Individual Details
Ruben Teitelbaum
(Abt, 1843 - Jul 8, 1924)
The following is based on a high school paper written by Mark Teitelbaum whose main source was an interview with Pearl Teitelbaum Lukin in the early 1970's. It has been edited by Emil Isaacson. The original is on file.
Ruben and Frieda Moshontz Teitelbaum are the first Teitelbaums about whom much is known. Both lived at the turn of the century in small Polish towns and, like most Jews in Eastern Europe these towns were located in the Jewish Pale. Their ancestors had probably migrated into that area, along with a mass of Jews, sometime in the Fourteenth Century. The first known Teitelbaum, Samuel Teitelbaum, was born about 1810. He became an oil merchant in Warsaw, and he had three sons. The eldest son, Moshe Teitelbaum, was born in the mid 1830's and eventually took over his father's oil business. His children are believed to have immigrated to New York; however, nothing further is known about his family. Nothing is known about Samuel Teitelbaum's middle son.
His youngest son, Ruben Teitelbaum, was born in 1843. Ruben Teitelbaum grew up in Warsaw but later moved to Ostroleka, Poland, where he started a lumber business and married the daughter of a lumber merchant from the nearby town of Zabiela. His wife Frieda Moshontz was born in 1865; Frieda was the daughter of Benjamin and Esther Moshontz. They had three other children; Roeven Moshontz (died ca. 1930) who married Anna Laya Gross (died ca. 1920), and took over his father's lumber yard; Fannie Celia Moshontz who came to America and married Max Nagel; and Jacob Moshontz.
Ruben Teitelbaum was married at a late age for men of his era. Ruben and Frieda Teitelbaum were married about 1880 and settled in Ostroleka. They were very religious, and they owned a huge home with two rooms set aside for prayer. In all orthodox Jewish ceremonies, the men are separate from the women; in their home the larger room was used by the men while the women used a smaller adjoining room. On Friday nights Jews from miles around would gather at their home to worship the Sabbath.
Frieda Teitelbaum also practiced medicine. She practiced a form of bleeding. When someone in their town became ill, she would make small incisions in their body and place small glass cups over the cuts. After an hour when the cups had filled with blood and formed a vacuum, she would pull them off and in the process, claim that she cured them.
Abraham Meshe Teitelbaum was their eldest son. He was born in 1882. Ruben and Frieda Teitelbaum had nine more children in the next twenty years. Yankle (Jake) Teitelbaum was born in 1884; Fannie, 1887; Benjamin, 1889; Lazer, 1892; Cydel, 1894; Esther, 1896; Lena, 1898; Rose, 1900; and Pearl was born in 1903. By the time of Pearl's birth, the family was already beginning to immigrate to America.
Pearl Teitelbaum worked as the village scribe after learning to read Russian, Austrian and Hebrew. Because she was the only woman in the village to know Hebrew, she would lead the Jewish women in prayer every Friday night at her home. She recalls that she wore her mother's wedding dress, dyed blue, whenever she ran services.
World War I and the Russian Revolution had a strong effect on the family. In 1918 a band of wandering Russian Cossacks raided Ostroleka and took over the Teitelbaum's home. Many Jews left Europe to avoid similar raids. (Pogroms were common between 1880-1900). The Cossacks used the large prayer room as their headquarters. They left taking Ruben Teitelbaum, then 75, with them. Frieda Teitelbaum and her children took a horse cart to Vienna where they sold apples for a living and lived in a two-room apartment. In 1920 they returned to Ostroleka and found Ruben Teitelbaum there; the Cossacks had set him free after about a month. He had lived alone at the house for nearly two years, with no knowledge of the whereabouts of his family. Frieda Teitelbaum died a few months after they returned home in 1921. She had asthma and traveling on the dirt roads between Austria and Poland worsened it.
Following the death of his wife, Ruben Teitelbaum also made plans to move to America with his son Lazer. In 1924 before he was to leave, he changed his mind because he heard America was not all he believed it was and he heard Jews were not religious in America. Ruben died on July 8, 1924. Because Lazer was partially deaf and his parents could not bring him to America, Lazer was not able to leave Poland.
During the German invasion of Poland and the Holocaust, Lazer Teitelbaum and his entire family were killed along with the other Jews of Ostroleka. The fate of the Chavians is unknown. World War II marked the end of the Teitelbaum family in Europe as it did with many other families.
Ruben and Frieda Moshontz Teitelbaum are the first Teitelbaums about whom much is known. Both lived at the turn of the century in small Polish towns and, like most Jews in Eastern Europe these towns were located in the Jewish Pale. Their ancestors had probably migrated into that area, along with a mass of Jews, sometime in the Fourteenth Century. The first known Teitelbaum, Samuel Teitelbaum, was born about 1810. He became an oil merchant in Warsaw, and he had three sons. The eldest son, Moshe Teitelbaum, was born in the mid 1830's and eventually took over his father's oil business. His children are believed to have immigrated to New York; however, nothing further is known about his family. Nothing is known about Samuel Teitelbaum's middle son.
His youngest son, Ruben Teitelbaum, was born in 1843. Ruben Teitelbaum grew up in Warsaw but later moved to Ostroleka, Poland, where he started a lumber business and married the daughter of a lumber merchant from the nearby town of Zabiela. His wife Frieda Moshontz was born in 1865; Frieda was the daughter of Benjamin and Esther Moshontz. They had three other children; Roeven Moshontz (died ca. 1930) who married Anna Laya Gross (died ca. 1920), and took over his father's lumber yard; Fannie Celia Moshontz who came to America and married Max Nagel; and Jacob Moshontz.
Ruben Teitelbaum was married at a late age for men of his era. Ruben and Frieda Teitelbaum were married about 1880 and settled in Ostroleka. They were very religious, and they owned a huge home with two rooms set aside for prayer. In all orthodox Jewish ceremonies, the men are separate from the women; in their home the larger room was used by the men while the women used a smaller adjoining room. On Friday nights Jews from miles around would gather at their home to worship the Sabbath.
Frieda Teitelbaum also practiced medicine. She practiced a form of bleeding. When someone in their town became ill, she would make small incisions in their body and place small glass cups over the cuts. After an hour when the cups had filled with blood and formed a vacuum, she would pull them off and in the process, claim that she cured them.
Abraham Meshe Teitelbaum was their eldest son. He was born in 1882. Ruben and Frieda Teitelbaum had nine more children in the next twenty years. Yankle (Jake) Teitelbaum was born in 1884; Fannie, 1887; Benjamin, 1889; Lazer, 1892; Cydel, 1894; Esther, 1896; Lena, 1898; Rose, 1900; and Pearl was born in 1903. By the time of Pearl's birth, the family was already beginning to immigrate to America.
Pearl Teitelbaum worked as the village scribe after learning to read Russian, Austrian and Hebrew. Because she was the only woman in the village to know Hebrew, she would lead the Jewish women in prayer every Friday night at her home. She recalls that she wore her mother's wedding dress, dyed blue, whenever she ran services.
World War I and the Russian Revolution had a strong effect on the family. In 1918 a band of wandering Russian Cossacks raided Ostroleka and took over the Teitelbaum's home. Many Jews left Europe to avoid similar raids. (Pogroms were common between 1880-1900). The Cossacks used the large prayer room as their headquarters. They left taking Ruben Teitelbaum, then 75, with them. Frieda Teitelbaum and her children took a horse cart to Vienna where they sold apples for a living and lived in a two-room apartment. In 1920 they returned to Ostroleka and found Ruben Teitelbaum there; the Cossacks had set him free after about a month. He had lived alone at the house for nearly two years, with no knowledge of the whereabouts of his family. Frieda Teitelbaum died a few months after they returned home in 1921. She had asthma and traveling on the dirt roads between Austria and Poland worsened it.
Following the death of his wife, Ruben Teitelbaum also made plans to move to America with his son Lazer. In 1924 before he was to leave, he changed his mind because he heard America was not all he believed it was and he heard Jews were not religious in America. Ruben died on July 8, 1924. Because Lazer was partially deaf and his parents could not bring him to America, Lazer was not able to leave Poland.
During the German invasion of Poland and the Holocaust, Lazer Teitelbaum and his entire family were killed along with the other Jews of Ostroleka. The fate of the Chavians is unknown. World War II marked the end of the Teitelbaum family in Europe as it did with many other families.
Events
| Birth | Abt, 1843 |  | |||
| Marriage | Abt, 1878 | Frieda Moshontz | | ||
| Death | Jul 8, 1924 | Ostroleka, Lomza, Poland | |
Families
| Spouse | Frieda Moshontz (1860 - ) |
| Child | Abraham Meshe Teitelbaum (1882 - 1940) |
| Child | Jacob (Yankel) Teitelbaum (1885 - 1954) |
| Child | Fanny Teitelbaum (1886 - 1965) |
| Child | Benjamin Teitelbaum (1888 - 1964) |
| Child | Lazar Teitelbaum (1892 - ) |
| Child | Lena Teitelbaum (1893 - 1988) |
| Child | Sarah (Celia, Cyril) Teitelbaum (1894 - 1930) |
| Child | Esther Teitelbaum (1896 - 1912) |
| Child | Rose Teitelbaum (1900 - 1987) |
| Child | Pearl Teitelbaum (1905 - 1992) |
Endnotes
1. Mark Teitelbaum, "Unpublished manuscript based on 1972 interview with Pearl Teitelbaum Lukin"; Cleveland, Ohio [E-0119].
2. Mark Teitelbaum, "Unpublished manuscript based on 1972 interview with Pearl Teitelbaum Lukin"; Cleveland, Ohio [E-0119].
3. Mark Teitelbaum, "Unpublished manuscript based on 1972 interview with Pearl Teitelbaum Lukin"; Cleveland, Ohio [E-0119].