Gedalya and Rebecca Lechtus lived in Murovano- Kurilovtsy, Ukraine. It is located just northwest of Mogilev-Podolski. There were previous spellings for this town, including Muravna-Krilovitz.

It was difficult for me to identify Murovanye Kurilovtsy as a match of the name of the Shtetl, that was verbally pronounced, and sounded like Kurilewitch by Zipporah Klopstock, and Kurilovitz by Simon Lechtuz. This town also agrees with the information from Micha Lichthouse, that the town on his father's passport is Mogilev (a nearby larger town), and Simon Lechtuz said the town was in the state of Podolski.

My middle name Gerald, is named after my fraternal great-grandfather Gedalya Lechtus. Gedalya was a tall man, and his occupation was a Forester. This is what Joe Friedman thinks his father told him, which is unconfirmed.

Gedalya probably died before 1903, because his grandson James was born in that year and named after him. The year Gedaliah was born can be estimated by the year of birth of his son Leiser in 1870.

Gedalya has a brother, last name Lechtus, who has a son Ben-Zion Lechtus, who married Devorah. In Israel they had a son, Baruch Ben-Or, who married Pnina. They had a son, Ori Bet-Or, who lives in Israel. They changed the name to Bet-Or, which in Hebrew, bet means house and or means light. Other relatives in Israel have the name Lichthouse.

Gedalya and Rebecca Lechtus’s sons are Leiser Lazer Eliezer,( Louis) (1870-1953), Josef (died 1946), Eisik and Moishe (died in the Holocaust). Gedalya and Rebecca’s daughters are Lieba, and Dincha. Leiser Lechtus (Louis Licht) is my fraternal grandfather.

Leiser Lazer Eliezer, (Louis) Lechtus moved to Kopaigorod, Ukraine, to marry Yiska Eta (Eda) Maltzer.

Leiser and Yiska Lechtus’s six children were born in Kopaigerod. They are, in the order of their birth from the oldest, Baruch (Bennett), my father Meilech (Mayer), Leu (Leah), Gedaliah (James), Chane (Anne), and Ete (Ella).

Bennett and Mayer left Ukraine to San Francisco in 1913. Louis, Eda, Leah, James, Ann, and Ella left in 1914.

Josef Lechtus, his wife, and children moved from the Ukraine to Warsaw, Poland, in about 1910. They moved to Haifa, Israel in 1925. In Israel, they took the last name Lichthouse.

Eisek, and Moishe Lechtus, brothers of Eliezer and Josef also moved to Warsaw, Poland.

Leiba emigrated to Argentina, She married Samuel Goldstein, they had four children, one daughter Alice. After Leiba died in Argentina, her children moved to Israel, and lived on a Kibutz.

Dincha, in later years, lived in Moscow, Russia.

Eisik and Moishe continued to live in Warsaw. Eisik married Yisha, and Moishe married Ester. I have a photograph which shows the two couples, with 3 young men and 1 young woman who are the children of Eisik and Yisha. The oldest son is Tunik. In each picture they are grouped around Louis in the center, who visited them in 1935, enroute to visit Palestine.

Moishe was the youngest of the brothers, and he did not have any children. I have more photographs. One is a photo of Mioshe, standing alone, taken in 1923. The other is a photo of Eisik, his wife Yisha, and children, taken in 1930. In the latter picture the two youngest children were on a 3 wheeled tricycle. They were in front of a nice looking house, which appears to be 2 stories, with a peaked roof entry porch. In all these pictures they were all dressed well, the men wearing suits and ties, the woman wearing dresses.

Someone who knew them, told Simon Lechtuz during World War II, that, at the beginning of the war Eisik and Moishe owned a sweater factory, and employed 400 people, in Warsaw. They sold sweaters in many countries of Europe. There has been no information about them since the war. The Nazis, when they occupied Poland, at the beginning of the War, probably took their factory and belongings. The Nazis probably moved them to the Warsaw Ghetto, where they died of illness or in the final uprising, or in Concentration Camps where they were murdered. When I look at the photographs of these fine looking relatives, I remember them, and the 6 million Jews who died by the Nazis.

I have two photographs of Josef, with his wife Reisel. In one photo, he is with his brother Louis, taken when Louis visited Palestine in 1935. Josef had a long, full, dark beard. Josef was wearing a high, shaped Yarmelka (skull cap), and was dressed in a long coat. Josef was very religious, and a Zionist, and that is why he moved to Palestine in 1925.

Josef and Reisel’s seven children, are Jakob, Motti, Leah, Zipporah, Chaya, Sara and Simon. Simon, and Sara, the two youngest, were born in Warsaw. The other children were born in Ukraine. Simon had his Bar-Mitzvah and went to Heder in Warsaw. Simon, who was born in 1912, said he was too young to have known his grandfather, Gedaliah.

Simon said that, while in Ukraine, his mother told Josef to go into the Russian army, instead of Leiser (Louis), because she thought Josef would survive better than Leiser. Josef did go into the Russian army.

Sara married Zvi Korengold, , Izchak married Chaya Anzilewiz, Leah married Netanel Linder, Jacob married Genya Golen, Zipporah and Simon never married.

Josef and Reisel, and their children, emigrated from Warsaw to Palestine in 1925. He left their easier life in Warsaw, for the difficult pioneering life in Palestine. He went into a used bottle business in Haifa. Josef’s wife, Reisel, was unhappy living in Palestine. Their children, Yizhak, Jacob, and Sara, stayed in Israel. Their daughter Leah moved to the United States. Their son Motti, moved to Mexico, and died there at age 30. Their daughter Zippora died at age 20. Josef and Reisel died in Haifa, Josef in 1946, and Reisel in 1949.

In 2000 Josef and Reisel’s descendants are 9 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and 17 great-great-grandchildren.

In 2000 Louis and Eda’s descendants are 13 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, and 41 great-great-grandchildren.

Gedalya and Rebecca, and their family, have observed the first of the 613 commandments. “Then God blessed them (Adam and Eve) and said: be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. (Genesis 1:28).”