Category Archives: South Africa

The Life and Times of Solly Chesler

By Jennifer Chesler Rubin, Ramat Efal, Israel (Adapted from an essay by Muriel Chesler on the occasion of Solly Chesler’s 75th birthday.) This is the story of my father, the late Solly (Sholem) Chesler, a self-made man, who arrived in … Continue reading

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A Golden Jubilee in Johannesburg

Published in the 50th anniversary booklet of the Keidan Sick Benefit and Benevolent Society. Jewish emigration from Keidan to South Africa began as far back as before the Boer War, and at the turn of the century several immigrants from … Continue reading

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A Family Dispersed

By Sonja Shacknofsky-Setting My father, Joseph Setting, was born in Keidan in 1910. He arrived in Cape Town on Christmas morning, 1927, then went on to Johannesburg, where he found work with relatives. My grandparents likely sent him to South … Continue reading

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Keidan’s Mutual Aid Societies

By Aryeh Leonard Shcherbakov and Andrew Cassel Jews have always been absorbed with problems of ethics and morality. Both before and during the diaspora, proper behavior and relations within the family and community have been major concerns, particularly concerning treatment … Continue reading

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The Keidaner Association in South Africa

Published, in English, in the 1977 Keidan “Sefer Zikaron” (memorial or yizkor book) By Max Rochin After World War I, immediately after the liberation of Lithuania, the Lithuanian government granted the Jews a certain autonomy. A Jewish National Council was … Continue reading

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The Road of Suffering

By Rachel Shlapobersky-Ratner (Kiryat Chaim, Israel) Based on testimony from Yad VaShem, IX – 2939 / 252.  I was born in Keidan in December 1912. My father, Yudel Shlapobersky, owned a flour mill. My mother was Chasya Rivka Shlapobersky, neè … Continue reading

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Zvi Lipschitz, Zionist Martyr

By Ben-Moshe (Johannesburg) Originally published in the Keidaner Sick Benefit & Benevolent Society jubilee book, 1950.  Young Zvi Lipschitz hy’d [1], from Kfar Etzion, was a Keidaner landsman. He was born in 1919 in the town of Yasven (Josvainiai), near … Continue reading

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Looking Back

By Sholem Dat (Johannesburg) First published in “Lita,” (p. 1475) by the Jewish-Lithuanian Cultural Society Inc. 1951.  Keidan is one of the oldest cities in Lithuania, and her Jewish community was also one of the first. Keidan was originally a … Continue reading

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