By COLlive reporter
Two weeks ago, Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky traveled to Arizona to attend the Bris Milah ceremony for his great-grandson which took place at Chabad of Scottsdale with local Shluchim and community members.
He was joined by his son, and grandfather of the newborn, Rabbi Hillel Dovid Krinsky, a businessman and founder of JEM: Jewish Educational Media.
The proud parents Rabbi Leibel Krinsky and his wife Sara (nee Dechter) named the boy Yona after her great uncle, the known chossid R’ Yona Poltaver, HY”D.
At the meal following the ceremony, the uncle R’ Yossi Garelik of Crown Heights related some information about the namesake:
After the Second World War, when the Lubavitchers were leaving Russia and it was getting more dangerous to keep living Jewishly there, the Frierdiker Rebbe charged R’ Yona Poltaver with running Tomchei Tmimim.
When the famed Mashpia Reb Mendel Futerfas was planning to leave Russia with his family, Reb Yona responded with the Yiddish words, “Dos heyst az tzu mesirus nefesh is doh a shiur! Vos vet zayn mit di almones vos zaynen noch altz doh?” (= This means that self sacrifiace has a limit! What will be with the widows that are still here?)
Hearing these strong words from his friend, Reb Mendel decided to remain behind and his family escaped the country. Eventually, both of these fearless chassidim were both arrested, but Reb Yona didn’t survive and passed away without children.
Before being arrested, Reb Yona Poltaver established chadarim and yeshivos in Tashkent. He took care of hiring teachers and finding homes where the learning could take place. He also made sure the talmidim had a hot meal, which cost a fortune in those days.
Even in Soviet prison, he was very strict with Kashrus. When they served him a small piece of bread, he would cut off the bottom out of fear of the possibility that it touched non kosher grease.
“May Yona Krinsky be zoche to carry this special name gezunterheyt un freylecherheyt,” Yossi Garelik concluded.
i am very taken that u know so many yona’s in lubavitch and whom they were named after….
WHO ARE YOU ?
we need more like u who obviously kocht zich in the “arum” of chassidus;
u have inspired me to try and improve my “arum’ knowledge of lubavitch — the history,the chassidic personalities….[u should be giving classes in this area,i believe this vett halten un shtarken unzereh kinder]
thank u.
it seems that some people are confusing two very great chassidim
1. Yonah Kahan (polataver) after whom the child was named and everything else written here is regarded to
2. chaim yonah lutsky who was a tremendous bal madregah but would usually try to hide it, many stories are told about him, R’ shlomo chaim kesselman was one of the few who recognized him and received a lot from him.
for more about him see the book “Chassidim Horishonim” from kfar chabad magazine p. 149
most of the names were given after a great uncle or great great uncle ,however Yona Shur is named after Yona Khan because of a Chassideshe farbrengen , where his father promised to name a son after him if Hashem would give him the Zchus and so whrn he was bentched with a another son and kept his promise , and named him Yona .
mazel tov!!!! mazel tov!!!! Wonderful to name it after my great uncle!!!!
everything comes full circle, rabbi krinsky who is now one of our elder chassidim who practiced mesiras nefesh to the rebbe, has a great grandson named after another elterer chossid who did the same.
much nachas to all.
Maybe because Yudel is Chaim Yehuda, they left off the Chaim. Mazel tov.
It’s heartwarming to see that today’s young parents have the warm, chassidish feelings to name their children after chassidim of old.
reb yona kahan’s wife was the sister of R’eli chaim Roitblatt(obolskoi)another sister was married to R’Leibe karasik(grandfather of R’Yona matussof)also another sister was married to R’?pruss(grandfather of r/Yona Pruss of London) he ran the underground chadorim in russia years before the war,following r’avrohom mayorer (drizin),after the war he was involved in smuggling the chassidim out of russia as returning polish citizens,for many years the poroiches in 770 had his name on it ,as a tribute to his running the underground tomchei tmimim,the only completely unrelated chossid named for him (as far as is known)is R’Yona Shur of toronto whose father… Read more »
Leibel’s wife Sara is named after Reb Yona’s wife.
Yonah in Torotno
Another Yonah in the family!
Reb Yonah’s wife Sara was a sister to Sara’s great-grandmother, Chassia (Obolskoi) Pruss.
go arizoneians
rabbi yudi ceitlin you to
go to tuconiyans
yona vilenkin – toronto
yona gelerenter – ch
yona avtzon – ch
yona shur – toronto
yona matasof – ??
among some others
But Rabbi Yehuda Krinsky’s name is Chaim Yehuda
I heard this story of a chossid called Chaim Yonah