vilna was 20 he spent his time traveling among the Jewish communities of Poland and Germany and finally settled down in Vilna, Lithuania where he taught and later founded his own academy.
As we know, Jews were driven out of Judah in 70 CE by the Romans who burned down the 2nd Temple there and even Jerusalem, taking who they could has slaves to Rome. Those were the first Ashkenazi Jews as they would then make their way to Germany eventually.
The first settlement of Jews into the Great Lithuanian Princedom, THE MAGNUS DECATUS LITHUANIAE, began in the 1300s by invitation only from the Grand dukes Gediminas and Vytaufas (Witold). They extended invitations usually because they heard of the Jews' prowess at math and keeping records, helping other governments with their skills.
By 1388, one year after the Christian-Catholic religion was introduced all over Lithuania, the Catholics also granted the Jews a preferred civil status and incomparable bills of rights such as protecting their bodies and property; freedom to keep their religious rituals; significant alleviation in the field of commerce; and money lending which was permitted in relation to their Christians. There was even a special regulation to protect Jews against blood libels.
1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue-Spain kicked out all Jews from Spain unless they converted to Christianity.
Christianity got around very fast and furiously. By 1495, the Grand Duke Alexander expelled all Jews from Lithuania, too! Jews by then numbered more than 6,000 people. The government also took all their property as well! That must have been a good political move, because 8 years later he was elected King of Poland. They had a joint rule clause between these 2 countries. Then he allowed the Lithuanian Jews to return to their homes-if they weren't already occupied- and gave them back only part of their property. He left most of the privileges alone as they had been so that they reserved the legal, civil and economic status of the Jews which must be why they decided to return.
The townspeople were not impressed or happy to see them return. They were mostly from Germany and were organized now in merchant and artisan unions and who had been enjoying the MAGDEBURG RIGHTS and now they saw the returning Jews as competitors who had to be fought.
They brought about an edict DE NON TOLERANDIS JUDAEIS, making it forbidden to Jews to settle in Vilna or to trade there. These insults to Jews by the urban Christians, even students of theological seminars, continued for hundreds of years. Anti-Semitism was created.
It was different in another part of Lithuania, though. The NW region, ZEMAITIJA/SAMOGITIA had ethnic Lithuanian tribes living there who had become Catholics much later in 1413 and han't yet become infected with anti-Semitism with a religious background. Zamut Jews were in the business of customs and tax collection. Another wave of Jews came and settled there after Vilna and Memel Jews were kicked out in 1567.
Feudalism reigned in Lithuania. Most people made a living as farmers, breeding cattle and poultry, fishing in rivers and lakes and harvesting trees. It was the Jews who were peddlers, and a few of them dealt in importing and exporting agricultural products. Finally due to improved roads, taverns and storehouses were built near crossroads and river ports turned into villages and towns where many Jewish artists and merchants settled.
Until the 18th century, townships were granted to only 83 settlements. and rights for commercial activity to 87 settlements. Really, there was no big difference between a small and a big town.
Most of the people were Christians. Most believed in devils and ghosts and now THE JEW replaced these evil symbols. It was very easy for the average Lithuanian to believe in the BLOOD LIBELS. It's a phenomenon that continue to exist until only recently in Europe, and I see some in the Middle East like Syria are believers as well. The Blood Libel is when someone accuses a Jew of using human blood in making food such as matzos, the flour and water cracker eaten during Passover. It's disgusting! Jews don't even eat blood accidentally when eating any meat! It's a no no to Jews, part of our Kosher laws. No Blood.
At the end of the 18th century there were several places where half of the population was Jewish and in a few even a decisive majority. In urban areas, Jews lived in the JEWISH QUARTER, sometimes called THE JEWS' STREET, just like in Syria. Jews outside this confined area remained strongly linked, connected to Jews in this confined area. Western Russia had created THE PALE OF SETTLEMENT in many countries brought about through Catherine the Great. She influenced these other countries where they held where many restrictive edicts and harsh limitations that were imposed on the Jewish population. These caused great hardships and continued until World War I 1914-1917.
The Holocaust started earlier than the USA became involved. The late 1930s were horrible times for Jews of Europe with Hitler's rising. On the eave of this Shoah, there were about a quarter of a million Jews including the Vilna region and the refugees from Poland. They were only about 0.9% of the world's Jews during the 20 years of Lithuania's Independence. As we already know, 6 million Jews were slaughtered in the Holocaust.
References: https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-academic-wonder-gaon-of-vilna.html
Preserving Our Litvak Heritage-a history of 31 Jewish communities in Lithuania by Josef Rosin, Joel Alpert, editor
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Eliyahu's Branches-the Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and His Family by Chaim Freedman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Lithuania
What was the world like that he had been born into? His parents were Rabbi Shlomo-Zalman d: 1758 and Treina. His mother came from the town of Seltz (today's Selets) near Grodno. His father came from a prominent Vilna family. The known male line started with Rabbi David Ashkenazy d: 1645. He was known as the Rosh Yeshiva in Lemberg, Poland. This could have been the same man known as Rabbi David, son of Mordekhai Ashkenazy . David's son was Rabbi Moshe Kremer who died in 1688, who held the position of the chief rabbi of Vilna. Moshe Kremer's son was Rabbi Eliyahu who died in 1710, known as Hassid due to his piety. I was just doing some genealogy on one of the Gaon's descendants, a Kramer. This may be the connection directly to this famous rabbi. .
How were Lithuanian Jews different from other Jews in other countries? My grandmother, Zlata Jermulowske, was born in Lazdijai which was on the border between Poland and Lithuania, but she wanted her children to know that she was a Litvak; and proud of it. In 1855 Lazdey had 1,546 Jews. That was 60% of the population for that town. My poor bobba could not read or write in any language, but she produced 2 grandchildren who were American PhDs and 3 teachers of elementary schools, and one of those PhDs taught in college as well. She produced a master's degree. Zlata was proud of her Litvak heritage and their reputation. A ggrandson is a veterinarian. A ggrandson is a classical pianist.
Our grandfather Nathan Goldfus couldn't read or write English, that I know when he came to the states in 1900. His town of Telzh had 3,209 Jews in 1855, 61% Jewish. By the time he immigrated in 1897 there were 3,088 Jews there which had dropped to 51% of the town's pop
Lithuanian Jews did have a reputation. They were known for their intellectual and rational attitudes. They were also called the Cross Headsa, suggesting that they would be ready to strike out vertically and horizontally in order to achieve his goal, or to cross check his findings in order to reach THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH. This was seen not only in their daily life but in other times in the social-cultural strata, such as not falling for any FALSE MESSIAHS. It's known they were against the Chassidism, and can probably thank the Gaon of Vilna for that, since he fought against it pretty hard.
 |
| Shtetl of Shkudvil, Lithuania |
The Salant community was also well known because it was from here that the MUSAR (ETHICS) movement began an spread by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter whose principals were based on the idea of intellectual activity and knowledge in order to correct and improve the behavior of the individual.
Lithuanian Jewry was also known for fostering the HIBATH ZION MOVEMENT, and later by practially adopting the Zionist idea, and at the same time an almost simultaneous openness to the challenge of the HASKALAH or (ENLIGHTENMENT MOVEMENT.) It didn't matter if it was in Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian or German.
By the time our Gaon of Vilna was 20 he spent his time traveling among the Jewish communities of Poland and Germany and finally settled down in Vilna, Lithuania where he taught and later founded his own academy.
As we know, Jews were driven out of Judah in 70 CE by the Romans who burned down the 2nd Temple there and even Jerusalem, taking who they could has slaves to Rome. Those were the first Ashkenazi Jews as they would then make their way to Germany eventually.
 |
| 13 Century Jews of Germany |
By 1388, one year after the Christian-Catholic religion was introduced all over Lithuania, the Catholics also granted the Jews a preferred civil status and incomparable bills of rights such as protecting their bodies and property; freedom to keep their religious rituals; significant alleviation in the field of commerce; and money lending which was permitted in relation to their Christians. There was even a special regulation to protect Jews against blood libels.
 |
| The Italian Christopher Columbus could have been Jewish. He wrote to his son in Hebrew. His ships had a Jew or two on as sailors, getting out of Spain. He sailed at the time of the Spanish Inquisition. Maybe he was related to the well known Jewish Kalonymus family in Italy. |
Christianity got around very fast and furiously. By 1495, the Grand Duke Alexander expelled all Jews from Lithuania, too! Jews by then numbered more than 6,000 people. The government also took all their property as well! That must have been a good political move, because 8 years later he was elected King of Poland. They had a joint rule clause between these 2 countries. Then he allowed the Lithuanian Jews to return to their homes-if they weren't already occupied- and gave them back only part of their property. He left most of the privileges alone as they had been so that they reserved the legal, civil and economic status of the Jews which must be why they decided to return.
 |
| Lithuanian town |
They brought about an edict DE NON TOLERANDIS JUDAEIS, making it forbidden to Jews to settle in Vilna or to trade there. These insults to Jews by the urban Christians, even students of theological seminars, continued for hundreds of years. Anti-Semitism was created.
Feudalism reigned in Lithuania. Most people made a living as farmers, breeding cattle and poultry, fishing in rivers and lakes and harvesting trees. It was the Jews who were peddlers, and a few of them dealt in importing and exporting agricultural products. Finally due to improved roads, taverns and storehouses were built near crossroads and river ports turned into villages and towns where many Jewish artists and merchants settled.
Until the 18th century, townships were granted to only 83 settlements. and rights for commercial activity to 87 settlements. Really, there was no big difference between a small and a big town.
 |
| Granddaughters of a Jewish family in Eisiskes, Lithuania at time of Holocaust |
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| Warsaw, Poland Uprising |
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| 1941 Jews being led away by Kovno, Lithuanian militianman to the fort. |
References: https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-academic-wonder-gaon-of-vilna.html
Preserving Our Litvak Heritage-a history of 31 Jewish communities in Lithuania by Josef Rosin, Joel Alpert, editor
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Eliyahu's Branches-the Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and His Family by Chaim Freedman
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Lithuania
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