History of Jewish Rezekne
by Esther Rechtschafner
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History of Jewish Rezekne by Esther Rechtschafner 2-Historical Background of Jews in Rezekne 3-Jewish Life in Rezekne at the End of the Nineteenth Century 4-Jewish Life in Rezekne at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century
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IntroductionRecently I had the luck that a cousin of my father's wrote me the name of the city in Latvia, that my paternal grandmother came from [1]. As I know very little about Latvian Jewry, I decided to do some research on its' history, and in particular the history of the Jews in this city. Upon thinking more deeply about why this was so important to me, I realized what an impact my grandmother had on me, and my development. I never knew my grandmother, since she died when my father was a young man of eighteen years old. However, I was brought up to love her memory, and am blessed to be named after her. The little I know about her and her background are from a tidbits which my father mentioned while I was growing up. While gathering the information for this paper, I began feeling very close to her and her family, for I was discovering their past as part of the actual history of the Jewish people. I would like to share this information with whoever will perhaps read it. I wish to thank all the interesting, friendly and helpful people who I have came in contact with while gathering the material for this article; such as the librarians in Yad VeShem, The Hebrew University and National Library, the reference librarian in the Zionist Archives, the reference librarian in the Diaspora Museum, the Director of the Organization of past Latvian and Estonian Jews, Professor Dov Levin of the Hebrew University, and my friend Dr. Jonah Katz of Yad VeShem; and to Dr. Drey who unintentionally caused me to write this paper. Please excuse me, if I have left someone out, and know that it was unintentional. |