The Jewish congregation of Seckenburg (until 1924 Groß Kryszahnen, today Sapowednoje in the Kaliningrad region) was looked after by a long-time cult official, Hermann Lapidas. He was born in 1848 in Vilkaviškis as Hosias Rischmann and had received his education as a young man in a yeshiva in Vilnius and at Salanter in Kaunas. Later he changed his surname to Lapidas and when he started working in Germany he was mostly called Hermann.  Since 1895 he was in charge of the congregation in Seckenburg. As usual in small congregations, he acted as cantor and butcher in equal measure. He often covered long distances to provide all parishioners with kosher meat. The photo was taken for his 75th birthday in 1925. He died in 1931.