Gitel was born in Borisov in 1907, a town 44 miles East North East of the capital Minsk in Belorussia. The town currently is called Barysaw in the country of Belarus. In a 1900 census, there were 10,000 Jews in Borisov out of a total population of 18,348. It was located at the time on the left bank of the Berezina River, but subsequently spread to both banks.

In 1907, the town was relatively compact. There were 4 or 5 North-South streets and 4 or 5 East-West streets. (According to JewishGen.)

According to the 1906 edition of Encyclopedia Judaica, Jews had been living in Borisov since the 16th Century. In the early 20th Century, Jewish institutions were plentiful. The town included nine houses of prayer – two for Misnagdim and seven for Hasidim1, two public and seven private Hebrew schools, a Talmud Torah, a free loan association, a hospital, a home for the poor, and an elementary trade school.

It is little wonder that Rayzel felt so comfortable living in Borisov, where it seems that Jews had control over their own lives and represented a majority of the citizens, and that she was reluctant to face the unknown in America.

The picture is a street in Borisov from around that time. It is from a postcard collection collected by Alexander Rosenbloom, accessed through JewishGen.