Drogichin, Belarus (pages 133-134)

[ Page 133 ]

His eldest son, Moshe, was a yeshiva student. None of their children survived. May G-d avenge their deaths! R. Eliyahu Velvel's father, R. Chaim Ber, was killed by the Germans near his house, and a gentile neighbor buried him in the neighbor's courtyard. May G-d avenge his death!

RABBIS YOSEF DAVID SCHUB, YAAKOV AND HERSHEL SHUSTER

[Photo:] Rabbi Yosef David Schub

         Rabbi Yosef David Schub (“R. Yossel David, the ritual slaughterer” [the letters of the name Schub are an acronym for “ Shochet ve-Bodek – Slaughterer and Examiner ]) was descended from a good scholarly family in Drohitchin. R. Yossel David and his brothers, R. Yekef (Yaakov) and R. Hershel, learned for years in yeshiva and were ordained rabbis. His sister's husband was the son of the rabbi of Ovel, and was a scholar who died young.

        R. Yossel David's father, R. Sender Shuster (this was his family name), who sold second-hand boots to the peasants, was an ordinary synagogue-attending person. R. Sender and his wife experienced misfortune in their youth: Zissel, R. Sender's wife, had broken her foot and remained crippled for the rest of her life. Women used to say that because of this misfortune, G-d repaid Zissel with good children. Everyone envied Sender and Zissel's scholarly children.

        In 1912, R. Yossel married Mar-Yasha Hoffman, the daughter of R. Binyamin Moshe, the ritual slaughterer of Drohitchin. When his father-in-law died, R. Yossel David became the ritual slaughterer of Drohitchin, and then changed his last name from Shuster to Schub (Slaughterer-Examiner). R. Yossel David was extremely active in Drohitchin community life. His talent as a speaker helped him significantly in his community activities. He was always the lead speaker at community meetings, and taught Talmud in the Old House of Study.

        In 1920, his wife, Mar-yasha, passed away, leaving him with two small children, a boy and a girl. He later remarried and had another daughter. His son, Binyamin Moshe, studied in yeshivas, and his daughter, Nechama, eventually married and moved to Kamin-Kashirsk.

        R. Yossel David second brother, R. Yekef, married a woman from Kovel, and his youngest brother, R. Hershel, married a woman from Ruzhinoy. Both remained in those towns. No one of that large family survived – they were all killed, may G-d avenge their blood! (See pp. 149-150).

RABBI ASHER BERZOVSKY

         Rabbi Asher Berzovsky was born in Drohitchin. His father, Yitzchak Berzovsky owned a house near the bridge on Kobrin Street. We have almost no information about Rabbi Berzovsky. We only know that he was a rabbi (after World War I) in some town near Lomza, and I don't remember him ever having visited Drohitchin. Rabbi Berzovsky and his family and community were killed. May G-d avenge their blood!

RABBI YITZCHAK SIDDUR (SIDOROV)

        At the beginning of the 19^th century there lived in Drohitchin a cantor/ritual slaughterer named R. Yitzchak, son of R. Avraham. We don't know where R. Yitzchak came from, or when he came to Drohitchin. Apparently, one of his sons, Yoel Moshe (born in Kislev, 1818) inherited his position in Drohitchin.

        R. Yoel Moshe's position was taken over by his son, R. Yitzchak Siddur (Sidorov) or “the old cantor,” the name R. Yitzchak was known by. He was a son-in-law of a distinguished Grodno family. R. Yitzchak was a gifted cantor who was known throughout the region. He died at an advanced age in approximately 1910, and must have been around 90 years old.

        His wife, Chaya-Gittel, was known as the “cantor's wife,” and was a modest woman who was active in community life and very popular in town. (See page 110).

[ Page 134 ]

RABBI YEHUDA DAVID GOLDMAN

[Photo:] Rabbi Yehuda David Goldman

         Rabbi Yehuda David Goldman was born in Drohitchin. His father, R. Eliyahu, was a famous scholar and educated man, and was one of four sons of the great Rabbi Yosef Goldman, who was known as R. Yossel the Rabbinical Judge. His mother, Chaya Lifsha, was from a highly respected family in Brisk.

        When young Yehuda David was only four years old his parents moved to Brisk from Drohitchin. In Brisk he studied under the finest teachers in town, and after finishing his elementary yeshiva education, where he was able to learn a page of Talmud with Tosafot and other commentaries, Yehuda David was then able to study on his own in the Mishmar House of Study in Brisk and to attend the classes of the heads of the yeshiva, R. Simcha Zelig and R. Moshe Soloveitchik.

        Later, he went to study in the yeshivas of Ludmir (near Kovel) and Lomza, where he was considered one of the best yeshiva students. He also studied Torah and secular subjects for two years in the yeshiva of R. Yitzchak Yaakov Reines, the founder of the religious Zionist Mizrachi movement. Rabbi Goldman also attended the lectures of Rabbi Shlomo Poliatshik, and then traveled to the Knesset Beit Yitzchak Yeshiva in Slabodka headed by the illustrious Rabbi Baruch Ber Leibovitz, where he studied intensely for three years.

        Rabbi Goldman then spent two years at the Ponevezh Yeshiva headed by Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Rabinovitch, known as R. Itsele Ponivezher. The Ponevezh Yeshiva was composed of only 12 unmarried boys and 8 married young men, and was founded and maintained by the famous Wisotzky family.

[Photo:] Rabbi Mordechai Zundel Rubinstein

In 1913 Rabbi Yehudah David Goldman married Sarah Ester, the daughter of rabbi Mordechai Zundel Rubinstein, the author of Ish Yehudi [Jewish Man], My Travels in Russia, etc. Rabbi Rubinstein, who lived his entire life in Molodetschna (near Vilna), was the son of Rabbi Alexander Ziskind Rubinstein, known as “R. Zissel R. Tzemach's” from Khomsk (near Drohitchin).

After his wedding, R. Yehudah David studied in the Volozhin Yeshiva, where he was ordained in 1914 by the eminent scholar, Rabbi Rafael Volozhiner. Rabbi Goldman remained in Brisk, and when World War I broke out, he moved to Drohitchin; in 1921 he and his family moved to Chicago.

In Chicago Rabbi Goldman served as rabbi in the following synagogues: Bais Avraham (3017 South Wabash Ave.), (at the same time led the Pesach Neierman

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