Georgia, Russian Empire
As noted in Encyclopaedia Judaica on Abraham ha–Levi Khvoles {1997} [CD–ROM]
“At the end of the 1890s Rabbi Abraham ha–Levi Khvoles (1857–1931)—a pupil of the famous Lithuanian rabbi Isaac Elhanan Spektor—was elected chief rabbi of the town of Tzkhinvali. His only language for communicating with his congregation was Hebrew, and as time passed the number of Jews of the town using this language increased considerably. In 1906 Khvoles established the first talmud torah in Georgia where about 400 pupils studied. He was the first in Georgian Jewish life to introduce education for girls, inviting for this purpose a female Hebrew teacher. To accustom the Jews to crafts and skills he brought in experienced teachers who taught boys shoemaking, leather tanning, soap–boiling, and other skills. He sent some of his best students to the Lithuanian yeshivot to continue their education and receive the title of rabbi.”