Jewish InstitutionsThere were six synagogues in Aniksht, including one that belonged to the Chassidim (who had a rabbi of their own). Most synagogues were concentrated in one court where the Old Synagogue, the New Synagogue, the Shoemakers’ Synagogue and the Talmud Torah were located. There was also a “Mountain Synagogue.” During the period of independent Lithuania [the interwar years between WWI and WWII] there was a small yeshiva, several chederim and three schools. The Yavneh School (Mizrakhi Zionists) had 50 students (whose principal was Mrs. Bier) and the Tarbut School (general Zionist) had 60 students (whose first principal was Yehuda Kalbson). Among the teachers of Tarbut were Esther Burstein-Koritsky, Liech, Y. Kaspi, B. Anikst and Baruch Vitchik. 120 students attended the Yiddish school and 30 attended the Yiddish kindergarten. Baruch Yitzchak Charna was head of the yeshiva.(Source: Nenusigręžk nuo savęs - Gyvieji tiltai [Don't Turn Away From Yourself - Living Bridges], by Rimantas Vanagas, Vyturys [Lark], Vilnius, 1995, 141 pp. [in Lithuanian], photos and photo reproductions of Jono Junevičiaus.)Jewish Life