Tag Archives: cheder

Worlds Gone By

Keidan at the end of the 19th century By Dr. Hyman J. Epstein Originally published in 1930 by the Keidaner Assn. of New York.  Keidan was not just another Lithuanian shtetl; it was a city, with an important lineage. Proud … Continue reading

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Memories of My Teachers

By Meyer Yitzhak Edelman Originally published by the Keidaner Assn of New York, 1930.  1. My first rebbe was Noach Reubens, who taught the youngest children. He lived on the northwest corner of the marketplace by German Street. The cheder … Continue reading

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Survival in Siberia

By Menachem Klibansky I was born in Keidan, Lithuania. During the First World War, we were exiled to Russia and settled temporarily in the city of Tsaritsyn (later renamed Stalingrad). In 1921 we returned to our home at Number 5 … Continue reading

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Reb Meishe Chone Shamesh

Translated by Bella Golubchik. Reb Meishe Chone Shamesh, of blessed memory, was one of the most significant Jews in Keidan. He was humble, modest and self-effacing. He was not very conspicuous outside of the cheder, where he taught the children, … Continue reading

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My Birthplace, Keidan

By Shmuel Goldblatt (Kfar Giladi, Israel) My memories of the town of my birth, Keidan, begin at the end of the First World War, when the first refugees began returning to their town. Our family was among the refugees who … Continue reading

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My Vanished Keidan

By Pesach Weitzer-Chittin (Beit Zera, Israel) Writing down memories of the town where you were born and spent close to 40 years evokes strong longings and yearnings. It is many times more difficult to write about the town whose Jews, … Continue reading

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The Keidan Yeshiva

By Adv. Shimon Shibolet-Zang As in every Jewish community, Keidan had its traditional cheder, which the children attended until about bar mitzvah age. Keidan always had many cheders and the various rebbes and melameds who taught Torah to children in … Continue reading

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Schools in Keidan

By Zippora Kaplan The Jewish community in Lithuania was generally poor before World War I, but it was rich in spiritual matters and in the love of Torah. The vast majority of the Jewish people in Lithuania lived financially oppressed … Continue reading

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