Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin of Stolin - the Yanuka of Stolin

The Yanuka of Stolin - Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin ben Asher Perlov (1869 – 1921) was born on 10 Kislev in Pinsk to Asher of Stolin.

 

Yahrzeit – 2 Tishrei

Place of burial – Frankfurt

The holy Rav Yisrael, the "Yanuka of Stolin," was the son of the holy Rabbi Asher of Stolin and Rebbetzin Sarah Devorah, daughter of the holy Rabbi Elimelech Shapiro of Grodzhinsk. He married the righteous Beracha Shaindel, daughter of the holy Rabbi David Zlotopolsky, son of the holy Rabbi Yochanan Twersky of Rachmastrivka. He served as Admor for decades.

His grandfather, the "Beit Aharon," said after his brit milah ceremony: "The Baal Shem Tov was called Yisrael, the Maggid of Kozhnitz was called Yisrael, and this child has also been named Yisrael."

He assumed his grandfather's throne at the age of 5. He would later lament: "Oy, they grew up as orphans..." Indeed, when Rebbe Yisrael was only 4 and a half years old, his father passed away.

Despite his young age, the chassidim recognized him as their leader; he was known for his "strange" and wondrous, childlike behavior.

As a child he performed many revealed miracles, but as he grew older he stopped. The chassidim explained that as a child the Yanuka had not yet learned to conceal his greatness. In the last years of his life he saw that there were many scoffers in his area, and he began performing miracles again in order to strengthen the faith of his fellow Jews.

Pictured is a letter from the Yanuka A Revealed Miracle

One example of a miracle that Rebbe Yisrael performed as a child was when a woman came to him for a blessing whose son's hands had been paralyzed since birth.

The Rebbe was still a child and loved running back and forth. So that he would hear what people said to him, his attendants would take hold of him and stand him in a particular spot.

This is what they did when this woman came.

"What is your wish?" the Yanuka asked the woman. When the woman showed him her paralyzed son, the Yanuka asked that rye be brought to him (called keichos, which also means "strength").

Then he turned to the paralyzed boy and said: "Now I have keichos, and I give it to you."

Immediately after the Rebbe's words, the boy stretched out his hands and was healed.

The Yanuka was the son-in-law of the holy Rebbe Dovid Zlotopolsky, who was the son of the holy Rebbe Yochanan, founder of the Rachmastrivka dynasty.

The Yanuka lived in his father-in-law's house and did all sorts of things that made him appear quite impulsive.

The sons of the holy Rabbi Yochanan spoke to their father and asked him to reprimand the Yanuka for his impulsive behavior. Rabbi Yochanan replied: "I regret that I said anything to him at all. If I had known the greatness of his mind and the brokenness of his heart from being an orphan, I would have been afraid to reprimand him."

On another occasion the sons asked their father to reprimand the Yanuka because he had opened the taps of barrels on a wagon passing through the street, and water spilled everywhere. Immediately afterward a fire broke out, and all the places that had been doused with water were saved from the flames.

Unlike the Yanuka, his contemporary, the "Sfat Emet" of Ger, was extremely organized. It is reported that he said he knew what he would be doing two years from then. Orderly behavior is typical of a tzadik whose attribute is Emet, or self-realization (the inner dimension of the sefirah of Yesod - Foundation), which organizes everything.

The Yanuka's childlike behavior is typical of a tzadik who lives by the attribute of Humility (the inner dimension of the sefirah of Malchut - Kingship) and gives himself over into the hands of G-d.

 

The Yanuka and the Gabbai

Rav Pinchas Yosef Shapiro often traveled to Stolin for Shavuot, for Chanukah, and for other matters that came up frequently: when the time came to pay the landowner's tax and there was no money, when it was one of his sons' turn to be drafted into the army, and so on. When the time came for the chassid to head home, he came to Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin, submitted a note along with a pidyon, and went out together with the gabbai into the long corridor to the Rebbe to receive his blessing for the journey. They found him absorbed in his toys.

The gabbai addressed him: Rebbe, Pinchas is returning home to Grichov; he has come for a blessing for the road.

- Let him go in peace, who is watching over him? Go in peace, Pinchas! Rabbi Pinchas approached the Yanuka and said to him: - Rebbe, my son, David Aharon, has been drafted into the army; I ask for your blessing that he be released. - May it be as you say, Pinchas, may he be released! - Rebbe, may my income increase. - Good, good, may it increase! Farewell, Pinchas! And, still in the presence of the guests, he returned to his toys. The gabbai repeated the Yanuka's words: - Go in peace, Rabbi Pinchas, may the Almighty help you, may your son be released in the merit of the holy tzadikim, and may your income increase by the will of the Almighty.

The Yanuka remained absorbed in his toys; the chassid shook Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin's hand in farewell and went home filled with hope.

(Sefer Zikaron le-Kehilat Kodesh Stolin. Tel Aviv, 1952. Page 154)

Under the Table

He performed miracles for those who sheltered in his shadow.

At the same time, he behaved in an astonishing way, hidden and with great humility, playing games with children his own age. He carried out his deeds as if in passing, amid childish pranks. This period was described by his half-brother, Rabbi Yerachmiel Moshe of Kozhnitz, may his merit protect us:

- When they seated him at the head of the table, he would climb down and hide underneath it; and when asked why he did this, he would answer: how can one sit at the head of the table when the Ineffable Name stands right before me, and my eyes hurt? And once he put his feet up on the table.

Rabbi Yerachmiel Moshe rebuked him, saying: is the table not an altar?

He immediately replied: but the kohanim stood on the altar with their feet in order to bring the offerings!

  Blessing Reb Mendel Tzeilinggold, a Stolin chassid attached to three successive Rebbes, related that in the Russian army there was a high-ranking general who had heard that the Stoliner Rebbe, Rav Yisrael Perlow, was a "wonder-working rabbi," and that merely gazing upon his face could bring salvation. The general needed a personal yeshua ("salvation"), and he set out for Stolin. As soon as he arrived, a huge crowd of hundreds of chassidim surrounded the Rebbe, and he could not even catch a glimpse of the Rebbe's face. Nevertheless, he was a firm believer, and he raised his hands above the crowd, saying to everyone: "It is enough that my hands have seen the Rebbe's face. Now I will surely be helped." It is attested that during the times of the pogroms, the town of Stolin was passed over by the persecutors, since many of the ruffians held the Rebbe in respect.

May the merit of the Yanuka of Stolin protect Am Yisrael!

 

(R. Avraham Avish Shor, in the collection "Beit Aharon ve-Yisrael," 1991 (34)