Gershon Harkavy -- the first

Gershon is the first in the family to take the name "Harkavy" because of the 1804 Russian edict that proclaimed that all Jews must have family names.

He was a student of the G"RA of Vilna, then returned to Novogrudok. Around 1819 he and his wife Badana travelled to Israel and settled in Tzfat where he established a yeshiva, called Beit Midrash ha-G"RA, and purchased vineyards from whose proceeds he supported the yeshiva.

According to the 1806 Revision skazka of Jews from shtetl Novogrudok, #270, Gershon, the son of Yudel, was
53 years old. A note added to the list stated that he moved to Novogrudok from shtetl Turetz in 1804. His wife,

Feiga-Bodana, was 52 years old. Their son Elya was 28, Chonon was 22, Ziskind was 19, and Movsha was 4.

Ziskind's wife also lived with them. She is listed as 16 years old.

Daughters:

Ginda age 16, was in shtetl Volpa at the time of the census./ Shakhel age 12

[Source:1806 Navahrudak, Navahrudak District, Hrodna Region, Belarus Description:/ Revision List 1806]
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1. 270 Gershon son of Josele Garkavy age 53; / his wife Bogdana age 52 / their children: sons:

1. Elya age 28 ; 2. Chonon age 22 ; his wife Feiga, age 21 ; 3. Ziskind age 19 and his wife Tsipa age 16; 4. Movsha age 4 , born after last revision.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSM4-WPJW?i=323&am...]

In the 1811 Revision skazka of Jews from shtetl Novogrudok, #270, Garkavy, Gershon (59 years old) is listed as the son of Yosel. His wife, listed as Bodana, is 58. With them is their son Elya (34) and Elya's wife Gita, 20 (a notation states that she "came to Novogrudok"); also Elya's daughter Chana who is listed as being 8 years old

Also in the home are the son Chonon (28), his wife Feiga (27), their two sons Yosel (5) and Yankel (4), and a daughter Rivka (3).

Gershon's son, Ziskind (25), his wife Dina (22), their son Yosel (1) and their daughter Pesya (5) also belong to the household.
Gershon's youngest son, Movsha is 10 years old.

Gershon and Badana also have three daughters in their household: Ginda (22) and her husband Movsha, son of Chaim (25). Movsha, it is noted, "came to Novogrudok". Second daughter, Shachel, is listed as having left Novogrudok. The third daughter, Chana, is 8 years old. (--Shirley Portnoy)

________________________________________________________________________________________""Translated" to English from the Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel:

Rabbi Gershon Harkavy

He was born in the year 1755 in the town of Turets near Novogrodok (in the language of the Jews), in the Minsk region of White Russia, to his father Rabbi Yosef (a great Torah scholar, fifth generation of Rabbi Mordechai Yaffe , And from the seed of King David, died at Turets in 1882.

He studied diligently and became known as a great Torah scholar. After his marriage, he settled in Novogrudok and managed with his wife Badana a large commercial house that was known all over Racine, Lithuania and Poland. He built courtyards and houses and a family synagogue that remained in the possession of his offspring until the Second World War in the city between the two world wars Poland. His wife gave birth and raised four sons and five daughters and helped him in business management, and was released to work diligently on the Torah and add wisdom and knowledge and at an old age even freed from business for a year to study in Vilna at the school of the Gaon with the rest of his students Gedolei Torah. His house was open to all the hard-day and with his open hand he scattered and gave generously to the poor and to the needs of the public and Torah scholars.

When the royal ordinance was issued in 1804, each of whom must choose a family name, he chose the name Harkavi , and this name , which began with the glory of its first owner, was later glorified in an extensive family that established people from it.

A few years after the students of the Vilna Ga'on had immigrated to the Land of Israel, he decided to immigrate with him and his wife agreed to immigrate with him, and then he distributed his great possessions to all his descendants. From someone, but in the ability to help others.

Ten years after the rise of the convoy of Gaon's disciples came Reb Gershon and his wife Btka"t, and remain in the way in Istanbul knew him and appreciate the brothers Welcome , increase fee-Spanish and sent his recommendation to the Minister Haim Tz'libiIn Akko they wrote about him, "Ari ascended from Babylon" (ie, a great Torah rising from the Diaspora). When he arrived in Israel, he settled in Safed, where the "Parshashim" established their first moshav, while the Ashkenazi settlement in Jerusalem was still fraught with enormous difficulties. His money was enough for him to live comfortably and also to disperse to charity. He built a Beit Midrash for the Pharisees and supported him regularly (the Beit Midrash lasted for close to a hundred years until it was destroyed in World War I; (In the summer of 1950, Dr. Zvi Harkavy discovered the ruins of his house in Safed, in front of the "Sadigura Chassidic Synagogue.") He studied the Torah day and night, and invited guests to his home to leave the house and vineyards. According to a family tradition, his homes and vineyards were severely damaged in 1824, but since there is no other Jewish source of knowledge about the damage caused by the earthquake that year, it is assumed that the damage was caused by multiple rains and erosion of soil and stones from the mountain.