Reb Chaim Moshe and Faiga lived in Massif for some time. During that time period, between the two world wars, Jews began migrating from Marmarosh to the Moldova region of Romania. The reason for this migration is explained in Marmarosh (p. 129):
“Due to a change of government in Transylvania after World War I, and the entrance of the Romanians to Marmarosh, the community in Massif began to shrink steadily. In the first decade after World War I, 5680–5690 (1920–1930), the community in Massif shrank by 150 people. By 1941, another 150 people had left. In all, about a quarter of Massif’s Jews left in the period between the wars. A large number of them moved to Sighet, and others scattered throughout the country — or even abroad. The parnassah of the villagers collapsed after World War I, and the Jews then suffered from the financial crisis that afflicted the entire country in the 1930s.
“Among the 150 people who left during this crisis was Reb Chaim Moshe. In 1928, he moved with Faiga and their children to the town of Pashkan, in the Moldova region, where he was appointed gabbai of the large shul on Rozlovano Street. There were three shuls on that street, and he served as the gabbai in the middle one.”
