July 30, 1825

Chaim Aronson (July 30, 1825 to April 22, 1893) was Lithuanian. He wrote his memoirs in Hebrew. They were published after his death and so we recall this erudite clockmaker, with a talent for inventing mechanical objects as well as a gift for languages. In A Jewish Life under the Tsars we gain an insight into an rural, Eastern European anitpathy to cats: He recalls his parents stopping him from playing with a cat.

"I asked them why I could not play with the cat, and what sin it had committed." They said: "can you not see that it has not been docked?""What do you mean?" I asked. My father then explained that a cat is considered a most impure animal and that in the opinion of the Kabbalists it is an evil spirit.....

A Jewish life under the tsars: the autobiography of Chaim Aronson, was translated and edited by Norman Marsden, (1983). I am not sure if there are other English translations.