The Lifchitz Family Story
Yacov and Rifka Lifchitz lived in Bobruisk, Russia, a medium size city near Minsk. Jews are known to have lived there since at least the 17th century, and by the end of the 19th century roughly 60% of its 34,000 inhabitants were Jewish. At that time many Jews worked in the growing lumber business. It was the home of several distinguished yeshivot as well as a hotbed of cultural and political activity including a number of Zionist and radical Jewish political groups.
Yacov had two sisters, Batya a Zionist, and Yehudit a revolutionary who planned with others to overthrow the czar.Gert, the fourth child, recalled going up on the roof of their house to keep that aunt company when the police would come around looking for her. Both came to Palestine in the early 1900s. Yehudit went to Kibbutz Kinneret, where she was one of the first members of the first collective settlement. It wasn't yet a kibbutz. She married and then she (now Yehudit Koritsky) and her husband went to Haifa. She miscarried, her only pregnancy. Her husband died, and she returned to Kibbutz Kinneret, where she died young. Batya married Eliezer Shein and they moved to Kibbutz Ein Harod. Eliezer died, and Batya raised their son, Nechemyia, who was a militant Zionist and worked with underground groups to fight the British, who still controlled the area. He died in 1946 while attempting to blow up a British railroad bridge. Batya continued to live at Ein Harod until the 1970s.
The last name of Rifka’s father was originally Sampson. He was one of two brothers. When he was a teenager, his parents allowed him to be adopted by another family that had no sons. The reason: in the 19th century, Russian boys were drafted into the military, often for up to 35 years. But males who were the only sons in their family were exempted from the draft; thus, many families faced the awful choice of losing their sons to the military (often forever), or allowing a family with no sons to adopt one of theirs. Rifka’s father was adopted by a family named Nichamin, which meant that both he and his brother (who was now an “only son”) were spared from the draft.
Yacov and Rifka had seven children, born between 1899 and 1910. Rifka ran the family business, a dry goods store that sold yarn and other products. She was known as a smart, practical and strong person, and had very good business sense. Yacov taught Hebrew, and was considered by all to be a learned, gentle man.
In 1912, as economic conditions worsened in Russia and religious persecution increased, Yacov and Sadie came to America, and lived for a time with Rifka’s sister, Hode Nichamin, in Detroit. At first he taught Hebrew, worked as a peddler, and in the classic immigrant fashion, sent money back to his family in Russia. By the summer of 1914, Rifka had enough money to bring herself and the other six children to America. As Uncle Sol Lifchitz (third oldest of the children) recalled, Rifka sold their house, sold the business, and was actually packed to leave. They were set to depart on a Thursday, but for superstitious reasons, Rifka decided to wait a few days and leave after the Shabbat. While they waited, word came that fighting had broken out in Europe. It was Aug., 1914, and World War I had just started. How fortunate we all are that Rifka delayed; who knows whether we’d be alive and living here had she gotten on the train with her kids and tried to get to a port in Europe as the fighting raged on!
They rented space in a house, Rivkah started working in a bakery and soon bought it. The war dragged on with no end in sight. Finally, Rifka purchased tickets on the trans-Siberian railroad; they would have to go west by traveling East. They left Bobruisk around June 1, 1916, got off every Friday afternoon for the Shabbat, and arrived about 18 days later in Vladivostok. Then Rifka got ill. According to Sol, Jews weren’t allowed to live in Vladivostok at the time, so they had to get special permission from a Russian official to remain there while she recuperated.
After 3 weeks she improved. Then they got on a boat and sailed to Yokohama, Japan, where they again were delayed. An epidemic had broken out and the city was under quarantine. While there, they ran out of money. Sol went to a post office, knowing not a word of Japanese but with a Japanese-Russian dictionary in hand, and wired his father in Detroit to send money, to the Yokohama post office. The money arrived, the quarantine ended, and on Aug. 23, 1916, Rivkah and 6 of her children sailed on the S.S. Kamakura Maru, for America. They arrived in Seattle on Sep. 7, quickly got on a train and traveled to Chicago, then to Detroit. Rivkah was 43 at the time. The kids and Rifka arrived knowing not a word of English.
Yacov had two sisters, Batya a Zionist, and Yehudit a revolutionary who planned with others to overthrow the czar.Gert, the fourth child, recalled going up on the roof of their house to keep that aunt company when the police would come around looking for her. Both came to Palestine in the early 1900s. Yehudit went to Kibbutz Kinneret, where she was one of the first members of the first collective settlement. It wasn't yet a kibbutz. She married and then she (now Yehudit Koritsky) and her husband went to Haifa. She miscarried, her only pregnancy. Her husband died, and she returned to Kibbutz Kinneret, where she died young. Batya married Eliezer Shein and they moved to Kibbutz Ein Harod. Eliezer died, and Batya raised their son, Nechemyia, who was a militant Zionist and worked with underground groups to fight the British, who still controlled the area. He died in 1946 while attempting to blow up a British railroad bridge. Batya continued to live at Ein Harod until the 1970s.
The last name of Rifka’s father was originally Sampson. He was one of two brothers. When he was a teenager, his parents allowed him to be adopted by another family that had no sons. The reason: in the 19th century, Russian boys were drafted into the military, often for up to 35 years. But males who were the only sons in their family were exempted from the draft; thus, many families faced the awful choice of losing their sons to the military (often forever), or allowing a family with no sons to adopt one of theirs. Rifka’s father was adopted by a family named Nichamin, which meant that both he and his brother (who was now an “only son”) were spared from the draft.
Yacov and Rifka had seven children, born between 1899 and 1910. Rifka ran the family business, a dry goods store that sold yarn and other products. She was known as a smart, practical and strong person, and had very good business sense. Yacov taught Hebrew, and was considered by all to be a learned, gentle man.
In 1912, as economic conditions worsened in Russia and religious persecution increased, Yacov and Sadie came to America, and lived for a time with Rifka’s sister, Hode Nichamin, in Detroit. At first he taught Hebrew, worked as a peddler, and in the classic immigrant fashion, sent money back to his family in Russia. By the summer of 1914, Rifka had enough money to bring herself and the other six children to America. As Uncle Sol Lifchitz (third oldest of the children) recalled, Rifka sold their house, sold the business, and was actually packed to leave. They were set to depart on a Thursday, but for superstitious reasons, Rifka decided to wait a few days and leave after the Shabbat. While they waited, word came that fighting had broken out in Europe. It was Aug., 1914, and World War I had just started. How fortunate we all are that Rifka delayed; who knows whether we’d be alive and living here had she gotten on the train with her kids and tried to get to a port in Europe as the fighting raged on!
They rented space in a house, Rivkah started working in a bakery and soon bought it. The war dragged on with no end in sight. Finally, Rifka purchased tickets on the trans-Siberian railroad; they would have to go west by traveling East. They left Bobruisk around June 1, 1916, got off every Friday afternoon for the Shabbat, and arrived about 18 days later in Vladivostok. Then Rifka got ill. According to Sol, Jews weren’t allowed to live in Vladivostok at the time, so they had to get special permission from a Russian official to remain there while she recuperated.
After 3 weeks she improved. Then they got on a boat and sailed to Yokohama, Japan, where they again were delayed. An epidemic had broken out and the city was under quarantine. While there, they ran out of money. Sol went to a post office, knowing not a word of Japanese but with a Japanese-Russian dictionary in hand, and wired his father in Detroit to send money, to the Yokohama post office. The money arrived, the quarantine ended, and on Aug. 23, 1916, Rivkah and 6 of her children sailed on the S.S. Kamakura Maru, for America. They arrived in Seattle on Sep. 7, quickly got on a train and traveled to Chicago, then to Detroit. Rivkah was 43 at the time. The kids and Rifka arrived knowing not a word of English.
Yacov’s life was improving in Detroit. After serving as the shamas (similar to a caretaker) of Ahavas Achim Synagogue on Delmar St., he became principal of the first United Hebrew School high school in Detroit, which was established across the street from the synagogue. Ahavas Achim was organized as an Orthodox congregation in 1916 with a new brick building at 9244 Delmar Avenue in the Oakland-Westminster neighborhood of the Eastside. The bldg. was remodeled in 1918. The congregation still existed until 1940. Across the street is the United Hebrew Schools building. Ahavas Achim moved to Schaefer Road, north of 7 Mile Rd. Both of the buildings were later converted to churches. The congregation then joined up with the conservative movement with Beth Aaron and became Beth Achim in Southfield, Michigan. Later, these families have merged into Adat Shalom, in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The name "Beth Achim" is the name of the congregation's religious school.