Person:Aaron Asimov (1)

In 1979, Serafima Asimova wrote to her cousin, Isaac Asimov, from Leningrad, and said that her Grandfather Aaron Asimov and Grandmother Hana Leikin Asimov had six children: Judah, Rachel, Dvosja, Boris, Ephraim and her father, Samuel.

Judah (1896 -1969) wrote a recollection of years in Russia and said that Aaron Asimov had been a grain dealer who sold rye, oats, barley and buckwheat.

Judah wrote that his father was a great believer in G-d.

He wrote that Aaron did not hit his children--except once. Judah was about 18 when he and his father asked the local rabbi to rule in a business dispute between them and another man whom they believed had deceived them. When the Rabbi ruled against Aaron and Judah, Judah objected. Aaron slapped Jack, saying that the decision was the Rabbi's to make and that they would abide by it.

Aaron was smart. When a new tax collector came to town, it was Aaron who noticed that the townspeople weren't being given receipts for the money they paid. Instead, the tax collector had them sign a paper after they paid. So Aaron asked for a receipt. The tax collector refused, so Aaron said he would neither pay nor sign.

It turned out that the paper everyone was signing was a lease that turned over their property to the tax collector and permitted him to raise their rent at will. So Aaron and the other townspeople took the tax collector to court in a case that went up to the Russian Duma. No one knows how the judge would have decided, however, because the year was 1917, and the Russian Revolution turned everything upside down.

Here is an excerpt from a 2006 email from Serafima Asimova, the daughter of Aaron's youngest son, Samuel, referring to the aftermath of the Russian Revolution in the 1920s:

"By then, it is the middle of 20 years [1920s], family of grandfather Aaron have deprived with all earned, mills, have forced to go to work ( hi there were 70 years) in collective farm."

Serafima also wrote that Aaron went to live in Leningrad with his son, Boris, in later years, and died in a hospital after an operation.

1. ↑ Serafima Asimova's 1979 correspondence to Isaac Asimov.