Rabbi Mordechai Eliashberg, son of Reb Yosef Rumsisker, was born in 1817 in Cekiske (Chikishok), Kovno District. He married Ester, daughter of Markil Kadishon. They had three sons and two daughters born in Kovno: Itzko (Yitzchak)-Leib (b. ca. 1834), Movsha-David (b. ca. 1835), Yonathan (b. ca. 1847), Rona-Mariya (b. 1833), and Rockhe-Leya (b.1840). After the death of his wife Ester, Rabbi Mordechai remarried to Hadel (Godel); they had a daughter Yocheved-Beila (b.1871 in Bauska, then in Courland Province, now in Latvia). Rabbi Mordechai Eliashberg died in 1889 in Bauska.

According to the 1874 Kovno Family list, Itzko-Leib, son of Mordkhel Eliashberg and his wife Tziproa-Feige (b.1849), lived in Lunna, Grodno District. Itzko-Leib was a tavern keeper. They had five sons and one daughter, all were born in Lunna. They were, in order of age: Sarah-Frume (b. 1862), Chaim-Arie (b. 1866), Movsha (b. 1869), Yosel (b. 1872), Abraham (b. 1873), and Yehoshua-Ovsey (b.1878). Itzko-Leib died in Lunna sometime before 1910.

The Children of Itzko-Leib Son of Mordechai Eliashberg

1. Sarah-Frume (b. 1862), married Yosef Kutchinski (b. 1860). They had two daughters, born in Lunna: Ester (b. 1884) and Leah (b. 1894). They moved to Izablin, Wolkowysk District. At the beginning of the 20th century they immigrated to the United States and changed their last name to Kuchen. Their families live in the USA.

2. Chaim-Arie Eliashberg (b. 1866) lived in Kovno and later left for Eretz Israel, where he died.

3. Movsha (Moshe) Eliashberg (b. 1869) married Chana (b. 1866 in Zelwa), daughter of Rabbi Mordechai Shabtai Ha'Cohen Kaplan. They lived in Lunna and had a son named Yitzchak who died in childhood. According to Moshe Alperstein (a family relative), Moshe Eliashberg was an enthusiastic supporter of the 1905 Russian Revolution against the Tsar. Several years later he "returned to religion" and was an active member of Vaad Ha'Yeshivot (Council of the Yeshivas) located in Vilna. Moshe owned a fabrics shop in Lunna. He died in 1935 and was buried in the Lunna cemetery. His wife Chana perished in the Holocaust.

4. Yosel Eliashberg (b. 1872) married Yaffa-Sheine. They had three daughters, born in Lunna: Ester (Etel, b. 1905), Leah (b. 1907), and Yehudit (b.1910). Yaffa-Sheine died while she was giving birth to the youngest daughter. Yosel remarried to Chaya Zatz. He worked in ironmongery in Lunna. Yosel and Chaya perished in the Holocaust. The three daughters left Lunna for Eretz Israel before the war; their families live in Israel.

5. Abraham Eliashberg (b. 1873) married Fanya Prozhanski (b. 1887). They had a daughter named Rivka. Abraham owned a fabrics shop in Lunna. He died in Lunna before the war. Fanya and her daughter Rivka perished in the Holocaust.

6. Yehoshua-Ovsey Eliashberg (b. 1878) married Batya Kosowski (b. 1882). According to the Vsia Rossiia (All Russia) Database, Ovsey, son of Itzko-Leib, lived in Lunna in 1899 and worked in a dry goods/fancy clothing shop. Later, he owned a liquor store and was a partner in the lumber mill in Lunna. Yehoshua was among the founders of the Hebrew school "Torah Ve'daat" in Lunna. Yehoshua and Batya Eliashberg had five children. They were, in order of age, Malka (b. 1906), Yocheved (b. 1907), Yitzchak (b. 1910), Chaya (b. 1914), and Leah (b. 1917).
Yehoshua died in Lunna in 1934. Yocheved, Yitzchak, and Leah left Lunna before World War II and settled in Eretz Israel. Their families live in Israel. Batya (Kosowski) Eliashberg and her daughter Chaya perished in the Holocaust with all the other Jews of Lunna on December 8, 1942. Malka (Eliashberg) Bialoblocki, her husband Avigdor, and their two children were living in Rozyscie, Poland, before World War II; they all perished in the Holocaust.

For more information about this branch of the family, please refer to the Kosowski Family at:

Family Albums/Kosowski and also to:
https://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/newsletters/grodno/Lunna/index.html

The four photos below are from the collection of Itzko-Leib's descendants.

From the Collection of Yocheved (Eliashberg) Rutenberg
(Photos submitted by Shuka (Yehoshua) Rutenberg (Yocheved's son))

Yocheved ("Yochke") was born in Lunna in 1907 to Yehoshua and Bayta (Kosowski) Eliashberg. She had three sisters and a brother: Malka (b. 1906), Chaya (b. 1914), Leah (b. 1916), and Yitzchak (b. 1910). In Lunna, Yochke was a member of The "Zlota Szostka" ("Golden Sextet"), a company of six young women who performed in town and in the neighboring area. Their performances included singing, dancing, and acting. Yocheved left Lunna for Eretz Israel in 1932 and married Moshe Rutenbeg; their family lives in Israel.

The two pictures above were also received from the collection of Fruma (Friedman) Weinberg who was a friend of Yocheved (Eliashberg). It is most likely, then, that Fruma (Friedman) is also in these two pictures, though she was not identified. Unfortunately, the years in which those two pictures were taken are not indicated.
It is most likely that the picture on the left was taken before the Jewish schools were established in Lunna when the students attended a Russian or German school.
The picture on the right was taken during the Lag Ba'Omer holiday between 1919 and 1921. Liza (Welbel) Shwetz, a former Lunna resident, who identified several students in the pictures, recalls:

On Lag Ba'Omer the Jewish children used to collect contributions for the Jewish National Fund and for that they gave small flags that they held inside a hard-paper bag. The girls sitting in the middle of the front row hold such a hard-paper bag with the symbol of the Star of David. The children in the picture were born between 1907 and 1915.

Below are two photographs of the small bridge over the brook located near the flour mill of the Lunna estate; the Niemen River flows behind the trees.

From the Collection of Yitzchak Eliashberg
(Photos submitted by Ruth Marcus (Yitzchak's daughter))

Yitzchak ("Itzel") Eliashberg was born on October 14, 1910 in Lunna to Batya (Kosowski) and Yehoshua Eliashberg. He had four sisters, born in Lunna: Malka, Yocheved, Chaya, and Leah. Yitzchak graduated the "Torah Ve'daat" Hebrew elementary school in Lunna. Between 1926 and 1930 he studied at "Tarbut" Gymnasia in Grodno where he graduated in 1930. He was active in the "Ha'Shomer Ha'tzair" youth movement in Grodno and was one of its leaders. In 1929 he visited the General National Exhibition (Powszechna Wystawa Krajowa, PWK) organized in Poznań (photo below). The PWK was an overview of economic and cultural achievements of Poland, prepared on a grand scale and visited by 4.5 million of people. At the end of 1932 he left Poland for Eretz Israel. At the end of the summer of 1937 he traveled to visit his family, who had remained in Lunna. His father had died by 1937 but his mother Batya, his two younger sisters Chaya and Leah, and other Eliashberg and Kosowski relatives remained in Lunna. In 1938 Yitzchak married Ahuva Wigisser (b. 1912 in Jerusalem). They have family in Israel.
For more information, please refer to:
https://www.jewishgen.org/Belarus/newsletters/grodno/Lunna/index.html

Below are five photographs taken by Yitzchak Eliashberg using his simple box camera during his 1937 visit to Lunna.

From the Collection of Leah (Eliashberg) Yanovsky
(Photos submitted by Erela Aloni (Leah's daughter))

Leah was born in 1917 in Lunna. She is the youngest daughter of Batya and Yehoshua Eliashberg. In 1939, before the outbreak of World War II, Leah and her sister Chaya were living in Lunna with their mother Batya. Their older brother, Yitzchak, was already living in Eretz Israel. It turned out that Yitzchak could only bring one of his two younger sisters to Eretz Israel. So he decided to get his youngest sister, Leah, out of Poland. To do so he paid the travel expenses of one of his acquaintances in Eretz Israel, who traveled to Lunna, married his sister, and brought her with him to Eretz Israel on an official certificate at the "last moment", on April 5, 1940, and then divorced her (i.e. "fictitious marriage"). Leah's other sister, Chaya, and her mother Batya, remained in Lunna and perished in the Holocaust with all the other Jews of Lunna on December 8, 1942, the fifth day of Chanukah. Leah married Avraham Yanovsky, who came to Eretz Israel from Ross (located close to Lunna). They have family in Israel.

From the Collection of Etel (Eliashberg) Prener
(Photos submitted by Amnon Prener (Etel's son))

Ester ("Etel") was born in Lunna in 1905 to Yosel and Yaffa-Sheine Eliashberg (Yosel is Yehoshua's brother). Etel's sisters were Leah ("Leika", b. 1907) and Yehudit (b.1910). Their mother died during the birth of Yehudit, the youngest daughter. Yosel Eliashberg remarried to Chaya Zatz, who raised his three daughters as a mother. The three sisters Etel, Leah, and Yehudit came to Eretz Israel before World War II. Etel married Nachman Prener, Leah married Tzvi Finkelstein, and Yehudit married Abrahami. Yosel Eliashberg and Chaya (Zatz) perished in the Holocaust. Family of Etel and Leah live in Israel.

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