Born in Prague, Rabbi Mordechaj ben Abraham Jaffe settled down in Grodno in 1572. At his initiative, the first brick synagogue was erected in the town in 1575 – 1578. The building burnt down in a fire that broke out in 1617. Soon thereafter, king Zygmunt III Waza (Sigismund III Vasa) allowed the Jews to build a new synagogue on the same site where the former temple previously had stood.
During World War, in June 1941, the German troops took up the city. There were about 25,000 Jews at the time in Grodno. The German authorities ordered to form in the city two ghettos: for craftsmen and their families (about 15,000 people) and the rest (about 7,000 Jewish inhabitants). In November 1942, the Nazis carried out an action of dissolving the smaller ghetto whose inhabitants were sent away and murdered. In March 1943, the other ghetto was dissolved. Many executions were conducted at this time in the city. All the Jews were packed onto cattle wagons and transported to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Ghetto
A designated area of a city in which Jews were permitted to live. Ghettos were sometimes surrounded by a wall and had gates that would be closed for the night, and were sometimes called "Jewish cities" or "Jewish quarters". The term "ghetto" probably was probably first used in the sixteenth century, though its origins are unclear. The most popular theory speculates(...)
Ghetto
A designated area of a city in which Jews were permitted to live. Ghettos were sometimes surrounded by a wall and had gates that would be closed for the night, and were sometimes called "Jewish cities" or "Jewish quarters". The term "ghetto" probably was probably first used in the sixteenth century, though its origins are unclear. The most popular theory speculates(...)
Rabbi
[Hebrew, rabi = my master]
A scholar who is an expert in the Scriptures and religious questions. A rabbi is a yeshiva graduate who has been issued a smicha [Hebrew, authorization] upon completion of his studies, which grants the right to teach and decide disputes of a religious nature regarding Jewish law.
A rabbi was the religious leader of a Community, and one of its officials.(...)
Synagogue
[Greek, synagogé = assembly], beit kneset [Hebrew, house of assemblies]
The building in which Jews pray, known in Polish as boznica.
The synagogue is the focus of religious life, and to some extent also for the social life in traditional Jewish communities. Its institutional origins reach back to antiquity, most probably to the period of the Babylonian captivity, when the(...)
Synagogue
[Greek, synagogé = assembly], beit kneset [Hebrew, house of assemblies]
The building in which Jews pray, known in Polish as boznica.
The synagogue is the focus of religious life, and to some extent also for the social life in traditional Jewish communities. Its institutional origins reach back to antiquity, most probably to the period of the Babylonian captivity, when the(...)
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