Original Link: http://forum.sherwood-tavern.net/viewtopic.php?id=595#p23657
The story of a Jewish surnames contains much that is instructive. A variety of languages and, above all, German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Polish, Russian, Belarusian, and others, formed the basis of the root, according to the history of the Exodus of the Jews, and all that was connected with it. The names tell of professions and occupations of Jews, show the geography of Jewish migration, the relation to the titular nation of the places where they had to go, neighbors and the world around them.
Try to show the process on the example of the Jewish community in Turov, the city occupies a special page in the history of Belarus. Turov-Pinsk principality was the prototype of the Belarusian statehood, lost in the centuries the Jewish community was here in the XVI century and belonged to the Pinsk Distric Brest province Rzeczpospolita (Republic of Poland). In 1765. Turov 316 Jews lived, and by 1847 - has 1,447 Jews. He was regarded as a borough Mozyr district of Minsk province and was part of “the Pale of Settlement.” The main source of income of the residents were trade and craft. In 1897, Jews numbered in Turov has 2,252 people. or 52.3% of its residents. In 1911, the newspaper Minsk old boy wrote that “the people in Turov religious, moral, robbery occurs rarely - barns and cattle, not to lock up, the number of illegitimate births is negligible compared with other localities.” Turov Jews received their permanent family, like most of the Jews in the Russian Empire, about 150-200 years ago. At the end of XVIII - the first half of the XIX century the vast majority of Jews were concentrated: in Russia (800 thousand)., Austria-Hungary (470 thousand) and the German states (180 million). In other countries - Moldavia and Wallachia, the Netherlands, France, Britain, the U.S. and Palestine together - then lived only about 120 thousand Ashkenazi Jews. Hereditary surnames in the ordinary sense of the word no. Everyone had only her first name, which in official documents could be added the name of his father. In addition, the name confirmed the birthplace of man, the name of his mother or wife. It existed for only one generation and not hereditary. In the next generation, the name of parents (his wife), place of birth and scope changed as reflected by last name or surname. For example, when Yitzhak Ben Yaacov had a son Moshe (Moses), in official documents anoint him as Moshe ben Yitzchak (Isaac's son), and grandson of Isaac (son of Moshe) became Leizer Ben Moshe. The household use of the same person may have been called in another way: Moishe Broches, ie, Moishe, husband or Brohi Life Nehamkes ie Leib, son of Nechama. In the history of the formation of the names reflected the war and territorial disputes between Poland and Russia, which are rapidly passed through the territory of Belarus in the XVI-XVIII centuries. and significantly influenced the migration of the Jewish population and determined the process of community formation. in the middle of the XIX century. Russian government effort to assign to the Jews of hereditary surnames. It was a continuation of a practice started by the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1797, and the German government in 1807-1834. It dragged on for many years and in the early twentieth century. met Jews without last names. Names used in business transactions, preparation of documents that had the force of law, in a non-Jewish court, business receipts, etc. But mostly it was for financial reasons. Jewish businessmen and tradesmen suffered from excessive taxes, many of which were of an arbitrary nature. Being forced to adapt to this, the Jews often used the absence of permanent last names, passed on from generation to generation, which helped to avoid excessive tax burden. Russian officials, who were asked to “ofamilivanie” Jews had to solve a complex problem. Last name should reflect the national identity and hold meaning (something “mean”). To resolve this problem, the power came on his own. First they took as a basis for simple German words, often close to or coinciding with Yiddish, referred to color or parts of the surrounding environment, and build from them names. The components of such a practice were the words: Feld (field), Wald (forest), gras (grass), Baum (wood), Berg (mountain), Zweig (line), drag (leaf), Matte (stone), mouth (red ), Grün (green), Gelb (yellow), Blau (Blue), Rosen (pink), Gimel (heavenly), brown (brown), Weiss (white), Kirsch (Vishev) tseder (cedar), Kimel (cumin ), etc. So the majority of Jewish surnames from a German origin. In Turov, it had to do - Bromberg Ginsburg, Vaynblat, Rosenfeld Etingers and other Jews did not want to completely follow the rules of the German language and sought to preserve Yiddish. So soon, “German” name sounded like native language demanded Jews. In Turov, it was Mendelbaum, not Mandelbaum as it sounds in German; Perkin, not Berkin Kirzner, not Kirzhner, Lamdin, not Lamden, Laythman, not Leyhtman, McLean, not broker, Frenkel and No Frank, Schneiderman, not Schneiderman, Shtelman, not matte, Etinger, not Oettinger, etc. On the other hand, the development of the Jewish surnames influenced by Byelorussian borrowing, suffixes, and rules of word formation. Because of the name Cohen get Kogan, Kagan, Kaganovsky, Kaganovich, etc. As a result of the haste with which officials strove for an activity which sometimes arise semantic mismatch. Only Jews were to be found such names as Weizenbaum, which translated from German means “wheat tree,” Zauershtrom - “sour flow,” Levenfish - “lionfish” Tsigenbaum - “goat tree” Kvechman - “reluctant to speak out “Shuhman -” shoe ”,” shoe “or” horseshoe. ” Most Russian officials in Belarus take an example from German colleagues, using the ending “er”, typical of the German and Yiddish. So in Turov appeared Gleaner, Pinsker, Gummer, Kagnery, Koehler, Kirzner, Raiders, Farber, Etingers, etc. Over time, some of these names were Russified, their ending “er” was replaced with a familiar Belarusian and Russian ear “sky.” In this case, Pinsker was Pinsky, Minsker - Minsk, Gleaner - Glinski appeared - Vygonskie, Gorodetsky, Gorivodskie, Drozdinskie, Kabinetskie, Hrapunskie, Chernitskaya and others have been used and old principles of education of the Jewish surnames that have become the source of many now-permanent and passed by inheritance. The Hebrew (Hebrew), “bin” or “bar” - turned into a “sleep” (“zones”) (der Sohn - son it.). Hence the distribution was received by Katz - Katznelson, Shmuel - Shmulenson, Abraham - Abramson, Israelson, Davidson, and Gurshenzon Other group names are of this type, was more to Yiddish than German. In the end it is the word “man” (der Mann - man it.), But the first of these names sounded Yiddish. In Turov these last names were Ayzinmany, Gizunterman, Gitelman, Glozman, Gozman Goberman, Zingman, Kaytermany, Klugermany, Kaufman, Krugman, Lieberman Reichman, Fleitman, Shleyzmany, Shpeizman etc. Closing “man” is well combined with many other principles , borrowed from simple concepts such as gold (gold), silver (Zilber), copper (Kupfer - German. Cooper - Yiddish), money (gelt). was not forgotten the old tradition of the definition of man in his profession, which is characteristic for closed feudal society. But now it has become transferred to descendants, regardless of their actual occupation, as well as where the ending “man” is not applied: Kushner (furrier) Papernik (manufacturer of plain paper), Hefter (manufacturer of notebooks), Treyger (porter), Schenker ( innkeeper), Botvinnik (“botsvina” green vegetable, Pol.), Kramnik - the shopkeeper, Mashtaler - groom Shpital'nik - medic Tsukarnik - merchant sweets. In Turov, these last names: Glozman (glazier), Schiffman (boatman) Shpeizman (cook, cook), Shusterman (shoemaker), Kirzner (furrier), Meklin (broker, broker), Offengendin (seller poultry), Farber ( painter), Fishman (fisherman), Furman (carrier) Funtsman (weigher) Shlyapintoch (Shaposhnik), etc. The practice of granting the names of people in accordance with their professional activities was widely known in the Jewish Diaspora. Widespread craft Jews as Sapozhnitskaya, has led to the appearance of the names of Sandler (Hebrew), Schuster or Shister (Yiddish), Chebotaru (rumynsk.), Varga (vengersk.) and, finally, cobbler or Sapozhnikov, in Russian. Another, no less prevalent in the town profession gave names: Taylor, Portnov (Russian), Krawiec (Russian), Kravchuk (white), Kravtsov (ukrainsk.), Chait (Yiddish), Hayat (Hebrew). Accordingly there and cognate names: Schneider (shnayder, Yiddish) - tailor, Schneiderman - a man tailoring, Shayderovski etc. In Turov tailoring inherited a long time in the Shneyderman, Sweden and Weaver. Some names reflect a narrower specialization: Pelzer (who sews covers), Futerman (sew coats) Tandetnik, Altausen (perelitsovschiki). This was followed by the names that have taken place from the name of tools and devices used by the tailors: Cher (scissors) and its derivatives - Sherman, Shermanzon; Nodl (needle) - Nodelman, Nudel, Nudelman (Ukrainian version), pincushion, needle (Russian), Pres (iron) - Pressman, Presser; Fodim (threads) - Fodimman; Knop (button) - Knopman, Knepel. Especially a lot of names was associated with professions carpentry, paint, shoe and izvoznogo cases. Surnames help make fuller picture of the activities of the Jews of Turov: Aybinder (binder), Ayzinman (ayzn - iron - Yiddish), metal worker, Wager (vag - scales Yiddish) - weigher, Portman (port - port it.) - a man with a wharf, the boatman, Rapoport (reife - healer, mi rort, Hebrew) - a doctor from the port town Fishman (fish - fish - Yiddish), a fisherman, fishmonger, Hinchik (chinsh, Bel., a measure of land use) - surveyor, Furman (fura - wagon, cart, Yiddish) - cab. In Turov, there were names, similar in sound, but far apart in meaning. Leytman (leytn, Yiddish, plumbing) and Leyhtman (leicht, it.), Light, or Laythman (layt, Yiddish) - a rich, respectable and Laykhtman (laykht, Yiddish, light) - light. Soshkin - derived from the female name Sora (Sarah) and opener - a native of the village opener Pinsk district of Minsk province, Stillman (shtil, Yiddish) - quiet, calm and Shtelman (steyn - stone - Yiddish), a mason. Other names were so eloquent that speak for themselves: Cooper, cooper, blacksmith, blacksmiths, Sawer - Carpenter, Muchnik - merchant flour, milk - milk seller, Dyers - painter, Grenadier - soldiers Garbar (white) - tanner skin. Other names on the contrary, require an explanation: Jews Zhelezniak got their name because they were selling metal (hardware), but were not blacksmiths as it might seem at first glance. occupied a special category names, the beginning of which was given the profession unique to the Jews : Melamed (teacher in cheder) Sofer (scribe of the sacred texts of the Torah), Rabin, Rabinovich (rabbi), etc. They served as the basis for a number of names associated with the observance of Jewish tradition, which set the rhythm of life of the town, explaining the most difficult questions which arose in everyday work and communication. Prior to 1917, Turov, without exception, Jews attended synagogue and minions, underwent a circumcision, chupa, kept kosher and Saturday, and buried their relatives in the Jewish cemetery. Hence, there was a special respect for the people who were responsible for the spiritual life, as reflected in surnames. In Turov lived Kantors, Kogan, Hazan, Hazanovichs - singers, cantors in the synagogue, and Lamdiny Lamdmany - studying Torah (lamden - to teach, learn, Yiddish), Rabinovich - the descendants or family members of Rabbi (rabbin - rabbi, Yiddish) Rashap - an abbreviation of a prominent Jewish scholar Rabbi Shlomo Pinsker (Rabbi Solomon from Pinsk), Shulman (shul, Yiddish) - regulars synagogue and active believers Yudnovichi (Yuda, Yehuda, Hebrew, Yiddish) - a self-Jews. Surnames Shamis, Shames (shamash, Hebrew) indicated that their ancestors were attendants in the synagogue. Resnick, Reznikov, Shoikhet, Sheyhatovich - specialists in the ritual slaughter of livestock and poultry; Menakers inherited its name from the experts to rid the meat of forbidden foods in fat, tendons, muscles and bruises, etc. Bodek - checking the quality of meat, and a last name Shub abbreviation, which combined two professions mentioned above are related to compliance with the tradition of kashrut, “shochet” at-bodek. ” Most of the last names was derived from male and female names. According to linguist and historian Abraham Pribluda (Avrom-Slam Mendelevich), they had the names of 1758 Ashkenazi Jews - 1065 male and 693 female. Meanwhile, there were 1,622 names of occupations, names of trades and occupations. Possession get those where the predominant masculine or feminine influence in the family. If the main source of income for a family was dependent on the spouse, or he had some notable features (feature), the children were given the name of the male name - Haimovich, Abramovich Jankelevich, and others were known Boruhovy Turov (Boruch) Morduhovy (Morduch), Levins (Levy), Slavkina (Glory), and other names, in which were based on women's names, had his own explanation. When the men often went to work, during the long absence of their children were named after the mother back home. This explains the names of the type Haykin, Rivkin, Sorkin, Esterkin, Lakin, Shifrin, Raikin, Malkin, etc. In Turov be treated Gitelman (Gita), Dworkin (Dvoyra) Itkin (Ita), Kunda, Rashkin (Rochl, Rachel), Rivlin and Ryshkiny (Rivka ) Soshkin (Sora, Sarah) and some others. was widely distributed in creating the principle of geographical names. to the XV-XIX centuries. orthodox Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, the region was divided into a number of “countries” (aratsot), which are distinguished by their distinctive cultural , domestic and linguistic characteristics. All modern Belarus, most of Lithuania, eastern Latvia (Latgale), the border with Belarus districts of Pskov, Smolensk and Brannskoy Russian regions were in eretz “Lita” (Lithuania). Jews were different here is special dialect of Yiddish and traditional way of life. “Lita” was the spiritual center of the Ashkenazi Jews, home to major Yeshivas and renowned experts of Judaism. characteristic feature was the rejection of Hasidism, although in some areas it is a discipline was spread (Chabad - in the extreme north-east, Hasidic 'courts “in woodland and others). “Geographical” name affirm the widespread migration of Jews. During the XIX century. migration patterns went mainly from north to south, from the Hebrew “Lithuania” in Podolia, Ukraine and the province, where the Jews was not there before - Kherson, Ekaterinoslavskuyu, Tauride, on the left bank of Ukraine and Bessarabia. In 1795, the Jewish “Lithuania” was more than twice as populous as Jewish-Ukrainian Volyn-Podolia, already in the early forties of the XIX century., this ratio has changed dramatically. Around 470 thousand Jews lived in “Lithuania” and more than 550 thousand in the Ukrainian provinces (including the Black Sea and Bessarabia.) In 1897, in “Lithuania” was totaled 1 million 423 thousand Jews, and to the south of the Russian Empire - 2 million 153 thousand names of the witness, from which came those seats or other Jewish families. Some of them have retained the old German name, verified that their ancestors were from Germany. in Turov has long lived Brombergs (Bromberg), Ginsburgs (Ginzburg), Landau and Landin, whose ancestors probably came from the province Palatinate (Landau), Ettinger - from Bavaria (Ottingen). Lifshitz and Livshits from the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany, Bohemia, Silesia and Thuringia (Liebeschitz, Lobschutz, Liebschutz), and the Jews Bloch came from Italy (wloch, Pol. - Italian). Apart from these, in Turov submitted cities and towns of Russia, Ukraine and Lithuania. Among them were families of Lutsk, and Kocherovski Khochinsky - from the villages of Luke, Kocherovo and Hochin Zhytomyr province, Brailovskis - from the city of Vinnitsa Brailiv County, Shleyzmany - from the village of Shliozhi Telshai County, Lithuania, etc. However, most of all in Turov, of course, were natives of various regions of Belarus, which are dominated by: Minsk province Gleaner - from the villages of clay, Glynn County Mozyrskogo; Gorivodskie - Retchitsa; Drozdinskie - Blackbird on the Minsk district; Lelchuk - place Lelchitsy Mozyrskogo County; Pinchuk - Pinsk, Puhovitskie - place Puhovichi Igumen County; Sosnik and opener - The opener on Pinsk; STAROBIN - place Starobin Slutsky County, Sagittarius - Sagittarians on Slutsky County; Hrapunskie and Chernitskaya - from the villages and Hrapin Chernichi Mozyrskogo County; Chirino - place Tsirin Novogrudskii County. Vitebsk province Golin - from the village of Golyni Nevel county; Gorodets - town town, Lane - on tracks Disnensk and Syanno counties; Chudnery - Dr. Chudnaya Syanno County. Grodno province Borodetskie and Borodokskie - from the village of Borodicha Volkovysk County; Konik - Conn villages and Conic Volkovysk and Slonim counties; boll - Boxes on Disnensk County; Muravchik and Chechik - from the villages of ants and Chechko Pruzhansky County; Olshanskys - Dr. Slonim Olszanica County. Mogilev province of Goals - from the village of Golovchin Mogilev district; Osovska - Dr. Osov Cherikov County; Shlyavery and Zaretsky - Shklov District and forth. By the same token determined and natives of Turov, which served as the basis for the appearance of the names of the roots ” tours ”- Turov, Turover, Turov, etc. It is clear, therefore, that in the Turov could not be Jewish families with a similar name. In the 1905-1914 years. more than 800 people., who emigrated to the United States through the checkpoint at Ellis Island in New York City (Ellis Island), were marked with the name closest to the word “Desk”, most of which came from Belarus. Ancestors were natives of Turov Turov journalist Isaac (1855-1929 gg.), Who was born in Slutsk, teacher and writer, Ph.D. Nisan Turov (1887-1953 gg.) Of Nesvizha, designer track machines, Doctor of Technical Sciences of Ilya Turov (1912 p.) from the village of Vorontsovo Kherson province, captain of the seeds of Turov (1895-1937 gg.) from Kharkov, theater historian, writer and Doctor of Arts Maya Turov (born 1924), Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Yevgeny Turow (1924 . p.) from Moscow, etc. The names suggest that Jews, despite living in galut (exile, away from home), preserved the language spoken by their ancestors before the death of the Kingdom of Israel in Palestine in the second century AD. That is why many Jewish names are Hebrew (Hebrew) roots. Twelve Tribes, which comprised the ancient Jewish people, had a sacred symbol - a wild animal, which later became the name of a modified form. Patron of the tribe of Judah was a lion, where there have been Leybzon, Leibovich (lion, Yiddish), there has been a symbol of the tribe of Benjamin Wolf - Wolf, Wolfensohn (wolf, Yiddish). Totem tribe was a bear - from the prefixes Dov (Bear, Hebrew), and Baer (Yiddish), with all of their many derivatives. Vovsi was named scout, sent by Moses to the unexplored land of Canaan. Lapidus was the name of Deborah's and Efron - the landowner of the land purchased by Abraham for the burial of Sarah. In Turov Hebrew origin and had Kagnery Kaplans, derived their names from the high priests of the temple of Jerusalem (koyhen), Ozeri (eoyzey - assistant), Leviim (leywij) - have turned to Levin, Levinskikh and others were based on Hebrew built-known names of abbreviations such as Schatz - “Shaliahh Tsibur” (messenger of the community), Katz - “priest-in-tsedek” (priest-righteous), Segal, Chagall - “sgan of Levi” (member, deputy Levy clan), Bashmet - “Ba'al Shem- tov ”(good name of the owner). entire group of surnames in Turov, one can single out for such common features as: Personal qualities Gizunterman - healthy (gizunt, Yiddish), Gummer - witty, humor (humor, Yiddish), Gutman - good (gut, Yiddish), Stillman - quiet, calm (shtil, Yiddish), Kalyuzhniy - dirty, nasty (ukransk. ) Klugerman - intelligent (klug, Yiddish), Lathman - light (leicht, it.) Lieberman - expensive (liber, Yiddish), Gorelik - burnt down (victim of a fire), Freyleymand - happy (freylekh, Yiddish), Schwartzman - Black (shvarts, Yiddish), Stillman - quiet (shtil, Yiddish). Property Status Laythman - rich (layt, Yiddish), Goldin (Goldin - gold), Silber, Silbermann - Silver (zilber, Yiddish), Margolin - pearls (margolis, Hebrew), Reichman - rich (rakh, Yiddish), Roshan - poor , the poor man (royash, Hebrew), Baidanchik - slacker, lazy man without money (Ukrainian). The flora and fauna Gozman - Bunny (goz, Yiddish), Goberman - oats (hober, Yiddish), Komar, Lees, Mendelbaum - almond tree (mandel, it.), Perkin - Bear (ber, Yiddish). Inanimate objects Clay - Clay, Kabinetskie - cabin (cabin, German.), a box - the box, Krugman - pitcher (krug, Yiddish), Keller - cellar, basement (cellar, Yiddish), Lehchin, Lehchinov - tinder (likhttsinder, Yiddish ) Wager - scales (vag, Yiddish), Feldman - the field (feld, Yiddish), Shtelman - stone (steyn, Yiddish). Musicians and musical instruments Tsimbel - musician Zimbalist (cimbl, Yiddish), Fleitman - musician, performing on flute (flute, flute, Yiddish), Zingman - singer and musician (singman, Yiddish), etc. Another characteristic of Jewish names is the existence of dual names. It is an ancient custom of giving a newborn a name for the deceased relative of his father, and the other - on a relative of the mother. As Scripture says in this regard: “And the first-born, whom she gave birth to intercede his brother's name, who died that his name not blotted out of Israel. ” Traces of this tradition occurred in the earliest examples of the rabbinical writings, such as the Mishnah, Talmud and later annotations. Another explanation is fact of Jewish life in the Diaspora, when they were forced to take not of Jewish tradition unfamiliar names. Some people rearranged the value of their biblical names to the language of the people among whom they lived. This combination of biblical names and their translation were encountered frequently and read together as one name: Zvi Hirsch, Aryeh Lev Shlomo Zalman. The appearance of double names contributed to the situation in the Talmud, in which he said that the update after the man abolished prepared for him by the Court of Gd. Therefore, a person whose disease was fraught with mortal danger, the commission in the synagogue praying for his recovery was given a new name, which was nothing like the old. When a person is recovered, it was left along with the same name as a good sign for the future. In Turov double names were: Margolin Avremele Ischia-Mashes, Moshe Dovid, and Jonah Aryeh Leib, a box Avraham Moshe, Zingman Esther Malka, Glozman Shane-Lea, Mordechai-Iosele and El-Leib, Schiffman Yitzhak Chaim Boruch and Rochl-Etl, Wager Freydl-Rochl and Chaim Hodel, Shlyapintoch Reizl-Lay, Shane Creamer, Leia and other authorities were wary of this custom, for fear that it is not served as a basis for abuse. In 1868, Governor-General of Vilna A.L.Potapov instructed teachers rabbinical school in Vilna prepare a reasoned opinion on the said issue. Several signed inspector Rabbinical College Haim Katzenellenbogen, lexicographer and author of Russian-Hebrew dictionaries Joshua Steinberg, writer Mark Plungyanski and public rabbi of Vilna Sheftel Kliachko. Scientists have explained the existence of double names among the Jews, but their arguments did not convince the authorities. The latter considered the record of the Jews' tax-paying status “in the census tales (census) under several names entails great inconvenience. At times, it really does not hurt the disclosure of persons recorded in the tale. However, the most important thing that concerned the authorities - have been abuses in the issuance of passports, than they could take advantage of “criminals” who had taken refuge under different names from the persecution of the Act. Therefore the official rabbi in the census and registration of births in the commission of the rite of circumcision was recommended to record the newborn under only one name. story of Jewish last names would not be complete without discussing their subsets, such as nicknames and aliases. For a long time, they existed in parallel with the names, and sometimes even preceded them and provided the basis for the granting of a permanent Jewish family names. Aliases and nicknames to help distinguish between carriers of the same name, often had sustained and could be transmitted from the father to the children. Often they are even better suited for people than their official name. For example, with a high degree of confidence we can say that the name Tyuryahin is descended from the nickname of a Jew who had low self-esteem and remained “tyurey” was not in a position to make an independent decision and relied on other people. Another part of the nicknames and nicknames derived from external will - color of hair or beard, the behavior, the presence of disability, special skills, and professions. In Turov widely known were: Abram Vaynblat - “Avremele der mathematician” (Mathematician Avremele) Osher Zaretsky - “Osher der glazer” (Glazier Osher), Shmuel Gummer - “Shmuel der geler” (Auburn Shmuel), Zalman “der Blinder” (Blind Zalman), “Boruch der Zaika” (Zaika Boruch), “Chaim der ox (bull Haim)”, “Meer-Fire” (Fire Meer). Isaac Laykhtman had the nickname “Isaac - der sloboder,” because he lived in the village of Sloboda, he was called by her distant relatives, and in 50 years, etc. Over time, most of the Jewish surnames rooted in the minds of the people around them, and without a precise understanding of their semantic meaning. The main function was now a name of a family, or her son. In the Soviet period, Belarus to the loss of national tradition and historical roots of Judaism, families were only the identification of the Jews. The policy of anti-Semitism has found its expression in the voluntary renunciation of Soviet Jews from the traditional names of their own, which is closely associated with hereditary surnames. Call him - Israel, Abraham, Samuel, Isaac, and daughter - Sarah, Rachel and Hava, meant to subject them to persecution, from childhood, and many man-made obstacles in his youth and adult life. Therefore, for Jewish boys and girls there were “adapted” Slavic names. Taiba was Tanya Beynish and Boruch - Boris, Chaim - Efim, Moses - Misha, Golda - Galey, Aron - Arkady Rahmiel - Mile Solomon - Simon, the Hirsch - Gregory Yentl - Helen, Osher - Joseph Rivlin (Rivka) - Riva, etc. This was one of the last steps in the complete assimilation of Jews in Soviet times. Figuratively told this Anatoly Aleksin in his novel “Pevzner Saga” (Tel Aviv, 1995), where the Hero of the Soviet Union Boris Pevzner Isaacovich and his wife Judith are choosing names for newborn triplets. In memory of my grandmother Dvoira daughter they named Dasha, one of his sons - in honor of his grandfather Isaac - Igor, and another son in memory of his grandfather Samuel - Sergei. From the complete disappearance of proper names in the post-Soviet “Russian” Jews still saves the tradition of hereditary surnames derived from personal names. Turov Today there are only three Jews - Aharon Fleitman, his sister Rima Peshevich (Fleitman) and Michael Lelchuk. The once-numerous community, which numbered more than three thousand Jews ceased to exist. Her memory continue to be people who live in the republics of the former Soviet Union / CIS and the various countries of the world from America to Australia, whose ancestors came from Turov and confirm this forever enshrined in their hereditary surnames. Author Leonid Smilovitsky Source: sinagoga.spb.ru