Publications

A Virtual Library of Lyakhovichi
by Deborah G. Glassman, copyright 2008

Copyrights of images retained by their owners, this is a protected publication not a release to the public domain. The Webmaster takes this opportunity to thank again all of the generous members of the Lyakhovichi Research Community who shared these valuable treasures!

What is a Virtual Library? A virtual library is a reconstruction of books and publications that were read, studied, owned, devised, or sold, by either an individual or by a community, across a specified period of time. It is created by a study of evidence not by supposition. Each book added to this library's catalog is placed on our "shelves" after we identify the evidence that supports its inclusion. A letter recommending a book, a request that a book be returned, a bookplate that indicates the ownership by a Lyakhovichi resident, a will, an estate inventory, a handwritten emendation to a book in a library that indicates a prior owner. The book itself might indicate a Lyakhovichi connection by its author, printer, proofreader, or by a person who provided an approbation or review.

We took our first baby steps with this page in November 2008, but, as many of the records reside in our reader-community's private possession, there is great opportunity for growth. Do you have someone's prayer book, a book of psalms, a well-worn copy of a popular writer, old Yiddish newspapers, an article cut from a newspaper, or a letter that mentioned a book someone was encouraged to read?

Books of Our Ancestors

Books with Lyakhovichi Subscribers
By Deborah Glassman, Copyright 2004, and July 2009

As this list is first constructed it is a list of the books listed in Berel Kagan’s Hebrew Subscription Lists. The wonderful service that gentleman performed, is not diminished by the fact that it did not attempt to be a list of every book ever published with a subscription list. It had attempted to list those published in the main library collections. In this world of on-line auctions and catalog publication, others will certainly be discovered. We would also like to add anything that might have been written in Lyakhovichi, bound in Lyakhovichi, or printed in Lyakhovichi. Though Lyakhovichi had both bookbinders and printers, to our knowledge the local printers printed only the business forms needed by Lyakhovichi businessmen and the bookbinders are presumed to have bound only account books and old publications still cherished by their owners..

In the Kagan book, Lyakhovichi is entry number 4525 and there are around ninety subscribers from Lyakhovichi between them. In the column “other notes by DGG” – I am the responsible party – Deborah G. Glassman

The table below was constructed early in the life of this website. It needs volunteers to seek out the books mentioned and photo duplicate the subscriber pages. It needs other volunteers to find us new books with Lyakhovichi subscribers. Do you search for Jewish books and manuscripts on auction sites? - many note if they include subscription lists. Help us find them!

Thanks to Tina Levine for checking each of these in New York's Public Library Dorot Collection. She has corrected the titles, the current bibliographic usages, and looked to see if she could see any Lyakhovichi names among the subscribers.

Title	Number of Subscribers	Author	City Where Printed	Year of Edition
	Other Notes by DGG
Title	Number of Subscribers	Author	City Where Printed	Year of Edition
Even ha-Shaot	9	Mosheh Meir Grinvald	Warsaw	1879 (catalog says 1883)
	(NYPL - microfilm)
Or Yitshak	9	Isaak Cherkes (Yitshak Noah ben Meir m’Brisk de Lita)	Warsaw, Poland	1900
	Earlier edition 1890 ; In JAP (ONLINE IMAGING); JTS, YU
Sefer Imri Noan	1/15	Mordechai Shmuel Rizkin (name is spelled in Hebrew letters)	Warsaw	1896
	Does not list another book by same title by Meir Horowitz printed Warsaw 1888; National Library, Jerusalem
Ha Meir la-Olam	10	Meir Mikhal ben Shalom ben Shemuel (RABINOWITZ)	Vilna	1903
	(NYPL – microfilm); Meir Michael Rabinowitz of Shat 1830-1902; Book has been extracted for Seta list
Sefer Afike yam ha-shalem	Unknown - Not in Kagan	Yehiel Mikhal Rabinovits	Unknown	Unknown
	This book is a reprint, 1988 or 1989 Jerusalem (NYPL ; Tina Levine copied the dedication page and book jacket for us; Rabbi Michael Rabinowitz of Lyakhovichi, Baranovichi, and Shtutin; Rabinowitz was an important scholar in Lyakhovichi, resident here for over twenty-five years, but was living in Baranovichi after WWI when he wrote this book. He was murdered by the Nazis in the town he served as rabbi in 1941 - Shtutin, Belarus.
Sefer Iyov	1	Hayim Elhanan (Tzedek)	Vilna	1873
	(NYPL) no Lyakhovichi name spotted Chaim Elchanan TZADIKOFF 1813-1883; Famous Mitnagid author, preacher, passed on teachings of Vilna Gaon
Ha Mazkir	13	Moshe David ASNER	Varsha	1880, (1900 in catalog)
	(NYPL Microfilm)
Sefer Me-il Shmuel (title spelled in Hebrew letters)	4	Shemuel Shapira, Yekutiel Zalman ben Yosef Yozel ha Levi Katsinelinboigin	Vilna	1896-1897
	(YU)
Ma’fik Margalit	8	Dober ben Tzvi Horovitz (author’s name in Hebrew letters)	Vilna	1890 (1880 in Catalog)
	(National Library, Jerusalem)
Kol Yehudah	1	Yehudah Leyb ben Mosheh Segal (BERENZOHN)	Berditshov (Berdichev)	1907
	no Lyakhovichi names spotted; Author’s listing cites 1907 and 1913 as same book
Sefer Karni Tzvi	4	Tzvi Zeev ben Shlomo Zalman Vernik (author’s name in Hebew letters)	Warsaw	1883-1885
	(National Library, Jerusalem); Author of same title in 1885
Reheshi Lev	9	Haim Simha GLOSKIN	Bilgoria	1884
Sefer Torat ha Mitsvah	1	Elyakim Getsil ben Yitshak ha Levi Horovits	Warsaw	1905, reprint 1990, 1991 Brooklyn NY; (reprint at NYPL, no Lyakhovichi names spotted)
Sefer Tiv Yehoshua	9	Yehoshua ben Haim Israel Briskin (author’s name in Hebrew letters)(TABAK)	Vilna	1878
	(National Library, Jerusalem)
Kagan also lists four synagogues which pre-subscribed but they are not separated by the books they purchased and there is no distinction to let you know which of the three Hasidic synagogues (Lechowitz, Koidanover, or Stoliner, made the purchase (All prefaced by abbreviation for Bet Midrash): Homa, Sandlarim, P”tz, Hasidim.
Books added to list July 2009
Gesher heKhaim	*	Rabbi Yehiel Michael Tukachinsky of Jerusalem	Jerusalem	1960
Bircat Hachamah	*	Rabbi Yehiel Michael Tukachinsky of Jerusalem	Jerusalem	?
Sefer Eretz Israel published inside the book Siddur Avodas Yisrael by Rabbi Ganzfried	*	Rabbi Yehiel Michael Tukachinsky of Jerusalem		?

Special Collections and Resources:
Lyakhovichi as it appears in Published and Archival Sources

We need your help to find and translate materials that will educate us further about Lyakhovichi. They might reasonably be in Belarussian, Russian, Polish, Lithuanian, Hebrew, Yiddish, or even one of the languages used where Lechovichers settled in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. If you see material that you think we need to be aware of, please use the Contact Us link at the bottom of this page and let us know.

We will print your translations, we will post your new finds! Check back frequently, this page as all others on this site, is a work in progress! We will happily add new pages!

An "Official" Chronology of Lyakhovichi
From the website of the government of Lyakhovichi garod. Printed in Belarussian, translated by software and then re-constructed by Deborah Glassman

(Names were changed to the forms found in English language encyclopedias; italicized bold means no satisfactory translation was provided) We credit the Lyakhovichi government for creating a site emphasizing its real historical achievements.

Year and Event

1492 - The first reference of city in the written sources. At this time the Polish king and Grand Duke of Lithuania, Casimir gives permission to noble Lord Gostautas, then owner of Lyakhovichi to conduct fairs and to hold korchmy. This witnesses the fact that Lyakhovichi was not only a commercial and agricultural settlement but also the administrative and operational center of large feudal possession. Already in this time, there was a wooden fort in Lyakhovichi on the left bank of the river. Lyakhovici at this time was part of Novogrodek poviet in Novogrodek vovoideship.

1537 – Stanislav Gostautas, the son of A.M. Gostautas presents Lyakhovichi to his wife Barbara Radziwill.

1543 – Barbara Radziwill becomes the wife of Sigismund Augustus after her first husband Gostautas dies without leaving heirs in 1542. Sigismund is the son of the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund. She transfers it to her husband.

1548 – Sigismund Augustus becomes King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania after the death of his father.

1551 – Sigismund receives Lyakhovichi when (his wife) B. (Barbara) Radziwill died 10.04.1551

1572 – Sigismund Augustus exchanged Lyakhovichi for the possession of Svisloch with Jan Yeronimovichem Chodkewiecz. The passage of Lyakhovichi into the hands of this particular feudal lord magnate Chodkewiecz became the beginning of new period in the history of city and rural district

1579 – after death of Jan Yeronimovichem Chodkewiecz, Lyakhovichi passed to his elder son the great Lithuanian Hetman Jan Karol Chodkewiecz who replaced the wooden fort built in the end of the fifteenth century with a (novoital'yanskoy?) fortification system.

1602 – He began to construct new (parafial'nyy) church in Lyakhovichi. The Lyakhovichi fort or so-called Lyakhovichi Fortress. ("lyakhovichskaya fortetsiya") was a powerful stone-construction fort and it was considered as the strongest of the similar structures in all of Belarus both in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in the entire Polish Republic. The layout of the fortress had a form of quadrangle with the sizes of (y"shch) *220 m., surrounded by a ditch. In the winter of 1595-1596 the cossacks of nalivayki unsuccessfully stormed the fort.

1621 – At the battle of Chocim, Chodkewiecz died and Lyakhovichi passed to his daughter Anna who was married to the son of Leo Sapieha – Jan Stanislav Sapieha.

1625 – Anna Chodkewicz Sapieha died and Lyakhovichi was forged into a possession of the family of Sapieha.

1648-1654 – The city’s fortifications were tested repeatedly during the “antifeudal war of the Belarussian and Ukrainian peoples 1648 – 1654” Three times the city, not the fort of Lyakhovichi, was unsuccessful at keeping out the restored peasants and Ukrainian cossacks. In each case the city itself was destroyed and burned 1654-1667 in the Russian-Polish War, but the fort stood.

1654-1667 – The Russian-Polish War portions of Lyakhovichi fell to the severest trials. The war and many months of siege of the city in 1660 cost Lyakhovichi dearly. The city, which was destroyed four times in the years of war, had only 17 houses remaining whole. The majority of the inhabitants of the city and okresnostey perished, villages were burned out and robbed. Nevertheless Lyakhovichi remained the only city, which czarist troops could not engage.

1661 – Taking into account the state of the city and population the Polish Commonwealth’s Seym freed Lyakhovichi and rural district from all taxes for 9 years.

1678 – Seym again freed/released city and rural district for 9 years from the taxes.

1700 – 1721 – The city did not have time to rise from the ruins, before the Northern War (1700-1721) burst upon Belarus and in 1706 it soaked Lyakhovichi with a Swedish onslaught. (This war was called "the Deluge" in European literature – note by webmaster.) Even as it was underway, the Polish seym decided to hamper the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by moving much of the artillery of Lyakhovichi fortress to Slutsk’s fort. After a half year siege, on 9 May, 1706, held back by a garrison of 1360 people during the prolonged assault when the defenders’ water and powder was finished, it was captured. The Swedes destroyed the fort and the church.

1760 – The heirs of Sapiehas's kind sell Lyakhovichi to prince Mikhail Jozef Masal'skiy.

1775 – Taking into account the great defensive value of the fort the Seym of the Polish Commonwealth, by special decision it transferred the city into the property of state. It freed Lyakhovichi from all state taxes to 10 years.

1793 – With the second division of the Polish Commonwealth, Lyakhovichi moves very near to the Russian empire. The national boundary passed near Lyakhovichi. As state and state possession they are transmitted to Lithuanian Hetman (Military Commander) to Syman Kossakowsk.

1795 – Third division of the Polish Commonwealth. The boundary of Russian empire is moved aside to the West, Lyakhovichi lose their bygone boundary and military znaseniye. In the city there were left the church, synagogue, stores and the romantic ruins of the legendary fort – its tower gates, its entire lift bridge, and its defensive moat and ditchings.

1867 – In Lyakhovichi were 2072 people to 351 courtyards.

1897 – The Polessian railroad extended to Sarny-Vilno which gave impetus to the economic development of Lyakhovichi. At this time there were 5016 inhabitants, and were church, synagogue, mosque, school, hospital, potter workshops, 30 stores, distillery, yearly provdilos' 3 large fairs.

1900 – In the city appeared mail and small industrial enterprise works.

1905 – 1907 – City demonstrations of workers.

1915 – Lyakhovichi in the front area of First World War.

1917 – Lyakhovichi surrounds severed by front line. The 20th Galacian infantry regiment occupied combat positions here.

12.1918 – 04.1919 – The Soviet regime is established/ in the territory of the Lyakhovichskeyeo region.

04.1919 – 09.1939 – Lyakhovichi city passed to Poland via the Riga peace treaty and was located in its composition.

09.1939 – Lyakhovichi is restored to the Soviet regime. Schools were opened – seven year school, and then SSH 1, district library, dispensary, film projector, Lyakhovichskaya MTS.

15.01.1940 – Is made part of the composition of the Baranovichi region when formed The Lyakhovichskiy region centers in Lyakhovichakh. At this time in the city lived 5100 people.

22.06.1941 – 06.07.1944 . – Severely tests the city. Its inhabitants transferred during the years of World War II. In the city during the years of war, Fascist invaders shot about 5 thousand persons of the Jewish nationality of local and from the countries of Europe.

1959 – 4,500 inhabitants in census

2001 – Today - 13 thousand people live here.Belorussians – 81%, Poles – 10%, Russians – 7%, Tatars – 1%, other nationalities – 1%.

Research Materials, identified, not yet accessed

Guide to the Records of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee,
Landsmanshaftn Department 1926-1950 Bulk 1937-1949

This finding guide published by YIVO in NYC indicates that they have the following material related to Lyakhovichi:

Subseries 2: Correspondence about communities and landsmanshaftn, 1926-1940.

This part of the documentation is mostly about fund-raising to get aid to the community of origin of each landsmanshaft. Typical documentation included lists of important and influential members, records of donations, information about the fund-raising activities and particular projects and concerns. The folders are arranged alphabetically by town. The Lyakhovichi documents are in Box 6 Folder 217 Title - Lachowicze. The description indicates that these are "Receipts and correspondence with the Lachowitzer Ladies Auxiliary, 1939 and the Lachowicze Relief Committee, 1938. Includes a 1937 letter for aid from the local interest-free loan association." All material in the folder reportedly dates from 1937-1939. Box 1 Folder 10 is titled Baranowicze and includes the address list of the New York landsleit and information on the society's free loan programs. It covers 1938.

Subseries 6: Correspondence about communities, 1944-1950.

This documentation is part of the attempt to locate survivors, to find out the extent of the disaster, to get assistance to those who were thought likely to be in need of help. The magnitude of the disaster and the rarity of survivors was not clear in the earliest attempts to assist. The records related to Lyakhovichi were in Box 27, Folder 713 and titled Lachowicze.The dates are 1945-1947. Baranovichi's documentation is in Box 22, Folder 589 and dated 1945-1948.