Lunna-Wola Under Polish Rule (1921-1939)

Religious Institutions

 
 

There were two synagogues in Lunna, both belonged to the "Mitnagdim" (opponents to the Chasidim); the "old" synagogue and a Beth Midrash (house of learning) built sometime between the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, and the "new" synagogue, The Stolin-Karlin Chasidim had a small wooden Shtibl (pray-house). There was a Bathhouse and a Mikvah (ritual purification bath) in town. There was one synagogue and a Beth Midrash in Wola. There were two churches in Lunna; the Pravoslavic Church located in the middle of the central square and the Catholic Church, built in 1782 close to the square (renovated in 1895).

With respect to religious leaders of the community, Rabbi Tuvia Rotberg (born ca. 1886) served as Lunna-Wola’s chief Rabbi from 1921 to the Holocaust. He was a disciple of Rabbi Israel Meir Ha'Cohen known as the "Chafetz Chaim". Prior to his arrival to Lunna, Rabbi Rotberg was the chief adjudicator of the Lipnishuk rabbinical court and the Yeshivah leader in Eishyshok. Rabbi Rotberg had a close relationship with Rabbi Shimon Shkopp who established the Yeshiva "Shaar Torah" in Grodno. In 1929 both Rabbi Shkopp and Rabbi Rotberg traveled to the United States and collected donations for the Yeshiva. In 1933, after the death of the "Chafetz Chaim", Lunna-Wola’s Jews purchased letters to support the writing of a Sefer Torah in his memory. There is a list of Lunna-Wola Jewish donors sent by Rabbi Rotberg to "Vaad Ha'Yeshivot" (Council of the Yeshivas) in Vilnius on May 7, 1934 (Source: Archive at Yivo Institute for Jewish Research). In 1939, Rabbi Tuvia Rotberg from Lunna and Rabbi Moshe Helshtein from Lenin (now in Belarus) pronounced a verdict regarding a compromise between two sides of directors of the Radin Yeshiva which had been headed by the "Chafetz Chaim" before his death (in 1933).

A certificate of ordination to the Rabbinate was given by Rabbi Tuvia Rotberg to Rabbi Abraham Yaakov Epstein, known as Rabbi Zeidel Epstein, on the 4th day of month Av, 5699 (1939). Rabbi Epstein died in Jerusalem on the first day of month Elul, 5767 (2007), at the age of 100.
 

 

Certificate of Ordination to the Rabbinate  

Rabbi Rotberg was an honoree president of the "Gmilut Chesed" fund ("interest-free loans") in Lunna. He was a Zionist and proud of his three sons who immigrated to Eretz Israel between 1936 and 1938. Rabbi Rotberg and his wife, Rasha Mina, intended to immigrate to Israel (they had already certificates) before the Second World War, but chose to stay with the community in Lunna. Rabbi Rotberg’s wife, Rasha Mina, was killed on Saturday, June 22, 1941, in a German air raid. Rabbi Rotberg was murdered on December 8, 1942, in the Auschwitz Death Camp.
 

Rabbi Tuvia Rotberg
(in the middle, holding an umbrella) in front of the "old" synagogue (1930s)
From the collection of Saul Rotberg

The old Chassidic synagogue of Lunna (ca. 1930)
(From the collection of Tomek Wisniewski)

 Aron Ha'Kodesh (Holy Ark) in 
 the "old" synagogue (1930)
(From the collection of Tomek Wisniewski)



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Compiled by Ruth Marcus & Aliza Yonovsky Created May 2007
Updated by rLb, March 2020
Copyright © 2007 Ruth Marcus

All the photos are presented by courtesy of the families and are not allowed to be reproduced without their permission.

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