Brief exerpts from biographies found in Encyclopedia Judaica. For full
text refer to Encyclopedia Index.
Eizel Harif SHAPIRA, JOSHUA ISAAC BEN JEHIEL (d. 1873), rabbi and talmudist.
Known as Eizel Harif ("sharp") because he was one of the keenest intellects
and most outstanding pilpulists of his day, he was av bet din successively
at Kalvarija, Kutno, Tiktin, and, finally, Slonim.
RATNER, DOV BAER (1852–1917), Lithuanian talmudic scholar. Born in Kalvarija,
Lithuania, Ratner studied at the yeshivot of Mir and Volozhin, and acquired
a wide secular knowledge by independent study.
MATZ, ISRAEL (1869–1950), U.S. manufacturer, philanthropist, and patron
of Hebrew literature and scholarship. Matz, who was born in Kalvarija,
Russian Poland, emigrated to America in 1890. He became an accountant,
later entering the drug business.
GOLDENSON, SAMUEL HARRY (1878–1962), U.S. Reform rabbi. Goldenson was
born in Kalvarija, Poland, and was taken to the United States in 1890.
He was ordained at the Hebrew Union College in 1904, then led congregations
in Lexington, Ky. (1904–06), and Albany, N.Y. (1906–18).
ELKES, ELHANAN (1879–1944), chairman of Kaunas (Kovno) Aeltestenrat
(Council of Elders under the Nazis). Elkes was born in Kalvarija (Lithuania).
He received both a traditional Jewish and a private secular education.
Elkes studied medicine in Koenigsberg and became one of the most sought
after physicians in Kaunas.
BLUESTONE, JOSEPH ISAAC (1860–1934), U.S. physician, Zionist, and Hebraist.
Bluestone, who was born in Kalvarija, Lithuania, emigrated to the United
States in 1880. Ten years later he graduated from New York University Medical
Center and began to practice as a physician on New York's Lower East Side.
MARGOLIES, ISAAC BEN ELIJAH (1842–1887), Polish rabbi and author. Born
in Kalvarija, S.W. Lithuania, the son of a rabbi, Margolies devoted himself
in his early youth solely to talmudic studies. After his marriage in 1862
to the daughter of a prominent member of the community of Merech in Vilna
province, he took up residence there and began to take a keen interest
in the Haskalah.
BENGIS, SELIG REUBEN (1864–1953), Lithuanian rabbi. Bengis studied in
Volozhin under Naphtali Zevi Judah Berlin and Hayyim Soloveichik. In 1894
he was appointed rabbi of Bodki and, in 1912, of Kalvarija, Lithuania.
At the outbreak of World War I he went to Smolensk, but in 1915 he returned
to Kalvarija.
RUDNITSKY,LEAH (1913-1943?)Leah was born in Kalvarija, Lithuania,1913.[1]
She had already published poetry in several Yiddish publications before
she settled in Vilna around 1940, where she was active in the Vilna
ghetto group . In the ghetto she produced a collection of verse,
Durkn neplin (Through Mists). Only a few of the poems survived the
war. Rudnitsky is said to have died in an Estonian concentration camp in
1944 or 1945. [2] Leah Rudnitsky won a prize from the
Vilna Ghetto literary association, and her poem "Birds are Dreaming on
the branches" has been included in many Yiddish anthologies.
[1] Kagen, Berl, Leksikon fun Yidish-shraybers : mit
hesofes un tikunim tsum Leksikon fun der nayer Yidisher literatur, un 5,800
psevdonimen
[2] The Literature of Destruction:Jewish responses
to Catasrophe Edited by: David G Roskies, Published by: The Jewish Publication
Society, Philadelphia, New York Jerusalem, 5748/1988
Thanks to Steven Weiss for sending me this information. He is researching
RUDNITSKY from Svencionys and happend to come across Leah's information.