Julius Stulman’s Help to Chabad

Prominent among the early supporters of Chabad in America was Julius/Yehudah Stulman whose yartzeit is on the 10th of Iyar.

SPECIAL LETTER

In his merit and for the elevation of his soul, Rabbi Shalom Ber Schapiro, close friend and confidant of Julius, is presenting a fascinating handwritten letter which the Rebbe (Ramash) wrote to Julius, in Yiddish, in 5707/1947 from Paris, France, where he was at the time.

The Ramash sent this letter to Rabbi Nissan Mindel (in the U.S.) and requested that he translate this handwritten personal Shavuos message to English and send both the original Yiddish and the translated English to Julius, who lived in New York at the time.

A GLIMSPE INTO THE EARLY YEARS OF CHABAD IN AMERICA

Julius Stulman was not only a brilliant and successful industrialist and entrepreneur, but also and more importantly, a deep thinker and philosopher with an uncanny eye for solutions to individual and global issues.

It was in the late 1930’s that Julius was introduced, via correspondence, to the Frierdiker Rebbe, through a mutual friend Mr. A. Cowan (author of the pamphlet – The Significance of Tefillin, by Kehot, and presenter of the weekly Torah classes in Manhattan, initiated by the Frierdiker Rebbe ). The Rebbe had seen, from the very beginning, great potential in Julius:

“Divine Providence had privileged you with a gift…. to infuse a great eternal light into our people.” (letter to Julius from the Frierdiker Rebbe).

ESTABLISHING CHABAD IN AMERICA

And thereby, immediately upon his arrival to the welcoming shores of America in 1940, the Frierdiker Rebbe invited Julius to join him in establishing Chabad in this land of the free.

NUCLEUS GROUP

A group of loyal and capable people set to work on the many projects of the Frierdiker Rebbe ”With the help of G-d, my worthy son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, together with our dear friend Mr. Cowan and my best friends Mr. Hodakov and Mr. Mindel…” (from a letter of the Frerdiker Rebbe to Julius, about his activities and the group).

And indeed, Julius became part of the nucleus of people responsible for launching the many projects of Chabad, so familiar to us today. He played a role in the founding of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch – a pillar of Chabad responsible for the spreading of Jewish education – participating in the meetings leading up to its establishment.

SEMINAL PROJECTS

The very generous support of Julius did not only bring the Frierdiker Rebbe to America from war-torn Europe, but also enabled the Rebbe to implement his holy vision to disseminate Torah and mitzvos to the world at large.

The Frierdiker Rebbe’s seminal projects which Julius helped to fund, included – release time, girls’ schools and publications (FROM DAY TO DAY – a daily ha’yom yom in English for children by the Ramash, was one of the earliest publications of the newly-established publication branch of Chabad, Kehot, Editor in Chief, R’ Nissan Mindel).

The Frierdiker Rebbe compared Julius’ worthy contributions to the contributions made for the construction of the Mishkan/Tabernacle in the desert.

With the encouragement of the Frierdiker Rebbe, R’ Mindel maintained a connection and warm friendship with Julius for the next number of decades. This connection would in time lead to a close relationship as well, with Julius and the son-in-law of Nissan Mindel, Rabbi Shalom Ber Schapiro. It was Rabbi Schapiro who inspired Julius in more recent years to continue his support of the Rebbe’s holy work. Particularly noteworthy was Julius’ sizable contribution to the purchase and development of the Central Bais Rivkah Campus in Crown Heights.