Brisk was devastated by three major fires between 1881 and 1901, the second two fires within 5 years. These fires broke out on the same day and month, on the same hour and almost at the same place. This coincidence in noted in the diary. Though the descriptions of these fires are often adjacent to entries about pogroms, as he does here:
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Diary Entry for the 1881 fire, text at upper right
First two entries are about pogroms, the third about the fire. |
Baruch Meir does not explicitly link the fires to those pogroms.
1881 Fire
A fire that occurred during the 1881-1882 pogroms is tersely recorded in the diary:
The city of Brisk was burnt down including my brother’s house.
1895 Fire
Thursday 22 of Iyar 5655 - [16th of May 1895] the whole of the town of Brisk D’Lita was burnt down. Only little was left and also several people lost their life and several Batei-Midrash [houses of study and prayer] and the synagogue and Torah scrolls. God will comfort his people.
1901 Fire
A huge fire occurred in 1901:
On the holy Sabbath, 22nd of Iyar 5661 – [11th of May 1901] the same day and month as the fire of 1895, at the same hour and near the same place, a fire broke out in Brisk and the second half of the town that was not burnt down then, including my father’s house, may he live long, and the store belonging to my brother Shmuel Eliezer. The destruction was greater today last time. However, with God’s help no people lost their life this time. God will help his people.
