Hovsha

Relationship Family/ Pre-Marriage Name First Name Father’s Name Mother’s Name Occupation or Nickname Place of birth/ Residence Age or birth date Place and date of death
Husband Hovsha Aizik Chaim Aharon Candy factory Also a delegate for the Jewish National Fund. Teacher Shkud 65 Shkud, July 1941
Wife Hovsha Chaya Housewife and candy factory Shkud 60 Alka Hill, 15-16 Aug 1941
Daughter Hovsha Leah Aizik Chaya Shkud, Sauliai 25 Sauliai ghetto, 1944
Son Hovsha Mayer Aizik Chaya Studied and worked Shkud, Vilna 22 Vilna ghetto
Son Hovsha Moshe Aizik Chaya Studied a trade Shkud 18 Shkud
Son Hovsha Michal Aizik Chaya Studied Shkud 16 Shkud
***

According to Hana Shaf-Brener, Aizik Hovsha, the son of Chaim Aharon, ran a candy factory. He was also a teacher and a delegate for the Jewish National Fund. His wife, Chaya, worked in the candy factory. The couple had four children: Leah, Mayer, Moshe, and Michal.

The Hovshas were an important family in Skuodas. Yechiel Michel Hovsha became the Rabbi of Shkud in 1880. He wrote and published prolifically. He was invited to become Chief Rabbi of London, but declined the position. He passed away on September 12, 1917. For more biographical details, see here.

Yechiel Hovsha

Yechiel Michel Hovsha   (Kehilat Shkud 34)

Chaim Aharon Hovsha was a teacher and important figure. According to Kehilat Shkud, he ran and taught in a cheder (28, 55); he also established and developed Shkud’s primary and secondary schools, where he taught Torah studies (37). He was a teacher in the Yavne folk-school and the Hebrew pre-Gymnasium (56). He was an active Zionist and supporter of Israel (37) and a leader of the Mizrachi Zionist youth group (54). Chaim Aharon was also a member of the Gemara Society (27). He died in 1930, age 61 (Kehilat Shkud 37). For more details on Chaim Aharon’s life, see here.

37RChaimHovsha(Chaim Aharon Hovaha (Kehilat Shkud 37)

27KhevreGemaraMembers of Gemara Society, 7 Kislev 1936

Seated from right to left: Pin, M. Sh.; Chatzkel, N; Taitz, Moshe; Kaplanski, Y; Natanson, Y. H’Rav Dafa; Shnshvaski, A; Melamed, Y; Yoselovich, Ts; Faktor, A; Hupsha, A; Grinker, L. Valert, A; Epstein, A; Piktur, A. D.; Urdang, A. B.; Minks, M.; Yankelovich, Y. (Kehilat Shkud 27)

Chaim Aharon’s son Meyer Hovsha was an active member of the central board of Mizrachi (Kehilat Shkud 22) and a member of the Israel National Fund.

15IsraelNationalFundBottom row, right to left: Shmuel Axelrod, Pesach Bob (now in South Africa), Eliezer Eisen.
Second row: Feivel Neiman, Yentel Savel-Vrotnitzki, Tzvi Yoselevitz, David Davidov, Rachel Savel-Elkes, Yitzhak Cohen.
Third row: Meir Hovsha, Ester Terushkin Rosen (now in Israel), Chaim Natanson (now in Israel), Yeshayahu Yudelman (now in South Africa), Chaya Sheindling Mevezis (now in Israel), Alexander Pinta (now in Israel), Mina Cohen, Gershon Faktor (now in Israel), Mordechai Shlez, Itta Yankelovitz, Meir Taitz (now in Israel), Israel Tenor (Kehilat Shkud 15)

Aizik Hovsha operated a candy factory in the New Town which employed twenty workers (Kehilat Shkud 13, 52). He was a leader of the Mizrachi Zionist youth organization (54). Aizik’s daughter Leah was also active in Mizrachi (22). His son Meyer was “active in the youth circle” (Kehilat Shkud 44) and a member of Hashomer Hatzair.

20Hashomer“Ha’Shomer Ha’Tzair”, the Shkud troop, 1930

Bottom row (right to left): Moshe Kangisser (now in South Africa), Jacob Kravitz, Meir Sheindling, Hirt Tov (now in Rhodesia), David Gruppel (now in Israel), Yosef Taitz, Moshe Falk, Chaim Elkin.
Second row: Yosef Peltz (now in Israel), Tzipa Sher, Perlgeber, Meir Hovsha, Daniel Prochovnik Pirchiyahu (now in Israel), Alexander Pinta (now in Israel), Gitta Taitz, Zalman Gruppel (now in Israel), Miriam Tov, Eliyahu Fogelman (now in the USSR), David Peltz, Chaim Urdang, Eliezer Bob.
Third row: Sarah Belkind (now in Lithuania), Gelle Perlgeber, Shalom Binder, Feige Perlgeber, Shlomo Yankelovitz, Meir Taitz, Chaya Peltz Yaakobi (now in Israel), Tzipora Taitz Freilichman (now in Israel), Tzipa Singer.
Fourth row: Eliyahu Reif (now in Israel), Leib Yitzhak Mines, Dvora Segal, Feiga Fogelman, Hinda Segal (now in Lithuania), Rachel Bob, Etta Shlez (now in Australia), Mina Baskind, Ester Sheindling, Hinda Savel Rathoiz (now in Israel), Sheina Baskind. 
Fifth row: Aba Bloch, Tova Mines, Israel Tenor, Shlomo Yitzhak Fogelman, Shlomo Taitz (now in Israel), Temma Taitz (now in the USA), Daniel Abramovic (now in the USA) (Kehilat Shkud 20)

According to Jewish Gen’s Lithuanian Directories database, Natalia Hovsha of Skuodas and two children survived the Holocaust and were living in Russia in 1943. Her relationship to Aizik Hovsha or other members of the Hovsha family is unclear.

Jewish Gen’s Lithuania databases gives some further information on the Hovsha family of Skuodas, but nothing directly relating to Aizik Hovsha, his wife Chaya, or their children.

Yad Vashem has this to say about Aizik Hovsha and his family:

Aizik Hovsha was born in Skuodas, Lithuania to Yekhiel and Khaia. He was a merchant and married to Rakhel nee Shpirer. During the war he was in Skuodas, Lithuania. Aizik was murdered/perished in 1941 in Skuodas, Lithuania. This information is based on a Page of Testimony (http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=415086&language=en)

Moshe Hovsha was born in 1924 to Aizik and Rakhel nee Shpirer. He was a child. During the war he was in Skuodas, Lithuania. Moshe was murdered/perished in the Shoah. (http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8717798&language=en)

Mikhal Hovsha was born in 1927 to Aizik and Rakhel nee Shpirer. Was a child. During the war was in Skuodas, Lithuania. Mikhal was murdered/perished in the Shoah. (http://db.yadvashem.org/names/nameDetails.html?itemId=8717799&language=en)

The Yad Vashem testimony cards contradict Hana Brener’s information on Aizik’s parentage and his wife’s name – were there two Aizik Hovshas, perhaps cousins? But it is unlikely that two Aiziks would have two sons with the same names, Moshe and Mikhal. Clearly there are errors in some of this documentation.

I could find nothing in Yad Vashem on Aizik and Chaya’s two older children, Leah and Mayer, although a number of other Hovshas appear in the database.