KUPISKIS

KUPISKIS (Lith. Kupiškis, Kupiškiai; Yid. Kupishok; Rus. Kupishki), town in N.E. Lithuania. Tombstones from the 17th century have been found in the local Jewish cemetery. There were 1,350 Jews living in Kupiskis in 1847 and 2,661 (71% of the population) in 1897. During World War I, in May 1915, the Jews were expelled from Kupiskis, and only part of the Jewish population returned there after the war. The community numbered 1,444 (54%) in 1923, and continued to decrease in the interwar period, many of the youth immigrating to South Africa and Ereẓ Israel. The Jewish people's bank there had 369 members in 1929. As Kupiskis was one of the few towns in Lithuania with a considerable community of Ḥasidim, there were two officiating rabbis. The community had three synagogues, a yeshivah, a talmud torah, and three schools (Yavneh, tarbut , and a Yiddish school). After the German occupation the community was annihilated. In all, including Jews from the vicinity, around 3,000 were murdered. (Dov Levin)