The Hon. William Kaye AO QC - obituary



The Hon. William Kaye AO QC
Lawyer, judge and advocate for tolerance





(Obituary written by Bill’s daughter, Dina, with the help of her brothers.)

William (Bill) Kaye died on 12 May 2012, aged 93 years, after a life of service to the legal system, the Jewish community and to our country.

Born in Melbourne and the youngest child of Chana Reizel and Shlomo-Zalman Komesaroff, who arrived in Australia from Berdyansk in the Ukraine in 1913, Bill was always conscious of his family’s origins and his parents’ early struggle in Australia. He was a proud Australian, with a deep appreciation of our tolerant, democratic society.

Bill was educated at Kew Primary School, Scotch College, and Melbourne University. In 1941, he interrupted his studies to enlist in the Royal Australian Navy. He was assigned to the sloop HMAS Warrego, which was engaged in mine sweeping and escorting convoys around New Guinea and along the east coast of Australia. Later he joined the corvette HMAS Cowra, serving as an anti-submarine officer in the same areas.

Bill married Henrietta Ellinson while on leave in May 1943. He died just one week before their 69th wedding anniversary. Their marriage was marked by an abiding devotion to each other and to their family.

Somehow, Bill managed to complete his law studies on board ship and sat the final law exams just before his demobilisation in early 1946. After completing articles, he was admitted to practice as a barrister later that year. Thus began a career in the law of almost 45 years. As a barrister, he specialised in personal injury cases and in criminal and commercial law. In 1962, he was appointed Queen’s Counsel and led a number of significant cases, including the inquiry into allegations of police corruption and the 1971 royal commission into the West Gate Bridge disaster.

He served his profession as chairman of the Victorian Bar Council’s Ethics Committee and subsequently as vice chairman and chairman of the Council. He was also president of the Australian Bar Association, an executive member of the Law Council of Australia, a member of the founding committee of the Faculty of Law at Monash University, and a member of its Faculty Board. In addition, he chaired the Proctorial Board of La Trobe University for 2 years.

In 1972, Bill was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, becoming the 51st Supreme Court Judge in Victoria and the first Jewish judge appointed to that Court in its then 121 year history. Throughout his term of office, Bill was deeply committed to upholding the role of the Supreme Court in our system of justice.

Bill was proud of his Jewish faith and its history and tradition. He was a deeply humane man who practised his values in everyday life. He chaired Temple Beth Israel’s Fund for the Future, and was a long standing member of the Victorian Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. He was a member of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists, and founder and first president of the Victorian Branch of that association.

Shortly after their arrival in Australia, his parents joined the Zionist movement, and Bill grew up with an ethic of concern for the welfare of the Jewish people. As a 19 year-old, with his friend Ron Taft, he visited Rabbi Sanger (who had just arrived in Melbourne from Berlin) to talk about the situation in Nazi Germany. Bill gave his full support to the State of Israel as it rose from the ashes of the Holocaust, and always admired Israel, its democratic system and its respect for the individual. Together with Henrietta, he made many trips to Israel and formed close friendships there, including with members of Israel’s Supreme Court.

In 1990, Bill’s contributions to the law, the community and the country were recognised with the award of an Order of Australia. After 19 years distinguished service as a judge, he retired from the Supreme Court in 1991.

In retirement, he was soon working for the broader community, serving on the RSPCA advisory board for 8 years. The main focus of his work, however, was in interfaith relations. He was the founding chairman of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews, and chaired the Victorian Council of Christians and Jews from 1991 to 1999. During this time, the Victorian Council published two important works addressing anti-Jewish texts in Christian scripture. He was greatly assisted on the Council by members of the Sisters of Sion with whom he formed lasting friendships. In 1996, he was presented with Philia award by the Australian branch of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

Bill remained active until the last two years of his life, when he endured declining health with grace, courage and good humour. He is survived by his wife, daughter, three sons, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He was and will remain a blessing in their lives.




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Memoirs of Rokhel Luban - festivals

Memoirs of Rokhel Luban, nee Namakshtansky.


http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/memoirs_of_rokhel_luban.htm

Born 1898 Trudoliubovka, Ekaterinoslav Province, Ukraine.
Died 1979 Petah Tikvah, Israel.

Now I will write about the Yom Tovim by my parents.

Mama made beets for Purim and I grated them. First Mama made wine and then beets. New clothes for Pesach were already made by Purim and were washed and pressed. Then Mama cleaned the whole house. She Kashered (# prepared utensils for the festival of Passover) everything on the last day before Pesach. Matzah was baked in a special house with an oven, tables for rolling the dough, rolling pins, a tin plate and a pusher, a mill for making the meal and a pitcher for bringing water.

It was someone's job to sit and watch the Matzah. The meal we always made from winter wheat. My father always bought a five pud sack of Pesach meal and Mama made Matzah meal for Kneidlach and Lekach (# sponge cake). She used a Shteisel (# mortar and pestle); Gribena (# chicken fat rendered crisp and cooked with onions) for Kneidlach and Farfel.

Mama scrubbed and Kashered all the utensils and sharpened the knives. The Kashering was done with a hot stone in boiling water. She kashered the tables with hot water and a burning stone. For "Bedikas Khometz" father went with a candle in hand, a wooden spoon and a feather to find and take out any leftover Khometz. In the morning he sold it to a Goy.

Fish was brought from Mariupol on ice, a wagon full. Khrein (# horseraddish) was made with salt, sugar and beet root. Kharoses was made by the rabbi who gave some to each householder.

Father and my older brothers used to go to the bath while Mama washed us at home in a big bowl or a bath.

When the men came home from Shule, mother had dressed up the children and prepared for the Seder. Wine was on the table, Hagodos, candles, the ceremonial plate with the hard-boiled egg and onion in salt water. They came home from Shule; Mama had already `Benched Licht' (# lit and blessed the candles). I always sat at father's left hand so as to take the Afikoman. Leibl said the `Ma Nishtanah'. By us we said the Hagodoh by interpreting every word in Yiddish. For example: (Hebrew Characters appeared here) "We were slaves". The best thing was the wine, then the food. The neighbors came to sing `Khad Gadyah' with us. On `Khol Hamoed' (# the intermediate days of the festival) we went visiting and Mama spent her time entertaining guests who came to us.

Shavues was a joyful festival. The fields were green and everything was growing. The houses were decorated with blossoming flowers from the fields. On the first day we ate milk dishes; Mama made Blintzes. Fish was brought again from Mariupol. Father spent the whole night in Shule learning.

Survivors of the 1919 Trudoliubovka pogrom.
Left to Right: Rokhel Berchansky (nee Namakshtansky, later Luban)
Her daughter Khaya (Clara)
sister Yokhved (Eva) Girzhel,
Brothers Leibl and Zalman Namak.





Standing Benyomin Komisaruk, Killed 1920.
Rokhel Berchansky (Namakshtansky/Luban)
Namakshtansky family: Velvel, killed 1919
seated Shmilik killed 1919
Chaim died 1917 





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Rabbi Pinkhas Komisaruk on his 114th Yahrtzeit

Rabbi Pinkhas Halevi Komisaruk

Born 1830, Rassein (now Raseiniai), Lithuania.
Died 26th Adar Rishon, 5697/1897 Grafskoy, (now Prolotarsky), Ukraine

Son of Rabbi Shlomo-Zalman Halevi (1798-1853) and Yokhved Komisaruk.
Great-Great-grandson of the Vilna Gaon.
Husband of Khaya-Sarah Levin (1834-1873)

The fact that Pinkhas was born in Rassein was established by the discovery of a history of where Pinkhas appears in the category of notables who were born in Rassein but lived elsewhere. This source also identifies his maternal grandfather and his father Shlomo Zalman. Indeed had it not been for the discovery of this book [1] , the family's connection with Rassein might never have been known and the family's earlier history never uncovered, as oral tradition told of the family's origin as Kovno (Kaunas). This referred to the province of Kovno in which the city Rassein was located.

A brief biography appears in the history of Rassein [2] :





"The rabbi, the great luminary, our teacher the Rabbi PINKHAS KOMISAR from the city of Rassein, who was Av Din and Shokhet in Grafskoy, a Jewish colony in the Government of Yekaterinoslav, died in the year 5657, (1897) 27th Adar, aged 67. Son of our outstanding teacher Rabbi Shlomo Zalman from the city of Rassein who died in the year 1848. Reb Shlomo Zalman was the son-in-law of the great Rabbi, the Kabbalist, our teacher Rabbi Menakhem Mendel from Rassein who was Shokhet in the Holy Community Girtegola and afterwards left the labour of Shekhita and sat learning in our city in the Great Beit Midrash 20 years until his last day and died in 5596 (1836). His honourable resting place is in the old cemetery."

There are several errors in this information. Rabbi Shlomo Zalman did not die in 1848 but in 1853 in Grafskoy. The error may have been made by the author of "Ir Rassein" who found no further reference to Shlomo Zalman in Rassein after 1848, by which time he had emigrated from the city.

Rabbi Pinkhas obtained his rabbinic learning initially in Lithuania and from his father. He was also trained as a Shokhet. Following the death of his father in 1853, the religious leadership of the colonies was thrust upon him at a young age. Despite the promised exemption from military services, when the Crimean War broke out in 1854 Rabbi Pinkhas was conscripted [3] . He served in the supply corps and thereby was able to care for the dietary needs of the Jewish troops by obtaining live cattle for Shekhita. Even in the confusion of battle Rabbi Pinkhas sought out Jewish troops for prayer and dedicated himself to comfort the wounded and bury the dead.

Upon his release from the army Rabbi Pinkhas took up farming his share of the family allotment together with his brothers. He toiled in the fields by day and studied and taught by night. Only when his sons were old enough to take over was he free to act as full time Rabbi.

Grafskoy 1890 census Komisaruk family [4]
 1. Family #15

2. Head of Household
Komisaruk Pinkhas Zelmanowich.
The elder has additionally two sons, who are not living in the colony;
one daughter is married;
one of sons has three boys.

3. Housing
Goverment provided house covered with thatch (bad state). Near it built a new house with two rooms also covered with thatch (Good state).
Stable also covered with thatch

4. Equipment
two ploughs, one and two furrow.
One mangle.
One harrow.
Two Britchka (carts).

5. Animals
five horses
Three cows.
One calf.

6..
Land holding:
Except 1/3* of land [10 desyatins of father's 30], also rents 17 desyatins. 2/3 of land owned by older brothers.

7. Farmed by Himself

8.. Quality of farming. Good

Whilst following the Lithuanian system of interpretation of religious law, Rabbi Pinkhas always took into account the needs of his people, seeking to ease any economic burden on poor families. If a poor woman brought a chicken to him to check whether it was Kosher, if there was only a small doubt, he would allow it. If the person was wealthy, he would decide on the strict side of the law and ban the chicken [5] .

Aside from rabbinic duties Rabbi Pinkhas was also a Mohel. The Mariupol synagogue records list three circumcisions performed by Pinkhas in 1885 and one in 1894.

During the pogroms of the 1880's Rabbi Pinkhas was renowned for his selfless dedication to helping the suffering. Whenever news arrived of a pogrom he rode off to tend the wounded and conduct funerals for the victims. During his army service he had learnt the rudiments of medical care and acted as a "Feldsher" (medical orderly) since qualified doctors rarely were available to tend the Jews. Rabbi Pinkhas was a Feldsher so during one Yom Kippur he interrupted services in the synagogue in order to give medical aid to a sick woman [6] .





Grafskoy Synagogue in ruins 2010 [7]

Having lost his wife in childbirth he remarried twice since tradition required the Rabbi of a community to be married. Rabbi Pinkhas met an untimely death contracting pneumonia after falling into his well whilst trying to draw water to
feed the animals.


 Well in Grafskoy 1999 [8]

This was indicative of his concern for others since, although no longer involved in farming, he decided to save the family the trouble of rising early in the cold winter and took upon himself the task.

His funeral was long remembered by people who came from the colony regions. Thousands attended, including sixteen Rabbis from the district who had come to pay homage to this renowned scholar and devoted leader. Stories of Rabbi Pinkhas' activities were related by the following generations and this author remembers listening to his grandparents relate the tales of their beloved grandfather.

Rabbi Pinkhas' obituary appeared in the Hebrew newspaper Hamelitz:



"GRAFSKOY: (a Jewish colony in the Government of Yekaterinoslav). - the 27th day of Adar Rishon was for us a day of mourning and grief because on it departed to his eternal life in the sixty seventh year of his life, the great Rabbi, Av Din of this place, our Rabbi Pinkhas Komisarov who officiated to the glory of our colony in the position of rabbi and Shokhet and examiner more than thirty years. Great honour was shown him upon his death, all the Rabbis of the surrounding colonies gathered and came to pay him their respects and to eulogize him according to the law. He was great in Torah and Fear of Heaven, and in peace and honesty led his brethren the farmers. Peace be to his dust and may his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life. Kalman Bruser."

(The author of this obituary, Kalman Bruser, was a son of David Moshe Bruser whose family also originated in Rassein and settled in Grafskoy.)

Whilst Rabbi Pinkhas left no written record of his scholarship, several books which belonged to him were saved from destruction during the revolution, and these bear his signature. A treasured memento of him is in daily use by this author: his Tefilin which were inherited by his grandson Shlomo Zalman Komesaroff (Kaye) of Melbourne and in turn by this author.




Pinkhas's grandson Mordekhai (Mottel/Mark), a son of Rabbi Zalman Komisaruk of Vasilkovka, mentions his grandfather in his memoirs [9] :

"The first of our ancestors who I remember was my father's father, the grandfather Pinkhas, by him there were three other brothers, of whom I only knew the great-uncle Velvel. Other brother, that means my great-uncles with the names Yaakov and Zalman, I did not see. One of them was in Kovno, and the grandfather Pinkhas and the great-uncle Velvel lived in a Jewish colony in Yekaterinoslav Government, Mariupol district. The colony was called Grafskoye, or No. 7 (all 17 colonies which were situated in Yekaterinoslav Government had a number). The grandfather Pinkhas was a Shokhet and a Rabbi, and his sons, that means my uncles, father's brothers, worked the earth like peasants and the great-uncle Velvel with his sons Berel and Meir also initially worked the land, only later did Berel opened a small store, and Meir was living by the work of the land.

When I was 6 years old I remember that they brought to grandfather Pinkhas a painted tree with branches, the tree began with the great-grandfather who was called Mendel. From there it went to his sons Pinkhas, Velvel, Yaakov and Zalman. Only in my memory remains only the grandfather Pinkhas with his four sons Shlomo Zalman (this was my father) with his brothers Mendel, Simkha and Meir. What I am writing about is only the roots which came out from the grandfather Pinkhas with his brother Velvel. (On the tree were only male people)."

There are several errors, namely that Pinkhas's father was not Mendel, but Zalman and Pinkhas had another brother who lived in Grafskoy, Leibl.

"We came to colony Grafskoy, there did the grandfather Pinkhas live, the grandfather Pinkhas I remember that he always used to go around with a black scarf tied to his cheek, I don't know the reason. He was an angry Jew. The parents went away to the village Vasilkovka, Pavlograd district, and I remained living in the colony learning from the Gemorah Melamed. I used to “eat kest” by uncle Simkha, and the brother by the uncle Mendel. The grandfather Pinkhas used every Shabbat to hear us, and never was he satisfied. He used to say it was a waste of the fees paid for our lessons. Later I wanted to travel home and I remember that Uncle Mendel harnessed his horse and a droshky and on Sukkot we came home"

Mottel's impressions of his grandfather Pinkhas are in sharp contrast to others of his cousins, particularly Mendel's son Zalman and Meir's daughter Khana-Reizel (later married and lived in Melbourne, Australia. They spoke of their grandfather Pinkhas with great affection. Mottel's attitude was perhaps a forerunner of his later revolt against traditional Shtetl education to the exclusion of any secular study. Indeed he was representative of many of his generation who yearned to be part of the open secular Russian society, restricted as it was in many ways to Jews.

Rokhel Luban (daughter of Avrom Hillel and Dina Namakshtansky) wrote about her maternal grandfather in her memoirs:

"Grandfather Rabbi Pinkhas didn't live very long. It was a cold winter. Grandfather did not want to wake the children so they could give food and water to the horses and cows. He got up and dressed warmly. In the barn he gave them all food. But they wanted to drink. He took the bucket with a rope out to the well to draw water. It was very slippery; it was a heavy frost and in the evening when they had drawn water from the well, some spilt out. As it was a very cold night, it froze and became very slippery. It was impossible to stand properly as Grandfather lowered the bucket and filled it with water. When he pulled up the bucket, it pulled him over into the well.

He began shouting for help. They couldn't find a rope. Everyone was so confused that they couldn't think clearly. In the same house with Grandfather lived Grandfather's brother (# Velvel) and he had a shop for farmers' supplies. But there was no rope. Grandfather called from the well:" You stand in the middle of the ocean and you ask for a drop of water.

When they pulled him out of the well they quickly brought a doctor. But he was too chilled and they could not save him. Seventeen rabbis from the surroundings came to the funeral. All the children from the places where they lived, together with many householders, came to pay their respects for the father.

For my mother it was the worst. When she was born and lost her mother, Grandfather used to sit all night with the Gemorrah in his hand (# studying), swinging the cradle. My mother knew how to `Pasken' all the `Sheylahs' (# make decisions of religious law)."


Rabbi Pinkhas' signature in a book 1884



Rabbi Pinkhas' signature Grafskoy mayor election 1861


-----------------------
1."Lekorot Ir Rassein Urabbaneiha" M.arkowitz, Warsaw 1913
2. ibid
3. Peter Kaye (Komesaroff), Melbourne, Australia.
4. "Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Ekaterinoslav Province in 1890", L. Uleinikov [Binshtok], St Petersburg, 1891. http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Surveys_of_colonies_uleynikov.html
5. Clara Berchansky as related by her mother Rokhel Luban (nee Namakshtansky). Petah Tikvah, Israel
6. William Kaye (Komesaroff, son of Zalman), Melbourne, Australia.
7. Orlinsky, Ukraine album  http://www.panoramio.com/user/3366156
8. Mel Comisarow, Vancouver, Canade, while visting the colonies.
9. Literal translation from Russian and Yiddish. Memoirs provided by Joseph Komissarouk, USA.

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Jewish Agricultural Colonies In the Ukraine

Update Jan-July 2010


Researcher: Chaim Freedman chaimjan@zahav.net.il
Website manager: Max Heffler

http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/


                                           Berel Komisaruk House and farmyard, Grafskoy c.1908

Considerable material has been added to the site over the last year. With the growing accessibility of Russian, Belorussian and Ukrainian archives previously undiscovered material comes to light. Descendants of colonists, living in the former Soviet Union, are extracting material and developing their own sites.

Two Russian books which contain extremely valuable information about the Ekaterinoslav colonies:
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Elena_Gavor.doc

L. Uleinikov [Binshtok], Jewish Agricultural Colonies in Ekaterinoslav Province in 1890, St Petersburg, 1891,
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Surveys_of_colonies_uleynikov.html
I. Kankrin, Jewish Agricultural Colonies of Aleksandrov Uyezd Ekaterinoslav Province, Ekaterinoslav, 1893.
http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/Surveys_of_colonies_kankrin.html

The books are the result of a very detailed census of the colonies made by Uleinikov in 1890 and Kankrin in 1893. Each book has an introduction with a general overview and statistics. The authors are quite biased - Uleinikov is a supporter of Jewish agricultural colonies and Kankrin is a severe critic. The most valuable feature of these books is the detailed census of the colonists' households. The books have also a brief overview of each colony with summary of history and facilities. Kankrin's book has detailed house/street handwritten plans of the ten colonies he studied, including sketches of the types of buildings.

                Menakhem Mendel Komisaruk house in Grafkoy after the Revolution
Uleinikov has complete lists of heads of all families (surname, name and patronymic) in 17 colonies of Ekaterinoslav Province, Aleksandovsk and Mariupol Uyezds, with detailed record of family composition, military service, type of house, agricultural implements, livestock, land and its subdivision within family and notes about profession etc.


Kankrin studied in a similar fashion 10 colonies in Aleksandrovsk Uyezd and has even more information about colonists' families. He was obsessed with the idea that colonists in reality remained artisans and not worked much as agriculturalists.

The Russian Foreword to Uleynikov's book has been translated

An analysis of the validity of the conclusions of Ulaynikov and Kanrin was added entitled "Life on the Jewish Agricultural colonies – success or failure"

An example is provided of one entry for the Komisaruk family of Grafskoy.




Holocaust material has been added with an interview of Ukrainian residents of former Jewish colony Novozaltopol by Father Patrick Desbois, which providesa horrifying account which demonstrates who actually carried out the massacre of nearly 800 Jews



                                        Novozlatopol Mass Grave exhibit Gulyai Polye museum
Novozlatopol Holocaust memorial

Photographs have been added from the St. Petersburg Film archive and World ORT Photographic archive. These rare photos were taken of many colonies in 1904 and 1922 showing public buildings such as schools, synagogues, municipal offices, and farmhouses.

Grafskoy school
colony reservoir and horses

Bogodarovka synagogue

A Yiddish book"Nayzlatopler Rayon" [Novozlatopol Region] is an account of the Sovietized colonies after the Revolution and Civil War.http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Colonies_of_Ukraine/NayzlatopolerRayon1935a.pdf



Comments on this book appear in an article "Destruction of Jewish Tradition under the Soviet Administration" assessing the affect of Sovietization on the destruction of Jewish cultural and religious life with particular reference to the role of the Yevsekzia.



                                             Grafskoy synagogue converted to club.



Zelenopole synagogue prior to the Revolution


Zelenopole synagogue converted to theatre

Memoirs of Grafskoy 1907-1921 by the son of a rabbi of the colony include a description of life on the colony and the reaction to the pogroms during the Russian Civil War which took place after the Revolution.


                                          
                                        Mass grave Trudoliubovka after Makhno pogrom 1919
                                            


Nechayevka after Makhno pogrom 1919

Prenumeranten Lists [The list of subscribers] from three books which include many residents of the colonies.

Links – a new page with links to useful sites.

Yakov Pasik's Russian site is updated from time to time. The site includes material in both English and Russian together with photographs and maps.


Thanks go to those who extracted, translated, processed and contributed to the acquisition of this material:

Bernshtam, Pavel
Comisarow, Mel
Farber-Sherman, Mitja
Freedman, Chaim
Giller, Lisa.
Govor, Elena
Heffler, Max
Komissarouk, Joseph
Pasik, Yakov
Ronn, Michoel

Volunteers are sought for further translations.
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Vilna Gaon Family Tree update

Elul 5769
August 2009

I am in the process of updating my database of descendants of the Vilna Gaon and his siblings, published in my book

"Eliyahu's Branches - the Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and His Family"
(Avotaynu 1997)







In the light of additional material received from many families and with resource to new archival records which were not available when my book was published, I am re-assessing the data

I Invite those, whose families appear in my book, to send updates of children born since the book’s publication twelve years ago, and any corrections. I would also like to hear from all families who hold a tradition of a relationship with the Gaon

Please send family trees in a gedcom file if possible

See updates on my blog http://eliyahusbranches.blogspot.com/
Chaim Freedman
Petah Tikvah
Israel
chaimjan@zahav.net.il








הגנאלוג חיים פרידמן (פתח תקוה), כתב לפני 12 שנה ספר בשם



“ענפי אליהו צאצאי הגאון החסיד ר' אליהו מוילנא זצוק"ל ובני משפחתו”





הספר נדפס באנגלית ושמו הוא




“Eliyahu’s Branches, The Descendants of the Vilna Gaon and His Family” ספר נדפס על ידי הוצאת 'אבותינו' בניו ג'רזי, 1997



הספר כולל את כל הענפים הידועים מהמשפחות הנ"ל, שהתפשטו על פני ארצות תבל. והוא אחד הספרים המקיפים ביותר שנעשו בגנאלוגיה היהודית


בימים אלו, עובד חיים פרידמן, על עריכת מאגר נתונים מעודכן



אי לכך, הוא מזמין את כל אלו שהינם מצאצאי הגאון מוילנא ומשפחתו, שאינם מופיעים בספר, או שמופיעים בספר, אך בצורה לא מעודכנת, שחסרים פרטים וכדומה, או כל מי שיודע על אישים מצאצאי הגאון מוילנא, ליצור קשר אתו במייל




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Hosias (Yehoshua Heshel) Lemky

Hosias Lemky was born in 1853 in Windau (Ventspils) Courland (Latvia).
He died in 1942 in Berlin, Germany.






He was a son of Leib (Lewin) and Rasche Lemky of Windau (Ventspils).
See separate article on the Lemky family.



Lemky family census, Windau, 1850.





Windau (Ventspils), Latvia.


According to his grandson, Hosias Lemky was a Cantor at the Adass Jisroel Synagogue in Berlin. He was not a rabbi, but was very religious and scholarly. He also functioned as gabbai taking care of many of the administrative functions of the community and caring for the synagogue appertances such as the silver Torah crowns.



The Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary was attached to the Adass Jisroel Synagogue, Artillerie Strasse, Berlin and Hosias also carried out administrative tasks at the seminary.




Hosias disapproved of his son Simon's plans to emigrate to Eretz Yisrael. Hosias was a member of the ultra-orthodox organisation Agudat Yisrael, one faction of which believed that Jews should stay in Germany to ensure the continuation of the community.

Simon was imprisoned in Oranienberg Concentration Camp on Krystalnacht in 1938. Friends managed to have him released and he got to Eretz Yisrael.

Hosias was very wealthy and had 230,000 Reichsmarks in the bank. Even though conditions for the Jews were very bad after the Nazis came to power in 1933, Hosias refused to save himself by leaving the country.


Officials of the synagogue including Lemky.

Before the Second World War Hosias and his wife lived at Berlin-Charlottenburg, Marburger Str.5. During the Nazi period they had to move to Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Joachimsthaler Str. 13.They lived in one room and as most of the Jews of Berlin were deported to the extermination camps in the East, the Lemkys had to fend for themselves. Soon no one came to help the elderly couple and they had very little food.

In March 1942 Hosias died in the Jewish Hospital from illness and malnutrition.




Testimony Page at Yad Vashem.

Six months later the Nazis came for his wife and deported her to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechosovakia where she refused to eat non-Kosher food and died a month later.

Information from "Stiftung Neue Synagoge Berlin, Centrum Judaicum" August 28, 2003:




"We found a Hosias Lemky, born Nov. 3rd 1853 in Windau (Latvia) who worked at the Israelitsche Synagogengemeinde Adass Jisroel as "Vorbeiter und Kantor". He died March 24 1942 in Berlin. His wife Helene (Lenne) Lemky nee Graumann, born July 22nd 1855 Kamin (West Prussia) was deported to Theresienstdt on Sept 14th 1942 where she died a month later. Their address was Berlin-Charlottenburg, Marburger Str. 5. She had to move later, so her last address before deportation was Berlin-Wilmersdof, Joachimsthalter Str. 13. Probably their son Simon Lemky, last address in Berlin: Marburger Str. 5 went to Palestine."



"Adass Jisroel Die Judische Geneinde in Berlin (1869-1942)" by Mario Offenberg:



“Helene Lemky, nee Graumann, born 22-7-1855 in Kamen
Lastly living in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Joachimtaler Strasse 13,
with the Family Friedmann. On 8 September 1942 she had received
in the Artillerie Strasse 31 from the Court official in Berlin-Schoenberg the
orders from the Gestapo and she was six days later on 14 September 1942
deported to Theresienstadt as an 87 year old, with the so called "Second
Large Old People Transport" (1000 persons).
Her son Simon was then in Palestine.

Her husband Hosias Lemky, born 3 Nov 1853 in Windau, was second Cantor in
Adass Jisroel (responsible for the Weekday services in the Synagogue in
the Artillerie Strasse 31), he died on 24 march 1942 in the Jewish
Hospital in Wedding, Iranische Strasse. The address of the couple until the
death of Hosias was Marburger Strasse 5.
According to the burial card Hosias Lemky did not die the 24th, but already
the 23rd of March 1942 and was buried on 26-3-42 at the Cemetery of Adass
Jisroel in Berlin-Weissensee, Part D, Row 1a, grave number 14."

Memoirs of Siegried Wollheim (in the above book):

"First Chazan Keiles was besides his official work also a sought after "Mohel"
and on many weekdays he saved us from the Tahanun prayer (which
is not said at a "Brit Milah"). Very loved was also Mr. Lemke, especially
when here cited with a resounding voice from the Torah before "Minchah" .
The Esra had brought the Adass much closer to me, especially in the
Artilleriestrasse. Every second day Yom Tov I went in the afternoon to
the Esra-events from Charlottenburg to the Artileristrasse, first to
minchah, and I often remember the last Kaddish, the prayer of sorrow,
of the second Chazan, Mr.Lemky, on the last holiday in the melody of
the High Holidays, when he thundered out the prayer with his bass-voice."

Hosias Lemky lived in an apartment within the synagogue. A neighbouring apartment was occupied by Rabbi Dr. Moshe Auerbach who taught at the Rabbinical Seminary. He settled in Petah Tikvah, Israel. His son, Shmuel Auerbach recalled Hosias Lemky with affection. In particular he recalled that Hosias took groups of youth from the community for hikes in the forest and used to lead them singing his favourite tunes.

Hosias had the following children:

Simon (died 1948 in Petah Tikvah, Israel).
Julius (1874-1934), lived in the USA.
David Paul Gunther (1977-1942) lived in Hamburg, Germany.
Leopold (1880-1935), ,lived in Berlin, Germany.

Hosias Lemky was a brother of Frederika (Freda), wife of Tzvi-Benyamin Kvint of Letskava, Lithuania, parents of Yoel-Yehudah (Julius) Quint (1863-1938) father of Khaya-Reeva (Annie) Freedman (1885-1967), father of Yaakov-Reuven (John Ronald) Freedman (1910-1999), father of Chaim Freedman, author this blog.
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Dimantshtein Family

The Dimantshtein family originated in Polotsk, Belarus and moved to various towns in Latvia: Rekekne (Rezhitza), Daugavpils (Dinaburg/Dvinsk), Riga, Karsava (Korsovka), Ludza (Lutzin). The family were Leviim.

The family were Chabad Chassidim in Latvia. They were quite prosperous trading in flax, timber and fish. One branch of the family set up a fishery in Aberdeen, Scotland. Some changed the name to Diamond.The earliest generation which has been traced in archival records was Zev Wulf Halevy Dimantshtein, born about 1770 In Polotsk and died before 1839. His children were Greinen, Eliyahu and Moshe.

Eliyahu was born about 1800 and died before 1885. His children were David, Avraham, Shmuel and Zev-Wulf.

Documents in Latvian archives including the 1889 list of Jews who lived in the rural areas of Lutzin district: David Dimantshtein, born in 1823 in Polotsk, moved to Korsovka in 1872 from Rezhitza. He must have moved at an earlier date from Polotsk to Rezhitza. He is described in this list as a merchant. According to family tradition he and his wife operated an inn on the outskirts of Korsovka. The circumstances which led to his burial in Lutzin rather than Korsovka are not known. The birthdates and birthplaces of his children are estimated. Information about some of his family taken from a family drawn up in England in 1948 by Norman Nygate.


Tombstone of David, son of Eliyahu Halevy Dimantshtein, Ludza 1901.
(Photographed by Aleksanders Feigmanis, Riga).


Vulf, (son of Elyash) was born in 1839 Polotsk, and moved to Korsovka in 1878.Vulf 's children: Abram, Elye, Treina, Dveira, Liba, Itka, Musya. All born between 1869-1885.

David’s wife was Keila-Tsirel. Her parentage is not known but Genetic testing revealed matches with several families such that she may have been related to families in the Vitebsk region such as Popkovitch, Leviyan (Gamerov), and others. Keila Tsirel was a short woman who had very definite views about bringing up her family. She wanted her daughter Rivka to know how to milk a cow so she had the maid Marfa teach Rivka. David and Keila-Tsirel were wealthy farmers and publicans, operating an inn on the outskirts of Korsovka. Once an inspector paid a visit to the inn and while sampling the food found an insect in a bun. Anxious to save her parents from prosecution, Rivka ate the bun quickly claiming that the insect was only a raisin.

The family developed widespread trading enterprises supplying the markets in the capital Riga with timber and flax for which trade they held a license. They also marketed herring on a large scale caught in the lakes near Lutzin. These business enterprises took several sons to live in Riga, in particular Tsvi-Hersh and from there expanded the trade to England in the late 1870’s which led to several members of the family settling there from 1880.

David and Keila-Tsirel's children were:

1) Zissa (c.1844-1932) married Pesakh Gordin and lived in Berzpils.

2) Yehudah Leib c.1848 - 1917 Korsovka.

3) Tsvi Hersh 1850 -1930 Riga.

4) Rivka (Rashka/Rebecca) 1851 or 1856-1834 married Mordekhai Zev Vulf (Max) Bull 1853-1931 London (see separate article).

5) Reuven c.1852, died 1934 London.

6) Zev Vulf 1856-1920 Korsovka.

7) Getzel c.1857-1890 Korsovka.

8) Moshe (Marks) 1860 - 1942 London.

9) Yeshaya c.1860 - 1933 London.

10) Zalman (Solomon) 1865 -1937 New York.

11) Meir, b.1865 never married, Riga.

12) Barukh . Identity unclear. According to Patricia Levitsky's history of the family, Barukh was a brother of her grandmother Rivka Bull. But Llyoyd Nygate's family tree does not include Barukh. He may have been a brother-in-law to Rivka's husband Max Bull, the husband of his sister.

1) Zissa and Pesakh Gordin lived in Berzpils and lost many of their family in the Holocaust. Their son Yaakov-Zev-Wulf settled in Korsovka where he was killed by the Nazis together with his children Raisa, Zalman and Mikhail. The surviving children Liuba Kalinkov, Gitta Tsiplevitch and Pesakh-Eliyahu settled in Israel. Zissa’s sons Mendel and Dan also perished in Berzpils. Mendel’s son Aba Gordin survived and lived in Korsovka. He possessed a Sefer Torah and took upon himself to organize religious servives for the small community that survived the Holocaust

2) Yehudah-Leib’s son Moshe-Eliyahu operated the family trade from Riga, settling in Lodon in the 1920’s where he opened a wooden barrel factory importing timber from Riga. He married his cousin Sonya, daughter of his uncle Getzel Dimantshtein.

3) Tzvi- Hersh left his hometown Korsovka and moved to Riga to engage in business. He became wealthy and started the Dimantshtein export business to England of herring, timber and flax. With the expansion of this business a number of his relatives immigrated to England. Tzvi’ son Bernard travelled to Aberdeen, Scotland to conduct his father's business and opened a fish processing plant and a factory to produce barrels from the timber his father exported from Riga. The barrels were sent back to Riga, filled with herring, and exported back to Scotland. Bernard changed his surname to Diamond.

4) Rivka – see separate article “Mordekhai-Zev (Max) Bull”.

Mordekhai-Zev and Rivka Bull, 50th Wedding Anniversary, London 1922.

5) Reuven
According to Maurice Bull's memoirs Reuven was very tall, over six feet, and had a large spade beard. He was a very excitable man who once reacted violently to an anti-Semitic remark made in the street. He was a furrier and settled in England in 1897.

Reuven’s son Yehudah-Leib was killed in the Arab riots of 1929 while working in the Diskin orphanage in Jerusalem.


Details of his death appear in “Yizkor Am Yisrael et Kedushei Tarpat” (Berzin and Weiss, Jerusalem 1930).
Literal translation from Hebrew:

“Yehudah-Leib Dimantshtein of blessed memory was born in 1880 in Russia to his father Reb Reuven Halevy. Yehudah-Leib was educated on the knees of Torah and Chabad Chassidism. However, when he was still young, at the age of seventeen, and desirous of expanding and completing his knowledge of religious learning, his studies were stopped. Because of his bad material situation his father was obliged to emigrate with his family to London. Here Yehudah-Leib bore the yoke together with his father of supporting the family. He worked initially at simple physical labour, afterwards learnt a trade and lived by it for many years. At the same time he `strove in the dust at the feet of the wise’, learnt with the Gaon Moshe-Avigdor Chaikin. In his spare time he also laboured for the community, involved in the needs of various societies and institutions. All those years since arriving in London his mind was occupied with his aspiration to settle in Eretz Yisrael. But the obstacles he encountered were too great for him.

At last Yehudah-Leib overcame all the obstacles and emigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1922. Upon arriving in the country Yehudah-Leib managed to find work in Jerusalem. He was one of the happy of the world, the sparks of his soul reached a single perfection. He lived by the labour of his hands in Jerusalem, approaching starvation from his meager bread, praying daily with the community of Chabad, set aside hours for Torah.

But his work did not leave him much time. Long periods of want arrived. In the years of depression in the country, 1926-1927, economic deprivation reached the house of Yehudah-Leib, reached its limits. Lacking everything, his father in his letters demanded that he return to London and they would make a living together. “Your son should not go down together with you [to the grave] “ was Yehudah-Leib’s answer. In the end he went to work at the Diskin Orphanage. He carried out his work faithfully and diligently. While he was attending the orphans of the institution he was obliged to add to them his son, aged four, who was orphaned from his mother who died at the beginning of 5689 [1929] in a car accident.

On Friday 17th of Av, during an attack by Arabs on the Rabbi Diskin Orphanage in the suburb Givat Shaul, Yehudah-Leib was severely wounded. Four days he lay struggling with the suffering of death. He passed away on Monday 20th Av.”

Yehudah-Leib’s first wife died in London and he remarried in Jerusalem Minna Moseieff of an old Hebron family related to the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Their only son Avraham was born in 1925. In 1977 attempts were made to trace this son and an elderly official of the Diskin Orphanage related that there was tension between Yehudah-Leib and Minna. She demanded a divorce which Yehudah-Leib refused. During a visit to Jerusalem by the Lubavitcher Rebbe Yosef-Yitskhak Shneerson, attempts were made to persuade Yehudah-Leib to give the divorce. The Rebbe summoned him to the Amdursky Hotel and commanded him to grant the divorce. But Yehudah-Leib refused. The situation reached a tragic end with the death of Minna in a car accident on the 17th of Shevat 5689 [1929]. Both Minna and Yehudah-Leib are buried in the Chabad section of the cemetery on the Mount of Olives. The orphan son, Avraham grew up and lived with his family in Beersheva under the Hebrew form of his surname “Yahalomi”.

6) Zev Wulf (also known as Velvel), born 1856, died 1920 in Korsovka.
Operated a farm on the outskirts of Korsovka, perhaps the property which belonged to his father David. This was located near the Jewish cemetery near “Naudas Kalns” the infamous site of the massacre of the Jews in 1941.

Children:
Eda - U.S.A.
Shmuel (1882-1943 Siberia),
Getzel (died in Russian exile)
Avraham (killed in Korsovka in 1941)
Eliyahu (died in Kokand in 1942),
Pessia,
David , Haifa
Yekhezkel or Khatzkel, Kfar Blum.
Gershon (killed in the Holocaust)
Seeka (killed while serving in the Latvian army).

Zev Wulf’s son Shmuel
Escaped with his wife across the Latvian/Russian border when the Germans invaded Latvia. Perished from the rigours of life in exile in Siberia.

Family of Shmuel Dimantshetin, Korsovka c. 1934

Shmuel’s son Eizik survived the Riga Ghetto and was deported to Stuthoff concentration camp.

Eizik Dimantshtein, Israel 1987.

The few survivors were evacuated to Sweden and liberated en route when the war ended May 8, 1945. Eizik lived for several years in Sweden and then immigrated to Israel where he worked as an engineer. He provided considerable material about his family. The following are excerpts (translated from Hebrew and Yiddish) of an interview in 1987 by Chaim Freedman, published in "The Pen and The Blade".

“My grandfather Velvel was married first to Gitta and then to Minna by whom he had four sons. We are Leviim and Chassidim. In our township there were two or three synagogues for the Chassidim and two or three for the Misnagdim. My grandfather and grandmother lived not far from the cemetery and all the time one had to pass their house.
In our township on Simkhat Torah the Chassidim would open the large oven and take out the Tsimmes and walk from house to house. It was a jolly time. That was the way with the Chassidim. The Misnagdim did not act that way. In our town was a secondary school where you could matriculate. Then I served for two and a half years in the Latvian army. Due to the anti-bourgeois feeling in Korsovka after the Soviet takeover in 1940 I went to Riga to work. There my sisters and brother were studying at the university. On the first day of the occupation Zhenia and Gitta were rounded up with large numbers of women, herded to the central prison and killed. Volinka was taken with men to the forest and killed. I was saved since the place where I was living was not included in the roundup.

I was actually in Riga when the war started as were two uncles Getzel and Eliyahu, sisters Zhenia, Gitta and brother Volinka (Zev-Wulf). In Korsovka remained my father Shmuel and Avraham. My father was engaged in the forest trade, timber, produce and flax. He would buy from the peasants and ship to Riga. They called it a “Handler In Vald’. Flax was a rich and honorable trade in Latvia. One needed a government license.

My parents lived in Korsovka with my sister Rivka and they fled as soon as the war started. Those who remained in Korsovka were rounded up and killed. I think Avraham was one of those killed. My father died in Kokand in 1943 of typhus. My mother with Rivka returned to Riga after the war.

I worked in the Riga Ghetto in a factory. When I asked a gentile Latvian from Korsovka about the fate of the Jews there he told me “All the Jews in Korsovka were shot like dogs.” I heard afterwards that they rounded them up in a side street, took all of them, once they had prepared pits in the forest, it was not far from where grandfather had lived, called Naudas Kalns, the “Hill of Silver” and killed them all.

In Riga there were 40,000 Jews, In the Ghetto there were 30,000 until they killed 25,000. 5,000 remained in the “Small Ghetto” and I was amongst them. We worked in the railway freight station. Wagons would arrive. I was supposed to be specialist as I was one of the 600 Jews who were called craftsmen and so they looked after us. We worked there until the Russians approached Riga and then the Germans evacuated us. They came at night and put us in a store and told everyone to undress. In the middle sat one at a table and they called us by the numbers which everyone bore and he had to present himself, that is to run naked with hands in the air and to turn around. Then he would say right or left. They wanted to take the healthiest men who had no blemish on their bodies. That was why we had to turn around. To the right was life; to the left was the world to come.

So they evacuated us to Stutthof near Danzig. They acted relatively better to us because we were specialists and went to work where the railway passed by. Then I saw the crematorium. A German walked with a piece of white chalk in his pocket. In the summer there was no work. They walked around the yards, the German looking around. Whoever didn’t walk well he drew an “X” with chalk on their back. These were sent to the crematorium. We worked for about a half or three quarters of a year. Then the Russians once again approached and they evacuated us. Then I saw the destruction that they had wrought. Mountains and mountains of bodies. That was then the evacuation. Again the Russians approached Danzig and bombed Stutthof and the Germans didn’t want to leave us. I was sick with typhus. That was on the 25th of April. We felt that at any moment the whole business would be over. As is known the war ended May 8th. I had a temperature of 41°. I was in the clinic. There was an epidemic. To my good fortune and that of another Jew (his name was Shmuel and he settled in Australia) we were the first to catch typhus. To my good fortune, what do I mean? They took us to the clinic. Later the Goyim also got sick and then they didn’t take Jews any more to the clinic. All the Jews who had typhus were put in a barrack and it was burned down. I remember that I was on the third floor. Some officers wanted to run away. One said “We are leaving them here.”
We thought “Thank G-d”. I had no more strength. But in the morning came an announcement: they are taking us with them.

We were a few kilometers from the Baltic Sea. There was no port and ships could not approach. People who were sick and could not manage the four kilometers were told: “Don’t worry – stay here and we will take you.” I, after four years in concentration camps, knew about their favours. I went down with difficulty and walked. Those who remained were all shot. Between 27-29th April we embarked on a motor less ship which was towed. What is meant by “embarked” ?. The ship was 100-150 metres from the shore. They placed a narrow bridge of boards. Sick people had to make it. They fell and they killed them. I succeeded; I had been as strong as an ox. I got inside. There we sailed until May 8th. They wanted to take us because if we weren’t with them they would be sent to the front. They wanted to take us to a Baltic port, but everywhere were either the English or the Americans. Until May 8th we sailed on the sea and then the war ended. It is possible to write thousands of pages on the Hell which was there. If there is a Hell then it is a Paradise compared to the Hell which was there. They put in four times the number of people for whom there was space. One on top of the other. Whoever had strength lay on those who hadn’t. At night shouts of Hell were heard from the people who were dying. In the morning the SS came and lowered a rope from above for those who had died to be tied and hauled up top. They slit their stomachs with a knife so that the bodies wouldn’t be washed up, and threw them overboard. On May 8th the German team shouted: “the war is over and you can come out” and they fled.

On the 12th of May we reached port in Sweden. There were journalists who photographed us. The wounds will never heal. Twenty to twenty five years came the dreams at night. One cannot forget.”

Zev’s son Eliyahu’s daughter Luba Teitelbaum (Netanya, Israel) described the Nazi invasion of Riga in July 1941. When the Germans invaded the Russians left quickly. Her husband had worked for them and so was given a pass for his family. The Germans occupied half of Riga while the other side of the river Dvina was still held by the Russians so that those who had influence could escape. Liuba and her family travelled by Gorky and then to Kokand in Uzkekistan. Her parents also got passes and joined them. Her younger brother Shmuel was in hospital in the German part of the city and he was killed. Her sister Zelda’s little boy was in kindergarten in the occupied zone. He was trapped and killed there. In Korsovka relations with the Latvians had been reasonable. But as soon as the Germans invaded the Latvians started a pogrom. The daughter of the rabbi had escaped on foot, but having forgotten something returned and was killed in the street. One German resident Pankiewitz had married a Jewish girl. He saved his wife and her family in a secret chamber he had built in his house. He hid other Jews there including, it is thought, Marita the daughter of Getzel Dimantshtein. But she left and was presumed to be killed. Liuba’s father Eliyahu died of illness and deprivation in Kokand in 1942. Her mother and sisters returned to Riga after the war where her mother died in 1947. Liuba and Zelda settled in Israel. Her uncle Getzel died of disease in the Russian exile together with his son Pavel. Her uncle Avraham before the war travelled to London but returned to Korsovka where he was killed. Likewise her half-uncle Gershon was killed. Her half-uncle Seeka was killed serving in the Latvian army.

Liuba also recalled stories of the period before the Revolution. There were three incidents in Korsovka. On one occasion Russian soldiers from one of the warring sides burst into her uncle Shmuel Dimantshtein’s house. Liuba nd Eizik were terrified and sneaked through the crowd in the living room to the kitchen where they escaped to Christian neighbours. Shmuel’s house was looted and many valuables stolen. On another occasion her father Eliyahu and family took shelter with Christian neighbours who disguised them in peasant clothes. Russian marauders came and demanded to be told which shops in town had liquor and tobacco. They didn’t recognize Eliyahu as a Jew and asked him “Are there any Zhids ?” He replied that there weren’t. Liuba recalls seeing a Jew shot in the street. In 1920 Eliyahu and Getzel and their families moved to Riga. After the Second World War Liuba returned to Korsovka for a visit. She found most Jewish houses destroyed except for those of her father and her uncle Shmuel. Also the Jewish cemetery was intact.

The Jewish cemetery of Korsovka was photographed for Chaim Freedman by researcher Aleksandrs Feigmanis of Riga. About 300 photographs are held by Chaim Freedman.



Likewise the Lutzin cemetery was photographed and the data can be seen on the Ludza/Karsava Internet site http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Ludza/


Ludza cemetery photograph by Zeeva Levy (Israel)

7) Getzel ‘s son Shmuel (Sam Diamond) settled in London were he was in business. He married his cousin Devorah (Dora) daughter of his uncle Reuven Dimantshtein.

8) Moshe (Marks)
Held a government contract to supply black bearskin hats to the British army during the Boel War. He was a wealthy furrier who lived in large house in Hackney Downs. According to the 1891 London Census, he immigrated to London about 1880, thereby being the first of the Dimantshtein family to leave Latvia.

9) Shaya
Arrived in England about 1900. made a living as a tallyman (draper). He was a member of the Jewish Socialist Bund in Russia and an ardent Zionist in England. He wrote a ballad in memory of the victims of the Kishinev pogrom in 1903. Shaya was an active Shadkhan (matchmaker) in London. On one occasion he believed that his grandniece Betty Sagon was possessed of a Dybuk (evil spirit) so he carried out a Kabbalistic ceremony of excorsism. Shaya had a tenor voice and acted as a Khazan on the festivals. He played the violin at family celebrations. At one family wedding (possibly Dora Bull's) he danced the Russian Kazatchka and died of a heart attack at the age of seventy three. After his death his widow went to South Africa to join their only daughter.

Other Dimantshteins included the Shokhet Khaim Dimantshtein and his son Nakhum who perished in the Holocaust in Rezekne. Shneur-Zalman Dimantshtein was a butcher in Korsovka, Several of his children survived the Holocaust by fleeing to Rostov. A grandson David settled in Israel in 1972. The Soviet Komissar Shimon Dimantshtein was born in Sebezh but it is not know if he was related.


Dimantshteins in London 1905; possibly Reuven and Shaya.
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