My father, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Kosczevsky, was born
in 1887 to Arye Leib and Malka in Zambrow
(Zambrove) nearby Lomza, Poland. In his
youth, he studied in Lomza's Yeshiva and in Slovodka's Yeshiva in Kovno,
Lithuania. At the age of 20, he married Beila Raichman (parents:Moshe and Chana
Shifra) from Zaremby Kosczelne.
After his studies, he was sent to be a "Magid Shir"
(teacher) in Eisiske's Yeshiva. The occupation period by the German army in the
first World War was a time of severe conditions which caused hunger in the
population, so the Rabbi sent his wife and children to her parents. Soon after,
the border was closed and the Rabbi was separated from his family for four
years. After the war he returned to his family in Zaremby Kosczelne. He had no
employment there, so he came to Vilnius to seek advice from the Rabbi 'Posek'
Chaim Ozer Grodzansky who advised him to accept the first offer that came to
him. In 1922, he became the Rabbi of Podberezy and, in 1932, he became the Rabbi
of Myadel.
He replaced Rabbi Zipkevich who was known to be the
Shochet, Shoag Israel's brother-in-law . The Shochet, who came to Myadel from
Vilnius, became the Rabbi's son-in-law. The Rabbi, the Shochet and nineteen men
of Myadel they were tortured and murdered by the Nazis and their helpers and
died 30 September 1941( gimel Elul, taf shin alef )
The Rabbi and his wife lived in Myadel from
1932-1941/2. They had six children
:( 1 son and 5 daughters)
1.Rabbi Reuven Zalman Shlomo - b.1910, married Fiegl
( Rabbi Ben Zion Mitvavky's daughter from Lebedova nearby Molodecno) and was the
Rabbi of Lipnishak (Lipniski).He perished in the holocaust.
2. Yudit- b.1911.She married Myadel's 'Shochet'
Shoag Israel in 1932 .She and her two children Yehoshua and & Malka were
murdered in the massgrave on 23.09.1942.
3.Gittle- She married Rabbi Arye-Leib Lis in 1937
and they lived in Ostrovietz nearby Vilnius. After her husband was murdered, she
returned to Myadel (the end of 41) with her two sons. One of the boys she lost
in the woods, the second one is Rabbi in Israel .Gittle remarried Rabbi Chaim
Zaiczik.
4.Sara- she married, Rabbi Nachum Lebovich scholar
of Kaminetz Yeshiva, in 1946 .He was the nephew of the Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Baruch
Ber Lebovich. They have 4 daughters all married in USA.
5.Dvora- b. 1922, married Rabbi Arye Leib
Zilberstein scholar of Radun Yeshiva (Hachafez Chaim) in 1946. She has four
children ,three of them in the USA and a daughter in Israel. She remarried to
Rabbi Tennenboim.Dvora Lives in Jerusalem.
6.Perke (Perel) – the youngest daughter was married
to Abram Yakov Rotkin . They have 5 children In USA."