The Jewish cemetery in Indura

Indura village is located in the territory of Grodno region. It is located 25 km from the regional center.

Indura village was first mentioned when it belonged to Marshal Yaan Dovoynovich. Later, such noble families as Radziwill, Volovich, Oginsky owned those lands. After the 3rd division of the Rzech Pospolita, Indura was part of the Russian Empire, the treaty of Riga signed in 1921 made the village part of Poland. In 1939, Indura became part of the BSSR.

Nowadays about 1500 inhabitants live in the village.

Though the village is small, there are many sights. We are talking about the Catholic Church of the XIX century and the Orthodox Church at the same time. The Jewish cemetery is popular among tourists.

Jews composed a significant part of the population of Belarus. Life in isolated communities did not prevent to run business, take part in the social life of their place and wasn’t engaged in charity.

It is known that Jews already lived in Indura in the XVI century. According to the 1766 census, more than fifty Jews lived in this village. A century later, the number Jewish inhabitants increased by more than twice.

In the second half of the XVIII century, the village became the second center of Hasidism in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Rabbi Hayyim Haykl ben Shmuel was a leader of the Jewish community. The tzaddik (righteous one) strongly condemned the vulgarization of Hasidism in some communities.

According to one legend, Rabbi Hayyim Haykl when was young led an ascetic life: he rarely was in a synagogue, had no mentor. However, one day he heard words of a rabbi who came to Indura to seek disciples: “If a person does not get better, he gets worse.” Rabbi Hayyim was struck by those words and begged the rabbi to join the disciples. Later, he became one of the greatest rabbis of his time.

Rabbi Hayyim Haykl died in 1787. His son Shmuel became a leader of Hasidim.

The Jewish cemetery of Indura is located on Gagarin Street, in the south-western part of the village. Burials are placed in such a way that they resemble the letter L. The ancient Jewish cemetery has many well-preserved tombstones made of granite. Some researchers suggest that it is here the oldest tombstone in Belarus, which belongs to the XIV century. The fence of the cemetery features the metallic elements in the form of the Star of David. Nowadays the cemetery is overgrown with grass, but still, it is interesting for historians and tourists as well.