In Memory of Rabbi Aharon Eliezer Ceitlin, 1953-2015

On this day in 2015, Rabbi Aharon Eliezer Ceitlin passed away. He was a greatly beloved Rev, acclaimed for his devotion to the cause of education and to the governing principles of Lubavitch-Chabad. Born and raised in Montreal, he was hand-picked by Rabbi Menachem Schneerson of righteous memory to serve as an "emissary" to Israel, in which role he distinguished himself, founding a network of Chabad kindergartens serving 1,500 children. He was an inspiring speaker.

 After undergoing radical surgery following chemotherapy, I spent a week in the same hospital ward as Rabbi Ceitlin, who was enduring the same treatment. When Stacey saw a group of Chassidim and heard the unmistakable sounds of davening from a hospital room around the corner from mine, she encouraged me to take a look. We were invited into a room crowded with Rabbis who had flown to New York from all parts of the United States to pay their respects and lend support. Rabbi Ceitlin let me put on his t'fillin, and we davened together on that day and again on the next. He gave a sermon and told a joke that only he and I found funny, so much so that I laughed out loud, prompting him to point to me and say "he got it!" I write about the encounter, which continues to inspire me, in my book,One Hundred Autobiographies: A Memoir.

This is from Menachem Posner's obituary in the Chabad.org newsletter of October 15, 2015.

<<<  A large man with a flowing beard and a booming voice, [Rabbi Ceitlin] was equally at home in Yiddish, English and Hebrew, and would speak passionately about Torah and Judaism to audiences across the globe.

Aharon Leizer, as he was known, was born in Montreal two days before Yom Kippur in the fall of 1953 (8 Tishrei 5714), to Rabbi Heshel and Rivkah Ceitlin, who had escaped the oppressive Soviet Union and found refuge in Canada. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Rabbi Aharon Eliezer Ceitlin, who perished in a Soviet labor camp, where he had been sentenced to eight years of hard labor as punishment for his efforts to keep Judaism alive in the face of Communist oppression. >>>

<<<  A passionate and inspired personality, [Rabbii Ceitlin] he was often invited to address Chassidic gatherings around the world. He would often weave together anecdotes from the Russian yesteryear with fresh experiences and teachings of the Rebbe [Schneerson], helping spellbound listeners appreciate the seamless bond of service and self-sacrifice that he personified.

Dedicated to the Rebbe’s work, he was among a group of young Chassidim who carried out the Rebbe’s instructions to print the Tanya—the seminal work of Chabad philosophy—in a number of locations in Lebanon during the 1982 Lebanon War. Despite the danger involved, he and his companions went directly to the front lines in order to print the sacred book, specifically in Beirut.  >>>

For more click here. 
https://www.chabad.org/news/article_cdo/aid/3098133/jewish/Rabbi-Aharon-Eliezer-Ceitlin-of-Israel-62-Passes-Away-in-New-York.htm

Comments

[howard altmann]

What a moving account of two men at a most vulnerable period -- a shared heritage unwrapping the gift of connectedness, transcending the wrappings of time.

Thank you for that.

Howard

[David Lehman]

Thank you, Howard.