Goldfoot Genealogy

Nadene Goldfoot
Being a Litvak is very special.  Lithuanian  Jews had special attributes.  They were distinguished by their intellectual and rational attitude.  This group was nicknamed "Litvak" and also "Tseilem Kop" or "Cross Head", meaning that Lithuanian Jews would be ready to strike out vertically and horizontally in order to achieve his goal, or in other words, alternatively to cross check his findings in order to reach the absolute truth.  This was found in dealings in daily life and in the social-cultural strata.  For example, they were not ahout to believe in false messiahs, and even opposed the Hasiduth, or Chassidism.  They showed much diligence in studying Torah in the synagogues as well as in the yeshivoth.  The great Yeshivoth of Slabodka was in Telzh (Telsiai).  Hundreds of foreign students were also there.  The Ethics Movement began and spread by Rabbi Salanter whose principals were on the idea of intellectual activity and knowledge to correct and improve the behavior of the individual.  They fostered and adopted the Zionist idea  and also challenged the Enlightenment Movement whether in Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian or German. 

Babylonian and others Jewish settlement began 9th, 10th Century (800's-900's)

The first settlement of Jews in the Great Lithuanian Princedom (Magnus Ducatus Lithuaniae) began in the 14th Century (1300's) by invitation of the Grand Dukes Gediminas and Vytautas. 

1387  Christian-Catholic religion introduced in Lithuania
1388   Christians granted Jews civil status and bills of rights of protection, freedom
1413  Christianity toNW Lithuanians (Zamut) populated by ethnic Lithuanian tribes, lacked Judo phobia
1492   Jews expelled from Spain
1495 Jew expelled from Lithuania 6,000+ people, confiscated their property
1503  Jews permitted back , received half of property lost , gained back most rights
1648-1667 Period of Tribulation: Cossacks mutiny, Russian army occupied Vilna;  Black Plague
1795  Most Lithuania annexed to Russia (NW Zone), Suwalk, Lazdijai in SW also added
1795-1917  half population in NW were Jewish, saw The Jews' Street, in Pale of Settlement , restricted, lilmitations, great hardships
1797 census: Telsiai-1,650 Jews-66%
1804  Jews forbidden to live in villages and sell alcohol to peasants, schools opened for Jews
1812 Napoleon invaded Lithuania
1831 Polish uprisings against Russian rule
1855-1857  census: Telsiai-3,209 Jews-61%  Goldfus
1855-1857 census: Lazdijai-1,546 Jews-60%  Jermulowske
1863  Polish uprisings against Russian rule
1897 census: Telsiai- 3,088 Jews-51%-Jewish population increased, other towns decreased
1897 census: Lazdijai-1,439 Jews-57%
1905  revolution against rule of Czar, Jews supported Lithuanians
1923 census: Telsiai-1,545 Jews-33% , census done by Independent Lithuania
1923 census: Lazidijai-1,141 Jews-48%
1941 Lithuanian Jews on eve of Shoah: abt a quarter of a million including Vilna region and refugees from Poland
1945 census: Telsiai-unknown -liberation from Nazis
1945 census-Lazdijai-0 Jews
1970 census-Telsiai-70 Jews
1989 census Telsiai-23 Jews

Reference: Preserving Our Litvak Heritage by Josef Rosin by jewishGen,Inc.
Map of Pale of Settlement from Avotaynu 2011 Catalog cover
Map of Lithuania from Perserving Our Litvak Heritage