R. Yaakov Kapil son of R. Zeleg Klatzkin
Krāslava / Kreislavke
Born on 16 Tammuz 5630 (15 July 1870) in Dvinsk.
Son-in-law of R. Mendel Liberman, among the leading Chabad Hasidim here.
He served as rabbi here from 5668 (1908) and as the rabbi of the Hasidim.
He perished in the Holocaust.
Author of the book Divrei Yaakov, novellae on the Shas (Dvinsk 5692).
In the responsa Dvar Eliyahu (of R. Eliyahu Klatzkin), section 4, a responsum to him was printed.1)
He is mentioned in Igrot Kodesh of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Mohariatz):2) “To the city of Kraslava it is necessary to write a letter of encouragement from Kollel Chabad to the rabbi of the city R. Yaakov Kapil Klatzkin, may he live … and he must be urged to take the work upon himself.”
Title page of his book. Yahadut Latviya, p. 413. Latvia: Batei Knesset VeRabbanim, p. 232 (and what is written there that from 1934 he also served as rabbi in the nearby town of Indra — this is in addition to being rabbi in Kraslava. Likewise, what is written there that he was born in Kraslava is an error). His photograph from Churban Letland, published by Shamir, Riga 2012.
Latvia and Rabbis