Rabbi Eliezer Poupko (or Pupko) (1886-1961) was born in
Radin
Radin is a surname and given name.
Given name
Radin (Persian: رادین) is also an Ancient Persian given name meaning "gentleman".
Surname
Notable people with the surname include:
* Adolph Moses Radin (1848–1909), Polish-American rabbi
* ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
, on March 18, 1886. He attended the
Telz yeshiva
Telshe Yeshiva (also spelled ''Telz'') is a yeshiva in Wickliffe, Ohio, formerly located in Telšiai, Lithuania. During World War II the yeshiva began relocating to Wickliffe, Ohio, in the United States and is now known as the Rabbinical College o ...
. Receiving
Semicha
Semikhah ( he, סמיכה) is the traditional Jewish name for rabbinic ordination.
The original ''semikhah'' was the formal "transmission of authority" from Moses through the generations. This form of ''semikhah'' ceased between 360 and 425 C ...
in 1908, he served for twenty four years as chief rabbi of the Jewish community in
Velizh,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
. Rabbi Poupko was twice tried in 1930s for defying the religious policies of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
and was sentenced to two years in a
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
n prison. He served only part of that sentence as the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
rabbinate was able to win a commutation.
Rabbi Poupko immigrated to the US in 1931, first serving congregations in
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. Haverhill is located 35 miles north of Boston on the New Hampshire border and about 17 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The population was 67,787 at the 2020 United States Cen ...
and
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
. In 1942, he became the Rabbi of the Aitz Chaim Congregation in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
. He was an honorary president and a member of the executive board of the
Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Rabbi Poupko married Pesha Chaya, a daughter of Rabbi , rabbi of Kenna near
Vilna
Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional u ...
and subsequently of
Saratov
Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...
. Their four oldest sons were sent to study in the
Israel Meir Kagan
Rabbi Yisrael Meir ha-Kohen Kagan (January 26, 1838 – September 15, 1933), known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, after his book on lashon hara, who was also well known for the Mishna Berurah, his book on ritual law, was an influential Lithuan ...
's (Chofetz Chaim)
yeshiva in Radin, and indeed many of Rabbi Poupko's children went on to play a pivotal role within the Jewish world. Rabbi Reuven Poupko published a
Sefer Sefer may refer to:
* Sefer (Hebrew), a term for a book
People with the surname
* Franjo Šefer (born 1905), Yugoslav tennis player
* Bela Šefer, Yugoslav footballer playing in 1924
People with the forename
* Sefer Reis, Turkish privateer and Ot ...
by the name of ''Toras Reuven'' in Philadelphia in 1940, containing a warm approbation by Rabbi
Isser Zalman Meltzer that praises the author's father. Rabbi
Baruch Poupko became a leading American Rabbi and author of numerous articles, books and anthologies. One of Rabbi Poupko's sons-in-law was the renowned Rabbi Mordechai Savitzky, Chief Rabbi of
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
and author of twenty-two works on the
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cente ...
. Another was Rabbi
Gedalia Dov Schwartz
Gedalia Dov Schwartz (January 24, 1925 — December 9, 2020) was an eminent Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and posek (halakhic authority) who lived in Chicago, Illinois. From 1991 to 2013, when he gave his position as Av Beth Din to Rabbi Yona Reis ...
.
Death
Rabbi Poupko died at the Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia on September 23, 1961. At the time of his death, he was the most distinguished rabbi in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
. His wife Pesha Chaya outlived him, dying at the age of 87 in 1976.
References
American Jewish Yearbook 1963*New York Times obituary
*''Yizkor Meditations'',
Mishpacha Family First, Issue 110, October 2, 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poupko, Eliezer
1886 births
1961 deaths
Lithuanian Orthodox rabbis
American Orthodox rabbis
Soviet rabbis
20th-century American rabbis
20th-century Lithuanian rabbis