CHERIKOV:
Town in the government of Mohilev, Russia. According to the last census (1897) it has 5,250 inhabitants, including 2,700 Jews. Most of the latter are small tradesmen; 12 are engaged in horticulture, and 10 in gardening. In the whole district of Cherikov 60 Jewish families follow agricultural pursuits. Out of 255 artisans (consisting of 155 shop-owners, 10 wage-workers, and 90 apprentices) 115 are tailors. There are, besides, 25 journeymen, and 8 Jews who find employment in the local Dutch tile-factory. Two associations lend money to the poor without interest. The educational institutions consist of a government elementary Jewish school with 73 pupils, one Talmud Torah with 70 pupils, and 20 ḥadarim.
In 1648 Ladislaus, King of Poland, granted the Jews of Cherikov a charter by which they were allowed to deal in liquors, grain, and other articles of trade, to acquire immovable property, and to have their own synagogue and cemetery, which should be exempted from taxation. By this charter the Jews of Cherikov were placed on an equal footing with the other Jewish communities of the grand duchy of Lithuania. In the same year (1648) the Jews of Cherikov were massacred by the Cossacks.
- Regesty, i. 399, 411, St. Petersburg, 1899.
