Vitebsk

Belarus

Vitebsk, a city in northeastern Belarus, had a significant Jewish community and was an early center of chasidut in White Russia. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk, a leading disciple of the Maggid of Mezeritch, led the chasidim of the region before emigrating to the Land of Israel in 1777 at the head of a group of some three hundred followers, settling ultimately in Tiberias.

1 teacher