DOVID-MATESYOHU LIPMAN

DOVID-MATESYOHU LIPMAN (1899-1941)

            He was born in Nemoksht (Nemakščiai), Kovno district, Lithuania, into a rabbinical family.  He was a descendant of the brilliant scholar Yom Tov Lipman.  He was a young Jewish scholar dedicated to research on the history of Jews in Lithuania.  Until 1920 he lived in Nemoksht, Tsaykishok (Čekiškė), and Kovno (Kaunus).  He was a regular contributor to Di idishe shtime (The Jewish voice) in Kovno, in which he published essays on Lithuanian Jewry, descriptions of earlier ways of life, and characterizations of Jewish personalities.  He was a contributor and editor of record for the biweekly newspaper Had lita (Echo of Lithuania) in Kovno (1924-1933).  He edited a series of monographs under the title “Nusaḥ lita” (Lithuanian style), which also published his own works: Letoldot hayehudim belita-zamot, 1400-1915 (History of the Jews in Lithuania and Zamot, 1400-1934) (Kaidan, 1934), 81 pp.; Letoldot hayehudim bekovna uveslobodka min haet hakhi keduma ad hamilḥama haolamit (To the history of the Jews in Kovno and Slobodka from the earliest period until the world war) (Kaidan, 1934), 224 pp.  He had in a completed manuscript, “Geshikhte fun yidishe kehiles in lite” (History of Jewish communities in Lithuania), and a handbook on Lithuania which were, unfortunately, never published because of WWII.  He was murdered by the Nazis in the first months of their rule in Lithuania.

Sources: Yudel Mark, in Zamlbukh lekoved dem tsveyhundert un fuftsikstn yoyvl fun der yidisher prese, 1686-1936 (Anthology in honor of the 250^th jubilee of the Yiddish press, 1686-1936), ed. Dr. Y. Shatski (New York, 1937); Nosn Grinblat, in the anthology Lite (Lithuania), vol. 1 (New York, 1951), pp. 1114, 1118; Y. Berlzon, in Lite, p. 1156.

Khayim Leyb Fuks