ORGEYEV (Rom. Orhei), city in Bessarabia district, Moldova. Jews are first mentioned in Orgeyev in 1741. The community developed after the Russian annexation of Bessarabia in 1812 when many Jews immigrated to the region. There were 3,102 Jews registered in 1864 and 7,144 (57.9% of the total population) in 1897. They established educational and welfare institutions, and in 1865 a talmud torah was opened where secular studies were also taught; in 1877 a hospital and an old age home were founded. The Jews of Orgeyev were mostly businessmen and craftsmen, but some were viniculturists on the outskirts of the town. In the late 1890s an agricultural training school was founded and it was active until 1902, receiving support from the Jewish Colonization Association (ICA). Among the 1,480 members registered in the loan fund in 1925 there were 286 farmers. In 1919 a training farm was opened. Owing to the influence of the Zionist movement Hebrew was taught in many schools. In 1927 ORT started a vocational woodworking school for boys, and a vocational tailoring school for girls. In 1930 there were 6,408 Jews (41.9% of the total population).

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Orheiyov be-Vinyanah u-ve-Ḥurbanah (1959); M. Mircu, Pogromurile din Basarabia… (1947), 9–10.

Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.