TODAY: Yohrtzeit of the Stoliner Rebbe, zt”l, Saw Future of Torah and Chassidus in Boro Park

YS Gold 

Today, chof aleph Kislev, marks the yohrtzeit of the Stoliner Rebbe, Rebbe Yochanan Perlow, zecher tzaddik v’kodosh livracha who rebuilt a vibrant Chassidic movement following a Holocaust that nearly wiped it all out. 

The Rebbe was born to his father, Rebbe Yisroel, zy”a, known as “The Frankfurter,” on account of his being buried in the German city. Prior to the war, he resided in the Ukrainian (then Polish) town of Lutzk. There he led a vibrant Stoliner chassidus, attracting followers from throughout the region, and focused especially on drawing in the youth. 

The Rebbe arrived in America having lost most his family and his chassidim, and he was in extremely poor health. With his last ounces of strength, he set about rebuilding from the ashes. 

His first step was to build a yeshiva. Despite the naysayers, he persevered in establishing a yeshiva that would become a citadel of Torah and chassidus that continues to shine bright 75 years after its founding. The yeshiva and its talmidim were most important to the rebbe, and he showered them with his attention and his efforts—because they mattered deeply to him. In the ensuing 75 years, Yeshiva Karlin Stolin has served a bastion of chinuch in Boro Park for the finest Torah families in Brooklyn. 

During the time that he spent in Eretz Yisroel, the Rebbe likewise invested all of his efforts and strengths into the youth, laying the foundations of what today numbers thousands of families of chassidim. 

In his final days on this earth, the Rebbe insisted on moving from Williamsburg to Boro Park—by ambulance—because he wanted to transplant the center of the Chassidus here, where it has continued to flourish.  

The Rebbe left this world on the 21st of Kislev of 5716 (1955), and was interred in New Jersey. He was brought to Eretz Yisroel 16 months later—his holy body entirely intact—and reinterred in the old cemetery in Teveria. 

The legacy of the Stoliner Rebbe, zt”l, continues to live on in the thousands of chassidim who continue to follow his teachings and the ways that he laid out for them to follow—including a beautiful, thriving kehillah in Boro Park, where he saw a vibrant, bright future for Yiddishkeit.