I am researching my family >from Rakov, in present-day Belarus. I
visited Rakov, near Minsk, this past spring -- and we said kaddish on
the site of the synagogue that was buried by the Nazis with much of
the Jewish population inside. I just came upon this passage in the
Rakov Yizkor book and it raises a number of questions:

"We reached the "Shul-Hoif", and were jolted by the shock. Here stood
the synagogues -- the "Old" and the "New". Next to these synagogues
stood the "Hasidishe Shtible" [a small synagogue, favored by Hassidic
Jews]. And opposite the "Shtible" stood the "Kalte Shul".


So that makes 4 synagogues: the Old, the New, the Hasidishe Shtible,
and the Kalte Shul. Elsewhere I have seen a reference to the Great
Synagogue of Rakov. I would appreciate hearing >from anyone who has
knowledge of the synagogues in Rakov -- and who could tell me which
one was burned by the Nazis with the Jewish population inside.

Thank you -- and Shana Tova to all.
David Laskin, Seattle, WA