As the result of a famine in 1799 in the Russian Empire, a recommendation was made to form a special class of agriculturalists that included Jews. A few years passed until a commission comprised of Jewish delegates and representatives of the government was formed to draft a plan pertaining to agricultural development. As a result of two years of work, an “Enactment Concerning the Jews” was made, approved by Czar Alexander I,
and enacted in December 1804. The “Enactment” contained the following provisions: (1) The Jews of Russia were to be grouped into five classes, those being, agriculturists, manufacturers, artisans, merchants, and minor town officials. (2) The agriculturists were permitted to buy and rent lands in all the western and southwestern provinces of the empire and to cultivate their farms themselves or with hired help. (3) For those without means, the government pledged itself to provide 30,000 deciatines (1 deciatine = 2.70 acres) of land
in the western and southern provinces of the Russian Empire. (4) All Jews that wished to become colonists were required to submit certificates of their physical fitness for
agricultural pursuits, and each family had to give proof of the possession of not less than
400 rubles with which to pay for the land, implements, and household necessities for settlement.
The first colonies were settled in 1806. Seven colonies were established in southern
Russia. The colonies were to be founded at certain distances from Christian settlements, and the Jewish colonists were denied the right to purchase land in Christian villages.
Every occupation that was not agriculture was strictly prohibited. The local government authorities were to lend the Jews all possible assistance and protection. Unfortunately for
the settlers, the officials selected territories more adapted for cattle-breeding and
agriculture on a large scale than for small farms. Those colonists who had settled on their own account were left almost without the necessary means to purchase implements and food. Exhausted by the long and weary journey, and unaccustomed to the climate of South Russia, many fell ill and died, while others sold their land for next to nothing and returned
to their old homes or left the country altogether. Only the poorest remained in the colonies
and these people led a miserable existence, hoping in vain for the support promised by
the government.
The second period in the history of Jewish colonies in Russia began with an edict on April 13, 1835 issued by Czar Nicholas I , who reigned from 1825 until his death in 1855. The provisions of the edict were: (1) Jews were permitted to join the peasant class without
being compelled to do so. (2) Forty candidates were entitled to the right to found a colony. (3) Jews were granted the right to buy or rent land from Christian owners or from the government where Jews were allowed to live (i.e., Jews had to live in the Pale of Settlement that was created 1791 by the Russian Empress, Catherine the Great, and included
Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Lithuania, Belarus, etc.) (4) Jews joining the peasant class were relieved from certain taxes and duties, such as exemption from forced military duty. (5) Colonies of fifty Jewish families were entitled to honorary citizenship, and those colonized
by one hundred families were entitled to be raised to the nobility. (6) Colonists were
granted the right to send their children to all public schools, gymnasiums, academies, and universities.
In about 1850, Yussel Sokolovsky moved his family from the city of Brest-Litovsk to
"Colonia Sarovo," which was about 7 kilometers from the city of Kamenetz. Here they lived and farmed.
The following is from “The Jewish Agricultural Colonies” by Velvel Kustin, published in the Memorial Book of Kamenets Litovsk, Zastavye, and Colonies (Kamyanyets, Belarus)
“Three Jewish agricultural colonies were in the vicinity of Brest-Litovsk: Abramovo,
Sarovo, and Lotovo. These colonies, situated close to each other, were established in approximately 1860.
“The first to be established was Lotovo; it was named after Lot. The other two were also named after Biblical personages: Sarovo, after Sarah; Abramovo, after our fore-father Abraham. The first of these colonies, Lotovo, was also known as Plisich.
“The reason for these colonies being set up by the Jews is unknown to me. However,
some people used to say that this was one way of avoiding military service, which in those days could last up to twenty-five years. Conscription in our sense of the term was not practiced. The military would seize young children and induct them for long periods. Only tillers of the land were exempt by law. Therefore, the Jews, it is believed, settled on the
land and in that way protected their children. However, no one really knows the actual
reason for the founding of the colonies.
“At the time of its establishment, the colony of Sarovo (link 2) consisted of 24 families,
each of whom received 65 acres of land from the Russian government. All of the Jews of Sarovo originally came from Brest-Litovsk. They were tradesmen and merchants of
various kinds. My great-grandfather, for example, was a manufacturer of candles. His
name was Hershel Lichtzier-Kustin. I can recall the names of some other first colonists: Eliezer Ashkenazi, Yosef Sokolovsky (Note: this is Yussel Sokolovsky), Hershel Seidinger, Mordecai Simhovich, Kravietsky, and Chorny.
“The founders of the colonies tilled the soil year in and year out, but when their children
grew up the enlarged families could not live off the land anymore. The profits from their labors were insufficient. Since there was no possibility of acquiring additional land, some
of the colonists were forced to leave the settlement, and they moved back into town. The majority of these colonists went back to Brest and some of them went to Kamenetz-Litovsk, the nearest small town. There they worked as coachmen and as millers. Meanwhile, their abandoned land was rented to the colonists who remained. I say rented because
according to the laws of that period, the departing colonists were unable to sell their
holdings to non-colonists. And since the colonists who did remain in the settlement had no money with which to buy the land, the best thing was to rent it.
“The colony had no cemetery of its own and the deceased would be buried in Kamenetz Litovsk.”
In about 1897, a son of Yussel's, Beryl Sokolov, made the decision to move his family
back to Brest-Litovsk because his wife, Eva, was homesick for her parents and disliked
life on the farm.
Alexander II succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father, Czar Nichols I, in 1855. Alexander II reigned until he was assassinated in 1881. During his reign, encouraged by public opinion, he began a period of radical reforms, including the abolishing serfdom (serfdom was a modified form of slavery in which peasants/serfs were the lowest social class and were in bondage, serving the Lord of the Manor, a person with large land holdings), improving municipal government, instituting universal military training (no one
was any longer exempt), and expanding of industry and the railway network.
Alexander III (Alexander Alexandrovich) came to the throne in 1881 after the assassination
of his father, Alexander II. He reigned until his death in 1894. Alexander III did not tolerate
the many liberal movements gaining popularity in Russia. He reversed some of the liberal measures of his father, including weakening Judaism through persecution of the Jews, banning Jews from living in rural areas and villages (shtels), even within the Pale of Settlement, restricting the occupations in which Jews could engage, halting the registration and administration of property by Jews, increasing pressure on non-Russian Orthodox religions, supporting pogroms (violent outbreaks) on Jews, and forbidding Jews to
engage in commerce on Sundays and Christian holidays.
As a result of living conditions, repressions, and pogroms in the early part of the 20th
century under the reigns of Alexander III and his son, Nicholas II (Nickolai Alexandrovich,
the last Czar), the Czar (also spelled Tsar) at the time of the Russian Revolution in 1917, many Russian Jews immigrated to the United States. Many members of the Sokolowsky family were included in those immigrants. Beryl Sokolowsky, who changed his family’s
last name to Sokolov, and his family were among them. His name and the names of some
where many people first came ashore in the United States. More information about pogroms can be found at the following web sites: Pogrom 2 Pogrom 3 Pogrom 4
Some of the Sokolowsky relatives emigrated from Russia to Israel. Two became
historically significant. It is difficult to firmly establish the family relationship of one of the
two, but the other is definitely related.
The one with the difficult to establish relationship is Nahum Sokolow (also spelled Sokolov), one of the foremost Zionists who worked early in the 20th century for the establishment of a Jewish State (i.e., the State of Israel). Relatives have claimed him to
The one who is definitely related is Menachem Begin, who led the Likud Party and
became Prime Minister of Israel. He is pictured in the book and movie written by Leon
Uris as the leader of the Irgun Zeva'i Le'umi, "The National Military Organization," a revolutionary group that was very instrumental in the State of Israel becoming a reality. His tenure as Prime Minister of Israel was marked by a very important meeting in 1978 sponsored by the President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, between Begin and the President Egypt, Anwar Sadat. The hope was that this meeting would start serious peace negotiations between the State of Israel and the Arab states in the Middle East. The Arab states had sworn to destroy Israel, but the Jewish State was not to be defeated even when the Arabs attacked Israel many times. Both Begin and Sadat were awarded the 1978
Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts. The hope of peace goes on because of that historic meeting. Those family members who knew of the relationship felt very proud.
Sadly, years earlier in about 1946, when Begin came to the United States looking for financial and military aid, members of the Sokolov family in the United States did not want
to meet with him because of his using terrorism to further the cause of the State of Israel. Later, however, a relative, Sam Gursky, did have contact with Begin's sister on one of
Sam's many visits to Israel. According to Sam, she verified the family connection. The connection was through a remarriage of one of the early Sokolowskys as detailed below.
After Yussel Sokolovsky died, his wife, Shayna, married David Eliezar Begin. David Begin had several children--Wolf, Yankel, Arale, and four younger daughters. Shayna's stepson, Zeev Dov ("Wolf") (c1860-c1942), married Hassia Korslovsky after his first wife died. The children of Wolf Begin and Hassia Korsovsky are Rachel Begin, Menachem Begin (1913-1993), and Herzl Begin (c1915-c1945). Menachem Begin married Aliza ("Ola") Arnold in 1939 and they immgirated to Palestine in about 1941-42. They had three children,
Benjamin ("Benny"), who married Ruth Shoer in 1963, and they have a daughter, Hasia Begin (born in 1946), who married Matiyahu Milikovsky, and Leah Begin born in 1948.
Meyer Sokolov immigrated to the United States in 1912 on the German Steamship Vaderland (meaning "Fatherland"). He was a passenger in the "second class" part of the ship. Ocean going liners of those days had three classes of accommodations--first class, second class, and third class (also called "steerage"). The Steamship Vaderland was
built by John & Co Ltd. in Glasgow, Scotland for the Red Star Line, and was launched on
July 12, 1900. It weighed 11,899 tons and was 170.92 x 18.35 meters (560.8 feet in
length by 60.2 feet in beam) with 2 funnels, 4 masts, twin-propellers, a typical speed of 15 knots, and accommodation for 342 1st-, 194 2nd-, and 626 3rd-class passengers. Its maiden voyage was on December 8, 1900. It made frequent trips between Antwerp, Belgium and New York, New York under the Belgian flag.
Meyer (link 2) left Russia for the United States in about 1911. First, he went to Koeningsberg, Germany to see a well-known eye doctor specialist (Dr. Th. Treitel) for medical clearance to avoid any problem with entry into the United States because of a
“lazy eye.” If you had certain eye problems, such as trachoma, you were not permitted to enter the United States and Meyer’s visit to Dr. Treitel was to obtain medical certification
that he did not have trachoma. After a very short stay in Koeningsberg, he moved to Antwerp, Belgium from where he sailed for the United States in 1912. He arrived in the United States on July 31, 1912 under the name Srul M. Sokolowsky (as stated on the passenger list of the Vaterland and on his Russian passport). On June 4, 1917, during
World War I, the Vaderland was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine (U.70) off
the Irish coast and 4 lives were lost.
