The Yanuka of Stolin

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

Yahrzeit – 2 Tishrei

Resting place – Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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

He ascended 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 4.5 years old, his father passed away.

Despite his young age, the chassidim saw 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.

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

The Rebbe was still a child and loved to run back and forth. So that he would hear what people said to him, his attendants would catch him and stand him in a certain 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 "koach," which also means "strength").

Then he turned to the paralyzed boy and said: "Now I have koach, and I am giving it to you."

Immediately after the Rebbe's words, the boy stretched out his arms 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. Had I known the greatness of his mind and his broken heart over being an orphan, I would have been afraid to reprimand him."

Another time 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 soaked with water were saved from the fire.

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 of the attribute of 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 G-d's hands.

The Yanuka and the Gabbai

Rav Pinchas Yosef Shapiro often traveled to Stolin for Shavuot, for Chanukah, and on other matters that came up frequently: when the time came to pay the tax to the landowner and there was no money, when it was one of his sons' turn to be drafted into the army, and so on. When it came time for the chassid to head home, he came to Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin, submitted a note along with the pidyon, and went out with the gabbai into the long corridor to the Rebbe to receive a blessing for the road. 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's watching over him? Go in peace, Pinchas! Rabbi Pinchas approached the Yanuka and said to him: - Rebbe, my son, Dovid 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 livelihood increase. - Good, good, may it increase! Farewell, Pinchas! And, right in front of the guests still standing there, 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 livelihood increase by the will of the Almighty.

The Yanuka was busy with his toys; the chassid shook Rabbi Yisrael Binyamin's hand in farewell and returned home, filled with hope.

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

Under the Table

He performed miracles for those who sheltered in his shadow.

At the same time, he behaved in an astonishing way, with concealment and great humility, playing games with children his own age. He carried out his deeds as if in passing, amid childish pranks. This period was recounted 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 so, he would answer: how can one sit at the head of the table when the Ineffable Name stands before me there, and my eyes hurt? And once he put his feet up on the table.

Rabbi Yerachmiel Moshe rebuked him, saying: isn't the table like an altar?

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

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

(From a trip to the graves of tzadikim in Alsace-Lorraine with Rebbetzin Chava Kuperman; R. Avraham Avish Shor, in the collection "Beit Aharon ve-Yisrael," 1991 (34)