28/11/2024
A dark story is associated with one of Shaya's sons, Itzka Model. Itzka had a nanny, Sorka (Sarah) Wolfovna. At some point, Sarah became pregnant and gave birth to a son (whose name is unknown). According to Sarah's testimony, the father of the child was Itzka Model. To establish paternity, Sarah turned to the beit din (Jewish court), but her request was denied on the grounds that she could not provide two witnesses to corroborate her claim.
In 1834, Sarah left Vitebsk for the Minsk province, intending to place her illegitimate son in the cantonist system, as indicated in the documents. After this, their trace is lost. In April 1835, Sarah Wolfovna was reported by the beit din to have been absent without explanation for six months.
A record of Itzka Model appears in the earliest surviving book of Jewish birth records from the city of Vitebsk, dated 1837. It states that on June 22 (1 Tammuz), a daughter named Kisya Khaya was born to Itzka Model and his wife Rochlya.
Another son of Shaya, Shlioma Arya (Shlomo Aron) Model, was born around 1820 and died sometime after 1874. A record preserved in the book of divorces among Vitebsk Jews notes his divorce on May 13, 1840, from his 20-year-old wife.
Later, Shlioma Arya was married to Sora (Sarah), born around 1823. Both of them were listed in the 1874 family register of the Vitebsk petty-bourgeois administration. There is no information about their children in the family register or any other archival documents.
