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Living Legacy: The Skulener Rebbe, zt”l

Living Legacy: The Skulener Rebbe, zt”l

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It is difficult to believe that it has been a full two years since the holy Skulener Rebbe, Rebbe Yisroel Avrohom Portugal—the tzaddik who has so led and illuminated Klal Yisroel with his great light—has left our midst, on 25 Adar. The living legacy of the Skulener Rebbe is too enormous to capture, but we will do our best to provide a glimpse into his towering greatness. 

The Rebbe was born in Romania—to his holy father, the previous Skulener Rebbe, Rebbe Eliezer Zuzia Portugal, zt”l—into a tradition of mesirus nefesh under communist rule—a tradition of selflessness that would not leave him until his last days, even as he lived in the relative comfort of Boro Park. The Rebbe was all mesirus nefesh for his fellow Yidden in ruchniyus and in gashmiyus. 

For decades, the Boro Park community knew that there was a corner of kedusha, holy authenticity in Skulen, and it was something even the children sensed. The hallmarks of the Rebbe’s leadership were Yiras Shomayim and ahavas Yisroel. 

Most of the Rebbe’s multifaceted life can be encapsulated in either of these two categories; burning yiras Hashem and love for Hashem, and love for every single Yid, no matter where they came from or what they looked like. And the Skulener Rebbe blended the two; they were not a contradiction in any way. 

Some people are kano’im, always engaged in a battle for kavod Shomayim, but their ahavas Yisroel suffers as a result; they sometimes end up hurting their fellow Yid. Some people are very tolerant of others… but maybe they are not all that concerned with yiras shomayim and strengthening the guardrails of our community against outside winds. 

But the Skulener Rebbe embodied emes. And therefore he  fought fiercely and valiantly against the winds of the times, while at the same time overflowing with love for everyone. 

He was like a father to every single yid, and looking at his holy tzurah, you felt the love and the concern for our spiritual and material well being. 

From his self sacrifice for yiddishkeit and his fellow Yidden in Romania, to building up the network of Chesed l’Avrhohom institutions which have brought back so many neshamos, to the incredible mofsim for his fellow Yidden, to his battle against the evils of the internet, to the endless list of good that he did for others with all of his heart—it was a burning fusion of ahava and yirah. 

The Skulener Rebbe carried our generation upon his frail shoulders, until his last moments. He worried and cared for every person in Klal Yisroel. Surely he continues to petition the Eibishter on our behalf from his exalted place On High. 

Zechusoi Yogein Aleinu. 



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