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Drissa

The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia

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Driver, Samuel Rolles

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Russian city in the government of Vitebsk. The population in 1897 was 4,237, of whom 2,856 were Jews. There were 657 artisans (including 229 masters) and 158 day-laborers. Among its charitable institutions may be noted the Biḳḳur Ḥolim, and among its educational institutions a county school with 120 pupils (7 of whom are Jews) and a day-school with 70 pupils (12 of whom are Jews).

Drissa existed as early as the fourteenth century, and Jews are mentioned there in connection with the lumber trade in 1547 ("Regesty i Nadpisi," No. 464). Situated on the Drissa, an affluent of the Düna, Drissa was a center for the export of lumber and grain to Riga and Danzig, a trade which was entirely in the hands of the Jews.