Rav Avrohom Elimelech Perlow zt"l
הרב אברהם אלימלך בן ישראל פרלוב זצ"ל
Cheshvan 14 , 5703
Rav Avrohom Elimelech Perlow zt"l
Rav Avrohom Elimelech Perlow of Karlin-Stolin was born to Rav Yisrael “the Yanuka” of Stolin. Rav Avrohom Elimelech married in 1912. He succeeded his father as Rebbe in 1922; most of his father’s Chassidim followed him as he settled in Karlin, while his brother, Rav Dovid of Zlatipol, led a flock to Stolin. In 1929, Rav Avrohom Elimelech founded a Yeshiva in Luninetz. He, his Rebbetzin, and his two sons were murdered by local Ukrainian peasants. His actual Yahrzeit is not known. This day has been chosen as his Yom HaZikoron. A collection of his Chiddushei Torah have been recorded as Kuntres Pri Elimelech and printed in Yalkut Divrei Aharon and in Bircas Aharon.
Stories of Rav Avrohom Elimelech Perlow zt"l
The Chassidim knew Rav Avrohom Elimelech of Karlin to be a wonder-worker and miracle-maker. They would tell how when, on Motzoei Shabbos, there were torrential downpours, as soon as the Rebbe stepped foot outside for Kiddush Levona, the rain would stop, only to continue pouring down as soon the Rebbe reentered the Bais Medrash. Furthermore, when Chassidim complained to him that the doctors had ordered surgery he would often circumvent them. Once, a Chassid, Rav Yisrael Ber Schifman, complained that the famed Dr. Ticho of Yerushalayim had advised him to perform eye surgery, and a second opinion from another doctor had also confirmed the diagnosis. When the Rebbe heard this, he exclaimed, “And when the problem comes back, what will you do? If so, who needs all this useless surgery anyway?!” No sooner had the Rebbe said these words than Rav Yisrael Ber was healed!
During the winter of תרצ''ג, at a Shabbos tisch, one of the Chassidim burst into tears, crying that his father-in-law lay at that moment in bed, suffering from a possible stomach ulcer. The doctors feared that the ulcer was bleeding and might place him in life- threatening danger, and they advised him to go straight into surgery. The Rebbe heard this diagnosis and was adamantly opposed; instead, he did an amazing and daring thing. He took his own Kiddush cup, filled it with wine and ordered the Chassid to instruct his ailing father-in-law to drink the entire cup! Wine, of course, was normally dangerous for such a condition, but this was no normal cup, no normal wine – and came from no normal Rebbe! Afterward, the Rebbe left the tisch and went into his private room. There, the gabbai watched in distress as the Rebbe vomited and threw up his entire meal. “Whats wrong?” he asked. “Is the food bad? Did it cause you indigestion?” “Don’t you understand?” responded the Tzaddik. “A Jew is lying sick and suffering, and you ask me how the food was? How can anyone eat or digest food when someone lies sick and suffering?!”
The Rebbe once said, “My father, the Yanuka, taught me how to read a kvittel, a note of petition given by a Chassid to his Rebbe. It’s quite easy – you only need to know three things:
- To know the root of the soul of the petitioner who gave the kvittel;
- To feel his pain and suffering as if it is your own;
- To know that you have the ability to help him.”
Rav Avrohom Elimelech told how his grandfather once sent two Chassidim outside to observe the goings on and to report back on what they had seen. They returned and reported that they had witnessed two drunks walking and swaying down the road. One drunk turned to his friend and said, “Come, let us hold onto each other so we don’t fall down!” The Rebbe repeated this often and said, “You see – when you hold on to each other and when you are united you don’t fall!”
During the war they tried to arrange for a way to save the Rebbe and his family, but eyewitnesses later testified that when the Rebbe finally received the papers needed to travel to Vilna, and his family was all packed and ready, as he was about to enter the carriage, an entourage of Jews, headed by the mayor, approached and tearfully asked the Rebbe, “How can you go? With whom will you leave us?” And so the Rebbe got off and refused to leave them all behind. On the 13th of Marcheshvan tov-shin-gimmel, the Rebbe, his family and the entire Jews of the town of Karlin were all murdered al Kiddush Hashem by the Nazis, yimach shemom. HY”D. (Meorei Eish p. 457–459, p. 460, p. 483, p. 494)