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Tuesday, June 1, 2021

Tzvi Hirsch Mileikowsky and Vilna, The Jerusalem, of Lithuania

 Nadene Goldfoot                                            

  Zvi Mileikowsky b; 1849 Vilna, Lithuania-d: June 24, 1934 Palestine

 Tzvi//Zvi  Mileikowsky of Belarus, Great grandfather of Benjamin Netanyahu .  It looks like he has blue eyes.  b; 1849 in Vilna Governorate, Lithuania of Russian Empire;  d: June 24, 1934 at age 84-85 in mandatory Palestine, buried in Herzliya, Israel, son of Chaim Halevi Mileikowsky and Pesia, who was born about 1820. Pesia was the daughter of Hirsh Ber and mother of Hirsch Halevi Mileikowsky and Chana Mileikowsky.     He had a daughter, Sarah טייטל (born Mileikowsky), born 1882 Zvi's wife and mother of Sarah was Liba Gili.  Liba waw born in 1857.  Sarah married דוד טייטל.  They had one daughter: רחל שמרון (born טייטל).             

                 Russians:  small soldiers, stout hearts

The Governorate-General was established in November 1794 when territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were incorporated into the Russian Empire following the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The core of the Governorate-General was the present-day territory of Lithuania and western Belarus. 

                                              

Russo-Polish War

In 1794–1797, the Governorate-General was composed of two governorates, Vilna Governorate and Slonim Governorate, which were merged into the Lithuania Governorate by Paul I of Russia. After his assassination, the governorate was again divided into Vilna and Grodno Governorates. In 1834, Kovno Governorate was formed from the seven western powiats of the Vilna Governorate.   The Vilna Governorate or Government of Vilnius was a governorate of the Russian Empire created after the Third Partition of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795.   

 Before World War II, Vilnius was one of the largest Jewish centers in Europe. Its Jewish influence has led to its nickname "the Jerusalem of Lithuania"Napoleon called it "the Jerusalem of the North" as he was passing through in 1812. 

The city was called Vilna and Jews lived here since the end of the 15th century but were banished in 1527 by Sigismund I at the request of the burghers.  A number returned but were the victims of a riot in 1592.  The following year, Jews were formally allowed to settle, acquire houses, and lend money.

In 1633, permission was granted to trade in precious stones, meat,, and livestock and to be craftsmen.  An anti-Jewish riot occurred in 1635, while in 1655, those members of the community who had not fled were massacred by the Cossack army.  

              Vilna Gaon:  Elijah ben Solomon b: 1720-d: 1797 

Elijah led the opposition to the Hasidim Jews in Lithuania, ordering their excommunication and the destruction of their literature.  That checked the spread of Hasidism in Lithuania. 

 When he was about 60, Elijah set out unaccompanied for Palestine but, for unexplained reasons, returned before reaching his destination. We know why;  it was most dangerous to travel abroad and especially dangerous to travel alone.  

This rabbi, The Vilna Gaon,  was a halakah expert, meaning he knew the laws of Judaism  very well.  He also opposed Haskalah, a movement that said to conform to Christian society in order to become Emancipated and to become a first class citizen like other people.  It meant radical assimilation and the death of Judaism, which is what is happening to a lot of Jews in the USA today.    

4,000 Jews were among the victims of famine in Vilna in 1709-1710.  From the 18th century, the city became a center of rabinical study, being dubbed the "Lithuanian Jerusalem', with its best-known scholar being Elijah ben Solomon/Zalman who was universally known as the Vilna Gaon.  Many Haskalah leaders also lived there.  Tzvi could possibly have been one of them.  His descendants fit the description.  

An important Hebrew press over several generations was that of the family ROMM, whose edition of the Talmud became standard.

Vilna was a Zionist center and also the birthplace of the BUND, which was the General Federation of Jewish Workers in Lithuania, Poland and Russia, a Jewish Socialist Party, created in 1897.  The Jews suffered from famine under German rule in world War I and from a pogrom at the hands of the Polish troops in 1919. YIVO had its headquarters there from 1925 to 1941.  

                                             


Poland and Lithuania both claimed Vilna (Vilnius) after World War I. Polish forces occupied Vilna in 1920, and before the outbreak of World War II, the city of Vilna was part of northeastern Poland.

                                                                 

Old city of Vilnius became a Jewish ghetto during world war II, under German occupation

The Jewish population numbered  140,000 by the end of the 19th century, but by 1941 had dropped to 65,000 while gaining 15,000 refugees from Poland.  Zvi had died in 1934.  

The Germany established 2 ghettos in Vilna and 30,000 Jews were killed there by the end of 1941.  The 12,000 remaining were augmented in 1943  by transports from White Russian rural districts.   

Deportation to extermination camps began in August 1943, and there was some resistance.  When the Russians entered Vilna in 1944, they found 600 Jews hiding in the sewers.  Jews from other areas began converging on Vilna after the war.  Jews living in Vilna by 1988 amounted to 13,000.  

In 2009, Vilnius was the European Capital of Culture, together with Linz, Austria. 

In 2021, Vilnius was named among top-25 fDi's Global Cities of the Future – one of the most forward-thinking cities with the greatest potential in the World.               


Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania and its largest city, with a population of 589,425 as of 2019. The population of Vilnius's functional urban area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 706,832 (as of 2019), while according to the Vilnius territorial health insurance fund, there were 732,421 permanent inhabitants as of October 2020 in Vilnius city and Vilnius district municipalities combined.[ Vilnius is in southeastern Lithuania and is the second-largest city in the Baltic states. It is the seat of Lithuania's national government and the Vilnius District Municipality.

This capital  of Vilnius is classified as a Gamma global city according to GaWC studies, and is known for the architecture in its Old Town, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.



Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://www.geni.com/people/Hirsch-%D7%A6%D7%91%D7%99-Halevi-Mileikovsky/6000000020213025020

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilna_Governorate-General

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