Elimelech Kamenetsky

Rabbi of Lida 1810-1840 https://tablet.otzar.org/en/pages/?&restore=1&t=1601487664314&pagen...

Reb Elimelek Kaminetsky (Reb Meilachke) We could not find any details of his birth. This endearing name, Reb Meilachke, we discovered only when we talked to elderly people of Lida who mentioned him as a tzadik. Through these discussions we also found out that his grave is located in the Lida cemetery. His family name and also the fact that he served as rabbi in Lida many years (it seems up to 1845 or somewhere around that) we found out by chance from a write up in a Lida newspaper “Halvanon” in the year 1875. In that writing we are told of the funeral of the rabbi (appointed by government) Reb Eliyahu Akiva Kaminetsky, the son of Reb Mielachke, and these are the words of the writer (signed Shmuel Tzvi Kaminetsky –it seems a member of the family) with very little changes without making any radical change in the meaning and even the initials as follows: The festival of Purim 1875 – the fourteenth of the second Adar on that day all the children remember with rejoicing in their heart the memory of the past…our light was dimmed and our rejoicing stopped, because the president of our community died. The rabbi, the great light, of glorious merit and kindness, the crown of our family and the outstanding glorius living heir to old wisdom, a scion of great family name, our rabbi, our teacher, Rabbi Eliahu Akiva, may he rest in peace, the son of the gaon Elimelek Kaminetsky, may his memory be a blessing that served on the rabbinate of our city for many years. In his youth he was a merchant. When the wheel turned against him and he was impoverished the leaders of our community decided to appoint him rabbi so that he could be a mouth and a go-between them them and the government and for about twenty years he was leader. He led them in justice and kindness. (But a few years ago he was removed from his position by the government because it was not permitted to appoint a rabbi who did not finish his studies in government schools.) He was wonderful in his teachings, in his Torah and the fear of the Lord. About twenty-five years he taught Mishnah in the Misnayosh Association. And even members of the Enlightment of our time gave respect and honor To his name. A few years ago when he was on a business trip in the capitol city of Peterburg and the government rabbi, Rabbi Neiman was in need, he left his rabbinate position to help him.

The great amount of endearment that the people of Lida felt for their rabbi, Rabbi Elimelek, we can see from the fact that even his descendants after him were given a high status of honor in the religious guidance of the city. His son Rabbi Eliyahu Akiva served in the city, as we see in the write up above, some twenty years as a government rabbi. A position that necessitated a knowledge of the language of the country, and he successfully merited honor and endearment.

Among the religious judges of the city during the period of Rabbi Mordecai Meltzer, we find the grandson of Rabbi Elimelek, the son of his daughter, Reb Yaakov Kopstein, who left after him a book of interpretation of Torah by the name “Pri Yaakov”. Reb Mordecai, who generally refused to write introductions to books dedicated this time to the author a large introduction, a warm and kind one, and he called him the title “The Great Light”. Also others who remember his name in the write up from Lida in the periodical “Hamelitz” give him the title “Sharp and Knowledgeable”. Reb Yaakov also participated in community affairs and he himself sent articles to the Hebrew periodicals about life in Lida. Among the others, a description of the beginning of the Zionist Movement in Lida even before it was officially called that way.

http://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/lida/lid089.html

https://tablet.otzar.org/en/book/book.php?book=180954&width=-17&scr...

Rabbi Meilakh took a surname of his father-in-law Moshe Kamenetsky of Lida, marrying his daughter Miriam (first wife).