- Rabbi Aaron II of Karlin
Aaron Ben Asher of Karlin (
June 6 ,1802 -June 23 ,1872 ), known as Rabbi Aaron II of Karlin, was one of the most famousrabbis of theḤasidim in northwesternRussia .He had an immense number of followers, and many thousands of them used to visit him annually, about the time of the
Jewish New Year , as is the custom among that sect. Notwithstanding his severity of manner and the not infrequent rudeness of his behavior, he was highly esteemed by his adherents. He "reigned" in Karlin, nearPinsk (currently inBelarus ), in succession to his father and his grandfather,Aaron ben Jacob .A few years before his death he had a quarrel with a rich family of Karlin and removed from there to
Stolin , a town several miles distant. Considering the amount of business that the yearly influx of strangers brought to the city where he resided, his removal was regarded as a misfortune for Karlin.He died, aged seventy years and seventeen days, in
Malinovka , nearDubno , inVolhynia , while on a journey to the wedding of his granddaughter, and was succeeded by his son,Asher of Stolin .Aaron is the author of "Bet Aharon" ("Aaron's House"; Brody, 1875), which contains his cabalistic and ethical expositions of the
Pentateuch . It also contains all the extant writings of his grandfather, of his father, and of his son.
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