(Reviewer: Naomi Musiker, Vol. 70, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2015)
Rakishok is situated in North-Eastern Lithuania near the Latvian border. In the early 20th Century, vibrant Jewish communities existed in the town and in various towns all within a fifty-km radius of it, namely Salok, Utian and Kupishek. Further afield were Poswohl, Ponevezh and Vilkomir, all in the north east of the country. Prior to World War II, Rakishok had a Jewish community of about a thousand families, accounting for perhaps half the population of the town. It was one of the first towns occupied by the Germans when they attacked Russia in 1941 and it was bombed immediately after the declaration of war on 22 June. By 1944, all traces of the Jewish population had been eradicated.
In 1951 the Rakisher Society of Johannesburg, founded in 1912, resolved to prepare for publication a Yizkor book commemorating the life and death of the Jews of Rakishok and the surrounding villages of Kamai, Abel, Ponydel, Anisishok, Skopishok, Sivenishok, Ozerena, Dusat, Ponemunok, Svados and other neighboring villages. The Society sent out an appeal to all landsleit for documents, letters, photographs, information, articles and monographs relating to the history of Jewish life in these centres. A questionnaire was also distributed regarding pre-World War II population size, communal institutions, individual characteristics of each town and particulars regarding survivors.
The Yizkor Book appeared in 1952, as part of the marking of the 40th anniversary of the Johannesburg Rakisher Society’s founding. A monumental record, it detailed, in 626 pages of essays, sketches, articles and illustrations, the life and history of the Jewish community of Rakishok and neighboring villages. It was in preparation for two years under the editorship of Meilach Bakalczuk-Felin, working with a committee. “The pattern of life in Rakishok was similar to that of many smaller-town Lithuanian Jewries”, wrote the editor in his preface, ‘Here Jews lived as closely-knit, separate units, often discriminated against and not less often in fear”.
The purpose of the book was to draw the pattern of Jewish life in those villages, for “a book is still the most enduring memorial to a past that has perished.” Some fifty contributors depict the wide-ranging activities of an energetic community whose survivors are spread throughout the world. Writers such as Levi Shalit (a survivor of the concentration camps), J. Batnitzky, Chief Rabbi Louis Rabinowitz and B. Stein cover the subject from a general and historical point of view; Chief Rabbi Israel Abrahams, R. Feldman, Z. Feldman and B.I. Kriel, among others, describe the town as they remembered it. Other contributors deal with the town’s personalities, institutions, trade and cultural activities. The most moving section is probably that dealing with the destruction of the town, based on the evidence assembled by Bakalczuk-Felin of M. Rotholz-Kur, Gisa Levin, Herzl Ben-Yehuda and individual letters from Jewish community members to relatives overseas.
The book includes intimately written reminiscences, a hundred pages ‘in memoriam’, rare photographs and a symbolic woodcut by Herman Wald as frontispiece. The book was described as ‘a most impressive achievement by a group of people who wished to hand down a memory of a community that perished in war and terror’.1
One contribution is an article by Reb Moshe Katz, later to become minister of the Ophirton Hebrew Congregation. He describes his tenure at the heder metukan (reformed cheder) which he ran for a brief period in Rakishok before World War 1. Sarah Spivak writes about the Kultur-Liga in the town, founded in 1919 and supported by the Arbeter Yugent (Working Youth) who were greatly influenced by the Russian Revolution. The Kultur-Liga established a library, a Yiddishefolkshul and adult education classes. After 1923, the Lithuanian government banned the Kultur-Liga because of its leftist ties, with its leaders being arrested and the library closed. A sports organization was established as a front for Jewish socio-cultural activity. Later, the Society of Liebhobber fun Vissen(Lovers of Knowledge) was established with Yiddish intellectuals more acceptable to the Lithuanian authorities. This Society succeeded in reopening the library and the confiscated books were returned.
Another strong organization was Maccabi, also established after World War 1 and the publication of the Balfour Declaration. It was a Zionist organization which, in addition to sporting activities, catered for cultural and recreational needs, including the teaching of Hebrew, Jewish history and Yiddish literature. There was an amateur dramatic group and an orchestral group of violinists, a clarinet player and a balalaika player, among others.2
The highlight of the Rakisher Society 40thanniversary commemorations took place in July 1954 at a dinner held in the Selborne Hall, attended by 500 guests. Ralph Aarons, chairman of the Society, presided. Among the numerous speakers were Chief Rabbi Rabinowitz, Councilor Hymie Miller, Mr BA Klipin on behalf of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies and Z Infeld on behalf of the SA Zionist Federation. Greetings were brought from various Landmanschaften and other Jewish institutions. Rabbi Rabinowitz surprised everyone by addressing the audience in Yiddish (as he pointed out, for the first time in this country). He spoke in the most glowing terms of the Rakisher Landsmanschaften, who had set an example which others could well emulate. “Rakishik may be dead, but its memory lives in the heart of every Rakisher”, he said. The evening was concluded by some sketches of Jewish life by the actor Jacob Mansdorf and by the rendering of some Yiddish songs by Cantor S Mandel.3
With the passing of years, the Rakisher Yizkor Book has become a rare item of Jewish Africana. Thanks to the generosity of Ethel and Yerachmiel (Ralph) Aarons, a few copies were donated to the SA Jewish Board of Deputies Archives, where they are regarded as amongst its most treasured items. In addition, Ethel Aarons donated various photographs of great historical value concerning the Rakishok community of the early 20th Century.
It became increasingly necessary over time to provide an English translation of the Yizkor Book for descendants of Jewish emigrants who have lost familiarity with written and spoken Yiddish but still feel a bond with their forebears. This task was entrusted by the editor, David Sandler, to Bella Golubchik, daughter of Ethel and Ralph Aarons. Golubchik describes in the foreword how she watched the book being assembled by members of the Rakisher Landmanschaft in the dining room of her parents’ home in Mayfair, Johannesburg, prior to the editing process by Bakalczuk-Felin. The task was therefore a labor of love for her.
Sandler’s initial aim, to publish the complete Yizkor-Book of Rakishok and Environs in English, was forestalled by JewishGen Inc, who informed him that they had already translated about 80% of the book. Sandler decided to assist JewishGen with translations and illustrations and confine his own publication to the Memorial Section of the book, originally covering pages 539 to 620 of the volume and now renumbered in 82 pages. There is a reproduction of the original 1952 Preface by Bakalczuk-Felin followed by an alphabetical index of those remembered.
Sandler, in his foreword, mentions that he also intends to publish a companion volume of his own compilation, entitled Our Litvak and South African Jewish Inheritance, hopefully to appear in 2015. JewishGen.Inc and the Yizkor Book Project have produced online a Table of Contents of their forthcoming translation of the Memorial Book of Rokiskis. This may be viewed at www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/roksikis.html
An examination of Golubchik’s translated text reveals an earnest desire on her part to do justice to the original text by an extremely literal, word by word rendition. Where she is uncertain of the exact meaning, an alternative meaning is provided in brackets. The text is thus faithfully adhered to but frequently appears strange and stilted to the reader. The photographs have not reproduced well but were not of high quality in the original volume. The entries in the memorial section were submitted by families of the deceased, most of who were murdered at Rakishok and surrounding areas in 1941 or in the remaining years of the war. There are some entries commemorating those who died during World War I. A few entries pay tribute to those who died in South African towns, having been fortunate enough to escape the horrors of World War II.
The book is a valuable contribution to those seeking to trace their family histories. The editor, David Sandler and the translator, Bella Golubchik are to be commended for undertaking this momentous task with such dedication. Their efforts help ensure that the memory and achievements of Lithuanian Jewry will be preserved.
Translation of the Memorial (In Remembrance) Section of the Yizkor-Book of Rakishok and Environs, originally published in Yiddish in 1952 by the Rakisher Landmanschaft of Johannesburg, South Africa. Translated by Bella Golubchik. Compiled by David Solly Sandler, Perth, The Editor, 2014, pp569 to 620 of the original volume.
Naomi Musiker, a veteran contributor to Jewish Affairs and long-serving member of its Editorial Board, has contributed numerous biographical articles for the Dictionary of SA Biography and the Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa and, as an indexer, has worked for some of South Africa’s leading publishers and indexed many important reference works. She has held the position of archivist at the SA Jewish Board of Deputies since 1992.
NOTES
- ‘Book is a monument to community Germans destroyed’, Rand Daily Mail 3 August 1953. The author is given as L.S. (Levi Shalit?).
- Cedric Ginsberg, ‘Rakishok – the biggest Shtetl’, Jewish Affairs, February 1988, pp8-10.
- ‘Rakisher Society celebrates 40th Anniversary’, Zionist Record, 2 July 1954; SA Jewish Times 2 July 1954.
