Bykhov is a settlement in the Mogilev region, which has been known since the XIV century. Over the course of 200 years, it changed several owners: Drutskie and Gashtold (XIV-XV centuries), Khodkevich (XVI century), Sapieha (XVII century).

At the beginning of the XVII century, Hetman Khodkevich built a fortress in Bykhov. The city became a center for the production of artillery weapons. The first mention of Jews in the city dates back to the same time. There is evidence that in 1654 about a thousand Jews lived in Bykhov. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, the city survived two sieges and pogroms. Memories of the events were left by Nathan Nata Hanover in the book “The Deep Mire” (1653) and Judah Leib Pukhovitser from Pinsk in “Honor of the Wise” (1700).

Bykhov Jews in the confrontation supported the Polish side and, in reward in 1669, received privileges from King Michal, who exempted them from taxes for 20 years.

In the 70s of the XVIII century, the city was part of the Russian Empire. By 1805, the Jewish population was 1244 people, and in 1810 - already 2947 or 48.1% of the population. The Assembly of Laws of the Russian Empire retained the highest permission to elect the city leadership from among the Jews, dating back to the 1840s. It was due to the fact that there were only 2% of Christians in Bykhov.

By 1860, 3294 Jews lived in Bykhov. They made up 51.7% of citizens. There were 11 synagogues in the city.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Jewish schools for men and women functioned in the city; there was a library, a society for helping poor Jews, eight synagogues worked. In 1926, there were 2,575 Jews in Bykhov (33.6% of the townspeople). It is known that by that time, three of the six synagogues were Hasidic.

By the end of the 1930s, Jewish life in the city ceased. All schools, synagogues and houses of worship were closed. According to 1939, Jews made up 20.8% of the city’s population.

The Nazi occupation of Bykhov lasted three years from July 1941 to June 1944. In the castle and surrounding areas, the invaders created a ghetto, in which they drove local Jews and residents of nearby villages. The ghetto population was approximately 4.6 thousand people. About 4 thousand Jews perished in Bykhov.

In the 1960s and 1970s, according to eyewitnesses, about 500 Jews remained in the city, who tried to maintain traditions. The minyan was gathering illegally. In the 1980s, as a result of mass emigration, the Jewish population of the city declined significantly. In 2009, Jews accounted for 0.09% of Bykhov people.

A 17th-century synagogue building has been preserved in the city, which a small community of Jews is not able to restore, and local authorities did not include it the state restoration program until 2018.