BDE: Reb Aaron Halevi Klitenick, z”l

We are deeply saddened to inform you of the passing of Reb Aaron Klitenick, z”l, a pillar of the Karlin-Stoliner chassidus, a child of America in the 1920’s who was the living embodiment of emunah peshutah. He was 94 years of age. 

Reb Arel, as he was known, was born in Brownsville in 1927. His father was Reb Yitzchok Klitenick of Talechany, Russia, and his mother was the former Fradel Pilchick. Both hailed from legendary families of ardent Stoliner chassidim, who persisted with mesirus nefesh in Russia in the early 1900’s. 

They brought that spirit of mesirus nefesh to the tenements of the Lower East Side, where they were married in 1919, and soon moved out to Brooklyn, where they would implant that spirit into their American-born children. 

His childhood was spent among old chassidim from Russia, while the vast majority of children around him tragically assimilated. The Klitenick boys—Arel, and ybl”ch, his brothers—were different. They soon moved to Williamsburg, where the Stoliner Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Chaim (known as “the Detroiter”) had his shul on Rodney Street. The boys were rare youngsters, along with their Pilchick cousins, oblivious to the raging winds of America. 

Reb Aaron went to learn in Ner Yisroel in Baltimore, under Rav Ruderman, zt”l, where he found himself during the war years. He subsequently trained to be an accountant, a vocation in which he served until only recently, and through which he assisted and advised countless people over the years—including mosdos haTorah. 

He married the former Sarah Orenbach and together they established a beautiful Torah home, with a number of talmidei chachomim and bnei Torah among their progeny. 

Reb Arel was a pillar and figure within the Stoliner community to generations of younger chassidim, a true link to the past. For decades he served on the board of Yeshiva Karlin Stolin, assisting the yeshiva in myriads of ways, with great dedication. “He was an accountant by training... and by definition,” observed one admirer. “The Rebbe zichrono livracha attested; ‘ehr iz ah gleicher, he is straight.’ His way was always simple, straight, and deeply humble. He would say about himself; ‘we were always simple people.’” 

And to generations of Stoliner chassidim who are heartbroken this evening at the loss of such a demus, such a figure of emunah peshutah, conviction, and unwavering commitment to ehrlichkeit and meticulousness in avodas Hashem, they understand that this is the ultimate accolade; to be a pashuter yid.   

The levaya will take place this evening at the Stoliner shul on 16th Avenue, and later at the Stoliner yeshiva on 18th Avenue, and he will be laid to rest on the Stoliner chelka in New Jersey, alongside his parents who instilled him in the tradition which he carried with him for his 94 years on this earth. 

Yehi Zichro Baruch