Number 91: Channa Rachel (1868 – 1953) was the first of Rav Shlomo Shkolnick’s 9 children, the daughter of his first wife Malka Margaliyot. She was the Aunt of my Grandfather Victor Schkolne.  In 1881 Channa Rachel left her Lithuanian home at 13 years old and travelled to Palestine, together with her paternal Grandfather Eliezer Shkolnick – who wanted to die in the land of his ancestors. Oral tradition has it that they walked a large part of the route, through Turkey, to Jerusalem.

1881 was the start of the First Aliyah to Israel. Channa and Eliezer’s connection to the land was traditional and religious, not secular.  Channa Rachel married Yitzchak Mordechai Shlomo Schnitzer. They lived in New York for five years (1894 – 1899) and left due to the lack of a sufficiently orthodox environment, for Petach Tikva, subsequently returning to Jerusalem. They had 12 children – many sadly did not reach maturity. However their descendants in Israel are numerous.

At prayers for the passing of Sam Bellows z”l in Jerusalem in 1985, husband of Nina Bellows ‘nee Kahn, niece of Channa Rachel, I met a number of the ultra-orthodox family members of Channa Rachel, living in Jerusalem.