Is this possibly an unknown picture of Reb Yisroel, the Stoliner Rebbe?

This gem was recently sent to me by a guy who noticed this picture on page 172 in the recently-published "Marienbad" by Dovid Leitner of Manchester, England. The picture has no caption. The Leitners are famous for the hotel that they ran in Marienbad, Czechoslovakia. Many of the now-famous pictures of the Rabbonim and Tzaddikim of yesteryear were taken in Marienbad and many of them feature members of the Leitner famly in them. Reb Dovid was kind enough to mention me in the foreword to the book. (See below.) 

Hirshel Tzig of America. Has a nice ring to it. 

I owe Reb Dovid a review of the book on the blog here after he was kind enough to send me a complimentary copy, and I hope to deliver that sometime in the not-too-distant future. Until then, buy his book here.  

Back to the picture:

The gentleman on the right seems to be Reb Yisroel, the Rebbe of Stolin, also known as either the Yenuka, or the Frankfurter, as he's known among Stoliner Chassidim. He passed away on Rosh Hashonoh 5682,1921, in Frankfurt, Germany and was interred there. As is the custom still today among the Rebbes of Stolin, photography was shunned and avoided. That would likely explain why he was turning away from the camera and the man on his left may be moving into position to hide him from the camera. The photographer was also likely a non-Jew, which would maybe preclude the Frankfurter from either covering his face or even lashing out at him, as was customary, say among the Gerrer entourages of that time. Among Chassidei Karlin-Stolin it is known that he visited Marienbad. The photo was likely taken after WWI, when once again Jews came to vacation there, and close to his passing in 1921.

"Official picture" of the Stoliner Rebbe"

Compare the new picture with the official one and see for yourselves. I think this may be a major find! One that gladdens the heart of Stoliner Chassidim as well as Jewish history lovers of all kinds and backgrounds. Lost in all of this is the fact that the gentleman 2nd from left also remains unidentified... Some say maybe it's a Komarna personality, since they were mechutonim, but nothing more specific.

ציון הרה"ק ר' ישראל זצ"ל בפפד"מ

see 3rd paragraph

 

תואר פניו של אדמו"ר ר' נחום שלמה פערלאוו זצ"ל הי"ד מקאזניץ בנו של אדמו"ר ר' משה מסטאלין זצ"ל הי"ד - יא"צ כ"ט אלול

תואר פני כ"ק אדמו"ר ר' משה'לע מסטולין זצ"ל הי"ד

With my sincererest apologies to my Karlin-Stoliner friends who don't like to share... This is a visa/passport application in July of 1926. Moshe son of Yisroel Perlow. There are a few pictures of the Stoliner Rebbe, but this is special, in my humble opinion. The others are from a distance and not clear. Reb Moshe'le was a great lover of Israel and the Jewish People and visited the Holy Land on several occasions. He and his family were murdered in Stolin in 1942. Today's Stoliner Rebbe is his younger brother Reb Yochonon's grandchild.

With thanks to Yuri Dorn

קרלין-סטולין מפרגן לחב"ד

ביים שבת טיש

One thing I have a hard time with is the "ענק", "עטץ" and other such words like "פארשטייטץ", that should be בבחינת לא יזכר ולא יפקד in a publication from Stolin-Karlin (Karlin-Stolin). I guess being in Boro Park all these years has its disadvantages.

 Box.com link

שארפע דיבורים פונעם סטאלינער רבי'ן ר' ישרא-ל זצ"ל

Chassidim and their funny beliefs...

FYI, "אדמו"ר אור ישראל מסטאלין זיע"א" was born in תרכ"ט, which made him all of 5 (!) years old at the time of the story. By the way, Reb Hirsh Margolis was the elter zeide of Dov Eliach, mechaber of ",הגאון" and no fan of Chassidim. Funny how these things work.


Source: HebrewBooks, קובץ ביאו"י

תמונת הערב - ווען וועלט איז געווען וועלט

The Detroit Stoliner shul, Beis Aron V'Yisroel when it still was a shul.

Let's see who can identify the cars in the picture...


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About Stoliner Chassidim and shtieblach in Detroit, תובב"א

Beth Aron V'Yisroel shul at 2567 Elmhurst at Linwood (Detroit)

Received via email:


Tzig, I read your post from years ago regarding the Stoliner shuls in Detroit and what has become of them, and here's some additional information: 

First a bit about Stoliner chassidim in Detroit. The Rebbe Reb Yisroel Perlow ZY”A, known as the Yenuka, started sending chassidim to the US as early as 1880. Detroit was favored over other areas because it was easier to get jobs that did not require one to work on Shabbos. Stoliners organized a minyan/shul as early as 1905 in Detroit and one of the Rabbonim who served as Rov in their shul was Rabbi Yitzchak (Isaac) Stollman z”l. Reb Mendel Zeilingold (a Stoliner from Lutzk, who later lived in New York and then Yerushalayim) said over that the Yenuka once said; ווען מיר וואלטען געווען מיט צעהן יאהר יונגער וואלטין מיר געמאכט א נסיעה קיין דיטרויט". They say that at the turn of the century there were around 100 Stoliner chassidim in Detroit. The shul that you wrote about in the 2006 post was built by the chassidim themselves. Mr. Tzvi Strom is an einikel of Mrs. Chava Wainer, in whose house the “Detroiter” Rebbe was niftar. He remembers pounding nails into the floor boards on his way home after school in the ‘30s. That neighborhood in Detroit started going downhill in the 50’s. The decline was swift. Many of the older chassidim had died out and the younger crowd joined Young Israel etc. Few were left to care for the shul and the “chelka”, the cemetery area where the Rebbe is buried. Some say that the previous Rebbe, Reb Yochanan “shtelled avek" one memuneh to make sure that the shul would not be sold, or one version is, that it should not be sold to a church.

That story goes on to say that this man worked all the time to ensure this, He put clauses into the shul documents etc. But he was once hospitalized for a short period of time and came out to find out that it was too late. I also heard from an older chossid that the Stoliners would come every year and work on eitzos to keep the shul up and running. He said that there was a law at the time that a store within 2 blocks of a church, (not a shul) could not sell liquor. So there was one store 1 block away and another 2 and ½ blocks away. The chevreh went to the farther store and told him that the synagogue is costing a lot to maintain and it might end up being a church (which is what happened to many other shuls in the area), and that would result in the other, closer store being allowed to sell liquor and him needing to shut his store. The proprietor got very nervous and asked what he can do to help? The chassidim told him that if he helps pay for the maintenance of the shul then they won't need to sell it. The guy helped them out financially for a few years. Sadly, later on the Yeshiva in Boro Park received a phone call from the Detroiters that they are sending a large amount of cash for the Yeshiva. They immediately understood what happened, and they dispatched 2 or 3 people to Detroit and tried to “handel” with the buyer. They even offered him twice the amount that he had paid for it but to no avail. The buyer, though, was some sort of Boy Scout organization or something similar. It was not sold directly to a church. Brokenhearted the chassidim returned to New York. Either way, to say that the Stoliners SOLD the shul, and to a church nuch dertzu, is a fabrication.

Research is currently being conducted to try and find out more about the chassidim of that era, in Detroit and other areas across the USA. Anybody with information is asked to email stoliners.usa@gmail.com.