קהילת יהודי בוטושאן

Alexandru Graur (1900–1988), linguist, born Alter Brauer in Botoşani, Romania. Graur studied at the Faculty of Letters of the University of Bucharest and then at École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris, France, from 1924 to 1929, earning a Ph.D. from the Sorbonne with a study of Indo-european linguistics. He returned to Romania where he started his scientific research in the 1930s.

Graur was the founder and the principal of the "Liceul particular evreiesc" (Jewish Private High School) established in 1941, when Jewish students were forbidden to attend Romanian schools. In 1946 Grauer joined the staff of the University of Bucharest. His academic successes were recognized in 1955, when he was elected permanent member of the Romanian Academy. Grauer was the Dean of the Faculty of Letters at the University of Bucharest from 1954 to 1956, President of the Society of Classical Studies, from 1958 to 1988, and Director of the Editura Academiei ("The Academy Publishing House"), from 1958 to his death.

He published many papers and articles on classical philology and etymology that contributed to the field of linguistics, phonetics and grammar of the Romanic and Romanian languages. He also contributed regularly to Revista Cultului Mosaic, the periodical of the Jewish Communities of Romania .

Marcel Blecher (1909-1938), author, born in Botosani, Romania, but lived most of his life in Roman, Romania. He suffered from tuberculosis and was bedridden for the last ten years of his short life. His writing shows an obsession with death. Blecher wrote for various periodicals and his first book of poems appeared in 1934. His first novel was one of the pioneer surrealist works in Romanian literature. Many Jewish themes appear in his writings reflecting a middle-class Jewish family life. He wrote an autobiographical novel in a sanatorium in France where he was encased in a plaster cast. At the suggestion of Andre Gide, he began to translate it into French, but died before this was completed.

His works include Corp transparent (1934); Intamplari in irealitatea imediata (1936); Inimi cicatrizate (1937); Vizuina luminata (1971).

Jacob Psantir (1820-1902), historian, born in Botosani, Romania. He was orphaned as a child and apart from a few years in a Talmud Torah, received no formal education. He engaged in many occupations and for a time was even a singer in a gypsy band. During his travels throughout the Balkans, he was able to fill the gaps in his education. Wherever he went, he studied the history of the Jewish communities, investigating archives, examining gravestones and getting first-hand evidence. Psantir wrote two books about the history of Romanian Jewry as well as his memoirs. His researches became of particular importance after the Holocaust when many of the sources he had consulted were destroyed.

ולוול זברז'ר (1819-1883) משורר. נולד בזבארז' (Zbarzh), גליציה (כיום פולין) ושמו בנימין ארנקרנץ (Ehernkranz), ובגיל צעיר הצטרף לתנועת ההשכלה. כתב שירים והלחין אותם. רוב שיריו סאטיריים, ובהם ביקורת על האמונות התפלות, האמונה העיוורת של החסידים וחוסר היושר שהפגינו אחדים ממנהיגי הקהילה. דברים אלה הביאו לכך שהלשינו עליו והוא ברח לרומניה. ברומניה היה זמר, והופיע במסעדות ובבתי מרזח. לימים, ערך מסע הופעות בעיירות ובערים, אלתר שירים ביידיש ועבר לעברית כשהופיע לפני קהל משכילים. אוסף משיריו פורסם ב-1865. אחדים מהם – וביניהם הפילוסוף והרבי על הים עדיין מושרים. נפטר ברומניה.

Nilu Aronovici (b. 1930), agronomist and community leader born in Botosani, Romania. He attended the Jewish high school in Iasi, Romania, and then the high school in Ploiesti, Romania. He graduated from the Faculty of Horticulture - the viticulture and vinification department - of the Agronomic Institute in Bucharest. He attended postgraduate specialization schools in Romania as well as in Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Israel. Aronovici served as the scientific secretary of the Research Institute for Viticulture and Vinification at Valea Calugareasca – Prahova, Romania. He is a founding member of Oficiul National al Viei si Vinului (O.N.V.V.) (“National Office of Vine and Wine”) in Romania. Aronovici is the author of numerous scientific papers published in periodicals and professional magazines.

After 1996, Aronovici served as President of the Department of Social and Medical Assistance of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Romania (FCER). He was awarded the “Gheorghe Ionescu-Șișești” Meritul Agricol Diploma in 2009.  

Victor Rusu (born Isac Cotiugaru) (1922–2011), journalist, editor and essayist, born in Botosani, Romania. He attended the commercial high school in Botosani and joined the Betar Zionist youth movement. During the Holocaust was recruited to forced labor during 1940-1944. He started his journalistic career at Clopotul, a local newspaper in Botosani. Later he joined the staff of Scanteia, the daily newspaper of the Romanian Communist Party. In mid-1950s he was dismissed from Scanteia and became chief editor of the publication of the Romanian Society for Friendship with the Soviet Union (ARLUS), later he was sacked from that position. At the request of Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen, Rusu became the editor of Revista cultului mosaic. He immigrated to Israel in 1978.   

Rusu published several books of essays, including Alef-Bet (1976), Ițic şi lumea lui (“Ițic and His World”, 2000), Jurnal israelian (“Israeli daily”, 2001), Vedere din Bat-Yam (“A View from Bat-Yam”, 2001), Elefantul și evreii (“The Elephant and the Jews”, 2003), and Ultimii evrei (“The Last Jews”, 2004), ), Zile și nopți în Israel (“Days and Nights in Israel”, 2006), Balada Târgului Evreiesc (“Balade of the Shtetl”, 2008). Many of his books included depictions of Jewish towns from his native Moldavia. Rusu died in Israel.

Nicu Horodniceanu (also known as Naftali Ironi) (b.1929), playwright, born in Botosani, Romania. He graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest in 1951. Horodniceanu immigrated to Israel in 1972.

His works on theater theory include Hypotheses (1974), Is destiny a meaningless word? (1985), and Independent Dance (1989), written in collaboration with the choreographer Yaron Margolin.

Horodniceanu is a member of the Union of Israeli Writers and the Association of Israeli Writers of the Romanian Language.