Metadata : Riga Rabbinate (Riga)
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- Latvian State Historical Archives
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Valsts vēstures arhīvs
- Postal address:
- Slokas iela 16, Rīga, LV-1048
- Phone number:
- +371 20 017 505
- Reference number:
- 4346
- Title:
- Riga Rabbinate (Riga)
- Title (official language):
- Rīgas rabināts (Rīga)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Riga Rabbinate
- Date(s):
- 1854/1940
- Language:
- Hebrew
- Russian
- Latvian
- Extent:
- 577 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
While a Teutonic order from 1201 forbade Jews from living in Riga, Jewish merchants were active in the city from the mid-16th century and especially after the Russian conquest in the early 18th century. Initially, Jews were forced to live on the city’s outskirts and in nearby Sloka (Schlock). Despite several expulsion orders, Jews played a formidable role in economic and commercial life. During the 18th century, a synagogue and cemetery were built. However, Riga did not have a rabbi, cantor, shoḥet (ritual slaughterer) or heder until the early 19th century.
The collection includes material of the Riga Jewish community that was governed by the “Official”, or crown rabbis, and other Jewish religious authorities including the boards of Riga's neighbourhood synagogues. The collection consists of records of the Jewish population from births to deaths. It contains births certificates and information on children born in the 1920s and 1930s, questionnaires related to the naming of the children, information on circumcisions, and death certificates. It also includes marriage registration books from the 1920s to 1940s, and divorce records. The materials in the collection are important for studying the genealogy of Riga Jews and the history of Jewish domesticity. The collection also includes information on Jews born in Iuriev (Tartu) in December 1893 (inventory 1, file 464). The collection includes books with information on Jewish converts which was uncommon. Some parts of the collection include materials on the daily administrative functions of Riga’s great synagogues along with various neighbourhood synagogues from the 1920s and 1930s. These documents include correspondence of the synagogues on various subjects and petitions. There are materials of the local Habad, Tseirei Agudat Isroel, and other prayer houses. Among the materials there are correspondence with the Latvian Ministry for Church Affairs (inventory 1, files 354-358), and lists of Riga’s great synagogues visitors who were able to vote in the synagogue’s board elections (inventory 1, files 332-335). There are some files from the 1920s and 1930s that include petitions regarding permission to trade kosher meat (inventory 1, file 453). Finally there is correspondence from 1927 and 1935 on marriages and divorces (inventory 1, files 472-476).
- Archival history:
- No information
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1842, the Russian authorities formally recognised the Riga Jewish community. In the later 19th century, an orphanage, Jewish hospital, and nursing home were built in Riga. The German Reform rabbi Max Lilienthal acted as director of the Haskalah-oriented school in 1840. Other influential modern rabbis in the Riga Jewish community were Aharon Pompianski (1873-1893), Shelomoh Pucher (1893–1898) and Yehudah Leib Kantor (1909–1915). In the beginning of the 20th century, Riga’s Jewish community grew rapidly, reaching more than 30,000 before the First World War and 40,000 in newly independent Latvia during the interwar period. Local synagogues reflected the city’s cultural diversity. In Riga there were two great choral synagogues, neighbourhood synagogues and small Hasidic prayer houses.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019. Edited by Aaron Lasaine, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
- Reference number:
- 4346
- Title:
- Riga Rabbinate (Riga)
- Title (official language):
- Rīgas rabināts (Rīga)
- Creator/accumulator:
- Riga Rabbinate
- Date(s):
- 1854/1940
- Language:
- Hebrew
- Russian
- Latvian
- Extent:
- 577 files
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
-
While a Teutonic order from 1201 forbade Jews from living in Riga, Jewish merchants were active in the city from the mid-16th century and especially after the Russian conquest in the early 18th century. Initially, Jews were forced to live on the city’s outskirts and in nearby Sloka (Schlock). Despite several expulsion orders, Jews played a formidable role in economic and commercial life. During the 18th century, a synagogue and cemetery were built. However, Riga did not have a rabbi, cantor, shoḥet (ritual slaughterer) or heder until the early 19th century.
The collection includes material of the Riga Jewish community that was governed by the “Official”, or crown rabbis, and other Jewish religious authorities including the boards of Riga's neighbourhood synagogues. The collection consists of records of the Jewish population from births to deaths. It contains births certificates and information on children born in the 1920s and 1930s, questionnaires related to the naming of the children, information on circumcisions, and death certificates. It also includes marriage registration books from the 1920s to 1940s, and divorce records. The materials in the collection are important for studying the genealogy of Riga Jews and the history of Jewish domesticity. The collection also includes information on Jews born in Iuriev (Tartu) in December 1893 (inventory 1, file 464). The collection includes books with information on Jewish converts which was uncommon. Some parts of the collection include materials on the daily administrative functions of Riga’s great synagogues along with various neighbourhood synagogues from the 1920s and 1930s. These documents include correspondence of the synagogues on various subjects and petitions. There are materials of the local Habad, Tseirei Agudat Isroel, and other prayer houses. Among the materials there are correspondence with the Latvian Ministry for Church Affairs (inventory 1, files 354-358), and lists of Riga’s great synagogues visitors who were able to vote in the synagogue’s board elections (inventory 1, files 332-335). There are some files from the 1920s and 1930s that include petitions regarding permission to trade kosher meat (inventory 1, file 453). Finally there is correspondence from 1927 and 1935 on marriages and divorces (inventory 1, files 472-476).
- Archival history:
- No information
- Administrative/biographical history:
- In 1842, the Russian authorities formally recognised the Riga Jewish community. In the later 19th century, an orphanage, Jewish hospital, and nursing home were built in Riga. The German Reform rabbi Max Lilienthal acted as director of the Haskalah-oriented school in 1840. Other influential modern rabbis in the Riga Jewish community were Aharon Pompianski (1873-1893), Shelomoh Pucher (1893–1898) and Yehudah Leib Kantor (1909–1915). In the beginning of the 20th century, Riga’s Jewish community grew rapidly, reaching more than 30,000 before the First World War and 40,000 in newly independent Latvia during the interwar period. Local synagogues reflected the city’s cultural diversity. In Riga there were two great choral synagogues, neighbourhood synagogues and small Hasidic prayer houses.
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Ilya Vovshin, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019. Edited by Aaron Lasaine, Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People, 2019
