Litvaks are Jews >from 'Litte' (last sylable pronounced eh) which

translates

as Lithuania,

The proper spelling is LITVA (Lit-va). The land spread >from the Baltic Sea
to the Black Sea, and included much of what we know as Belarus today.
The Lithuania of today was then known as Lituva.
Larry Gaum





but it would be a mistake to look at today's map of tiny

Lithiuania, resurrected after WWI to determine the boundaries. Medieval
Lithuania was a large kingdom that rivaled Russia and Poland in size and
power. Much of the area covered by todays Baltic states, Belarus, Eastern
Poland and some of Russia was Lithuania.

Don't forget that because Jews could not be citizens of most countries

until

after Napoleonic times, they rarely self-designated by the name of the
country they happened to live in, but rather as 'cultural' communities

that

held similar 'minhagim' or customs.

ALthough there may have been Chassidim who lived there, Mir was solidly
"Litvak" and one of the great "Litvish" yeshivas was in Mir >from the
mid-1800s. The Mirrer Yeshiva is well-known today, because unlike most

Jews

of the area, they were able to escape together through Russia and spent

WWII

in Shanghai, later immigrating to the US and Israel. Many may be familiar
with the story of Sugihara the righteous Japanese consul who saved 10,000
Jews, many >from Mir. See

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0298/mirrer1.html

for details of this fascinating story.

Today, the Mirrer Yeshiva still exists by name in Brooklyn and Jerusalem

(my

son-in-law attended the Mirrer Yeshiva in Jerusalem).

Reeva Kimble has a site with a list of books that refer to life in Mir and
wonderful
old photos at http://www.uoregon.edu/~rkimble/Mirweb/BookList.html

Oh, and finally, my step-kids are ROSENs but I was told that the original
name was ROZANSKY so you may want to get in touch ;-)

Good luck in your search.

Zalman LACHMAN
New Hempsead NY



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