Welcome to the Jewish Heritage Research Group based in Minsk, Belarus
No matter where in the world you live, if you have Jewish ancestry from Belarus, JHRG can help you start your family roots research. JHRG specialize in tailor-made Jewish ancestors travel and tourism, genealogy research, and preserve Jewish heritage in Belarus.
Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus can take you to your roots and bring you to the home of your ancestors. There are the people who preserve and perpetuate your past. We are preserving the memory of our Jewish ancestors from Belarus for the present and future generations.
We thank you for your interest in our web-site and service, and look forward to bringing you back to discover the world that your ancestors once knew!
Jewish Heritage Research Group in Belarus - www.JHRGBelarus.org 
I am interested in anything about Borisov.
Hi Barbara, thanks for your interest. What type of information you are looking to find out about Borisov? were your ancestors from that area?
Was there a Jewish cemetery in Samokhvalovichi?
Hi Michael, few years ago we only found 4 tombstones in bushes which remained from the jewish cemetery.
Do you know the names on the tombstones?
No, we do not know names on those tombstones.
Hi, Yuri. Please remember that I am always looking for more TALALAI. If you come across the name anywhere while searching for others please let me know.
Best wishes,
Schelly Talalay Dardashti
Hi Schelly! Good to hear from you. Your last name is very rear and I always keep it in mind!
Best regards,
Yuri.
Yuri, if you need any help edit
ing blog posts, just let me know! I’m always happy to assist with your important work!
Thank you so much, Shelly! I will definitely use your offer in a future. Can you please remind me your email address?
Best regards,
Yuri.
Hi, Yuri, just sent you my email to your email address.
Schelly
I am interested in the Aron Jarinkes family from Drahiczyn Belarus. My grandmother Hannah Jarinkes Meddin left there in 1901. Thank you
Hi Ann,
Thank you for contacting us. Records on Drogichin Jewish community are in Grodno historical archive, which just recently closed for the move. The archive should re-open in September-October.
If you still will be interested in this research, please, email me around that time to my email belshtetl@yahoo.com.
Best regards,
Yuri.
Hi Ann,
I’m doing research for a friend whose original surname was JARINKESBAUM. I found some ancestors by that name from the town of Domachevo, Belarus (= 51 45 N, 23 36 E, 73 m WSW of Drahiczyn). Both towns were in Grodno gubernia.
I know that “baum” means “tree”, but do you know what “Jarinkes” means?
I saw the memorial plaque for your grandmother
listed at Emanu-El Synagogue in Charleston, SC as part of the Jewish Historical Society of SC website.
Evan
Hi Evan,
Thank you for contacting us. I don’t know for sure what Jarinkes mean. In 19-beginning of 20 century Polish Jews used to make a dish called Yarshinkes. It sort of like a vegetable stew. Maybe it has the same root? I can only make a guess in this case.
Best regards,
Yuri.
Evan, I have no idea what Jarinkes means. Yuri’s comment is a possibility. Thank you for mentioneing my grandmother’s memorial plaque at Emanu-el. I am the webmaster for The Jewish Historical Society of SC and your seeing the plaque is really exciting to me. One that you brought it to my attention, and two that you visited the website. Thank you for both.
Her father was Aron and that is all I know about her. I don’t even know her mother’s name. I do know that their town was Drahiczyn.
Again, thanks.
Ann
Hi Ann,
There are two towns Dragichyn where Jews used to live in 19 century. One town is on current Polish territory, the other town is in Belarus near Kobrin. Do you know near which big town was that Dradichyn?
Best regards,
Yuri.
Evan, I have no idea what Jarinkes means. Yuri’s comment is a possibility. Thank you for mentioning my grandmother’s memorial plaque at Emanu-el. I am the webmaster for The Jewish Historical Society of SC and your seeing the plaque is really exciting to me. One that you brought it to my attention, and two that you visited the website. Thank you for both.
Her father was Aron and that is all I know about her. I don’t even know her mother’s name. I do know that their town was Drahiczyn.
Again, thanks.
Ann
I wonder if you are doing research for my cousin Levi. If so, I am the source of his information. Aron Yarinkesbaum came from Germany to Bialystok on business for his father; unfortunately, I cannot remember the town, although one of my cousins came to the US through the German quota in 1925, claiming residency (falsely) with the Uncles Yarinkesbaum. I am trying to remember the town’s name on the old German-Polish border. My older brother(22 years older) was born in Bialystok and told me the name of the town, but that was when I was little. Aron was caught by the intermittent wars between Austria, Prussia, Russia and could not go home. He fell in love with a local girl, married her, stayed in Bialystok. He had at least two sons because he changed the surname of the second son to Rothkopf (from Rathskopf) inorder to avoid the Russian army. The only son would not be drafted. So, my grandfather, his son, was Yehuda Leib Rothkpf. He, in turn, had four surviving sons and one daughter. The daughter, Shifra Yudelevitz, living in Slonim, with 5 children and husband in 1939, perished in the holocaust.
Shoshanah Rothkopf Garshick
Hi Shoshanah,
Good to hear from you. What’s your cousin’s last name? Please email us to jhrg@jhrgbelarus.org
Yuri
Evan, Thank you for your information about your family and finding my grandmother’s memorial plaque in Charleston on the JHSSC site. I am the webmaster for the site and entered her name from the Emanu-El Synagogue. I appreciate your searching and I am always happy that the work that I do is used by others.
I wish I could say that our families are related, but I don’t know anymore about the family than what I posted. I think that Aron’s father was Sender, which makes sense since one of Hannah’s son’s was Sender.
Good luck in your search.
Ann
Hello,
I’d like to recommend “Shtetl Routes” – a nonprofit project aimed at promoting tourism based on Jewish heritage in Poland, Ukraine & Belarus. Co-financed by the European Union
https://www.facebook.com/ShtetlRoutes Project “Shtetl Routes. Vestiges of Jewish cultural heritage in transborder tourism”
Although the presence of the Jewish community in the project area (Western Ukraine and Belarus, Eastern Poland) during several centuries has left lasting traces, the local sites of memory referring to the Jewish history and culture have not been sufficiently recognised to this date as an item of value in the European and local heritage. Neither are they a focal point for tourism activities, which diminishes the region’s attractiveness in the eyes of the local community and visitors from all over Europe alike. Information is hardly accessible and trained guides are scarce. Jewish heritage objects and sites are only partially described and catalogued; there are no initiatives that would exploit the potential of digital technology.
Regards and thanks for your job! 🙂
Hi Paulina,
Thank you for sharing information about this project. It is very interesting. Please let me know if we can be of any help.
Best regards,
Yuri Dorn.
Hello, I am french, my granfather came from Mozyr before the 1st world war. I am going to Belarus in july (5th to 13th), I will stay in Minsk and then Mozyr. I would be happy to meet anybody who knows about the history of Mozyr at that time and could help me find information about my family, in Minsk or Mozyr. I plan to visit the archives.
Catherine
Hi Catherine,
If you need any help with arranging your visit to Belarus we’ll be happy to do so. we have English speaking guides and transportation. Please email me with more details to belshtetl@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Yuri Dorn
I am looking for information on the following families:
Pasamanik (Lyakhovichi), Lukin (Slutsk), Leyt (Nesvizh)
Hi Paula,
Thank for joining us! Please send us all known information on your ancestral families to our company’s email
jhrg@jhrgbelarus.org
Our genealogists will evaluate it and I will let you know what can be done. Please indicate the years you’d like us to research.
Best regards,
Yuri.
I am looking for anything on the family Mitropolitanski from Novogrudek on my mother’s sode and Turetzky from Baranowicz on my fathers
Hi Sam,
Thank you for joining us! Please send us all known information on your ancestral family to our website’s email
jhrg@jhrgbelarus.org
Our genealogists will evaluated it and I will let you know what can be done.
Please indicate the years you would like us to research.
Best regards,
Yuri.
Yuri,
Vegetable stew sounds about right. The word “jarinkes” means “veggie”.
On a different matter: you were tentatively scheduled to make a presentation at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia several years ago but you weren’t able to keep that engagement.
Will you be in the States in the next few months? Maybe we can reschedule you.
Evan
Hi Evan,
Thank you for inviting me again. I will be available in October and further months and would love to come to Philadelphia Genealogical Society with presentation. Please let me know your available dates. My personal email is belshtetl@yahoo.com.
Best regards,
Yuri.
Hi Ann,
Yes, Yuri’s comment is probably correct. I found that “jarinke” means “veggie”.
Don’t have other information at this time. Take care.
It is the one that was in Belarus. My grandfather Abraham Louis Mednitzki (Meddin) was from Kolonia Yakovleva Grodno Gubernia.
This web story regarding Lenin and Lachwa shtetls in Belarus may be of interest:
http://www.watermargin.com/lenin/index.html
NU
Thanks! Very interesting site.
Hi! just found this site. I’m am trying to do some research on my grandmothers family. She came from Rubezevitz (lots of different spellings) near Minsk. Her maiden name was Esther Grier (b:1897) and her parents were Max and Mary Grier (nee Dworkin). She had sisters May and Sally and a brother Irving. She came to New York with her parents and sisters in August 1903. I believe she also had family that went to South Africa. I have not been able to find much on the names Grier or Dworkin or very much on the shtetl. If any of this sounds familiar or there are any suggestions, please let me know.
Hi Robin,
Thanks for following us! Please email me to jhrg@jhrgbelarus.org with more details about your ancestral family. We will see how we can help you.
Yuri Dorn
Coordinator of JHRG in Belarus
I would be interested in the Bakshtansky and Steinhaus families from Haradisht, Gorodeya, Novograduk, Nova Mysh and Nesvish. Able to go back to the mid 1800’s.
Thanks!
Hi Elliott,
Thanks for following us! Please email me to jhrg@jhrgbelarus.org with more details about your ancestral family. We will see how we can help you.
Yuri Dorn
Coordinator of JHRG in Belarus
Hello. My paternal grandmother was from Kobylnik. Is it possible that there are any members of the Krivitsky family, or any Jews at all, still in Kobylnik?
Hello, I hope you’re having a great day, I’m getting in touch with you because I’m desperately looking for my ancestors, I know my ancestor is Simon Feitlin (1885/1888), son of Gershen Feitlin and Beile Gite Feitlin (Beninson), they all were from Borisov. They later settled in the U.S. Simon was an actor and member of a Yiddish Theatre society, I know almost nothing and I want to learn more about them, please if you have any information or advices, I’ll be so grateful.
Thanks.
Hello, I was told to reach out to Yuri in regards to researching my family. My 3rd great-grandparents and their children were born in Grodno and immigrated to the U.S. in 1906. They were Abraham Sparrow (who might have been born in Petrograd) b. 1875 and Etie Raizner b. 1880. They married in 1901 in Grodno. Abraham was a tailor in the US, so he might have been one before. My grandmother used to say that Sparrow was an Americanized version of their actual surname, so I’ve been thinking that it could have been Sporovska/Sporovski, but I could be wrong. My grandmother also used to say that they were involved in the theatre. I’m wondering if you have any information on these particular people. I’d be so grateful for your help and to learn more about my family’s roots in Belarus.
Thank you!
Hi Erin,
Somehow I missed your message, sorry about that. Are you still interested in this research? Please email me to my work email jhrg@jhrgbelarus.org
Hi Erin. My name is Otilia shifres, from Buenos Aires, Argentina. I`m looking for Raizner/Reizner from Grodno. If you are interested, mail me. Thank you.