Līvani — a town (since 1926) in the Preiļi district of the Republic of Latvia. Founded in 1533.

In the 16th–18th centuries it was part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. From 1772 it belonged to the Russian Empire. In the 19th – early 20th century it was the shtetl Livenhof, Dvinsk district, Vitebsk province. In 1918–1940 — part of the Republic of Latvia, in 1940–1991 — the Latvian SSR. Jewish population:

• 1847 — 186 Jews

• 1897 — 1406 (52%)

• 1920 — 632 (33%)

• 1925 — 1032 (34%)

• 1930 — 1010 (31%)

• 1935 — 981 (28%)

At the end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th century the rabbi of Līvani was Yisroel–Isser–Yakov Klyachkin (1845–?).

In 1910 the town had a bookshop owned by E. Wasserman.

By 1913 Jews owned 2 pharmaceutical warehouses, a bathhouse, a hotel, 2 barbershops, a watch workshop, 27 shops (including 6 grocery, 4 textile, 3 flour shops).

Among the Jews were 2 timber industrialists, 6 seamstresses, 3 tailors.

With the beginning of WWI most Jews left the town. In 1915 all remaining Jews were expelled.

After 1918, about 75% of the Jewish population returned. With the support of the Joint Distribution Committee, the Jewish community was restored. A mutual credit fund was opened.

In 1922 the town collected 677 rubles for the Jewish National Fund.

Most Jews worked in crafts and small trade. By 1935, Jews owned 44% of commercial and artisan enterprises.

In the 1920s–1930s Līvani had branches of various Jewish parties and organizations, including:

• Tzeirei Zion (with a club), He-Halutz, Ha-Shomer ha-Tzair, Gordonia, Beitar, Bund.

An elementary Jewish school teaching in Yiddish opened in 1921, a Hebrew school in 1929, a Lubavitch yeshiva in 1927, and a Yiddish kindergarten in 1930.

In the 1920s–1930s Līvani had four synagogues and a Jewish cemetery.

Rabbis: Tzvi–Hirsh Mayofis (until 1925), Avrom–Ben–Yamin Gaitz (1925–1939).

On 29 June 1941, the German Wehrmacht occupied the town. Most Jews were shot on 4 September 1941. Some were deported to the Daugavpils and Riga ghettos. Seven Jews were hidden by a local Catholic priest.

After 1944, only seven Jews returned. A monument was erected on the mass grave.

Notable natives of Līvani:

• Natan Zusmanovich Barkan (Barkman) (1923–2003) — rabbi; from 1969 in Israel, from 1990 Chief Rabbi of Riga and the Republic of Latvia.

• Yuda Nisonovich Kremer (1907–1979, Riga) — biologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences (1967), Professor (1969), State Prize of the Latvian SSR (1972).