railroad. By 1897 the Jewish community numbered 10,264 inhabitants, or 77% of the city population. They played a central role in the cities markets, particularly in agricultural produce. Slutsk was not insignificant in terms of Torah study. Among the rabbinic figures who served there were Yehudah Leib Pohovitser, Chayim ha-Kohen Rapoport, Yosef Dov Ber Soloveichik (1865–1874), and Isser Zalman Meltzer. The famous Slutsk-Kletsk Yeshiva was founded in Slutsk in 1883 by Rabbi Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky. Another outstanding scholar of learning in the Talmud and Torah who was also a Hebrew poet and became a Hebrew educator in the United States was Ephraim Eliezer Lisitzky, who was born and grew to his teens in Slutsk before emigrating to the U.S. According to legend the Baal Shem Tov visited Slutsk in 1733 at the invitation of Shmuel Ickowicz. Despite this, the town was known for its anti-hasidic misnagdim. The Haskalah and modern Jewish political parties also were represented among the population. People Mikhail Basalyha – Belarusian painter Uladzimir Basalyha – Belarusian painter Isaac Dov Berkowitz – Jewish and Israeli author Eliyahu Feinstein – rabbinic authority Yaakov Yosef Herman – Orthodox Jewish pioneer in America Semyon Kosberg – Jewish Soviet engineer Shneur Kotler – rosh yeshiva, Lakewood yeshiva Harry Lefrak – father of Samuel J. LeFrak, builder and realtor Shmuel David Leibowitz-Father of Boruch Ber Leibowitz Boruch Ber Leibowitz – leading rosh yeshiva Yisroel Leibowitz-leading Rabbi in Vilna from 1926 Chaim Sholom Leibowitz-Son of Yisroel Leibowitz - Editor Of Birkas Shmuel, magnum opus of His Uncle Boruch Ber Leibowitz Isser Zalman Meltzer – Rabbi of Slutsk from 1903 to 1923 Anastasiya Prokopenko, world champion and Olympic bronze medalist in modern pentathlon Gregory Razran, (1901-1973), Russian American psychologist Princess Sophia of Slutsk, medieval Eastern Orthodox saint Fabijan Šantyr (1887 - 1920), Belarusian poet, writer and public figure who is regarded as “the first victim of [the Bolsheviks] in…Belarusian politics and literature” Edward Sperling – Jewish writer and humorist Mikola Statkevich – Belarusian politician Meyer Waxman – Rabbi and author Mikhail Yakimovich – Belarusian handball player Lidia Yermoshina – Belarusian politician Shaul Yisraeli – religious Zionist rabbi Twin towns — sister cities Slutsk is twinned with: Brovary Raion, Ukraine Kalevalsky District, Russia Moshenskoy District, Russia Ryazansky (Moscow), Russia Rzhev, Russia Serpukhovsky District, Russia Shaki, Azerbaijan Sisian, Armenia Staromaynsky District, Russia Former twin towns: Tczew, Poland On 8 March 2022, the Polish city of Tczew ended