1 THE SER-CHARLAP FAMILY NEWSLETTER Vol. 5, No. 4 Tevet 5755; December 1994 THE FAMILY IN CANADA SER, SIER, SAIR The great migration of eastern European Jews that began in 1881 brought hundreds of thousands new immigrants to North America. The vast majority found safe haven in the United States but Canada also absorbed some of the newcomers. The Jewish population of Canada in 1881 was almost 2,400. By the tum of the century 12,000 new immigrants had swelled these numbers considerably. Montreal had the largest concentration of Jews but active communities had been established in Toronto and in Winnipeg. As in the large cities of the United States, a significant number of Jews were employed in the garment industry. Others tried their entrepreneurial skills as craftsman and small retailers. The Canadian Pacific Railway, which was expanding rapidly, provided many skilled jobs as carpenters, tinsmiths, mechanics, and locksmiths. The Baron de Hirsch movement came to Montreal in 1891 and encouraged Jews to settle on farms in the western provinces. Jewish immigration from Russian controlled territory continued to grow. In 1904 4,000 Jews arrived, about double the number of the previous year. Lawrence Tapper is a senior member of the National Archives of Canada and the author of Archival Sources For the Study of Canadian Jewr_y. He bas been very helpful in providing information on genealogical research in Canada. But our connections go beyond the academic. Lawrence is a descendant of a branch of the Ser family which had been living in the Ukraine. We had learned that several Ser ancestors had fled from Nur and Ciechanowiec during periods of war and pogroms. A goodly number went to the Ukraine, apparently to join up with family already there. Formerly sealed records are becoming more accessible and we hope, before long, to determine the connection with Lawrence's branch. From material that Lawrence provided, we learned that his great-great-grandfather, Abraham, was born in Molinik, the son of Moses and Annie Sier. Abraham married Anna Shuk and had three sons, Nathan (Naftali), Isaac, and Jacob, and three daughters, Hattie, Ida (Chaya), and Yente. The family started emigrating to Canada in the 1880s. By the time of his naturalization in 1899, Abraham was a farmer in a Baron de Hirsch settlement in the North West Territories. Abraham's grandson, Maurice Sier son of Isaac Sair, in a 1987 letter to Lawrence relates: Mother and father left Russia around 1885. My father's homestead was in Hirsch, Saskatchewan. The rest of the family bad homesteads in Oxbow. After my father completed his homestead obligations, he and mother moved to St. Paul, Minnesota where we kids were born. Mother experienced a prolonged illness so the family returned to Saskatchewan and father resumed homesteading ... In Russia, Grandfather Abraham was overseer of a ranch comprising several thousand acres including a couple of hundred serfs owned by a Polish nobleman. I assume the nobleman had a high regard for Grandpa because he always soothed him after a pogrom. When the pogroms (continued next page) 2 SER, SIER, SAIR (cont.) MARIAMPOLE became more frequent he made it possible for Mariampole, a center of the Charlap family, Grandpa to leave Russia. The family left Ruzhyn in is a town in Lithuania about 34 miles due south of Kiev Guberniya and traveled to Poland and then into Kowno built on the banks of the Sheshupe River. Germany. There the Baron de Hirsch representatives The main road from Berlin to St. Petersburg courses gave them a choice - Canada or Argentina. The through the forested hills near Mariampole. The voyage was aboard a windjammer and lasted three town was started by former residents of the village weeks. They were quartered way down below deck. of Staripole (Old Field), fleeing a plague at the start When no winds prevailed to activate the sails, the of the eighteenth century. By 1792, Mariampole had ship just flopped from side to side. There was a great absorbed Staripole, across the river, and received the deal of sea-sickness. They landed in Montreal and rights of a city. In 1795 Mariampole came under the Hirsch representatives escorted them out west to jurisdiction of Prussia. Later the Duchy of Warsaw Saskatchewan. They were given a team of horses, a controlled it and then the Congress of Vienna team of oxen, a few chickens and told to "go at it." awarded the area to Russia. The first stone houses The first thing they did was dig wells. were built in the late 1860s and disastrous fires in 1868 and 1869 accelerated this trend. Before World Abraham Sair's son Isaac i.s given a prominent War I, when 5,000 Jews lived there, the city was writeup in Who's Who In Canadian Jewry. part of Suwalk Guberniya. Jews were a major force in the city and developed its economy and public Born 1873, Russia. Deceased 1956, Winnipeg ... institutions. Jews were actively engaged in Came to Canada in 1892 and settled in the Hirsch commerce which was promoted by Mariampole's colony, Saskatchewan, as one of Western Canada's strategic location between Suwalk and Kowno and its earliest Jewish settlers. Played an important part in proximity to the Russian and German borders. the spiritual life of the community and was very During World War I the Russians accused certain active in every phase of Jewish life. Moved to Jews of collaboration with the enemy and much of Oxbow, Sask. at the turn of the century as a the community fled. Most returned when the homesteader and farmer, being the first Jew to settle German army entered the town. There was a 10% in that area, and retained his connections with that quota for Jews in the Russian schools, hence most community all his life. In 1912 moved to Estevan, Jewish children studied in cheders or more modern Sask. and to Winnipeg in 1935. Most of his life he Hebrew schools. After the war, the Jewish school was involved with farming and business. Was system expanded along with an ORT school, instrumental in bringing many Jewish families to libraries, a kindergarten, and drama club. Zionism Canada and settling them on farms by working with was very strong and was represented by Hechalutz, the colonization authorities. His hospitality was Betar, Hashomer Hatzair, Maccabi, and Hapoel. known throughout Western Canada. Throughout his Hebrew periodicals were read intensely. life he had a great love of the land and he continued Mariampole's charitable institutions included Bikur farming until he retired. Cholim societies, Linat Hazedek, an old age home, orphanages, and an interest-free loan society. The Isaac had six children by his wife Rachel. Three sons first rabbi of Mariampole was R' Chaim Perlmutter married and continued the line. One, Samuel, was Lawrence hen Zebulon Yaacov, known as the Shershaver Tapper's grandfather. Rebbe. His daughter married Yehuda Leib Char lap ************************************************ (3148,Pl.A) and gave rise to a vast family, many of THE SER-CHARLAP FAMILY NEWSLETI'ER is whose descendants are active in our family published quarterly. We encourage submittal of news items, association. Yehuda Leib's daughter Chaya married essays, poems, and historical articles. Correspondence his sister Chaya's son Yitzhak. Yitzhak assumed his should be directed to: mother's and wife's name. Their descendants include Arthur F. Menton, Editor many renowned rabbis including Yaacov Moshe P.O. Box 108 Charlap (3730,Pl.A-4). Another son of Yehuda Leib Cold Spring Harbor, N. Y. 11724 was Yosef Ze'ev (3159) whose son was the Tel. and Fax.: (516)754-1742 respected Hebrew-Yiddish author Abraham Chaim Copyright © 1994 Charlap (3712,Pl.A-3). There were over 2,500 Jews All rights reserved in Mariampole at the start of the Holocaust. 3 THE LOMZER YESHIVA Maurial for this article was supplied by Rabbi Joseph Rosenberg, ExecUlive Direcror and Rabbi Eliez.er Ofer, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Lomza. Yeshiva Lomza, one of the greatest Torah centers in the world was founded 111 years ago in Lomza, Poland. The branch in Petah Tikvah, Israel was opened in 1926. The Ser-Charlap family, which was concentrated in Lomza Gubemiya and adjoining Suwalk Guberniya, has had.a long and close relationship with Yeshiva Lomza. Rabbi Zevulon Charlop (3742,Pl.A-4a) was honored as Guest Speaker at the 107th Anniversary Dinner. And our revered Rabbi Aharon Zlotowitz (565,Pl.4a) studied at the Yeshiva and maintained close contact throughout his life. Our connections may be even closer than that. We have testimony from some family members that the founder of Yeshiva Lomza was related to us and that it was moved to Israel by a relative. We have not been able to confirm that as yet. However, if there is a connection it may be through the lbn Yachya line. As we have shown in the past, the Charlaps are descended from the lbn Yachya family of Spain and Portugal. Another branch of the lbn Yachya family that found its way to eastern Europe is known as Donchin. We have been researching the Donchin family tree and have found evidence which links the Donchins to R' Elijah, known as the Wilna Gaon. There is another claim of a relationship to Rabbi Israel Salanter. In any event, Yeshiva Lomza was founded by Rabbi Eliezer Shulewitz, one of the outstanding disciples of Rabbi Salanter. Today, it is headed by R' Eliezer's grandson, Rabbi Eliezer Ozer. From its inception Yeshiva Lomza bore the mark of a "Mussar-Yeshiva" which was imprinted by the famous Roshei Yeshivot, the Gaonim Rabbi Y echiel Mordecai Gordon, Rabbi Yosef Zelig Rouch and the Mashgiach, Rabbi Moshe Rosenstein.