Katz /Meirovitz Family
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This photo is of
Rabbi
Bezalel ben Yosef ben Meir Katz, 1843-1939, whose father was a Chassidic
rabbi in both Linkuva and Rokiskis, Lithuania. Bezalel was
head of the Lubovitcher Chassidim in Rokiskis until his death. He
married Sarah Yalowetsky and their daughter Rivka Katz married a
brilliant torah scholar, Rabbi Abraham Meirovitz. Rabbi Meirovitz
served in Rokiskis as a Mizrahi rabbi, was founder of the Jewish Peoples
Bank, and was later rabbi in Obeliai. They had four daughters, one
of whom, Leiba-Leah (Luba) Meirovitz, was a teacher and married Zvi-Hirsh
Brik (later Barak), born 1904, from Plunge, who was the Director
of the Palestine Office in Kovno. Luba and Zvi's son, Aharon Barak,
later became the Israeli Chief Justice. |
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This photo shows the tombstone for Rabbi Katz, located in the cemetery in Rokiskis. Regina Kopilevich very kindly held the foliage out of the way so that the stone could be photographed. This was the great uncle of Aharon Barak and the person for whom he was named. |
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This photo depicts the dedication of the newly constructed Rokiskis Depot. In the photo is Rabbi Bezalel Katz, on the far right, representing the Jewish community, the head of the Rokiskis Police, in uniform, saluting, and Lithuania's President Antanas Smetona (1874-1944) is holding his hat. Of interest about Smetona, is that he left Lithuania for Germany on June 15, 1940, went from there to Switzerland and ended up in Cleveland, OH, in 1941, where he died in a fire in 1944. |
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(These photos are donated in memory of the Katz family by Rosalind Abrahams Romem, the great granddaughter of Rabbi Bezalel Katz's sister.)
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Photo taken in the Gymnasium (school) in Rokiskis. 2, Leiba-Leah Meirovitz, daughter of Rabbi Meirovitz, later mother of Israeli Chief Justice Aharon Barak;10, Sima Krok, who was killed during the Holocaust; 11, Etta (Ethel) Schwartzberg (c.1920's) |
(This photo, from the collection of Rokiskis photos belonging to Ethel Schwartzberg Aarons, was contributed by her son, Sam Aarons. Rele Krok, a Rokiskis survivor living in Israel, helped to identify her sister Sima Krok and her friend Etta Schwartzberg.)